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 Salford, 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.

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.

In its 1970s heyday, the show attracted audiences of 15 million, but by 2002 the figure had dropped to just 3 million.

The show 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.

I remember standing in our living room with the Daily Express in 1973 (so I was 7) and asking my mum, "What's this Top of the Pops programme?". Been hooked on pop ever since. Even though I haven't watched it for years, it seems like the end of an era.

Yes, I too have good memories of TOTPs. Can anyone remember pans people and Hot Gossip? :hihi:
It is a shame that it is ending but it has run it's course. I too haven't watched it for years as I don't follow the charts anymore.

I don't think it's run its course, I just think the BBC don't know how to handle and market it - much like Tomorrow's World and Top Gear a few years ago.

i think its died cos they kept changing day and time it was on! no one ever remembered it was on on a sunday night! and mixing in totp 2 to hide the fact groups no longer wanted to go on....!


sorry but i wont miss it (a few years ago, yeh, when it was still on thursdays, but now, no thanks!)

:(

I think it ran its course years ago. It was at it's best in the 70's with the glam rock and disco. I still enjoy TOTP2. Oh Ally68 it was Pans People and Legs and Co (for a short time Ruby Flipper) Hot Gossip featured on the Kenny Everrett show.

I think it ran its course years ago. It was at it's best in the 70's with the glam rock and disco. I still enjoy TOTP2. Oh Ally68 it was Pans People and Legs and Co (for a short time Ruby Flipper) Hot Gossip featured on the Kenny Everrett show.


oops, really? :hihi:

ps. who's ruby flipper?

well that's another childhood ambition I'll never achieve.
Didn't everyone who grew up in the 70s and 80s dream of appearing on TOTP?

It has died as another example of the BBC failing to get rid of producers with no vision.
It got stuck in a rut as regards its format while the world changed around it.

It has been shunted around to different slots and channels to move the goalposts and provide an excuse to ditch it without blame.

As a brand it is incredibly valuable and would be worth someone snapping up.

I blame the Arctic Numpties.

I'll miss my weekly dose of Ferne Cotton.:(

I blame the shayt noise that passes for modern music.

Even scantily-clad girls vigourously shaking their, ahem, assets aren't enough to appeal to the Lowest Common Denominator and save TOTP (... so I've been told)

Seriously, TOTP was great in the mid-80s, 'cos the music was.

Then those girly-boys Bros entered the charts in the late 1980s, and music has been paying a high price for their success ever since :nono:

It's astounding the antics of the BBC.

They should have kept it on BBC 2 on Fridays rather than shunting it to Sunday evenings. They insist on chasing ratings rather than the greater good of the public service they are supposed to provide.

It's another nail in the coffin. Time the BBC was scrapped.

Not to mention it could actually cost Britain a lot more culturally by their decision to scrap TOTP.

They say it can't compete with 24 hour rolling music channels but they don't show filmed performances of acts, acts that have come to the UK mainly because of TOTP as it's shown in many other euro nations.

Very often their only promotion stop in europe is to the UK. With no TOTP what's the point? they won't bother which is harmful.

and it takes away the prestige that can't be bought for Britain with the dozens of nations that show TOTP, because the worlds top bands chose Britain to come to to perform for a tv show rather than the viewers nation... prestige which can't be bought but is costed in £billions to "brand Britain"

They have a documentary on BBC 2 at 7:30 this Friday - there's dozens of documentary channels out there, with putting it on a Sunday are they saying Songs of Praise is more deserved as there are plenty of God channels on Sky, etc etc.

Like scrapping Grandstand the toads in control at Toad Centre are out of touch, they couldn't give a damn about the loss of such a brand to Britain, they just like chasing the yankee ratings (okay that doesn't have the same effect as chasing the yankee dollar but thought i'd give it a go)

Former hosts Dave Lee Travis, Paul Gambaccini and Jimmy Savile say the axed BBC show had run its course:

BBC was 'right' to end TOTP show (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5101144.stm)

Former hosts Dave Lee Travis, Paul Gambaccini and Jimmy Savile say the axed BBC show had run its course:

BBC was 'right' to end TOTP show (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5101144.stm)


errr ....

Sir Jimmy Savile, who presented the first show from Manchester in 1964, told Radio 4's Front Row programme that the BBC had failed to update the show's format successfully.

"I understand why [it's being axed], because it started 42 years ago... and I don't think the BBC has progressed as it should have done.

i.e. he agrees that it is being axed as a result of failures in the BBC!

Really, was Top of The Pops ever any good? No, so why the sorrow over its demise?

Really, was Top of The Pops ever any good? No, so why the sorrow over its demise?

Couldn't agree more.

Also, didn't 97.2% of the acts 'mime'? :suspect:

It was never any good and it should have been cancelled years ago.