50 years ago, on 16 April, 1973, Paul McCartney's television special, James Paul McCartney, premiered on the ABC network in the US (and later in the UK, on 10 May). A mixture of staged segments, live shows, promo videos and documentary footage, it was savaged by critics. That idea that we all have of Paul "Thumbs aloft!" McCartney – Macca the light-entertainer, squeaky clean and too-eager to please? There's a good chance it all started right here.
Back in 1973, McCartney had put the Beatles behind him, retreated to the country and started a family. He didn't ask to make a TV special – he was blackmailed into it. TV tycoon Lew Grade owned a stake in McCartney’s publishing company Northern Songs and had an axe to grind: From 1971, Macca had been adding his wife Linda as a co-writer on his songs and this angered Grade. Linda’s credit meant that he wasn’t making as much money as he would have likes. Legal action was threatened and the solution was a TV special on ATV.
