8. Don't Let It Go

Available for over a year

The final chapter asks the question few people can answer: what was it about One Direction that made them such a phenomenon? And could it happen again? There’s no definitive answer but ultimately, it had to be them: Harry, Niall, Louis, Liam and Zayn. Five boys who dreamed of stardom and found it together. In the words of Louis Tomlinson, they were 'normal guys but terrible dancers' and maybe that’s what the fandom fell in love with. In this chapter, Maddie reflects on why One Direction were so important to her as an adolescent - and why the fandom can live forever. Featuring interviews with Directioners Grace Dumdaw and Olivia Peter, songwriter Savan Kotecha, songwriter Jamie Scott, Vanity Fair’s chief critic Richard Lawson, music journalist Michael Cragg and the 1D Historian. Archive in this episode: One Direction: This Is Us, TriStar Pictures Presenter: Maddie Grace Jepson Producer: Gráinne Morrison Written by Gráinne Morrison Assistant Producer: Zayna Shaikh Technical Producer: Ant Danbury BBC Audio Editor: Andy Worrell Commissioning producers: Jonathan O’Sullivan, Sarah Gosling Commissioner for BBC Music: Will Wilkin