Top of the Pops AXED

TOTP would have survived if....

1. shown on BBC1 Sundays at 615pm with a "live" peformance of the no.1 single just before 7pm (same time as Radio 1's Chart show airing of the No.1 single)

2. keep the mix of music and Radio 1 DJ's presenting the show - the intpduction of non-DJ's such as the plonker from Top Gear sent the music show down hill

3. Keep it simple - music, chart and less chat - keep it seperate from TOTP2 which is aimed at a different audience.

Andi Peters tried to rejuvinate the show in his own style - but it failed miserably. He forgot that TOTP was different from The O-Zone and TOTP should never have tried to copy that format. He made the show fail. Andi Peters has since paid the ultimate price - become an ITV presenter


On another note, cdukjunkie, I feel that the new music show on ITV1 could succeed , especially with Indie music, as Indie music has been around from a hell of a long time - it was my favourite chart on The Chart Show, many years ago!!!!!!!!

I don't know why ITV got rid of The Chart Show. It was the perfect music format. It's not got presenters to rely on, it had the rotation of charts (meaning all genres were shown). It was the best music format.

And another one goes.

Andi Peters and the 2003 relaunch killed TOTP in my opinion but saying that music has moved on. It always died going against Corrie on Friday nights anyway.

I take it, this means the end to TOTP2 with Steve Wright - thats if it hasn't been axed already. I know its now usually only on for special occasions such as Christmas, Footie anthems etc.

Anyway, it would be nice - although it probably won't happen - to bring back all the old Radio 1 presenters for the final programme such as Tony Blackburn, Edmonds(he won't turn up), Jimmy Saville, DLT, Mike Read etc.

Great that you like your indie, but it's a fact - indie music is the trend doing the rounds at the moment. Most people I know who like it now would never have touched it with a bargepole a year ago (and probably would have critisised the ones who did like it!) It might not be gone in a few months, it might be a few years, but it will die out and come back at a later stage - just like every form of music. Something will replace it at some point, and when that comes ITV's new music show will be in the dumps. Dedicating a Saturday morning show to one genre of music is not a good idea, but why should I care? ITV can have their Indie and cookery - ah, that's an idea, Anthony Worrell Thompson introducing the Artic Monkey's

I agree though that TOTP should have kept the Radio 1 DJs on - we could have had far more room to develop comedy into the show now if the likes of Moyles was on air every week.

And nok32uk, interesting quote from Edmonds about the demise of TOTP today:

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."

Maybe he will be back for one last show?

Thats sorted then. Unique Productions will buy the rights to TOTP.

There's one edition I shall miss - Christmas Day, 2pm... an institution just like Her Madge at 3...

I'd say Smile TV probably holds that dubious honour.

I always thought that this is what they should have done with TOTP in the face of 24/7 music channels... why offer more of the same? Make it into a music session rather than a run-of-the-mill pop concert and you've got yourself some interesting (and exclusive) content to air.

Bozz

Shame about that as I quite liked it running in the Sunday 7pm timeslot - I didn't really watch it that often until then .I do agree that the show needed to change quite radically , and I thought a good idea for this would be to do more of the live gigs outside Broadcasting House [license permitting!!] - .I feel they ought to feature more of a mix of unsigned bands and classic songs down the years.Hope they bring back TOTP2 at the very least.

Agreed , a format that was about 7 years past sell-by date.

Must agree with most of the comments so far - it is a shame to see TOTP axed but it has been an inevitability, the show has been in terminal decline since the 1980s.

Also, the show had improved after Andi Peters "left" his role as "Executive Editor of Music" and the show moved to a Sunday slot.

I suppose it goes hand in hand with the decline in interest in the charts really.

Interesting to note how some of its previous presenters (DLT, Tony Blackburn) have supported the BBC's decision while others (Noel Edmonds, Sir Jimmy Savile) have so far spoken out against it.

This will only leave Later with Jools Holland and a revived CD:UK as the only dedicated music performance shows on live TV (as opposed to Popworld/T4 which also have chat and other segments).

Hi All

As a TOTP audience old timer (43 editions attended between April 1988 through until January 2004) I must say, whilst being very sad news, it is not really totally unexpected. The show has been in decline for many years - I spoke to the BBC today about the show and apparently since moving to BBC2 it hasn't even featured in the Top 30 BBC2 shows at all - now it's just barely scraping one million.

You might be interested to read an article concerning an interview I gave to BBC News online today - it can be found here:-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5103032.stm

Regards

Paul

I firmly believe the BBC missed a trick not tying Top of the Pops into BBC Radio 1. While TOTP has been going downhill over the past few years, Radio 1 has pretty much been doing the opposite - it used to be a bit ropey, yet managed to claw itself back and establish a wide, loyal audience. Radio 1 has managed to build a really strong following, and tapped into the power of word-by-mouth promotion. I reckon TOTP could have achieved a similar thing if it had established itself as a TV "extension" of Radio 1.

No?