creator Dolly Alderton has revealed some of the BBC adaptation’s songs differed from her picks, due to the cost of acquiring rights to some of the music she wanted.
The series aired its first episode on Tuesday night, with many on BBC iPlayer.
Telling the story of a group of four 24-year-olds, who all move in together in 2012 Camden, as they settle into grown-up life, viewers have been quickly taken in by the series.
It hones in on Maggie (Emma Appleton), based on Dolly herself, and best friend Birdy (Bel Powley), also inspired by Dolly’s real-life best friend.
Something else which has gone down well with those giving it a watch is the brilliant tracklist
When complimented on the tunes, creator and executive producer Dolly admitted they weren’t all planned to be included.
At a recent screening, she shared: I knew nothing about production and licensing and I remember when China [Moo-Young, director] first looked at the script, she said, “Now, these Rolling Stones songs, I’m afraid I’m gonna have to break your heart.”
Music supervisor Ian Cook luckily worked his magic on the needle drops and helped Dolly come up with some other brilliant alternatives.
‘He knew how important this music was,’ said continued. ‘I was literally alone with the scripts, month after month listening to those songs over and over again, drinking my George Clooney tequila.
‘They were so baked into the scenes for me, so I was so heartbroken to think about losing them.’
She went on to detail how she decided on replacements: ‘Basically for every song we couldn’t afford, Ian would give me a Spotify playlist and say, “Here’s what we can afford.”
Dolly explained the first dancing scene was meant to be soundtracked by Marvin Gaye’s classic hit, Gotta Give It Up.
But she was quickly informed they wouldn’t be able to afford to use it.
Instead, it was replaced by Down With The Trumpets by Rizzle Kicks, laughing as she noted: ‘It was weirdly, a total tonal match.
‘It was kind of heartbreak initially, and then it actually forced us to be really creative and I quickly understood the things that you can’t put in.
‘Hip hop was out, Motown, out, Rolling Stones, out. But it made us find even better [songs] and make unusual decisions.’
The groovy soundtrack also features original covers from artist Self Esteem, who lends her voice to several tracks throughout the seven-parter.
This includes a rendition of Fine Young Cannibal’s song, She Drives Me Crazy, which was included in the trailer.
Everything I Know About Love can be streamed in full on BBC iPlayer now.
