Top of the Pops

Based on previous years, The Story of 1990 should have been scheduled in June, or early July.

The Story of 1988 was shown on 7th June, The Story of 1986 was shown on 6th July, and The Story of 1984 was shown on 2nd June.

The fact that nothing is currently scheduled in the available listings up to the start of August means they may have trouble fitting in all the episodes from 1990 by the end of the year, if and when they start showing them, unless they're planning to show more than 2 a week, or are planning to continue showing them in to next year.

A provisional air-date for 'The Story of 1990' can't be compared directly against 'The Story of 1984/1986/1988' programmes; as 1983, 1985 and 1987 editions were skipped in the run for the usual reasons, whereas all 1989 editions have been broadcast.

My purely-speculative thoughts which should be taken with a befitting pinch of salt:

If there's 51 regular and 1 Christmas TOTP episodes from 1990 to show, BBC Four could run three editions a week across the 17 broadcast weeks, from the start of September to Christmas week inclusive, to be in a position to start 1991 at New Year.

With Christmas Day falling on a Friday this year, there's an option to show, potentially, the three other editions from December 1990 on Christmas Eve, and 25/12/1990 on Christmas Day.

</fantasy schedule mode>

14 August



The Snooker is on BBC Two, and the Cricket highlights on BBC Four at 19:00.

Presumably a repeat? There hasn't been a new TOTP2 for a few years at least.

Yep being on before. Last shown last year.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01lwbt0

The fact that there's no 1990 Top of the Pops (including The Story of or Big Hits) in the current schedule up to the middle of August, and are instead showing a repeat of TOTP2 from 2012 does seem a bit odd.

I know they're showing snooker and cricket, but there are still slots in the schedule where they could fit it in.

For example, on Friday 13th August, they're showing a repeat of a Joan Armatrading documentary at 10pm and a repeat of Queens of Soul at 11pm, which would have been suitable slots for the Story of 1990 and Big Hits 1990.

This is starting to make me wonder if BBC Four will show 1990 Top of the Pops at all.

They've put the Story of 1990 in a press release, so they're going to show it at some point, though admittedly we don't know when. Nobody who's emailed the BBC has got a straight answer as whoever's responsible for answering the emails doesn't seem to know anything outside of what's in the published schedules.

Maybe they're planning to just show the Story of 1990, and maybe Big Hits as well, but without showing the actual episodes (or at least not all of them).

Didn't the press release say the Story of 1990 was being shown in the Autumn? That means it could be shown any time up to November.

I noticed on last night's 'Review of the '80s' that there seemed to be a fake stereo effect applied to any mono clips (i.e. most clips from earlier in the decade). Very subtle but definitely there and noticeable even without headphones. Also, Chris de Burgh is the most unlikely looking pop star, and 'In the Air Tonight' doesn't lend itself well to a TOTP performance (I spotted the paint can though).

Actually I guess it's quite fitting that Phil Collins was the last in-studio performer of the '80s, performing the song that lay the groundwork for the drum sound of the rest of the decade.

Still no sign of 1990 TOTP appearing any time soon. A repeat of Big Hits 1989 is now scheduled for Friday 21st August.

MUSIC: Top of the Pops
On: BBC Four
Date: Friday 21st August 2020 (starting in 17 days)
Time: 20:00 to 21:00 (1 hour long)

Big Hits 1989.
A musical compilation, featuring mature rockers Tina Turner and Phil Collins, all-conquering funki dredds Soul II Soul, dance queen Paula Abdul, northern soul girl Lisa Stansfield and the stubborn indie pop of the Beautiful South. Madchester favourites Stone Roses and Happy Mondays put in an appearance, along with Stock Aitken Waterman stalwarts Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan and Sonia. Plus, Sydney Youngblood, Mike and the Mechanics, Rebel MC and Double Trouble, along with duets from strange bedfellows Marc Almond and Gene Pitney and Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville.
(Subtitles, Widescreen, 4 Star)

Starring: Tina Turner, Phil Collins, Soul II Soul, Paula Abdul, Lisa Stansfield, The Beautiful South

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Marked By: 'Reminder: Top of the Pops' marker
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt taken from DigiGuide - the world's best TV guide available from http://www.getdigiguide.tv/?p=1&r=231800

Copyright (c) GipsyMedia Limited.

Having watched the review of the 80’s show the other evening, I was struck how unlike TOTP it was. It wasn’t just the format, it was lacking a certain something.

But what really confused me was the copyright at the end...

1989 bbc tv ... when was this used?

The 80s review programme was the first full edition to use graphics generated on the Cypher system.

When the same system comes into regular use four editions into the 1990 run, the copyright legend doesn't include the then-'new' BBC logo (with the dashes below the parallelograms), nor is MCMXC used, but 1990.

When use of Cypher is halted at the end of April, until Christmas (industrial relations issue I believe; the system wasn't operated by a BBC employee but an external designer - which could explain also why the copyright legend isn't in 'house style'), graphics created on an Aston machine return to the screen, as does the 'proper' copyright legend.

Personal speculation: Perhaps they hadn't loaded the new BBC logo or the 'MCMXC' font (Futura Bold Condensed, if anyone didn't know already) onto Cypher at that stage, only getting around to doing so when it was finally sanctioned for official Corporation use?

Fair warning: there may be plenty of graphics chat on this thread as we get into 1990 and beyond - when it happens, of course!