HOW THE BEATLES ROCKED THE KREMLIN This is the extraordinary and untold story of how the Beatles punctured the Iron Curtain. Monday, November 9th at 10:00 p.m. on PBS-HD.

In August 1962, award-winning director Leslie Woodhead made a two-minute film, in Liverpool’s Cavern Club, with a raw and unrecorded group of unknown rockers — the Beatles. Twenty-five years later, while making a series of films in Russia, Woodhead learned just how powerful Beatlemania was in the Soviet Union.

Beatles dolls

Even though the Beatles never performed there, their music and rebellious style had soaked into the lives of a generation of Russian kids. This film features personal stories from members of Russia’s Beatles generation, who talk about how the Fab Four changed their lives, gave them hope and helped to undermine the foundations of the Soviet system.