New Kurt Cobain documentary to air on BBC next month

27 March, 2024

Kurt Cobain Nirvana

The BBC are set to release a brand new hour-long documentary to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the death of Kurt Cobain.

READ MORE: Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’ at 30: a track-by-track guide from your favourite musicians

The Nirvana frontman who took his own life on April 5, 1994, will be celebrated in a range of content aired across television and radio by the BBC – including a Saturday night of programmes dedicated to the singer, a documentary titled Moments That Shook Music: Kurt Cobain will air on BBC Two and iPlayer.

According to a press release, the documentary will be “told exclusively through powerful and rare archive footage,” providing a “visceral account of the days that surrounded that tragic moment” when Cobain took his own life.

During the final years of his life, Cobain had struggled with drug addiction and depression. Following an overdose in Rome in March 1994 and a subsequent intervention, Cobain died by suicide at his Seattle home on April 8. He was 27 years old.

Cobain formed Nirvana in 1987 with Krist Novoselic and went through a series of drummers before Dave Grohl joined in 1990 and their classic lineup was cemented.

Along with winning multiple prestigious music awards and topping charts around the world, they were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2014, and are still one of the best-selling rock bands of all time.

Their landmark second album ‘Nevermind’, released in 1991, became a critical and commercial success, propelling the band to fame and earning them three Grammy nominations. The album was ranked 11th on NME’s 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time in 2013. Read NME’s original review of the album here.

The new documentary, from Touchdown Films, is set to show “the poignant reaction from the electrician who discovered Kurt’s body when installing a security system at his Seattle home; statements from police at the scene; the chaos, confusion and devastation caught on video by his fans,” according to a press release.

Jonathan Rothery, Head Of BBC Popular Music TV shared: “This documentary tries to demystify that moment in time by telling the story direct from the scene, via fly on the wall footage filmed by those that were there.”

Touchdown Films founder John Osbourne, who produced and directed the upcoming documentary said: “We are incredibly proud to be working with the BBC on this film, who share in our vision of using only archive [material] to take viewers back to 1994; to immerse themselves in this seismic story.”

He continued: “Kurt Cobain was the voice of a generation, but a reluctant one, and his death left a huge void. The only way to get a true sense of what happened is to witness it first hand, and that’s exactly what this film does. It never lets you look away.”

There are a number of other BBC radio and television broadcasts happening next month to commemorate Cobain’s death. Find more information about the schedule here.