Chicago's NPR News Source

'Yesterday' Imagines A World Without The Beatles

Pop Culture Happy Hour : 'Yesterday' Imagines A World Without The Beatles Image

Ellie (Lily James) and Jack Malik (Himesh Patel) in Yesterday, the latest film from Danny Boyle.

Jonathan Prime/Universal Pictures

In Yesterday, Himesh Patel plays Jack Malik, an English singer whose career is going nowhere. His parents don't understand him, but he's got the support of his friends — especially Ellie, his manager, played by Lily James. One night, Jack gets hit by a bus at the precise moment of a worldwide power outage. When he wakes up, he learns that he's in a world where the Beatles never existed. So he starts playing their songs — the world soon hears them for the first time, and Jack finds his entire life upended.

More From This Show