History
The first show
1960s and 1970s
''Christmas Top of the Pops''
A year-end Christmas show featuring a review of the year's biggest hits was inaugurated on 24 December 1964, and has continued every year since. From 1965 onward, the special edition was broadcast on Christmas Day (although not in 1966) and from the same year, a second edition was broadcast in the days after Christmas, varying depending on the schedule, but initially regularly on 26 December. The first was shown on 26 December 1965. In 1973, there was just one show, airing on Christmas Day. In place of the traditional second show, Jimmy Savile hosted a look back at the first 10 years of ''TOTP'', broadcast on 27 December. In 1975, the first of the two shows was broadcast prior to Christmas Day, airing on 23 December, followed by the traditional Christmas Day show two days later. The 1978 Christmas Day show was disrupted due to industrial action at the BBC, requiring a change in format to the broadcast. The first show, due to be screened on 21 December, was not shown at all because BBC1 was off the air. For Christmas Day, Noel Edmonds (presenting his last ever edition of ''TOTP'') hosted the show from the 'TOTP Production Office' with clips taken from various editions of the show broadcast during the year and new studio footage performed without an audience. The format was slightly tweaked for the Christmas Day edition in 1981, with the Radio1 DJs choosing their favourite tracks of the year and the following edition on 31 December featuring the year's number1 hits. The second programme was discontinued after 1984.1980s
The year 1980 marked major production changes to ''Top of the Pops'' and a hiatus forced by industrial action. Steve Wright made his presenting debut on 7 February 1980. Towards the end of February 1980, facing a £40 million budget deficit, the BBC laid off five orchestras as part of £130 million in cuts. The budget cuts led to a Musicians' Union strike that suspended operations of all 11 BBC orchestras and performances of live music on the BBC; ''Top of the Pops'' went out of production between 29 May and 7 August 1980. During the Musicians' Union strike, BBC1 showed repeats of ''1991: 'Year Zero' revamp
From 1967, the show had become closely associated with the BBC radio station Radio 1, usually being presented by DJs from the station, and between 1988 and 1991 the programme was simulcast on the radio station in FM stereo (that is, until BBC's launch of1994–1997
By 1994, much of the 'Year Zero' revamp was quickly undone and the arrival of1997–2003
In 1997, incoming producer Chris Cowey phased out the use of celebrities and established a rotating team (similar to the 1991 revamp, although much more warmly received) of former presenters of youth music magazine ''2003: ''All New Top of the Pops''
On 28 November 2003 (three months after the appointment of Andi Peters as executive producer), the show saw one of its most radical overhauls since the ill-fated 1991 'Year Zero' revamp in what was widely reported as a make-or-break attempt to revitalise the long-running series. In a break with the previous format, the show played more up-and-coming tracks ahead of any chart success, and also featured interviews with artists and a music news feature called "24/7". Most editions of the show were now broadcast live, for the first time since 1991 (apart from a couple of editions in 1994). The launch show, which was an hour long, was notable for a performance of "2005: The beginning of the end
Figures had plummeted to below three million, prompting an announcement by the2006: Cancellation
2006–2022: After the end
The magazine and '' TOTP2'' have both survived despite the show's axing, and the Christmas editions also continue after returning to BBC One. However, the ''TOTP'' website, which the BBC had originally promised would continue, is now no longer updated, although many of the old features of the site – interviews, music news, reviews – have remained, now in the form of the Radio 1-affiliated TOTP ChartBlog accessible via the remains of the old website.Calls for its return
In October 2008, BritishBBC Four reruns
In April 2011, the BBC began to reshow ''Top of the Pops'' on Thursday nights on"Story of" Specials
Prior to the 1976 BBC reruns shown in 2011, the BBC produced a special programme, "The Story of 1976". This comprised excerpts from the 1976 programmes, interspersed with new interviews with people discussing the time period. They produced similar programmes for subsequent calendar years, each airing before or during the run of repeats from the particular year. These specials went on hiatus following "The Story of 1990" in October 2020, but returned in early 2022 as a weekly series, scheduled up to "The Story of 1999" in May 2022."Big Hits" compilation
A series of "Big Hits" compilations have been broadcast with on-screen captions about artists.In December 2016, a festive special using the format of the "Big Hits" programmes, ''Top of the Pops: Christmas Hits'' was broadcast on BBC Four, featuring a mix of Christmas music and non-festive songs which had been hits at Christmas time. This effectively replaced the annual Christmas edition of ''Christmas and New Year specials
Although the weekly ''Top of the Pops'' has been cancelled, the Christmas Specials have continued, initially hosted by Fearne Cotton andComic Relief specials
The show was given a one-off revival (of sorts) forPerformers, performances and presenters
In its extensive history, ''Top of the Pops'' has featured many artists, many of whom have appeared more than once on the show to promote many of their records.Miming
Throughout the show's history, many artists mimed to backing tracks. Early on, Musicians' Union rules required that groups re-record backing tracks with union members performing when possible. However, as ''Orchestra and backing singers
From 1966 to 1980, ''Top of the Pops'' had an in-studio orchestra conducted byMusic videos
When an artist or group was unavailable to perform in studio, ''Top of the Pops'' would show a music video in place. According to Queen (band), Queen guitarist Brian May, the groundbreaking 1975 music video for "Bohemian Rhapsody" was produced so that the band could avoid miming on TOTP since they would have looked off miming to such a complex song.Dance troupes
January to October 1964 – no dance troupes
In the era before music video, promotional videos were routinely produced for every charting single, the BBC would frequently have neither the band themselves nor alternative footage available for a song selected for the programme. In the first few months of the show in 1964, the director would just scan across the audience dancing in the absence of any other footage, but by October 1964 a decision was made to at least occasionally bring in a dance troupe with a choreographed routine to some of the tracks.November 1964 to April 1968 – The Go-Jos
An initial candidate troupe was the existing BBC TV The Beat Room, Beat Girls, but an ex-dancer from the Beat Girls, Go-Jos, Jo Cook, was eventually engaged to create a troupe, the all-female Go-Jos, with Cook as choreographer. The Go-Jos also worked outside of ''Top of the Pops'', notably for two years on the Val Doonican show – Doonican said in 1968 "I thought the Gojos were fabulous, something really new. When I got my own television series I just had to have them with me." They were initially a three-piece (Pat Hughes for the first edition only, Go-Jos, Linda Hotchkin and Go-Jos, Jane Bartlett), but their number eventually grew to six (Go-Jos, Hotchkin, Bartlett, Go-Jos, Lesley Larbey, Go-Jos, Wendy Hilhouse, Go-Jos, Barbara van der Heyde and Go-Jos, Thelma Bignell) with Cook as full-time choreographer.May to June 1968 – Go-Jos/Pan's People transition
In April 1968, a ''Top of the Pops'' choreographer, Virginia Mason, auditioned for dancers for a routine on ''Top of The Pops'' ("Simon Says (1910 Fruitgum Company song), Simon Says" by the 1910 Fruitgum Company); two of whom that were successful (Pan's People, Ruth Pearson and Pan's People, Patricia "Dee Dee" Wilde) were part of the existing six-female dance troupe, Pan's People. Like the Go-Jos, this group was also partly drawn from ex-members of the Beat Girls. Although this routine did not make it onto the programme itself, in subsequent weeks, members of Pan's People (Pan's People, Louise Clarke, Flick Colby, Felicity "Flick" Colby, Pan's People, Barbara "Babs" Lord, Pearson, Pan's People, Andrea "Andi" Rutherford and Wilde) started to appear on the programme separately to the Go-Jos. Pan's People were then selected by the BBC over the Go-Jos when they chose a group to be the resident troupe. The Go-Jos' final ''Top of the Pops'' performance was in June 1968 dancing to "Jumping Jack Flash" byJuly 1968 to April 1976 – Pan's People
As with the Go-Jos, in the first eighteen months of the Pan's People era the dancers were not a weekly fixture on the programme. However, due to group fan mail and good viewing figures, by 1970 the group was on nearly every week. Pay was not high – they were paid the minimum Equity (British trade union), Equity rate of £56 per week. One of the original Pan's People dancers, Colby, became the full-time choreographer in 1971. Colby spoke of the dancing – "They weren't Broadway-standard routines... we were definitely doing watercolours, not oil paintings."May to October 1976 – Ruby Flipper
In early 1976, the last remaining of the early members of Pan's People, Ruth Pearson announced her retirement, leaving just four members all of whom who had joined within the last four years; Pan's People, Cherry Gillespie, Pan's People, Mary Corpe, Pan's People, Lee Ward and Pan's People, Sue Menhenick. Rather than continue with this line up or add additional members, it was decided by Colby and BBC production staff to replace this group with a male and female group created for the programme, Ruby Flipper, choreographed by Colby and managed by Colby with Pearson. Lee Ward left shortly after this decision was made, reportedly saying regarding the change: "It's a big mistake. Men rush home to watch sexy ladies. They do not want to see other men." Rehearsals for this new group started in March 1976, and the group began appearing on ''Top of the Pops'' in May 1976. Whilst producers were aware of the switch to the new group, Bill Cotton, the then head of the light entertainment unit of which ''Top of the Pops'' was part, was not. This group started as a seven-piece with three men (Ruby Flipper, Gavin Trace, Ruby Flipper, Floyd Pearce and Ruby Flipper, Phil Steggles) and four women (Menhenick, Gillespie, Ruby Flipper, Patti Hammond and Ruby Flipper, Lulu Cartwright). Corpe was not invited to join the new troupe. Trace, Pearce, Steggles and Cartwright joined following open auditions, Hammond, an established dancer, was invited to join to complete the "look" following a later individual audition. Colby viewed this gender-mixed group as an opportunity to develop more physical routines including lifts, more duets and generally not have the whole group at each performance. However, by August the BBC had decided to terminate the group due to perceived unpopularity and being "...out of step with viewers". Their final appearance was in October 1976.November 1976 to October 1981 – Legs and Co
The group created to replace Ruby Flipper was Legs & Co, reverting to an all-female line-up, and once more choreographed by Colby. Three of the six in the initial line-up (Menhenick, Cartwight and Hammond) were taken from Ruby Flipper. with Legs & Co, Rosie Hetherington, Legs & Co, Gill Clarke and Legs & Co, Pauline Peters making up the six. Despite being an all-female group, on occasion one or more male dancers were brought in, notably Pearce several times. During their run, the group covered the transition from Disco to Punk, Electronic and Modern Romantic music. Notably, they danced to two Sex Pistols tracks.December 1981 to September 1983 – Zoo
By late 1981, Legs & Co (by this time Legs & Co, Anita Chellamah had replaced Peters) had become more integrated into the studio audience, rather than performing set-piece routines, as a result of the 'party atmosphere' brought in byOctober 1983 to 2006 – After Zoo
By the early 1980s, record companies were offering the BBC free promotional videos, meaning dance troupes no longer fulfilled their original purpose. Zoo's run ended in 1983, and with it the use of dance troupes on ''Top of the Pops''. After the demise of Zoo, the audience took a more active role, often dancing in more prominent areas such as behind performing acts on the back of the stage, and on podiums. However, the show also employed cheerleaders to lead the dancing.Dance Troupe chronology
* Go-Jos' first performance: 19 November 1964 – Dancing to "Baby Love" by the Supremes * Pan's People first performance (three of the dancers, independently contracted): April 1968 – Dancing to "Young Girl (song), Young Girl" by Gary Puckett & the Union Gap or "Respect (song), Respect" by Aretha Franklin * Pan's People's first performance (as the six-piece group of early 1968): 30 May 1968 – Dancing to "U.S. Male" by Elvis Presley * Go-Jos' final performance: 27 June 1968 – Dancing to "Jumping Jack Flash" byTitles and theme music
Lost episodes
Spin-offs
''Top of the Pops'' has a sister show called '' TOTP2'' which uses archive footage from as early as the late 1960s. It began on 17 September 1994. The early series were narrated by Johnnie Walker (DJ), Johnnie Walker, before Steve Wright took over as narrator. In summer 2004 BBC Two's controller, Roly Keating, announced that it was being "rested". Shortly after Dave (TV channel), UKTV G2 began showing re-edited versions of earlier programmes with re-recorded dialogue. Finally after a two-year break ''TOTP2'' returned to the BBC Two schedules for a new series on Saturday, 30 September 2006, in an evening timeslot. It was still narrated by Steve Wright and featured a mixture of performances from the ''TOTP'' archive and newly recorded performances. The first edition of this series featured new performances by Razorlight and Nelly Furtado recorded after the final episode of ''Top of the Pops''. In 2009 Mark Radcliffe (radio broadcaster), Mark Radcliffe took over as narrator. ''TOTP2'' continued to receive sporadic new episodes from this point onwards, most notably Christmas specials, until 2017 when the show ceased producing new episodes, though previous episodes are still repeated on both BBC Two and BBC Four. Aired on BBC Radio 1 between the mid-1990s and late 2001 was ''Top of the Pops: The Radio Show'' which went out every Sunday at 3 pm just before the singles chart, and was presented bySend-ups
A number of performers have sent up the format in various ways. This was often by performers who disliked the mime format of the show, as a protest against this rather than simply refusing to appear. * When Fairport Convention appeared to promote their 1969 hit "If You Gotta Go, Go Now, Si Tu Dois Partir", drummer Dave Mattacks wore a T-shirt printed "MIMING". * When the Smiths appeared on the show to perform their single "This Charming Man", lead singer Morrissey was unhappy about having to lip-sync and so held a bunch of gladioli on the stage instead of a microphone. * While performing their 1982 hit "Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)", the band Dexy's Midnight Runners were seen performing in front of a projection of the darts player with a similar sounding name (Jocky Wilson instead of soul singer Jackie Wilson). Dexy's frontman Kevin Rowland later said in an interview that the use of the Jocky Wilson picture was his idea and not a mistake by the programme makers as is sometimes stated. * Frankie Goes To Hollywood performed one of the many 1984 performances of their hit "Two Tribes" with bassist Mark O'Toole (musician), Mark O'Toole playing drums whilst drummer Ped Gill played bass. * WhenInternational versions
Europe
The ''TOTP'' format was sold to RTL Television, RTL in Germany in the 1990s, and aired on Saturday afternoons. It was very successful for a long time, with a compilation album series and magazine. However, in 2006 it was announced that the German show would be ending. The Italian version (first broadcast on Rai 2 and later on Italia 1) also ended in 2006. In February 2010 the show returned on Rai 2, and was broadcast for two seasons before being cancelled again in October 2011. The French version of the show ended by September 2006 on France 2. The short-lived Turkish version was aired on ATV (Turkish TV channel), atv in 2000. In the Netherlands, ''TopPop'' was broadcast by AVRO 1970–1988, and a version of the show continued to run on BNN (Dutch broadcaster), BNN until the end of December 2006. BBC Prime used to broadcast re-edited episodes of the BBC version, the weekend after it was transmitted in the UK. Ireland began transmitting ''Top of the Pops'' in November 1978 on RTÉ2. This was the UK version being transmitted at the same time as on BBC. The broadcasts ceased in late 1993.United States
''Top of the Pops'' had short-lived fame in the United States. In October 1987, the CBS television network decided to try an American version of the show. It was hosted by Nia Peeples and even showed performances from the BBC version of the programme (and vice versa). The show was presented on late Friday nights as part of ''The CBS Late Movie, CBS Late Night'', and lasted almost half a year. It was originally slated to be a first-run syndicated series, but it was changed when BBC Worldwide, Lionheart Television, the show's producers signed up with the network. In 2002, BBC America presented the BBC version of ''Top of the Pops'' as part of their weekend schedule. The network would get the episodes one week after they were transmitted in the UK. BBC America then tinkered with the show by cutting a few minutes out of each show and moving it to a weekday time slot. On 23 January 2006, Lou Pearlman made a deal to bring ''Top of the Pops'' back to the airwaves in the United States. It was expected to be similar to the 1987 version, but it would also utilise the Billboard (magazine), Billboard magazine music charts, most notably the Billboard Hot 100, Hot 100 chart. It was supposed to be planned for a possible 2006 or 2007 launch, but with several lawsuits against Lou and his companies (which resulted in his conviction in 2008), as well as the cancellation of the UK version, the proposed US project never went forward. On 19 August 2006, VH1 aired the UK series' final episode. The United States had its own similar series, ''American Bandstand'', which aired nationally on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from 1957 to 1987 (although it would continue in first-run syndication until 1988 and end its run on USA Network, USA in 1989). Similar series also included ''Soul Train'' (1970–2006, featuring Rhythm and blues, R&B artists), ''Club MTV'' (1986–92, featuring dance music acts; hosted by Downtown Julie Brown, an alumnus of TOTP as part of the show's last dance troupe Zoo (dance troupe), Zoo) and ''Solid Gold (TV series), Solid Gold'' (1980–88; like the early TOTP, it also used dance troupes).Canada
Canada's version was ''Electric Circus'' (1988–2003) on Much (TV channel), MuchMusic, which was also seen in the USA through Fuse (TV channel)#As MuchMusic USA, MuchMusic USA. It had a national chart (mostly of dance music and some pop) as well as live performances, and was based on a local late '70s programme in Toronto called ''CITY-DT, CITY-TV Boogie''.New Zealand
The ''Top of the Pops'' brand has also been exported to New Zealand. Although the British show has been broadcast intermittently in New Zealand, the country historically relied on music video-based shows to demonstrate its own Top 20, as the major international acts, who dominated the local charts, considered New Zealand too small and remote to visit regularly. This changed to an extent in 2002, when the New Zealand government suggested a voluntary New Zealand music quota on radio (essentially a threat that if the stations did not impose a quota themselves then one would be imposed on them). The amount of local music played on radio stations increased, as did the number of local songs in the top 20. Therefore, a new local version of ''Top of the Pops'' became feasible for the first time, and the show was commissioned by Television New Zealand. The show was executive produced by David Rose, managing director and owner of Satellite Media, and began airing in early 2004 with host Alex Behan. The hour-long show (as opposed to the 30-minute UK version) which was broadcast at 5 pm on Saturdays on TV2 (New Zealand), TV2 contained a mixture of performances recorded locally on a sound stage in the Auckland CBD, as well as performances from the international versions of the show. The New Zealand Top 20 singles and Top 10 albums charts are also featured. Alex Behan stayed as host for two years before Bede Skinner took over. Despite having a sizeable fan base, in 2006 TVNZ announced that ''Top of the Pops'' had been axed. Free-to-air music channel C4 (TV channel), C4 then picked up the UK version of ''Top of the Pops'' and aired it on Saturdays at 8 pm with a repeat screening on Thursdays. However, since the weekly UK version was axed itself, this arrangement also ended.Africa, Asia and the Middle East
An edited version of the UK show was shown on BBC Prime, the weekend after UK transmission. In addition, a licensed version was shown on the United Arab Emirates-based MBC 2 (Middle East), MBC2 television channel. This version consisted of parts of the UK version, including the Top 10 charts, as well as live performances by Arabic pop music, Arabic pop singers.Latin America
A complete version of the UK show was shown on Liv (Latin American TV channel), People+Arts, two weeks after the UK transmission. Brazilian network TV Globo aired a loosely based version of the original format in 2018, labeled as 'Só Toca Top', hosted by singer Luan Santana and actress Fernanda Souza.Compilation albums
A number of compilation albums using the ''Top of the Pops'' brand have been issued over the years. The first one to reach the charts was ''BBC TV's The Best of Top of the Pops'' on the Super Beeb record label in 1975, which reached number 21 and in 1986 the BBC released ''The Wizard'' by Paul Hardcastle (the 1986–1990 Top of The Pops theme tune) on Vinyl under the BBC Records and Tapes banner. Starting in 1968 and carrying on through the 1970s a rival series of ''Top of the Pops (record series), Top of the Pops'' albums were produced, however these had no connection with the television series except for its name. They were a series of budget cover version, cover albums of current chart hits recorded by anonymous session singers and musicians released on the Hallmark record label. They had initially reached the charts but were later disallowed due to a change in the criteria for entering the charts. These albums continued to be produced until the early 1980s, when the advent of compilation albums featuring the original versions of hits, such as the ''Now That's What I Call Music!'' series, led to a steep decline in their popularity. In the 1990s, the BBC ''Top of the Pops'' brand was again licensed for use in a tie-in compilation series. Starting in 1995 with Sony Music Entertainment, Sony Music's Columbia Records label, these double disc collections moved to the special marketing arm of PolyGram / Universal Music Group TV, before becoming a sister brand of the ''Now That's What I Call Music!'' range in the EMI / Virgin Records, Virgin / Universal joint venture. Similarly to the roles of ''Top of the Pops'' on BBC One and BBC Two in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the compilation albums range featured current hits for the main series and classic hits (such as '70s Rock) for the "Top of the Pops 2" spin-offs. The ''Top of the Pops'' brand has now been licensed by EMI who released a compilation series in 2007–08, with one CD for each year that ''Top of the Pops'' was running. The boxset for the entire series of 43 discs was released 7July 2008. A podcast supporting the release of the boxset featuring interviews withNumber One in the Compilation Charts
These albums in the series reached No. 1: * Top of the Pops 1 (Columbia Records, 1995) * Top of the Pops '99 – Volume 2 (Universal Music TV, 1999) * Top of the Pops 2000 – Volume Two (BBC Music / Universal Music TV, 2000)''Top of the Pops'' magazine
Top of the Pops (magazine), ''Top of the Pops'' magazine has been running since February 1995, and filled the void in the BBC magazine portfolio where Number One (magazine), ''Number One'' magazine used to be. It began much in the mould of Q (magazine), ''Q'' magazine, then changed its editorial policy to directly compete with popular teen celebrity magazines such as ''Smash Hits'' and ''Big'', with free sticker giveaways replacing Brett Anderson covers. A July 1996 feature on theIn popular culture
* The Number 6 track of the Kinks' 1970 eighth studio album ''Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One'' is called "Top of the Pops" and narrates the path to stardom by reaching Number1 in the music charts. * Benny Hill did a parody of ''Top of the Pops'' in January 1971 called "Top of the Tops". It featured satires of many music acts at the time as well as impersonations and spoofed versions of bothLicensing
In May 2006, following a special Red Hot Chili Peppers concert recorded in the car park ofDVDs
In 2004 there was a DVD released called ''Top of the Pops 40th Anniversary 1964–2004 DVD''. It features live performances, containing one song for each year, except 1966. (Two tracks from 1965 are featured instead). Also included as extras are seven opening titles, most notably the one with the flying coloured LP record, LP's from 1981. This title sequence had Phil Lynott's song "Yellow Pearl (song), Yellow Pearl" as the theme. The 1986 and 1989 titles are also featured, with Paul Hardcastle's hit "The Wizard" as the theme. This DVD was to celebrate 40 years since the show started. There was also a DVD quiz released in 2007 called ''The Essential Music Quiz''. There was also a DVD in 2001 called ''Summer 2001'', a sister DVD to the album of the same name.See also
* ''Alright Now (TV series), Alright Now'' * ''The Old Grey Whistle Test'' * ''Ready Steady Go!'' * Revolver (TV series), ''Revolver'' (TV series) * ''Top of the Box'' * The Tube (TV series), ''The Tube'' (TV series)References
Further reading
* Blacknell, Steve. ''The Story of Top of the Pops''. Wellingborough, Northants: Patrick Stephens, 1985 * Gittens, Ian. ''Top Of The Pops: Mishaps, Miming and Music: True Adventures of TV's No.1 Pop Show''. London: BBC, 2007 * Seaton, Pete with Richard Down. ''The Kaleidoscope British Television Music & Variety Guide II: Top Pop: 1964–2006''. Dudley: Kaleidoscope Publishing, 2007 * Simpson, Jeff. ''Top of the Pops: 1964–2002: it's still number one, its Top of the Pops!'' London: BBC, 2002External links
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