Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Top of the Pops, the BBC’s long-running TV music show that transformed total unknowns into stars and propelled the careers of countless pop giants, is to be axed after 42 years, overtaken by the rise of the video and iPod generation.
The announcement by the BBC, after years of struggle to keep the programme alive, is likely to be greeted with dismay in the more than 100 countries to which the programme was syndicated.
In the Middle East and elsewhere, local versions of the programme have enjoyed great popularity. The final edition of Top of the Pops will be shown on July 30.
“In a rapidly changing musical landscape, Top of the Pops no longer occupies the central role it once did,” said the BBC’s director of television, Jana Bennett.
“We’re very proud of a show which has survived 42 years in Britain and gone on to become a worldwide brand, but the time has come to bring the show to its natural conclusion.”
According to the BBC, the decline of the pop single and concurrent rise of the internet, 24-hour music channels, iPods and mobile phones, have meant that viewing figures barely reached a million compared to 19 million at peak shows during its heyday.
At its launch on New Year’s Day in 1964, when it was broadcast from a converted church in Manchester, the Rolling Stones opened the show with I Wanna Be Your Man and the Beatles closed it.
Instant success and popularity meant that the programme, presented by flamboyant, cigar-puffing radio DJ Jimmy Savile, continued to run and run.
Originally commissioned for only six episodes, Top of the Pops celebrated its 2,000th show in 2002.
The careers of countless bands and stars, including Cliff Richard, David Bowie, Jimmy Hendrix, Madonna and the Spice Girls will forever remain linked to the show.
· Anna Tomforde
