Top of the Pops

And, as this edition is 15/12/88, it will be 1 episode per week for the remainder of 2019, as we now have only 22/12/88 and 25/12/88 to go! (Obviously, BBC Four will skip 31/12/88 due to Savile being on it.)

Fascinating (for me) that we’re now in the first few weeks of episodes broadcast in my lifetime. Doesn’t seem that long ago that 1976 episodes were being shown from an era when my parents were still in primary school! The difference in pretty much everything between those years (music, fashions, graphics etc) is extreme, to the point where even in 1988 a 1976 episode would have looked archaic. Whereas if BBC1 messed up this Xmas Day and accidentally broadcast the 2007 special instead, would anyone outside chart fans actually notice? Especially if had already gone HD by then (not sure of the exact year).

Still a few more years until the first episode of TOTP I remember is reshown, which was 06/01/1994. Mostly from my mum trying to explain to five year old me why Mr Blobby is now number 3 rather than number 1...

I was born in the year that the TOTP repeats began with (the episode shown on my actual date of birth wouldn't be shown now due to its hairy presenter), so the repeat run so far has covered the first 12 years of my life, from being born to just starting secondary school!

The episode on my week of birth wasn't shown because it was presented by Smith, sadly. The one from the week my boyfriend's week of birth was shown earlier this year though, and I've managed to get him interested in these repeats over the last couple of years.

I couldn't tell you the first episode I actually remember watching, I can't remember the pre-1991 titles though, I do remember some of the Dortie/Franklin era though. I actually remember The Chart Show better from the earlier part of the 90s.

Is it just a cost cutting move - Friday nights used to generally be filled with music programming and putting TOTP at 9pm takes out the need for a commissioned doc at 9pm.

Apparently the Friday 9PM showings have been doing well in the ratings, a lot better than the Thursday & Friday 7:30 ones.

It's up against Corrie and EastEnders in the Thursday/Friday 7:30pm slot, so surely it's a no-brainer that it might end up doing better in a 9pm slot.

They originally had it on Thursdays at 7:30 as that's the time the show originally went out at (before 1985 anyway), not that I see any real reason for that when it's 30 year old repeats in an on demand world.

I imagine the Thursday slot will be quite uncommon next year though, only when they need to make up for a lost Friday showing. It seems to me like the Friday double bill will be sticking from now on.

It’s nothing specific to TOTP, anything on BBC Four could end up rating higher at 9pm simply because there is a larger pool of people available to watch.


I suspect Brekkie is along the right lines - it hadn’t gone out at 9pm because generally that’s been where BBC Four have had a music documentary (I’ve watched quite a few of them, usually very good). I suspect they had a hole one week, wanted to keep the music themed programming the regular audience would come to expect on a Friday night and stuck an extra episode in, pushing everything else back by 30 minutes.

That’s 30 minutes later on that didn’t need filling with something that cost more (or could be shown elsewhere). It did well so they’ve kept it there. I don’t think they’d taken the entire repeat run to figure this out, it’s more likely to be a happy accident or someone thinking it might be worth a go.

When you get half a million people watching a thirty-one year old programme at 9PM on a Friday night, on a lesser channel, along with all the social media attention (hashtag #TOTP) it gets, let’s hope it continues being shown...