1. It’s Time The Tale Were Told

For nearly four decades, one question has followed The Smiths: why won't they get back together? Steve Lamacq and Elizabeth Alker set out to find answers, starting at the very beginning.

Before the anthems and the adulation, there was a restless, isolated teenager from Stretford who haunted Factory Records gigs with a notepad, lost himself in Oscar Wilde and kitchen sink cinema, and harboured one apparently impossible ambition: becoming a pop star.

Almost everyone who knew him thought it was a fantasy. Drawing on archive interviews with Morrissey himself, Steve and Elizabeth tell the story of the man before the myth.

If you're enjoying this series of The Rise & Fall podcast, there are loads of other gripping music stories to immerse yourself in, focusing on Britpop, Madchester, Indie Sleaze, Sex Pistols and Oasis. Just search 'rise and fall' in BBC Sounds, or wherever you get your podcasts.

A Tempo+Talker production for BBC Sounds. Produced by Tom Pooley with original music and sound design by Coach Conrad.