New documentary on him Saturday night on BBC 2
David Bowie did not know he was dying until final few monthsDocumentary looking back at singer’s last five years says suggestion that his last single Lazarus was a ‘parting gift’ to fans is wrongDavid Bowie only discovered his cancer was terminal three months before he died, according to a documentary marking the anniversary of the superstar’s death.
The film, David Bowie: The Last Five Years – due to air on BBC2 on Saturday night, a day before what would have been the singer’s 70th birthday – reveals that Bowie discovered his treatment was to be stopped while he was filming the music video for his final single, Lazarus.
Bowie died on 10 January 2016, days after turning 69 and the release of his 25th studio album, Blackstar, having kept his illness a secret from the world.
“David said: ‘I just want to make it a simple performance video’,” said Johan Renck who directed the video, which features Bowie singing lines such as “Look up here, I’m in heaven” from a hospital bed.
He insists the common interpretation of the video – that the singer was hinting that he was on his deathbed – is wrong, because he came up with the concept a week before Bowie received his final diagnosis.
“I immediately said ‘the song is called Lazarus, you should be in the bed’,” says Renck. “To me it had to do with the biblical aspect of it ... it had nothing to do with him being ill.
“I found out later that, the week we were shooting, it was when he was told it was over, they were ending treatments and that his illness had won,” said Renck.
Yet even then, Bowie had not given up hope of surviving his cancer and was still keen to make new work just weeks before he died, according to Ivo Van Hove, who directed Bowie’s musical, Lazarus. In the programme he recalls one of the last exchanges the pair had, after the play made its debut in New York in 2015.
Describing how they sat chatting backstage, despite Bowie being noticeably weakened by his illness, Van Hove said: “He got through the night. I really am convinced that he was fighting death and he wanted to continue and continue. Afterwards we were sitting behind stage and he said ‘let’s start a second one now, the sequel to Lazarus’.”
The new documentary is the work of Francis Whately, and continues a narrative from his previous Bowie documentary for the BBC, David Bowie: Five Years, which was first broadcast in 2013 and focused on five of the singer’s most significant years between 1971 and 1983.
As part of a series of programmes this month, BBC4 will broadcast rarely seen Bowie performances from its archive, Martin Kemp will present a show dedicated to Bowie’s Life on Mars, and 6Music will host a “listening party” for the public’s favourite Bowie album, and a tribute show.
• David Bowie: The Last Five Years airs on Saturday 7 January at 9pm on BBC2
More