There's a Place

The Ad Lib was the Beatles' favourite nightclub. They spent a lot of time here throughout 1964 and 1965 and it shaped them as people. Let's take a seat by the dancefloor, order a scotch and coke, and take part in the fascinating stories which occurred here - from hanging out with the other superstars of the Swinging Sixties to one particularly mind-expanding event involving spiked coffee and a lift which appears to be on fire.

The Ad Lib was THE Beatles' nightclub. In this epiosde, we explore its history before the Beatles made it their clubhouse, taking in Peter Cook's Establishment Club, sexy, drug-fuelled romps in Torremolinos, and Wip's nightclub with its fur walls and tank of piranhas.

With two first-hand interviews from David Walsh and Elisabeth Luard, who were at the centre of the action, this episode is a richly satisfying study in how London swung just before the phrase Swinging London was invented.

In the next episode, the Beatles themselves take centre stage, but what was happening before they took the lift to the top floor of Charles House is a great story in itself.

An introduction to William Mews, Knightsbridge, where Whaddon House would be built in 1962, soon to welcome residents Brian Epstein, George Harrison and Ringo Starr

The Beatles are taking the nation by storm. They're performing the biggest gig of their lives at the London Palladium. Where to have the after-party? Grosvenor House, Brian's hotel, on Park Lane. A few weeks later they are back at the hotel for an unusual charity concert. Let's join them in this sumptuous setting as 1963 hurtles towards its thrilling climax.

Join me and the co-author of ' The Beatles' London', Piet Schreuders, as we examine this marvellous hotel, which was arguably the Beatles' first London home. We will also enjoy pootling around Guilford St and Russell Square.

Might the Royal Court be the London hotel which held the most cherished memories for the Beatles? They stayed here during their earliest EMI recordings, including their first LP. It was also their base for discovering London properly between June 1962 and the spring of 1963, as their careers and lives changed forever.

Learn about the fascinating stories that the hotel has to tell, including its connections to the Angry Young Men, a legendary hotelier and the real-life Peter Pan.

There's also a lot more Beatles in this one!

This episode features an exclusive recording from the world's greatest Beatles expert - and thoroughly decent chap - author, Mark Lewisohn.

Between December 1961 and May 1962, Brian Epstein was hard at work pounding the London streets on his bid to get the Beatles a recording contract. Join Brian on his mission in Mayfair and visit Brown's and the Green Park Hotel, two exclusive hotels. Welcome George Martin to the Beatles story and spend time in the company of Oscar Wilde, Bertie Wooster and notorious double agent, Guy Burgess.

It's a freezing cold day on New Year's Eve, 1961, and the Beatles are driving down to London for the Decca recording test. Join them at the Royal Hotel in Bloomsbury following a night on the tiles.