The Mersey Sound was a sociological documentary made by BBC television producer, Don Haworth, aiming to capture the essence of the 'Mersey Beat' boom. Filming of the Beatles for the show took place in August, 1963. The working title of the documentary was The Beatles which was later changed to reflect the more general nature of the show. The show was broadcast in London and the North on 9 October and then nationally on 13 November. An extract from the film was later shown on The Jack Parr Show on NBC in the U.S. on 3 January, 1964. This clip served as the Beatles' television debut in the U.S. prior to their historic appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show on 9 February, 1964, with Parr commenting afterwards It's nice to know that England has finally risen to our cultural level...
At least two other prints of this film are known to be in existence, one was requested by the then Lord Mayor of Liverpool for preservation in the Liverpool City Archives and another was requested for the National Film Archive.