Inside Wham!'s chaotic China tour as unseen footage reveals moment George Michael walked out
21 July 2026, 14:56
Long-lost footage shows the strains behind Wham!'s groundbreaking 1985 concerts, from George Michael's frustration with official events to a shocking in-flight emergency.
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For decades, the story of Wham!'s groundbreaking visit to China has been remembered as a landmark moment in pop history.
Now, previously unseen footage is lifting the lid on what really happened behind the scenes, from George Michael's growing frustration with the carefully choreographed trip to a terrifying in-flight emergency that left members of the band shaken.
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The newly restored documentary, Wham! 10 Days In China, revisits the duo's pioneering 1985 visit, when George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley became the first Western pop act to perform in Communist China.
While the concerts cemented the pair's place in music history, the film reveals the pressures, disagreements and unexpected drama that unfolded away from the stage.
Among the most alarming moments recalled is an incident during an internal flight across China when one of Wham!'s trumpet players suffered a breakdown, stabbed himself in the stomach and attempted to force his way into the cockpit.
Backing singer Shirlie Kemp remembers the terrifying experience vividly. "It was one of the most scary experiences of my life," she says in the documentary, recalling how she was left covered in her bandmate's blood.
The 90-minute film also uncovers long-lost footage originally filmed by acclaimed British director Lindsay Anderson.
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Although Anderson was brought in to document the historic tour, his vision differed dramatically from that of the band.
George and Andrew had hoped for a polished concert film, while Anderson wanted to explore China's political and cultural transformation as it slowly opened to the West.
The creative clash meant the documentary was shelved, with the footage remaining unseen for decades.
For George, the tour represented a rare opportunity to achieve something no other pop group had done before.
"It was historic," the late singer says in archive interviews featured in the film. "There were only a few things that you can do as a pop band that haven't been done before.
"It was a great privilege being the first people to play real Western pop music to those people.
"I wouldn't have missed it for anything. It's just that it was a pretty hard couple of weeks."
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While the concerts in Beijing and Guangzhou made headlines around the world, the band also found themselves taking part in an endless schedule of official receptions, state events and diplomatic engagements organised by the Chinese authorities.
Andrew admits he struggled with the carefully managed nature of the visit. "Wham! In China... I was cynical. Untried. Untested. Risky," he says.
"I didn't really like it. Landing in China, I felt we were there on false pretences. It was a circus."
Andrew explains the promotional appearances became exhausting, adding: "Being dragged around to contrived scenes was not something either of us was particularly comfortable with."
George's patience eventually wore thin. Newly unearthed footage shows him joking his way through formal events before quietly rebelling.
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During a State Dinner, after the pair were presented with an elaborate tapestry, George whispered to camera: "It's a bath mat. We will cut it down the middle. My mum can have one half and Andrew's mum can have the other half."
On another occasion, he became so frustrated that he walked out halfway through signing cassettes for fans, leaving Andrew to explain his disappearance."
"He’s left me in the lurch before," Andrew jokes in the footage, adding: "Once bitten, twice aware — or twice as aware."
Speaking at a special screening at Soho House in London, Andrew also looked back on his own behaviour during the tour with characteristic honesty.
"Frankly, I behaved like a bit of a t**t, honestly," he told The Sun. "We knew the game. We knew what was at stake. We knew how to behave and how not to — but I just chose not to."
Watch the trailer for Wham! 10 Days In China:
WHAM! 10 Days In China - In Cinemas Worldwide July 28
Despite the frustrations, the ambitious trip achieved exactly what Wham!'s manager Simon Napier-Bell had hoped.
The concerts generated worldwide publicity and helped propel the duo into the American market without the lengthy US tour George wanted to avoid, partly because he was unknowingly suffering from vocal cord polyps.
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Wham! would split just a year later in 1986, but Andrew believes the lasting impact of the China concerts extends far beyond record sales.
Reflecting on his lifelong friendship with George, who died on Christmas Day 2016, Andrew says some of the documentary's most emotional moments are simply the pair bickering in the back of a car.
"They are the ones where you can see the essence of real friendship," he says. "They are the things I miss."
He also believes George would have been most proud of the legacy the performances left in China.
"I think George would feel very much the same way as I," Andrew says. "The legacy that exists for the Chinese people who were at the show is the most meaningful and substantial of all the legacies."
Wham! 10 Days In China arrives in cinemas on July 28 before airing on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer in August.
