SW
The Top of the Pops repeat run on BBC4 has now been going for three and a half years and I find that remarkable. It is a totally toxic brand, up there with the News of the World and the Liberal Democrats, and the last time they tried a repeat of every episode of Doctor Who on the Beeb, a show with a far bigger fanbase and more obviously repeatable, it lasted three months. Of course, I'm absolutely delighted by this and after they showed an episode David Hamilton taped off the telly two years ago, last night they showed perhaps the most bizarre episode of the programme ever made.
That's because it was made during the BBC strike in November 1979 that also put paid to the Doctor Who story Shada and several other programmes (the Tech Ops website points out the only programme that went out as usual was an episode of Blue Peter because they were launching the appeal that day, while an episode of Crackerjack was performed but not recorded because the audience had already turned up). So while they got two episodes of Pops out, they were made up entirely of repeats and videos and the presenter did everything out of vision. Travis did one we're not seeing, but we did get to see the second episode with Peter Powell.
It really was strange, and the best bit was that BBC4 didn't even make any mention to it being anything out of the oridinary so most viewers last night must have been totally baffled as to what was going on, they must have assumed Peter was stuck in the toilet or had endured some sort of disfigurement. There was a great link where he said Legs and Co were "here", as if they were in the nuclear bunker he was clearly broadcasting from. What really tickled me, though, was the chart rundown - in black and white! Clearly they were using equipment that had last had an outing in the sixties.
The whole thing was quite bizarre and do catch it on iPlayer or the Saturday repeat if you're fascinated by the nooks and crannies of broadcasting. And no, they couldn't use this as a template for Savile and Travis episodes because every time the link is abruptly removed people will be reminded it's because of Savile and Travis. They don't have to show any of them.
That's because it was made during the BBC strike in November 1979 that also put paid to the Doctor Who story Shada and several other programmes (the Tech Ops website points out the only programme that went out as usual was an episode of Blue Peter because they were launching the appeal that day, while an episode of Crackerjack was performed but not recorded because the audience had already turned up). So while they got two episodes of Pops out, they were made up entirely of repeats and videos and the presenter did everything out of vision. Travis did one we're not seeing, but we did get to see the second episode with Peter Powell.
It really was strange, and the best bit was that BBC4 didn't even make any mention to it being anything out of the oridinary so most viewers last night must have been totally baffled as to what was going on, they must have assumed Peter was stuck in the toilet or had endured some sort of disfigurement. There was a great link where he said Legs and Co were "here", as if they were in the nuclear bunker he was clearly broadcasting from. What really tickled me, though, was the chart rundown - in black and white! Clearly they were using equipment that had last had an outing in the sixties.
The whole thing was quite bizarre and do catch it on iPlayer or the Saturday repeat if you're fascinated by the nooks and crannies of broadcasting. And no, they couldn't use this as a template for Savile and Travis episodes because every time the link is abruptly removed people will be reminded it's because of Savile and Travis. They don't have to show any of them.