Will There Be A Christmas Top Of The Pops?

[renegadefm]

Just wondering will the BBC broadcast a Christmas Top of the pops this year?

 

The iconic music tv program, it has been described as a musical institution, ran from the 60's until 2006.

 

Personally I miss it, and I would say its widely greatly missed, but they kept the Christmas specials up until a couple years ago, but I was wondering will it be brought back this year? 

[barry1010]

Friday 27 Dec 7pm BBC4

[Buenchico]

A useful link:
https://ukchristmastv.weebly.com/confirmed2024.html

(Scrolling down that link shows that, contrary to the content of your post, there was a Christmas special last year as well).

[johnk]

Is there anything worth putting on?

[Khandro]

It's a Christian celebration of the birth of Christ, not a pop-fest. 

[Mozz71]

So Khandro, does that mean you just want a 24hr Songs of Praise on the Beeb?

[Mozz71]

TOTP will never return fully as a weekly show, as despite the nasty stuff that happened on the show, the music charts have changed beyond all recognition. Streaming has destroyed the relevence of the singles chart.

[Arksided]

Yes I do agree with you moss, you can't beat a bit Vynal... but TOFTP.. we all love a litlle nostalgia... remember what you were doning when this song were about for eg. my knees tremble.

[Khandro]

Mozz //So Khandro, does that mean you just want a 24hr Songs of Praise on the Beeb?//

Not really, but You've got 350 odd days the rest of the year to play whatever you want.

What's wrong with our lovely & traditional Christmas carols, -don't you like them?

[Mozz71]

Khandro 9:54

Honestly? Not really, no. That being said, I'm not a very Christmassy person, and I don't watch a huge amount of TV. Better TOTP than Eastenders and Corrie.

 

In fairness, I'm pretty sure they still have the Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, and probably some kind of carol service on over the festive period. There's room enough for everything nowadays.

[renegadefm]

Buenchico, 

I can't remember seeing any Christmas special TOTP last year, because they announced there wouldn't be any the same year as we didn't have a Queens speech. 

 

I remember it being a very odd Christmas as we had no Queens speech or Christmas TOTP. 

 

I remember it being very odd in our family. Not sure if it was last year or year before. 

[Buenchico]

You've still got about a fortnight left to watch last year's programme on BBC iPlayer, Renegadefm 😊

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001twtw/top-of-the-pops-review-of-the-year-2023

[barry1010]

It was impossible to broadcast the Queen's speech last year, she was dead.  The King's Speech was broadcast.

Did you celebrate Christmas on the wrong day?

[renegadefm]

Buenchico, 

Thanks, but its only a review, not a proper show. 

[Mozz71]

Renegadefm, the Christmas Day TOTP has always been a review of the year show. I seem to recall them also doing a New Year show of what's coming the following year from time to time as well.

[renegadefm]

I tend to think there is a place for a music show like Top of the pops, especially as there isn't many music shows where music fans can see their favourite artists. 

I didn't even know what Dua Lipa looked like until the other night. 

I think the couple who presents The Hit List would do a great job at presenting a modern version of TOTP. 

Imagine how honoured they would be to be asked to do it? 

[newmodarmy]

There's unlikely to be a TOTP type show on prime time TV on Christmas Day at around the time of the King's broadcast. Music has changed, the charts reflect download habits of youngsters and kids are more likely to know a song from a TikTok dance than listening to the radio- very few listen to the radio now.

What sort of artists/songs would you envisage being on there if there was Christmas Day TOTP. Can you list some based on your knowledge of current music?

[renegadefm]

newmodarmy, 

But that was my whole point, the vehicle isn't there or platform to nurture pop stars today. 

I'm a big music fan, and used to study the charts religiously, and adored TOTP, but I couldn't name more than few current artists in the whole top 100. 

Only recently I discovered what Dua Lipa looked like, how sad is that?

I don't think pop stars today are being exposed anywhere near enough. 

Hence why the charts and whole music industry is in such a state. 

Surely something needs to be done to bring it out of the way it is. 

If these shows don't exist how can artists be popular? I don't have tic tok and wouldn't go near it. 

[newmodarmy]

I think your still thinking it's the 1970s where radio 1 and TV programs like TOTP, Supersonic and OGWT were the only places you could hear music. We'd buy albums and singles based often on these shows and we'd play them to death at home and study every word on the album cover.

It's not like that now. Most kids get music from Tik Tok or from Spotify.  They won't have idea what's in the charts but will know all the latest memes. They like 30 second sound bites and tunes for TikTok dances or silly meme like Skibbidy Toilet /Ohio rizz party. Whereas music was pretty much all we had, they have social media, Fortnite etc, youtube shorts, easy access to porn.

Look at the charts (not now as it's all Christmas stuff) this year- there are no bands- it's mainly girl singers with bland songs. 

Having a prome time TV show of music wouldn;t get many young viewers and wouldn't change anything.

Old timers like us can find loads of music online or on our playlists based on the last 60 years. 

If there was a TOTP show of current artists I'm pretty sure you'd soon decide it wasn't for you.

[Cloverjo]

A Christmas TOTP for us oldies?

I haven't a clue who's in the charts now. Do they still do 'The charts' or 'The Hit Parade', as my mum used to say?

There's always BBC4 for good old-fashioned music. 

[renegadefm]

newmodarmy, 

I think I'm just craving some kind of normality between music and the listener, or the viewer in this case. 

I used to get so excited watching TOTP to see if my favourite artist reached the show based on if they hit the top 30 that week. 

Remember you had to reach the top 30 or 40 as the years went by to even qualify to appear on TOTP. 

Status Quo hold the record for most appearances, with 87 appearances.