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Normally they do so by
virtue of a simple format that nobody can think of a
better way of doing - children's magazines, sports programmes
and so on. The same is very true of TOP OF THE POPS.
The idea of representing what was in the charts that
week is such a strong format that everybody under the
age of 60 must have seen at least one episode.
Top Of The Pops was by no means the first
pop programme on TV, but the format remains so obvious
that one almost cannot believe that nobody had thought
of it until 1964. However, it was quite revolutionary
for its time - the Radio Times article launching the
series announced that the performers who's songs are
popular and are in the charts will be represented. They
will then mime to their discs. This is a departure from
standard BBC policy, but the idea is to replicate the
sound of the popular track. No two performances are the
same, but this performance is the one that made it a
hit. So basically it was records on telly - and popular
ones at that.
The show was such a hit
with the acts and their managers themselves that for
one of the first shows, Beatles manager Brian Epstein
contacted the then head of BBC Light Entertainment -
Bill Cotton to ask him if he would play a Beatles record
on the show. Bill replied saying that he would provided
The Beatles showed up at the studio.
Brian Epstein remarked to Bill - could you imagine what
would happen if The Beatles showed up at Dickenson Road,
there'd be a riot, to which Bill replied - I KNOW!
By 1967 the closure of this
studio in Manchester (another shortly opened in Piccadilly)
and the increasingly difficult part of getting all the
acts to Manchester (as most were by now based in London),
it was decided that the show now be broadcast from London.
If it had continued in the
UK in its original format and on Thursday evenings but
just brought up to date, it would most likely still have
keep pretty good viewing figures.
It the late 90's however
the show was tinkered with and became not a patch on
its former self that viewing figures slumped. Moving
it from Thursdays to Fridays and pitching the time slot
opposite a massively viewed soap opera it just didn't
stand a chance. In fact in my opinion is that this was
done as a way of axing the show discreetly. When changed
to Sundays on BBC2 this was the final death knell for
the show.
One of the reasons the show
lasted 42 years is undoubtedly the rules that original
producer Johnnie Stewart devised for the programme. |
