TOP Of The Pops could be returning to television screens two years after the iconic show was axed by the BBC.
After lobbying by record producers, artists and managers, the chart show is expected to be back on the BBC within the next year.
Pop stars including Noel Gallagher of Oasis and R&B star Lemar have lent their voices to the campaign to bring back th
e show, with Culture Secretary Andy Burnham also speaking in favour of a comeback.
But it was an offer from Simon Cowell to run a one-off Christmas edition of the programme on ITV that gave the BBC its biggest jolt, and insiders say they are about to reinstate the show.
Top Of The Pops, which launched in 1964 with a performance from the Rolling Stones and ran for more than 42 years, attracted 15 million viewers in its 1970s heyday.
From the days of original presenter Jimmy Savile to those of Fearne Cotton, the final host DJ, the show broadcast the acts of the week performing, or miming to, their hits. The popularity of the show – the only television programme to air the chart – started to decline when its slot was moved from Thursday to Friday night in 1996, putting it up against ITV's Coronation Street. When it was finally axed in 2006, there were barely one million viewers.
Christmas specials of Top Of The Pops continued to run in 2006 and 2007, and viewers may be treated to a 2008 version of the show. After Simon Cowell ruffled feathers with his ITV offer, the BBC is believed to have refused to give up its exclusive licence to the official chart, even though Top Of The Pops is not on air.
Mark Cooper, head of entertainment for BBC TV, said he would love to see the BBC music show return on a weekly basis. "It's a sleeping beauty. One day it will come back, in the way that Top Gear and Doctor Who came back." But he added: "It's probably no longer the case that Top Of The Pops can be revived on the basis of it being an entertainment programme – instead it may have to be judged as a public service."
R&B singer Lemar recently told Andy Burnham he would like to see the show return. Meanwhile, at a music industry conference last month, Burnham said: "We should bring back programming that puts before the public a mix of stuff that is new and that mums can talk with kids about – that's what Top Of The Pops did in those days."
Noel Gallagher has also called for the show's return, blaming the lack of a programme that brought people together for social breakdown and "people getting into weird shit like knifing each other".
TOTP moments to rememberJohn Lennon, 1970: He sang 'Instant Karma' with wife Yoko Ono beside him blindfolded with a sanitary towel.
The Teardrop Explodes, 1981: Julian Cope climbed on top of the piano to sing in a disastrous performance after taking LSD. He said: "The piano started melting and I was wading up to my thighs in it by the chorus."
All About Eve, 1988: The band failed to hear their song playing as they were supposed to mime along. While TV viewers heard the music, the singer and guitarist stared blankly around.
Nirvana, 1991: 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' was about to change the face of the music of the 1990s, but Kurt Cobain opted to sing the track in a silly voice.
Manic Street Preachers, 1994: The Welsh band dressed up as terrorists, complete with balaclavas, while performing 'Faster'. The BBC received a record number of complaints.
The full article contains 619 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
