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Top of the Pops

Why is Top of the Pops only good enough for once a year?

Published December 30, 2013

Why is Top of the Pops only good enough for once a year?

This year, I was quite excited to see the Top of the Pops Christmas special, because it suddenly occurred to me that I hadn’t seen much, if any, of the TOTP brand through the year. I used to watch the 1970s editions that were showing on BBC Four but soon bored of that. I remember last year, there was a festive edition on both Christmas Day and New Year’s, and although there were some acts who couldn’t even be bothered to change between programmes, it was still brilliant.

The good and the bad of the 1970s

Published August 1, 2011

The good and the bad of the 1970s

What I love about the repeats of Top of the Pops on BBC Four is seeing the 1970s for all the good and bad of music, fashion, and taste. Rather than the golden era montages, where the best and the iconic are selected for a rose-tinted package, this is full repeats of TOTP programmes that were running in 1976. It’s incredible. Noel Edmonds pretends to be a cameraman! There are Pans People, or Legs & Co, or whatever it is they are called this week!

Seen you somewhere before

Published January 2, 2009

Seen you somewhere before

I’m all for the return of Top of the Pops and TOTP2, and I don’t really think they should have disappeared in the first place. There are very few decent music programs on TV as it is, I’m pretty sure the Beeb could have adapted Top of the Pops to remain mainstream if they’d really wanted to. Of course, they didn’t, and then they announced it wouldn’t even be back for a Christmas special.