What happened to TOTP?

[Moonraker]

Why did Top Of The Pops stop airing on bbc.
Admirably, I stopped watching the show in the late 90s.
Certainly music is not like it use to be in the 70s and 80s.
There has been a so called revival I watched on bbc1 'Sounds Like Friday Night.' won't be watching that again!

[darren]

Re: What happened to TOTP?

DATE OF ARTICLE TUE JUNE 20TH 2006.


The BBC's flagship pop music programme Top of the Pops has been cancelled after 42 years, the BBC has announced."The time has come to bring the show to its natural conclusion," said the BBC's director of television Jana Bennett.
In a statement, the BBC said the weekly programme could no longer compete with 24-hour music channels.
Top of the Pops was first broadcast in 1964, from a converted church in Manchester. The final edition will be shown on 30 July.

The pop programme was only commissioned for six episodes when it began in 1964.
But it proved so popular that it won a weekly slot and has been broadcast by the BBC ever since, celebrating its 2,000th show in 2002.

HAVE YOUR

The very first show was presented by BBC Radio 1 DJ Jimmy Savile and the first artists to appear were the Rolling Stones, who sang I Wanna Be Your Man.Many Radio 1 presenters hosted the show over the years, including Dave Lee Travis and Noel Edmonds.

The current presenter is Fearne Cotton.
Jimmy Savile said he was "not at all" sad about the news and "not surprised in the slightest".
"In those days you would have to wait until Thursday night to get your fix and you don't need to do that anymore," he said.
"Top of the Pops has been overrun by video of music on TV."


Although it has had numerous face-lifts in its 42-year history, Top of the Pops has always featured the chart rundown, culminating in the number one single ofIn the days before music videos, dancers would perform to songs by artists who couldn't make it to the studio.


Although the Go-Jos were the first dancing troupe to feature on the programme, the best-remembered dancers were Pan's People.
They made their Top Of The Pops debut in 1968 dancing to Tommy James And The Shondells' hit Mony Mony, and stayed for nearly a decade.
In its 1970's heyday, the show attracted audiences of 15 million, but by 2002 the figure had dropped to just 3 million.


It was relaunched in 2003 with former presenter Andi Peters in charge, but it failed to attract new viewers and was moved to BBC Two the following year.
"The team did a sterling job in revitalising the format for our audience," said BBC Two controller Roly Keating, "but we all recognise that the time has come to move on."

Mike Read, who was a presenter in the 1980s, said: "It was a situation that was obviously coming because of dwindling audiences.



"There are lots of people who say `I used to watch it years ago but I don't like the music'. There needed to be a mix of old and new."
In a statement, the BBC stressed its commitment to other music shows, sucH as Jools Holland's Later programme and the BBC Four Sessions.
Noel Edmonds said he thought it was "dangerous" to "throw out one of the most recognised brands in TV today".
"It's a huge commodity and kids are still listening to music, even if they are downloading it.
"It's a tragedy when a broadcaster doesn't understand such a powerful brand."


The Top of the Pops spin-off show, TOTP2, will also make irregular appearances, incorporating archive footage from the series and occasional new performances.

[George 1978]

Re: What happened to TOTP?

At least TOTP has had a Christmas edition just before the Queen on Christmas Day right up until last year, as well as a special between Christmas and New Year.

I was actually wondering whether a Christmas special of this programme would be replacing it, as it is very similar to TOTP. Probably have to wait and see the Christmas schedules to find out.

[Richard1978]

Re: What happened to TOTP?

At least TOTP has had a Christmas edition just before the Queen on Christmas Day right up until last year, as well as a special between Christmas and New Year.

I was actually wondering whether a Christmas special of this programme would be replacing it, as it is very similar to TOTP. Probably have to wait and see the Christmas schedules to find out.

It will be interesting to see if there's an Xmas edition of Sounds Like Friday Night, with less talky parts & maybe some more older artists on it's got's the potential to do well.

[Moonraker]

Re: What happened to TOTP?

Thanks Darren, intetesting article.

[marc]

Re: What happened to TOTP?

Thanks Darren, intetesting article.

I was just going to say that!!!

The sad part, due to various scandals, there are many groups that appeared on TOTP that will no longer be shown to the public.Many of us who watched it the first time around, will now be denied a chance to see a group we remember fondly.

[Zincubus]

Re: What happened to TOTP?

I was just going to say that!!!

The sad part, due to various scandals, there are many groups that appeared on TOTP that will no longer be shown to the public.Many of us who watched it the first time around, will now be denied a chance to see a group we remember fondly.

I presumed you meant the dodgy presenters when I read scandal !!


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[Moonraker]

Re: What happened to TOTP?

They can still air TOTP without the relevant presenter. An example is the excellent show TOTP2.

[Richard1978]

Re: What happened to TOTP?

They can still air TOTP without the relevant presenter. An example is the excellent show TOTP2.

Also the TOTP repeats on BBC4, they just skip over the problematic editions.

[George 1978]

Re: What happened to TOTP?

It will be interesting to see if there's an Xmas edition of Sounds Like Friday Night, with less talky parts & maybe some more older artists on it's got's the potential to do well.

Mind you, Christmas Day is on a Monday this year (that's 2017 to anyone reading this a few years later), and as the TOTP slot is in the afternoon before the Queen, it would need a different name.

[George 1978]

Re: What happened to TOTP?

They can still air TOTP without the relevant presenter. An example is the excellent show TOTP2.

Pity they couldn't have aired TOTP2 without Steve Wright's voiceover.

[stud1al]

Re: What happened to TOTP?

Anybody have any episodes from the early 70s? I've been collecting but can't seem to find any more .

[zabadak]

Re: What happened to TOTP?

All your TOTP queries can be resolved here

[Twocky61]

Re: What happened to TOTP?

I always preferred Old Grey Whistle Test to Top of the Pops; also John Peel on his radio show where he played tapes from those bands who were unsigned

[George 1978]

Re: What happened to TOTP?

Anybody have any episodes from the early 70s? I've been collecting but can't seem to find any more .

I don't think that many episodes exist officially, and even then, they would have had various acts and presenters edited out for all the obvious reasons.