Back in the day, I used to love watching Top Of The Pops on a Thursday night. It was one of the telly highlights of the week, at a time when there were only three channels, no social media, and Dial-A-Disc was still a thing (ask your parents if this doesn't ring a bell).
Channel 5 recently aired a show titled "Secrets and Scandals of Top of the Pops", and it contained some enjoyable nuggets about the most successful pop music show of all time on UK television.
Although I understand the format had become dated by the time of the final programme in July 2006, I do miss it. I imagine those used to listening to their favourite songs at the touch of a button via streaming services would chuckle at the idea of waiting to see if your favourite track had made that week's TOTP, but it regularly drew millions of viewers in its heyday before fizzling out in the mid-00s. Snow Patrol's Chasing Cars was the final song in 2006, although some editing would be required if the episode was ever repeated, due to a brief appearance by Jimmy Savile in the closing moments. He was also the show's first presenter.
There were rivals like The Chart Show and The Roxy, not to mention The Tube, but nothing came close to the magic of Top of the Pops.
The Channel 5 show picked out some fun anecdotes from the four decades the programme was on the air. Apparently when Janet Jackson appeared on the show, she wanted a treasure chest in her dressing room, whilst Mariah Carey was very particular about which angle she was filmed from. Jay Kay from Jamiroquai took a packed lunch from his mum to the studio, according to former host Tony Dortie, whilst the Wurzels had five litres of extremely strong cider in their dressing room before performing their 1976 'classic' I Am A Cider Drinker.
Madonna filmed six songs back-to-back in the year 2000, and one of her team was in hot water after flying to the UK and realising they had forgotten all of her outfits. Imagine the heart-stopping moment of realisation and having to tell the Queen of Pop! There were also disastrous performances for New Order and All About Eve, with the latter not being able to hear the backing track due to the studio speakers running out of battery, and standing like statues as Martha's Harbour blasted out live on telly.
Other highlights included Rick Parfitt falling into the drum kit during Marguerita Time, Shania Twain needing a member of her team to hold all of the studio doors open as she 'doesn't do doors', and Thin Lizzy being chucked off the show by its fearsome producer Michael Hurll due to giggling their way through rehearsals.
There were also Top of the Pops orchestra strikes, wobbly sets, and bad miming, not to mention the infamous photo of darts player Jocky Wilson appearing behind Dexys Midnight Runners as they belted out Jackie Wilson Said (although apparently this was a request by the band's Kevin Rowland!).
All in all, a very enjoyable watch. The best live performance I can remember is Whitney Houston belting out I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) live and note perfect in 1987, at a time when most acts didn't perform live. The worst was probably the aforementioned Blue Monday live performance, which sounded a bit like a covers band in Benidorm ruining one of pop's greatest tracks. I'm not quite sure what happened, but it's amusing to watch back now. Sales fell the week after they appeared, bucking the usual trend!
I'm glad I watched this ahead of part one of Cast Away, showing Philip Schofield marooned on an island off the Madagascan coast and filming himself, whilst telling his story in his own words. The first episode didn't really get out of second gear, and I'm afraid I just don't buy his claim that he never wanted to be famous. I wasn't a huge fan of the pile-on that happened as he left This Morning, but I don't think the world needed this show. We won't learn anything new, and I can only feel for members of his family who must be embarrassed by the whole thing, surely. Curiosity may lead me to watch the rest to see if it gets any better. It all just feels like a narcissistic attempt at a reputation reboot, unfortunately. Will it work? Time will tell.
Alex B Cann column: Should we have the right to switch off?
