Storyfirst presents
A Ten Part Drama Series Written and Directed by Emmy Award Winner Steve Shill
Executive Producer Eric Clapton with original score by Barry Gibb
London 1973 Birthplace of the greatest rock music in history, but behind every great band is a great manager. PORTOBELLO ROAD is inspired by the true-life experiences of Rod Gunner 1970s manager of Eric Clapton and the Bee Gees. PORTOBELLO ROAD is a powerfully character-driven drama which follows the misadventures of Portobello Road Music, a fictional music management company based in London’s vibrant, thrilling and ethnically diverse Notting Hill. It’s 1973, the golden era of British pop. The show features a soundtrack of needle-drop classics from the period as well as music by top songwriters specially composed for the show’s fictional bands THE LOVE and THE PANDAS. Eric Clapton appears in PORTOBELLO ROAD as the 27- year-old rock god who ends up inextricably involved in the complex lives of our fictional music managers in an affectionate shaggy dog story about things that never really quite happened in 1973…but might have.
Along with all the glorious music, the show lovingly recreates the best of the early 70s, the platform Chelsea boots, the feathered hair and kipper ties. A caught-in- the-moment directorial style from Emmy winner Steve Shill makes you feel you’re actually there onstage with Ziggy Stardust in the very different world of fifty years ago when music was on vinyl and virtuoso bands all played together live onstage.