November 18, 2016 - 16:52 AMT
New Freddie Mercury doc to air this weekend

A new Freddie Mercury documentary is set to air this weekend, exploring Mercury’s life from the summer of 1985 at Live AID to the spring of 1987, when Mercury was diagnosed with HIV, NME said.

Titled Freddie Mercury: Who Wants to Live Forever, the documentary is described as a ‘behind-the-scenes’ look at the Queen singer, that is ‘the true story of his battle to keep his privacy against a prying tabloid press, to work despite crippling pain and to confound science and save his life.’

It will showcase the dramatisation of key scenes as well as rare archive footage and also features an exclusive interview with Mercury’s bodyguard and chauffeur Terry Giddings. It will air on Channel 5 on Nov 20th at 9pm.

Meanwhile, Mr Robot star Rami Malek has signed on to play Freddie Mercury in Queen biopic Bohemian Rapsody.

The actor recently won the ‘Best Actor’ award at this year’s Emmys for his portrayal of Elliot Alderson in Mr. Robot, beating the likes of Bob Odenkirk, Liev Schreiber and Kevin Spacey.

According to the Guardian, Bohemian Rhapsody has been in production for eight years, with Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor on board as music producers.

Earlier this year disagreements about the direction the film should take caused Sacha Baron Cohen – who was originally cast as Mercury – to walk away from the project.

Speaking to US radio host Howard Stern in March, Baron Cohen said he disagreed with May and Taylor over how much of the film should be dedicated to Mercury.