"The idea for the documentary was to follow the build up to the 5th Anniversary Gala performance of Mamma Mia! as the four original members of ABBA prepared to attend the show, marking the first time all four members of the group appeared on stage together since their split in the early 1980s. The suspense builds as it is unknown whether Agnetha, with her fear of flying would be able to attend."

The 5th Anniversary of Mamma Mia! coincided with ABBA's 30th Anniversary of their Eurovision win.  Waiting in the crowds outside the Prince Edward Theatre, no-one knew who was attending.  It was a safe bet that Benny and Björn would be there but it was wonderful to see Frida arriving.  As we now know, Agnetha did not attend - it turns out she was busy with her solo album release, My Colouring Book.  (It was a scenario that would be repeated in 2013 with the opening of ABBA The Museum - Benny, Björn and Frida attended but Agnetha would once again not take part due to her own solo project - this time her solo album A).

This documentary was produced by Iambic Productions, the same company that put together the 1999 special The Winner Takes It All - The ABBA Story.

The TV broadcast time of the documentary was 72 minutes (due to commercial breaks) although the running time of the programme on the DVD release is 90 minutes. Pete Waterman narrated the programme as well as providing comments and there were "sound-bites" from Benny, Björn, Agnetha and Frida - taken either from from their interviews for the 1999 documentary, The Winner Takes It All - The ABBA Story or newly-recorded especially for this programme.  The 1999 "soundbites" were cleverly woven through the narrative and if you didn't know where they originally came from, you wouldn't be able to tell.  Also providing occasional comments - although I think they're from 1999 - were Michael B. Tretow and Owe Sandström.

The programme included plenty of PROMO video clips, some TV clips and some solo clips to tell the ABBA story in the build-up to the finale of the programme ie. at the 5th Anniversary Gala of Mamma Mia!.

The new footage of each of them was:

1. Björn leaving his home in Djursholm, outside Stockholm and travelling to the airport, on the plane to London and then travelling to the Covent Garden Hotel in London.  It was in the car to London where his interview mostly takes place.  You also saw him arriving at the TV Studios and preparing for his TV interview with Andrew Castle on GMTV.  Björn then was checking the sound at the Prince Edward Theatre.
2. Benny arriving at the Covent Garden Hotel, getting in the lift, looking out of the window of his room, arriving at the Prince Edward Theatre and talking musical arrangements with Martin Koch. His main interview took place in his hotel room.
3. Frida arriving at the Covent Garden Hotel, getting in the lift, selecting an outfit for the evening (and showing she had her Waterloo outfit!). Her main interview was probably filmed in her hotel room the day after the 5th Anniversary celebrations because she refers to the fans and being on stage.
4. The "new" footage of Agnetha was filmed, but not broadcast, for The Winner Takes It All - The ABBA Story in the grounds of Drottningholm Palace. Other, seemingly new, footage of Agnetha came from her own programme Agnetha filmed around the same time as the Mamma Mia! 5th Anniversary celebrations.

Benny, Björn and Frida were also seen preparing to leave the hotel for the theatre and then walking the red carpet at the Prince Edward Theatre, then at the end of the performance of Mamma Mia! preparing to go on stage and finally on stage where Frida lost her shoe!  The three of them were then presented with an award from Universal Music by Pete Waterman.

Björn and Frida were seen exchanging words backstage in Swedish. Björn said, "To see it now - it's so strange". Frida: "Yes, it's strange, but it's incredibly nice".  Frida sang along to Dancing Queen.

Exclusive to the DVD release were interviews with Björn and Frida. These were just answering questions which were sometimes used as voice-overs/"sound-bites" in the main programme. The DVD release also included the entire finale of the Gala performance of Mamma Mia! where Benny, Björn and Frida appeared together on stage.

Broadcast information:
Tuesday 21 September 2004, 21:00-22:30, ITV1, UK (viewing audience of 7 million)
Tuesday 21 September 2004, 19:30 (ESt), Bravo!, Canada 
Friday 24 September 2004, 20:30, Channel 7, Australia
Wednesday 2 December 2004, NDR, Germany
Monday 20 December 2004, ITV2, UK
Monday 27 December 2004, BR, Germany
Saturday 1 January 2005, RTL4, The Netherlands
Sunday 16 January 2005, 16:00, Ovation: The Arts Network, USA
Wednesday 19 January 2005, 22:30, Ovation: The Arts Network, USA
Thursday 20 January 2005, 02:30, Ovation: The Arts Network, USA
Saturday 22 January 2005, 20:00, Ovation: The Arts Network, USA
Sunday 23 January 2005, 12:00, Ovation: The Arts Network, USA
Tuesday 25 January 2005, 20:00, Ovation: The Arts Network, USA
Sunday 13 March 2005, 13:00, Ovation: The Arts Network, USA
Friday 25 March 2005 (as ABBA 30 vuotta (ABBA 30 years), SubTV, Finland
Monday 28 March 2005, 22:00 (EST), Ovation: The Arts Network, USA
Wednesday 6 April 2005, EinsFestival, Germany
Thursday 12 May 2005, 21:00, SVT1, Sweden
Thursday 14 May 2005, 15:45, SVT1, Sweden
Sunday 29 May 2005, 20:00, TV Zulu, Denmark 
June 2005, Paris Première, France
Sunday 5 June 2005, 20:00, PBS, USA
Wednesday 22 June 2005, 20:30, WUHT, USA
Saturday 25 June 2005, 13:00, WGBX, USA
Tuesday 28 June 2005, 23.00,  Sky Sat Channel 109, Italy
Thursday 4 August 2005, 22:00 (EST), PBS, USA
Thursday  11 Aug 2005 at 12:30, PBS13, USA
Saturday 27 August 2005 (billed as ABBA - The Reunion), 21:20, ITV1, UK
Sunday 4 December 2005, KCTS, USA
Saturday 10 December 2005, KSPS, USA
Monday 26 December 2005, RTL4, The Netherlands
Thursday 12 January 2006, Romania
Thursday 25 May 2006, 14:30, MTV3, SubTV, Finland
Wedneday 21 June 2006, 22:00, Paris Première, France
Friday 10 November 2006, Ovation Channel, Australia
Saturday 11 November 2006, Ovation Channel, Australia
Sunday 26 November 2006, ITV1, UK
Saturday 2 December 2006, Ovation Channel, Australia
Sunday 3 December 2006, Ovation Channel, Australia
Friday 8 December 2006, Ovation: The Arts Network, USA
Friday 29 December 2006, 22:30, Ovation Channel, Australia
Saturday 30 December 2006, 10:30 and 16:30, Ovation Channel Australia 
Sunday 31 December 2006, Ovation: The Arts Network, USA
Sunday 24 June 2007, Ovation Channel Australia
Monday 25 June 2007, Ovation Channel Australia (3 times)
Monday 22 October 2007, 20:30, Ovation Channel Australia
Tuesday 23 October 2007, 02:30am, 08.30 and 12:00, Channel 7, Australia
Wednesday 21 May 2008, 20:30, Channel 7, Australia
Saturday 3 January 2009, 22:35, Germany

Release information:
Monday 20th September 2004, UK
Monday 11 October 2004, Sweden
Tuesday 26 October 2004, Canada
Monday 15 November 2004, Australia
Tuesday 25 January 2005, USA

1. Jon Lord - Frida's project of The Sun Will Shine Again was clearly already underway back in April 2004.
2. Lots of lovely ABBA fans here and here!

Thanks to ABBAMAIL (no longer online) - specifically Alex Jones, George Lewycky, Ian Cole, Graeme Read, Stephen Morris, Liesbeth Lobato, Darren Lloyd, Luke Rogers, Trijnie Dijkema, Bill Paganucci, Ron Miskoff, Pascale Ranson, Helen Middlemass, Kaarin Goodburn, Dominic "Ice" Wallis, Charlie McNab, Jan Bach, Samia Jalal, Erik Menkens and Grant Whittingham. Thanks also to Petri Kaasalainen, Sam Kentie, Michel Evers, Alessandra Crema, Magda, James O'Brien, Michaela Ciucur and Steve Mencher.
YouTube links c/o StefanieAlvarezButt
NB. The whole programme is not available on YouTube (parts 4, 5 and 6 are missing).