''Top of the Pops 2'' (also known as ''TOTP2'') is a
British television
Regular television broadcasts in the United Kingdom started in 1936 as a public service which was free of advertising, which followed the first demonstration of a transmitted moving image in 1926. Currently, the United Kingdom has a collection ...
music show broadcast on
BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
showing archive footage from the long-running ''
Top of the Pops
''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...
'' show, some dating back to the 1960s when the programme first aired on British television, as well as other surviving BBC programmes.
Format
From its debut in 1994, the show was narrated by
Johnnie Walker
Johnnie Walker is a brand of Scotch whisky now owned by Diageo that originated in the Scottish burgh of Kilmarnock in East Ayrshire. The brand was first established by grocer John Walker. It is the most widely distributed brand of blended ...
.
Steve Wright took over presenter duties in 1997, and hosted the show until being replaced by
Mark Radcliffe in December 2009. To date, the presenter has never appeared in-vision, but provides voice-over commentary that introduces each performance.
Originally, the show format consisted of archival footage apart from the last performance, which was usually a more recent performance or an exclusive performance recorded in the main ''Top of the Pops'' studio for ''TOTP2''. Between 1994 and 1996 the 'Top 10' singles chart and the number one single of the week would be shown.
For a period of time, the BBC ran a daily version of ''TOTP2'' in which celebrities chose their favourite archive performances. These celebrities, typically comedians, have included
Vic Reeves & Bob Mortimer,
Phill Jupitus
Phillip Christopher Jupitus (, ''né'' Swan; born 25 June 1962) is an English stand-up and improv comedian, actor, performance poet, cartoonist and podcaster. Jupitus was a team captain on all but one BBC Two-broadcast episode of music quiz ''N ...
and
Jack Dee
James Andrew Innes Dee (born 24 September 1961), known professionally as Jack Dee, is an English stand-up comedian, actor, presenter and writer known for his sarcasm, irony and deadpan humour. He wrote and starred in the sitcom ''Lead Balloon'' ...
. There has also been a number of ''TOTP2'' specials, where a "greatest hits" show dedicated to one musician or band has aired. Examples include the Bee Gees,
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
,
Shania Twain
Eilleen Regina "Shania" Twain ( , ; née Edwards; born August 28, 1965) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She has sold over 100 million records, making her the best-selling female artist in country music history and one of the best-s ...
and
Dionne Warwick
Marie Dionne Warwick (; born December 12, 1940) is an American singer, actress, and television host.
Warwick ranks among the 40 biggest U.S. hit makers between 1955 and 1999, based on her chart history on ''Billboards Hot 100 pop singles cha ...
specials which aired between 1997–2003.
Since its debut, ''TOTP2'' has also broadcast regular specials for certain theme nights or calendar events. Examples include Christmas and New Years Eve specials.
Rest
In 2004, the controller of
BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
,
Roly Keating
Roland Francis Kester Keating (born 5 August 1961) is Chief Executive of the British Library. He took up his post in September 2012.
Early life and education
Keating was born on 5 August 1961 to Donald Norman Keating and Betty Katharine Keating ...
, announced that the programme was to be "rested". The move was part of a format change for the main ''Top of the Pops'' programme, which saw it being moved from its
BBC One
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...
Friday night primetime slot to a new slot on Sunday nights on
BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
. The new format merged the ''Top of the Pops'' format of new chart performances with the ''TOTP2'' format of archival footage. This format ran until ''Top of the Pops'' cancellation in July 2006. The last showing of ''TOTP2'' before it was rested was the ''TOTP2 Christmas Special'' shown on 24 December 2005 on
BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
.
Repeats of edited episodes of ''TOTP2'' have been shown on a number of
UKTV
UKTV Media Limited, simply known as UKTV, is a British multi-channel broadcaster, which, since 2019, has been wholly owned by BBC Studios (formerly BBC Worldwide), a commercial subsidiary of the BBC. It was formed on 1 November 1992 through ...
channels from 2004 onwards, including
Dave Dave may refer to:
Film, television, and theater
* ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver
* ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the film
* Dave (TV channel), a digital television channel in the ...
, and
Yesterday.
After ''Top of the Pops''
After the cancellation of ''Top of the Pops'', ''TOTP2'' returned to BBC Two on 30 September 2006. The new show format was similar to the earlier ''TOTP2'', but also included live/original BBC performances. These episodes were produced and broadcast in the 4:3
aspect ratio like the majority of its archive material, except for the first two episodes, which were shown in the 16:9 aspect ratio to accommodate new performances. The first 50-minute special included
Nelly Furtado
Nelly Kim Furtado (; ; born December 2, 1978) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. Furtado has sold over 40 million records worldwide making her one of the most successful Canadian artists.
She first gained fame with her trip hop-inspired deb ...
,
Jamelia
'
Jamelia Niela Davis (born 11 January 1981) is an English singer, songwriter and television presenter. She has released three studio albums, each of which has reached the Top 40 in the UK, which collectively have spawned eight UK top-ten singl ...
and
Razorlight
Razorlight are an English indie rock band, formed in 2002 in London by lead singer and guitarist Johnny Borrell. Along with Borrell, the current line-up of the band is composed of founding members Björn Ågren on guitar and bassist Carl Delemo ...
, before it reverted to a 30-minute weekly format at 20:00.
The BBC planned to replace the main ''Top of the Pops'' special on Christmas Day 2008 with a special edition of ''TOTP2'', that would have included some live performances and archive footage as well as the 2008 Christmas number one UK single; these plans were later scrapped due to complaints by viewers. This led to
Simon Cowell
Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality, entrepreneur and record executive. He is the creator of ''The X Factor'' and ''Got Talent'' franchises which have been sold around the world. He has judged on t ...
asking the BBC to buy the rights to the ''Top of the Pops'' brand so he could produce a version of it for
ITV1
ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the Channel 3 public broadcast service across all of the United Kingdom except for t ...
. The BBC later refused Cowell's offer and announced that they would show ''TOTP'' on Christmas Day on
BBC One
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...
as well as the ''TOTP2'' specials on
BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
.
Final episodes
Since 2008, new sporadic ''TOTP2'' specials have aired, most notably Christmas specials, alongside repeats of episodes originally broadcast between 1997 and 2012.
On 27 June 2009, ''TOTP2'' returned unexpectedly to celebrate the life of
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...
, who had died two days earlier. This later turned out to be the last episode to be narrated by Steve Wright.
In December 2009, Mark Radcliffe took over as presenter of ''TOTP2''. On 10 May 2010, a ''TOTP2'' 80s Special aired on BBC Two. This marked the 500th edition of ''TOTP2''.
December 2013 saw the introduction of a new ''Top of the Pops'' logo, and a presentation refresh for ''TOTP2''. It also saw the return of "Whole Lotta Love" as the shows theme tune, this variant being a mix of the original and the 1998 remix version.
In recent years,
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002 has aired vintage editions of ''Top of the Pops'' – originally 35 years to the week of the original broadcast, starting with 1977 repeats shown in 2012 – with the renewed interest in the original shows earning ratings of up to a million viewers, prompting the channel to repeat editions of ''TOTP2'', such as in the aftermath of the Christmas Day 2016 death of
George Michael
George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the most significant cultural icons of the MTV generation and is one of the best-selling musici ...
. In addition, various performances from ''TOTP'' and other programmes have been repackaged as music specials by the ''TOTP2'' team, such as "Disco at the BBC", "Country at the BBC" and "Abba at the BBC". Music documentaries fronted by the likes of
Nile Rodgers
Nile Gregory Rodgers Jr. (born September 19, 1952) is an American musician, record producer and composer. The co-founder of Chic, Rodgers has written, produced, and performed on records that have sold more than 500 million albums and 75 million ...
and
Gregory Porter
Gregory Porter (born November 4, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter and actor. He has twice won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album: first in 2014 for ''Liquid Spirit'' and then again in 2017 for ''Take Me to the Alley''.
Early li ...
have also featured alongside, under the slogan "Friday night is Music Night".
In tandem with their launch of whole-episode ''TOTP'' reruns, BBC Four launched a new clip-show format, ''Top of the Pops: Big Hits''. The first programme covered the period from 1964 to 1975 (the era prior to the full-show reruns starting in 1976) and subsequent editions have compiled a selection of music from each year. Similarly to ''TOTP2'', the ''Big Hits'' programmes provide additional information over each performance in the form of onscreen captions; however, ''Big Hits'' does not have a voiceover. A Christmas show in the ''Big Hits'' format, ''Top of the Pops: Christmas Hits'' aired on BBC Four in 2016, with no Christmas ''TOTP2'' running that year.
The 2017 Christmas show was the last episode of ''TOTP2'' to be produced and broadcast, though past episodes are still repeated on
BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
and
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002 .
Controversies
In September 2014, the BBC accidentally transmitted an episode containing footage of prolific sexual abuser
Jimmy Savile
Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile (; 31 October 1926 – 29 October 2011) was an English DJ, television and radio personality who hosted BBC shows including ''Top of the Pops'' and ''Jim'll Fix It''. During his lifetime, he was well known ...
, which resulted in seven viewer complaints and a statement of apology by the BBC. The offending footage was subsequently removed from
BBC iPlayer
BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is a video on demand service from the BBC. The service is available on a wide range of devices, including mobile phones and tablets, personal computers and smart televisions. iPlayer services del ...
. The repeat run of ''Top of the Pops'' on
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002 was already omitting episodes featuring Savile and
Dave Lee Travis
David Patrick Griffin (born 25 May 1945), known professionally as Dave Lee Travis, is an English disc jockey, radio presenter and television presenter.
Travis began his broadcasting career on the pirate radio station Radio Caroline in 1965. He ...
(due to a suspended sentence), while
Jonathan King
Jonathan King (born Kenneth George King; 6 December 1944) is an English singer, songwriter and record producer. He first came to prominence in 1965 when "Everyone's Gone to the Moon", a song that he wrote and sang while still an undergraduate, ...
's reviews of the American charts were edited out of the repeats, due to his conviction.
Presentation
The original opening sequence, used between 1994 and 1998 used a 'rewind' theme to represent the show's rewound content. Paula Williams devised the concept by filming abstract objects in a studio on 16mm film with bold 'pop' colours. The sequence was edited and composited at Red Post Production on Flame.
The presentation style of ''TOTP2'' in 1994 was actually ahead of parent show,
Top of the Pops
''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...
, which didn't get a similar presentation update until 1995.
Since 1998, the presentation of ''TOTP2'' has generally followed the style of parent show,
Top of the Pops
''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...
. ''TOTP2'' used modified versions of the 1998–2002 and 2002–2003 titles during those eras of the show. However, between 2003 and 2005, an original title sequence based around the 2003
Top of the Pops
''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...
spiral logo was used alongside the original version of "Whole Lotta Love" by
CCS.
File:TOTP2 1994 logo.jpg, TOTP2 title card used from the first episode in 1994 until 1998.
File:TOTP2-1998-logo.jpg, TOTP2 title card used from 1998 to 2001.
File:TOTP2 2002 logo.jpg, TOTP2 title card used from 2002 to 2003.
File:TOTP2-2003-logo.jpg, TOTP2 title card used from 2003 to 2005.
File:TOTP2 2007 logo.jpg, TOTP2 title card used from 2006 to October 2013.
Episode guide
This is a guide to show a list of new episodes not in a particular series of ''TOTP2'', broadcast since December 2008.
References
External links
*
*
{{Top of the Pops
1994 British television series debuts
2017 British television series endings
1990s British music television series
2000s British music television series
2010s British music television series
BBC Television shows
Pop music television series
Top of the Pops
English-language television shows
British television spin-offs