The Stage

Top of the Pops dropped after 42 years

Published Tuesday 20 June 2006 at 18:00 by Liz Thomas

The BBC is cancelling Top of the Pops, the world’s longest running weekly music show, after 42 years, making it the latest show to come under the axe as terrestrial broadcasters try and cut out deadwood programmes that no longer pull in viewers.

Top of the Pops will end its run on July 30, with executives concluding that it no longer occupied the “central role” it once did. In its heyday the music chart show pulled in excess of 19 million viewers but in recent years has struggled to battle the increasing competition from multimedia and niche musical outlets which enable viewers to consume music of their choice, at a time that suits. The Corporation conceded that the show simply could not match this in its current weekly format.

Admitting that the decision had not been taken lightly, director of television Jana Bennett said: “We’re very proud of a show which has survived 42 years in the UK and gone on to become a worldwide brand but the time has come to bring the show to its natural conclusion. Although we bid a fond farewell to Top of the Pops we remain as passionate as ever about reflecting the vitality of contemporary music across all our channels.”

Top of the Pops was dropped from BBC1 and transferred to BBC2 last year, because it was failing to attract audiences. It was fronted by Tim Kash, and later Fearn Cotton and Reggie Yates. Most recent viewing figures for the show were put at around 1 million viewers.

Mark Cooper, BBC head of entertainment group, said: “It’s not easy bidding farewell to such a treasured, favoured friend. Although the time has come to say goodbye to the show, we’re absolutely committed to creating music television on the BBC and we’ll value working with the music industry in shaping our coverage.”

The Top of the Pops brand will continue to feature in programmes such as TOTP2 - the archive show based on the Top of the Pops back catalogue - which will sometimes incorporate new performance as well as one-off specials.

The BBC went on to reveal that there would be a new series of contemporary music sessions on BBC1, a series on the history of rock entitled The Seven Ages of Rock for BBC2, extended coverage of the Reading/Leeds Festivals on BBC3 and a long-running series on the roots of soul music called Soul Britannia on BBC4. These shows are in addition to programmes such as Later… with Jools Holland.