Back for good

Boy band icons give glimpse of wild 90s journey in Netflix series

- HANNAH BRITT

It was a night to Never Forget. The stars descended on London's Battersea Power Station this week for the premiere of Take That, a three-part Netflix documentary series detailing the boy band's meteoric rise and 35-year history.

We talked exclusively to Gary Barlow, Mark Owen and Howard.

Donald at the event.

"There is footage in there that people won't have seen. After 35 years of videos we still have stuff up our sleeve," grins Howard.

Gary adds: "That to me was the most surprising thing. I thought I'd seen everything.

"We've had documentaries made, we've been followed round the world.

"But watching this back there were pieces of footage where I thought, I don't even remember being there"." Gary, now 55, Mark, 54, and Howard, 57, formed as Take That in Manchester in 1990, with former members Jason Orange, 55, and Robbie Williams, 51. And the laughout-loud documentary shows the boys growing up together in screaming technicolour.

"The biggest misconception of Take That is that we're still a boy band," jokes Mark of their advancing years. "But we've worked hard to get to where we are. We really care." Gary adds: "I'm hoping people see the work that has gone into the last 35 years when they watch this. It's definitely not been easy." Indeed the doc follows the highest highs and lowest lows of being the most famous fivesome on the planet -pop careers peppered with bustups, booze and bulimia.

Following the band's break up in 1996, Gary struggled with his weight, grappling with an eating disorder. He previously said of his experience that he was in a hole and "trying to kill off the pop star Gary Barlow".

Netflix's Take That does not shy away from those dark days, making its depiction of the band's comeback in 2006 shine even more.