Alan White Documentary Completes First Major Phase of UK Filming
One Take LLC and IndyStudios complete multi-week filming across England and Wales
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 09, 2026
SEATTLE, September 2026 - The forthcoming documentary about legendary drummer Alan White has completed its first major phase of UK filming, capturing new interviews, family stories and locations that deepen the film’s portrait of the man behind an extraordinary musical career.
Executive Producer Michael McMorrow, who directed the UK shoots, led the filming in partnership with IndyStudios, the documentary’s UK development partner. The production marked the first substantial opportunity for the two teams to work together in the field, with IndyStudios’ filmmakers and production team joining McMorrow across a multi-week shoot spanning County Durham, Oxfordshire, Liverpool, London and Wales.
“This was where the partnership really became real,” said McMorrow. “Indy brought a terrific team, great instincts and an enormous amount of care to the production. Very quickly, it stopped feeling like two companies working together. We were all simply making the same film.”
“It was brilliant to get properly into production, with the trust of Michael and the White family,” said Matt Ramsden, co-founder of IndyStudios. “Very quickly, it became clear that this is much more than the story of a legendary drummer. It is a remarkable human story, told through a life that runs right through the history of modern music.”
The shoot began in County Durham, returning to Ferryhill and Pelton, where White was born, grew up and first began playing drums. The production filmed with Alan’s family, childhood friends and musicians from his earliest years, including Dave Turnbull, lead vocalist of The Downbeats, White’s first band.
In Pelton, cameras captured the dedication of a memorial bench in White’s honor, as well as an emotional visit by his son Jesse and family to the house where Alan was born. It was a place Jesse had never previously seen.
Filming then moved to Oxfordshire, where Alan and his wife Gigi White made their home during the 1980s. Jesse returned to the former family home with his own children, revealing another side of the story: Alan away from the stage, working on the house, tending the gardens and spending time with his family whenever touring and recording allowed.
In Liverpool, the production explored White’s connections to both YES and the wider Beatles story. Longtime John Lennon childhood-home custodian Colin Hall shared memories of Alan visiting Lennon’s home and remembered him simply as “a cut above.”
The Liverpool shoot also captured a deeply personal moment when Alan and Gigi’s daughter Cassi White performed George Harrison’s My Sweet Lord with Apple Jam at Liverpool Philharmonic during International Beatleweek, with Gigi watching from the audience.
Outside London, McMorrow sat down with former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett for a wide-ranging conversation about White, musicianship and the generation of artists who helped shape progressive rock. Hackett spoke about White’s ability to bring feel and swing to even the most complex music, describing him as “a magician, a gentleman and a warrior.”
The UK filming concluded in Wales with new interviews featuring YES keyboardist Geoff Downes and longtime YES manager Martin Darvill. Downes reflected on a relationship with White that began when he first joined YES for Drama in 1980, recalling how Alan took him under his wing during a period of enormous change for the band. When Downes later returned to YES, the two developed a close musical and personal friendship built over years on the road together.
Their conversations moved beyond albums and tours into the life that existed between them: friendships, families, pubs, restaurants, humor, years spent traveling together and the person Alan was when nobody was onstage.
Darvill offered another perspective on White’s later years with YES, particularly the period following the death of Chris Squire. White himself described the responsibility he felt in simple terms: “Chris Squire’s dying wish was for me to keep this going.” Darvill’s interview explores what that responsibility meant in practice, including Alan’s important behind-the-scenes role in helping shape the band’s identity, presentation and direction as YES entered a new chapter. His stories reveal an influence that extended well beyond the drum kit and into the evolving idea of what the band would become in those later years.
“That’s increasingly where the heart of the film is,” McMorrow said. “Alan’s musical history is remarkable. Lennon, Harrison, YES, fifty years of music history. You could make an entire documentary from the résumé alone. But when you spend time with the people who actually knew him, those often aren’t the stories they tell first.”
“They talk about their friend. Their husband. Their dad. Their bandmate. The guy at the pub. The person they still miss.”
“We went to the UK tracing Alan White’s history. We came home knowing Alan better.”
Produced with the participation of Alan White’s family, the documentary combines new interviews and location filming with personal archives, rare material and stories from the people who knew White across more than five decades of music history.
“This is a story that deserves to be told,” Ramsden added. “Alan’s career places him alongside some of the greatest names in music, but the film is really about the way he lived: his generosity, his humour, his family and the people he brought together. It is an uplifting, timely reminder of what music can mean to people.”
The UK shoot marks an early major production phase for the documentary, with more filming still to come in Great Britain and an extensive U.S. production ahead. Filming will continue throughout 2027, which is shaping up to be the documentary’s biggest year of production.
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