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Top of the Pops (also known by its abbreviation TOTP) is a British music chart television programme. Until 2006, it was shown each week on the BBC and is now licensed for national versions around the world. The following is a list of presenters who have hosted the BBC show, including the many guest presenters over the years.
Upon its inception in 1964, Top of the Pops was presented by a team of disc jockeys in rotation: Alan Freeman, David Jacobs, Pete Murray and Jimmy Savile. Savile presented the very first episode from Dickenson Road Studios in Manchester on 1 January 1964 and would continue as the longest-serving presenter until hosting his final show on 30 August 1984. Samantha Juste appeared as the disc girl for several episodes until 1967. Jacobs was replaced by Simon Dee in 1966.
The start of BBC Radio 1 in 1967 brought a new influx of DJs to the presenting roster, sometimes co-presenters, although most only stayed with TOTP for a short while. Of these only Ed Stewart and John Peel would become long-term regulars, though there would be a gap before either would return as such. By 1970, only Savile and Blackburn remained of the 1960s regulars and between them they would host all the editions from January 1970 until their duopoly was broken by Ed Stewart's return in March 1971.
The close association with Radio 1 continued into the 1980s, with all TOTP presenters drawn from the ranks of DJs at the station. The list below represents the main TOTP presenters during this period with many other Radio 1 DJs, for example Liz Kershaw, Adrian Juste and Adrian John also appearing on special programmes such as Christmas broadcasts and milestones for TOTP or Radio 1. For this reason, the 30 September 1982 show celebrating Radio 1's fifteenth birthday affords Annie Nightingale, in her one and only appearance and as one of nineteen presenters that day, the honour of being the first female presenter of Top of the Pops, beating Janice Long – who would go on to present TOTP regularly for nearly six years – by three months.
By the end of the decade, the bond with Radio 1 seemed unbreakable with the show being simulcast on the station from 1988 and even traffic reporters like Sybil Ruscoe trying their hand at presenting TOTP. Presenters were also brought in from children's television, including Children's BBC presenters Andy Crane and Simon Parkin, Blue Peter 's Caron Keating, and Anthea Turner and Jenny Powell who worked together on Saturday morning show UP2U. With the exception of Turner, who presented until 1991, all appointments were short-lived proving indicative of the diffusion TOTP was about to undergo from Radio 1 in the 1990s.
Special appearances:
The 1991 Gulf War caused the episode due to be transmitted on 17 January 1991 to be rescheduled for Saturday 19 January.
When production moved to the BBC Elstree Centre in Hertfordshire, a new team of young presenters were introduced in place of the Radio 1 DJs. [1] Tony Dortie and Claudia Simon had been working for Children's BBC, with Dortie having presented Saturday morning magazine UP2U (with former TOTP presenters Jenny Powell and Anthea Turner) in the summers of 1988 and 1989 and Simon being one of the presenters of BFT in 1990. Elayne Smith was an underground club DJ and compere who started hosting Channel 4 late-night variety show The 291 Club just a few weeks before the revamp. Smith left after just two episodes to concentrate on The 291 Club and was replaced in March 1992 by Femi Oke who was working at BBC Radio 5, whilst 17-year-old Mark Franklin was picked from local radio station BBC Radio Wiltshire. With a new theme tune and set of titles modelled on a weathervane, the first show was presented by Mark Franklin and Tony Dortie on 3 October 1991 with the first live performance Erasure's "Love to Hate You". [2]
The first show of the revamp attracted 8.93m viewers, over 1m up on the show's average.[ citation needed ] Performance rules were altered so that acts had to sing live whether they wanted to or not and performances reflected the current album charts and American Billboard Hot 100 as well as the UK Singles Chart. Two presenters from the team always hosted each episode until July 1992 when Tony Dortie and Mark Franklin began to host some shows individually. By October 1992, the rest of the team had been dropped completely.
Special appearances:
On Thursday 11 June 1992, BBC One screened England's Euro 92 0–0 draw with Denmark so TOTP was moved to Saturday 13 June, broadcast at 5:30pm.
The presentation changes introduced in 1991 did not have the impact producers had hoped for and by 1993 only Mark Franklin and Tony Dortie remained from the revamped team. Despite claiming 9m viewers in January 1992, the success of the revamp was short-lived and by May 1992 less than 6.5m were tuning in – a figure which remained fairly constant for the next eighteen months. Reasons for the sustained lack of popularity for the show ranged wildly from a general apathy towards the music that featured in the charts at this time to claims that the graphics styled around the 'weathervane' idea were hard to read.
Dortie and Franklin presented the show individually in rotation until January 1994 when Ric Blaxill replaced Stanley Appel as executive producer. Blaxill had produced shows for Radio 1 and had survived the first wave of change under new station controller Matthew Bannister which had seen many of the DJs deemed too old for the station to resign or be sacked. Of those DJs that survived Bannister's cull, Simon Mayo, Mark Goodier and Nicky Campbell had all presented TOTP prior to the 1991 revamp and were all reinstated as presenters from 3 February 1994. Also returning was Bruno Brookes, another stalwart of the pre-1991 presenting team, though he was fired from Radio 1 in a second wave of Bannister cullings in February 1995 and accordingly he left the Top of the Pops presenting roster in April.
Newer recruits to Radio 1, including Lisa I'Anson, Wendy Lloyd, Claire Sturgess and Jo Whiley, augmented the presenting line-up. Blaxill's ambition was to make the show seem like an event and he wanted the presentation between each song to be as spontaneous as the music it was introducing. To do this Blaxill introduced the 'golden microphone' and increasingly experimented with celebrity guest presenters, mainly drawn from the realms of comedy and sport, as well as pop stars who were not promoting a single that week, to introduce the show.
On 13 June 1996, BBC One showed coverage of Switzerland vs Netherlands from Euro '96. Top of the Pops was accordingly moved from the Thursday to Friday, originally as a temporary move to incorporate the BBC's expansive portfolio of sport (as well as Euro '96, the 1996 Summer Olympic Games were also broadcast on the channel that summer), though it soon became clear that the move was permanent and, apart from a couple of one-off occasions on 25 June 1998 and 9 August 2001, TOTP never again returned to its original Thursday night slot.
As the show entered its fourth decade, Blaxill exploited the strength of the TOTP brand by introducing a tie-in publication Top of the Pops magazine, first published in January 1995, and by launching a sister show, Top of the Pops 2 , to augment the weekly music programme. Originally featuring the best of the main show's studio performances from that week with tips for future hits, the 45-minute-long TOTP2 showcased for the first time the extensive performance archive initially through spotlights on particular artists and a rewind to a given year in music each week. Debuting on 17 September 1994 in a 5.15pm Saturday afternoon slot on BBC Two, Johnnie Walker provided voice-over introductions before the show began to draw solely on archive performances from 1997, when former TOTP host Steve Wright took over. TOTP2 moved to a midweek early-evening slot in 1998, retaining a Saturday afternoon repeat, and regularly became one of the most watched shows on the BBC's second channel. Following a revamp of BBC Two's early peak schedules in 2002, the 45-minute show was given over to two shows of twenty-five minutes, and shows began to select celebrity guest editors, such as Jack Dee, Phill Jupitus and Vic Reeves, to choose their own favourite performances from the archive. After being 'rested' in 2004, a reformatted show featuring two new studio performances per week returned for a final full series in 2006–7, to replace the axed main show. Mark Radcliffe replaced Wright as presenter in 2009.
Ric Blaxill left in 1997, and the show was temporarily looked after by Mark Wells who continued his predecessor's policy of having rotating guest presenters. By this time, only Jo Whiley remained of the Radio 1 DJs introduced to the show by Blaxill, though Wells added Radio 1 Breakfast Show caretakers Mark Radcliffe and Marc Riley to the roster (although both Whiley and Radcliffe & Riley only appeared twice each between Blaxill's exit and the arrival of his permanent successor in June). With a background in 'serious' music broadcasting having worked on Channel 4's The Tube and The White Room, the new executive producer was Chris Cowey who stripped the show of the gimmicks bequeathed by its predecessors, increased the number of studio performances per week whilst reducing the reliance on music videos, and gradually built a new team of regular presenters with backgrounds in music television and radio to replace the celebrity guests. Alongside Whiley, who graduated from occasional host to lead presenter in June 1997, came Jayne Middlemiss and Zoe Ball. Middlemiss had presented music strand The O-Zone for Children's BBC since 1995, whilst Ball was given a full-time role after guest presenting in March 1997, and ahead of her posting as the host of Radio 1's coveted breakfast show in October. Fellow Radio 1 DJ Mary Anne Hobbs and Never Mind the Buzzcocks host Mark Lamarr were added to the team but were quickly dropped, though Jamie Theakston, co-host with Middlemiss on The O-Zone, and Ball on Live & Kicking arrived in January 1998 after guest presenting the previous October. All would continue to present The O-Zone and Live & Kicking concurrently with TOTP. Ball and Whiley departed in summer 1998 to be replaced by former Smash Hits editor Kate Thornton who established herself with Middlemiss and Theakston as lead presenters by autumn 1998. A revamp in May 1998 which included a change of title sequence, logo and theme music also saw a shift in focus from the Top 40 to the Top 20, with the chart rundown, now voiced every week by Radio 1 Chart Show host and former TOTP presenter Mark Goodier, extended from the Top 10 to Top 20. Children's TV presenter and model Gail Porter and Radio 1 DJ Scott Mills augmented the line-up from March 1999, and though Mills left in August, Porter continued with Middlemiss and Theakston as lead presenters into the new millennium.
Richard Blackwood became joint lead presenter in August 2000 and presented in rotation with Jayne Middlemiss, Jamie Theakston and Gail Porter. At the end of August 2001, Middlemiss left the presenting roster. Josie D'Arby, who had hosted an episode in October 2000, made a short-lived return in August 2001 but joined Gail Porter in exiting before the end of the year leaving Jamie Theakston as lead presenter until March 2002 when he was replaced by new recruits model Lisa Snowdon and former TOTP guest presenter Sarah Cawood. Liz Bonnin joined the team from Channel 4 breakfast show RI:SE in May and the majority of shows throughout 2002 were presented by these three presenters, with Theakston only returning for sporadic appearances, and again on a couple of occasions in 2003.
After the 2000th edition on 13 September 2002, the presenting team continued to rotate solely between Liz Bonnin, Lisa Snowdon, Sarah Cawood alongside the returning Richard Blackwood until the new year. Blackwood's final show came on Christmas Day 2002, but the three females continued to present through 2003 along with an increasing number of occasional presenters drawn mainly from breakfast television and Radio 1. Colin Murray and Edith Bowman joined their former RI:SE teammate Liz Bonnin in mid-2003 and, though both were used sparingly, Bowman would return as relief presenter in 2006. Konnie Huq also presented three shows concurrent with her role as Blue Peter presenter in 2003. More successful was Huq's former Blue Peter colleague and The Big Breakfast host Richard Bacon who joined the presenting roster in January 2003, graduating to lead presenter by September. Along with newcomers and former children's television hosts Margherita Taylor, Fearne Cotton and Reggie Yates, this quartet presented in rotating pairs until another revamp of TOTP took place in November 2003.
Guest appearances:
In September 2002, in an attempt to combat the increasing ratings success of ITV's rival chart show CD:UK , the Top of the Pops brand diversified and a children's TV spin-off was created to run alongside the main show. Top of the Pops Saturday began on 21 September 2002 as a segment to fill the final 45 minutes of the BBC One Saturday morning kids programme The Saturday Show , presented by Fearne Cotton, who would graduate to presenting the main show from 2003. For the first season, Cotton co-presented with Simon Grant. Cotton alone continued to present the show after The Saturday Show ended its second season in 2003, with TOTP Saturday gaining its own stand-alone slot on BBC One at 11.00am, immediately following The Saturday Show's replacement Dick & Dom in da Bungalow . Following the removal of Saturday morning children's television from BBC One to BBC Two in 2005, the show was renamed Top of the Pops: Reloaded from 17 September until its end in March 2006. For this final season, Cotton was joined by former Pop Idol contestants Sam and Mark and Radio 1 DJs JK and Joel as co-presenters. The final show was shown on 25 March 2006.
In 2003, former Top of the Pops presenter Andi Peters became new executive producer and began another radical overhaul. The first edition of All New Top of the Pops was broadcast on 28 November 2003, presented live by former MTV video jockey Tim Kash. The ratings for the first show were 5.65m. Kash presented shows alone until 30 April 2004, after which he began to present with previous presenters Fearne Cotton and/or Reggie Yates, who eventually began to present shows together without Kash. After presenting 14 February 2003 episode, Cotton became a more prominent presenter from June 2003, with Yates also joining the presenting roster in August. Both continued to present regularly until the November 2003 revamp. Kash left to rejoin MTV, making his last appearance in August 2004, allowing Cotton and Yates to present alone. For three shows in October and November 2004, Radio 1 Breakfast Show host Chris Moyles was drafted in to co-host alongside Cotton and Yates, and this trio also fronted the last show of 2004 before Christmas in a show styled as a Radio 1 Christmas party.
In 2003, Tim Kash became only the third presenter, after Jimmy Savile in 1971 and Noel Edmonds in 1978, to host Christmas Top of the Pops solo.
Only two shows between April 2004 and March 2006 did not feature either Fearne Cotton or Reggie Yates:
In November 2004, it was announced that Top of the Pops would move from its primetime slot on Friday nights on BBC One to a new Sunday night slot on BBC Two, a move largely viewed as the last sidelining of the show before inevitable cancellation. The move was initially intended to take place in Spring 2005 and an 'extended format' was promised but the show remained on BBC One until July 2005 with the final Friday show on 8 July followed by another episode the following Monday. The first BBC Two show ran for 35 minutes, five minutes longer than the BBC One show, and aired live on Sunday 17 July 2005 at 7pm, immediately after the announcement of the new week's chart and incorporated elements of TOTP2, which had been rested a year previously, by showing two archive performances alongside the new music. However, viewing figures halved within a fortnight of the new scheduling, from an average of 2.4 million viewers on BBC One to around 1.5 million on BBC Two. The ratings never improved, despite the show going on location to the 2006 Winter Olympics and Radio 1's One Big Weekend, and on 20 June 2006 the BBC announced that Top of the Pops was being axed due to no longer being able to compete with 24-hour cable music channels, with the final episode airing on 30 July 2006.
New executive producer Mark Cooper oversaw a return to the use of guest presenters, a full list of which is given below, but unlike in the '90s, this time the celebrities were paired with one of the already established lead presenting team of Fearne Cotton, Reggie Yates, and newcomer comedian Rufus Hound. The three lead presenters appeared on all of the BBC Two shows between them and when not joined by a celebrity co-host they presented in pairs with each other or with one of the secondary presenting team of Richard Bacon and, from January 2006, Edith Bowman. Occasionally, the show was moved from Sunday nights but remained a live broadcast, as was the case on the following Mondays: 15 August 2005, 16 January 2006 and the five shows between 13 February and 13 March 2006. The show was also once transmitted on a Tuesday: 11 July 2006.
In May 2006, BBC staff were asked to form the audience for several Top of the Pops shows after it emerged that the BBC did not have a premises licence for hosting public entertainment events at Television Centre.
Lead presenters:
Relief presenters:
Guest presenters:
After being taken off the air in 2004, sister show Top of the Pops 2 was resurrected for a new run on Saturday nights at 8pm which reverted to the old format of mixing archive clips with new studio performances. The new series began two months after the original show ended, on Saturday 30 September 2006, with new studio performances provided by Nelly Furtado and Razorlight and a Top 10 chart rundown. All the episodes in this series followed the familiar TOTP2 presentation of no on-screen presentation, but rather a voiceover from Steve Wright:
Following the 2006–7 run, TOTP2 returned only to mark one-off special occasions and dropped the new performances. Such shows were dedicated to certain musicians such as Wham! and Duran Duran in 2010, as well as the death of Michael Jackson in 2009, or marked special occasions such as Christmas and New Year in 2008 and 2009, or tie-ins with a particular season of BBC programmes such as the School season which featured a back-to-school special to mark the end of the 2010 summer holidays, and an '80s-themed show to mark the final series of BBC TV drama Ashes to Ashes , also in 2010.
As well as the intermittent broadcasts of TOTP2 on BBC Two and a yearly Christmas Day show which remained on BBC One until 2022, Top of the Pops is survived by occasional 'event-led' broadcasts. It has twice returned for special shows for the BBC's biennial Comic Relief charity fundraiser in 2007 and 2009, with the following presenters:
From 2006 to 2021, an annual BBC One show which looks back at the previous year in music also appears each Christmas Day originally broadcast at 2pm but in later years at around 12pm. In 2009 and from 2012 to 2021, a second festive episode has followed on or around New Year's Eve with a New Year's Eve party theme:
The festival specials did not return in 2022, and were replaced by an end-of-year review show on BBC Two:
The BBC has faced repeated calls for the return of the weekly chart show, but has insisted that this will never happen. In August 2010, however, the BBC disclosed that it was in talks with independent production companies with a view to developing a new weekly music show for BBC Three to begin sometime in 2011, although no such show was ever broadcast. In 2017 the BBC launched Sounds Like Friday Night , a new live music show hosted by Greg James and Dotty; it lasted just two series.
Note: Presenters are only added into the list of their debut decade, and "Total episodes" indicates the number of appearances throughout their hosting career, not just in that decade. E.g. Jimmy Savile began hosting TOTP in the 1960s, hosted over 280 episodes including episodes from the 60s onwards, so his name is in the "1960s" sub-section and all his episodes (including 1970s, 80s, and 2000s) are in his total episodes.
Name | Total episodes | Debut episode | Last episode | Years | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jimmy Savile | 280 | 1 January 1964 | 30 July 2006 | 1964–1984, 1988, 2001, 2006 | [12] |
Alan Freeman | 93 | 1 January 1964 | 31 December 1988 | 1964–1969, 1981, 1988 | [13] |
Pete Murray | 102 | 8 January 1964 | 31 December 1988 | 1964–1969, 1981, 1988 | [14] |
David Jacobs | 46 | 8 January 1964 | 31 December 1988 | 1964–1966, 1981, 1983, 1988 | [15] |
Simon Dee | 8 | 6 October 1966 | 23 March 1967 | 1966–1967 | [16] |
Tony Blackburn | 146 | 19 October 1967 | 30 July 2006 | 1967, 1969–1979, 1981–1983, 1988, 2006 | [17] |
Stuart Henry | 19 | 26 October 1967 | 27 March 1969 | 1967–1969 | [18] |
Kenny Everett | 9 | 2 November 1967 | 31 December 1988 | 1967, 1973, 1988 | [19] |
Emperor Rosko | 3 | 16 November 1967 | 10 April 1975 | 1967, 1974–1975 | [20] |
Mike Raven | 1 | 23 November 1967 | 23 November 1967 | 1967 | [21] |
Chris Denning | 2 | 7 December 1967 | 22 February 1968 | 1967–1968 | [22] |
Mike Lennox | 1 | 14 December 1967 | 14 December 1967 | 1967 | [23] |
Keith Skues | 1 | 21 December 1967 | 21 December 1967 | 1967 | [24] |
Dave Cash | 4 | 11 January 1968 | 28 March 1968 | 1968 | [25] |
Peter Tork | 1 | 14 January 1968 | 14 January 1968 | 1968 | [26] |
David Symonds | 3 | 18 January 1968 | 9 May 1968 | 1968 | [27] |
Ed Stewart | 31 | 25 January 1968 | 29 September 1977 | 1968, 1971–1972, 1975–1977 | [28] |
John Peel | 50 | 1 February 1968 | 14 December 1995 | 1968, 1981–1987, 1995 | [29] |
Tom Edwards | 1 | 14 March 1968 | 14 March 1968 | 1968 | [30] |
Alan Price | 1 | 2 May 1968 | 2 May 1968 | 1968 | [31] |
Micky Dolenz | 1 | 23 May 1968 | 23 May 1968 | 1968 | [32] |
Davy Jones | 1 | 6 June 1968 | 9 June 1968 | 1968 | [33] |
Name | Total episodes | Debut episode | Last episode | Years | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Noel Edmonds | 74 | 20 July 1972 | 5 May 1983 | 1972–1978, 1983 | [34] |
Dave Lee Travis | 105 | 8 November 1973 | 30 July 2006 | 1973–1984, 2006 | [35] |
Johnnie Walker | 2 | 10 January 1974 | 10 January 1974 | 1974 | [36] |
Greg Edwards | 3 | 7 March 1974 | 18 April 1974 | 1974 | [37] |
Paul Burnett | 9 | 30 May 1974 | 30 September 1982 | 1974, 1976–1979, 1981–1982 | [38] |
David Hamilton | 13 | 22 January 1976 | 31 December 1988 | 1976–1977, 1988 | [39] |
David Jensen | 70 | 18 November 1976 | 31 December 1988 | 1976–1984, 1988 | [40] |
Peter Powell | 114 | 3 November 1977 | 31 December 1988 | 1977–1988 | [41] |
Elton John | 2 | 15 December 1977 | 7 August 1980 | 1977, 1980 | [42] |
Mike Read | 66 | 9 November 1978 | 30 July 2006 | 1978–1989, 2006 | [43] |
Andy Peebles | 15 | 11 October 1979 | 20 September 1984 | 1979, 1981–1984 | [44] |
Simon Bates | 78 | 6 December 1979 | 31 December 1988 | 1979–1988 | [45] |
Name | Total episodes | Debut episode | Last episode | Years | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Steve Wright | 56 | 7 February 1980 | 5 October 1989 | 1980–1989 | [46] |
Tommy Vance | 24 | 1 May 1980 | 22 November 1984 | 1980–1984 | [47] |
BA Robertson | 2 | 9 July 1980 | 28 August 1980 | 1980 | [48] |
Roger Daltrey | 1 | 14 August 1980 | 14 August 1980 | 1980 | [49] |
Cliff Richard | 1 | 28 August 1980 | 28 August 1980 | 1980 | [50] |
Kevin Keegan | 1 | 4 September 1980 | 4 September 1980 | 1980 | [51] |
Richard Skinner | 41 | 11 September 1980 | 19 January 1989 | 1980–1985, 1988–1989 | [52] |
Olivia Newton-John | 1 | 18 September 1980 | 18 September 1980 | 1980 | [53] |
Russ Abbot | 1 | 25 September 1980 | 25 September 1980 | 1980 | [54] |
Colin Berry | 1 | 30 October 1980 | 30 October 1980 | 1980 | [55] |
Adrian Juste | 2 | 25 December 1981 | 30 September 1982 | 1981–1982 | [56] |
Paul Gambaccini | 5 | 25 December 1981 | 25 December 1989 | 1981–1983, 1988–1989 | [57] |
Garth Crooks | 1 | 25 March 1982 | 25 March 1982 | 1982 | [58] |
Adrian John | 3 | 30 September 1982 | 5 May 1988 | 1982–1983, 1988 | [59] |
Alexis Korner | 1 | 30 September 1982 | 30 September 1982 | 1982 | [60] |
Annie Nightingale | 1 | 30 September 1982 | 30 September 1982 | 1982 | [61] |
Mike Smith | 69 | 30 September 1982 | 31 March 1988 | 1982–1988 | [62] |
Jonathan King | 30 September 1982 | 25 December 1985 | 1982–1983, 1985 | [63] | |
Pat Sharp | 7 | 2 December 1982 | 30 July 2006 | 1982–1983, 2006 | [64] |
Gary Davies | 117 | 2 December 1982 | 26 September 1991 | 1982–1991 | [65] |
Janice Long | 62 | 2 December 1982 | 30 July 2006 | 1982–1988, 2006 | [66] |
Bruno Brookes | 50 | 6 September 1984 | 6 April 1995 | 1984–1986, 1988–1991, 1994–1995 | [67] |
Lenny Henry | 4 | 27 December 1984 | 16 March 1995 | 1984, 1989, 1991, 1995 | [68] |
Dixie Peach | 10 | 13 June 1985 | 24 April 1986 | 1985–1986 | [69] |
Paul Jordan | 6 | 3 October 1985 | 27 February 1986 | 1985–1986 | [70] |
Simon Mayo | 55 | 9 October 1986 | 30 August 1996 | 1986–1991, 1994–1996 | [71] |
Nicky Campbell | 41 | 18 February 1988 | 10 January 1997 | 1988–1991, 1994–1997 | [72] |
Mark Goodier | 48 | 25 February 1988 | 28 March 1996 | 1988–1991, 1994–1996 | [73] |
Andy Crane | 10 | 21 July 1988 | 2 November 1989 | 1988–1989 | [74] |
Liz Kershaw | 1 | 11 August 1988 | 11 August 1988 | 1988 | [75] |
Caron Keating | 2 | 20 October 1988 | 8 December 1988 | 1988 | [76] |
Anthea Turner | 23 | 27 October 1988 | 30 May 1991 | 1988–1991 | [77] |
Sybil Ruscoe | 7 | 10 November 1988 | 28 September 1989 | 1988–1989 | [78] |
Susie Mathis | 2 | 17 November 1988 | 23 February 1989 | 1988–1989 | [79] |
Hale and Pace | 2 | 9 March 1989 | 5 October 1995 | 1989, 1995 | [80] |
Rod McKenzie | 1 | 16 March 1989 | 16 March 1989 | 1989 | [81] |
Jenny Powell | 4 | 4 May 1989 | 23 November 1989 | 1989 | [82] |
Simon Parkin | 2 | 15 June 1989 | 27 July 1989 | 1989 | [83] |
Jackie Brambles | 18 | 13 July 1989 | 6 September 1991 | 1989–1991 | [84] |
Name | Total episodes | Debut episode | Last episode | Years | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tony Dortie | 57 | 3 October 1991 | 20 January 1994 | 1991–1994 | [85] |
Mark Franklin | 59 | 3 October 1991 | 27 January 1994 | 1991–1994 | [86] |
Elayne Smith | 2 | 7 November 1991 | 5 December 1991 | 1991 | [87] |
Claudia Simon | 17 | 14 November 1991 | 1 October 1992 | 1991–1992 | [88] |
Steve Anderson | 5 | 21 November 1991 | 13 February 1992 | 1991–1992 | [89] |
Adrian Rose | 15 | 28 November 1991 | 17 September 1992 | 1991–1992 | [90] |
Femi Oke | 10 | 3 March 1992 | 17 September 1992 | 1992 | [91] |
Paul Whitehouse | 3 | 2 April 1992 | 15 November 1996 | 1992, 1994, 1996 | [92] |
Harry Enfield | 2 | 2 April 1992 | 4 January 1994 | 1992, 1994 | [93] |
Bob Geldof | 1 | 18 June 1992 | 18 June 1992 | 1992 | [94] |
Sid Owen | 1 | 25 December 1992 | 25 December 1992 | 1992 | [95] |
Danniella Westbrook | 1 | 25 December 1992 | 25 December 1992 | 1992 | [96] |
Patsy Palmer | 1 | 23 December 1993 | 23 December 1993 | 1993 | [97] |
Joe Elliott | 1 | 20 January 1994 | 20 January 1994 | 1994 | [98] |
Robbie Williams | 3 | 17 March 1994 | 14 September 1995 | 1994–1995 | [99] |
Mark Owen | 4 | 17 March 1994 | 11 April 1997 | 1004. 1996–1997 | [100] |
Andi Peters | 2 | 7 April 1994 | 11 April 1996 | 1994, 1996 | [101] |
Alice Cooper | 1 | 19 May 1994 | 19 May 1994 | 1994 | [102] |
Vic Reeves | 1 | 9 June 1994 | 9 June 1994 | 1994 | [103] |
Bob Mortimer | 1 | 9 June 1994 | 9 June 1994 | 1994 | [104] |
Angus Deayton | 1 | 16 June 1994 | 16 June 1994 | 1994 | [105] |
Julian Clary | 2 | 21 July 1994 | 1 November 1996 | 1994, 1996 | [106] |
Malcolm McLaren | 1 | 25 August 1994 | 25 August 1994 | 1994 | [107] |
Claire Sturgess | 2 | 1 September 1994 | 29 September 1994 | 1994 | [108] |
Brian Harvey | 1 | 8 September 1994 | 8 September 1994 | 1994 | [109] |
Tony Mortimer | 2 | 8 September 1994 | 20 September 1996 | 1994, 1996 | [110] |
Steve Punt | 1 | 6 October 1994 | 6 October 1994 | 1994 | [111] |
Hugh Dennis | 1 | 6 October 1994 | 6 October 1994 | 1994 | [112] |
Jarvis Cocker | 2 | 20 October 1994 | 24 August 1995 | 1994–1995 | [113] |
Kylie Minogue | 3 | 3 November 1994 | 21 March 1997 | 1994–1995, 1997 | [114] |
Michelle Gayle | 3 | 17 November 1994 | 2 May 1996 | 1994–1996 | [115] |
Lily Savage | 1 | 1 December 1994 | 1 December 1994 | 1994 | [116] |
Neneh Cherry | 1 | 8 December 1994 | 8 December 1994 | 1994 | [117] |
Damon Albarn | 1 | 15 December 1994 | 15 December 1994 | 1994 | [118] |
Gary Glitter | 3 | 22 December 1994 | 6 December 1996 | 1994–1996 | [119] |
Howard Donald | 1 | 25 December 1994 | 25 December 1994 | 1994 | [120] |
Gary Barlow | 1 | 25 December 1994 | 25 December 1994 | 1994 | [121] |
Jason Orange | 1 | 25 December 1994 | 25 December 1994 | 1994 | [122] |
Gary Olsen | 1 | 9 February 1995 | 9 February 1995 | 1995 | [123] |
Peter Cunnah | 1 | 23 February 1995 | 23 February 1995 | 1995 | [124] |
Keith Allen | 2 | 2 March 1995 | 19 July 1996 | 1995–1996 | [125] |
Ant McPartlin | 2 | 30 March 1995 | 21 February 1997 | 1995, 1997 | [126] |
Declan Donnelly | 2 | 30 March 1995 | 21 February 1997 | 1995, 1997 | [127] |
Phill Jupitus | 5 | 13 April 1995 | 16 October 2005 | 1995, 1997, 2005 | [128] |
Chris Evans | 1 | 27 April 1995 | 27 April 1995 | 1995 | [129] |
Jack Dee | 5 | 12 May 1995 | 30 May 1996 | 1995–1996 | [130] |
Lisa I'Anson | 5 | 18 May 1995 | 26 July 1996 | 1995–1996 | [131] |
Stewart Lee | 2 | 25 May 1995 | 19 October 1995 | 1995 | [132] |
Richard Herring | 2 | 25 May 1995 | 19 October 1995 | 1995 | [133] |
Wendy Lloyd | 2 | 6 July 1995 | 17 August 1995 | 1995 | [134] |
Dale Winton | 3 | 13 July 1995 | 4 April 1996 | 1995–1996 | [135] |
Craig McLachlan | 1 | 27 July 1995 | 27 July 1995 | 1995 | [136] |
Mark Lamarr | 4 | 7 September 1995 | 28 November 1997 | 1995, 1997 | [137] |
Jo Brand | 2 | 7 September 1995 | 26 March 2006 | 1995, 2006 | [138] |
Steve Lamacq | 4 | 28 September 1995 | 25 October 1996 | 1995–1996 | [139] |
Jo Whiley | 24 | 28 September 1995 | 14 May 2006 | 1995–1998, 2006 | [140] |
Stephen Gately | 2 | 21 December 1995 | 29 November 1996 | 1995–1996 | [141] |
Lee Evans | 2 | 9 November 1995 | 1 February 1996 | 1995–1996 | [142] |
Louise Redknapp | 2 | 16 November 1995 | 18 April 1997 | 1995, 1997 | [143] |
Ronan Keating | 3 | 21 December 1995 | 7 November 2003 | 1995–1996, 2003 | [144] |
Alan Davies | 1 | 18 January 1996 | 18 January 1996 | 1996 | [145] |
Julian Cope | 1 | 8 February 1996 | 8 February 1996 | 1996 | [146] |
Justine Frischmann | 1 | 15 February 1996 | 15 February 1996 | 1996 | [147] |
Louise Wener | 1 | 7 March 1996 | 7 March 1996 | 1996 | [148] |
Beertje Van Beers | 5 | 18 April 1996 | 11 October 1996 | 1996 | [149] |
Chris Eubank | 1 | 25 April 1996 | 25 April 1996 | 1996 | [150] |
Ian Wright | 2 | 16 May 1996 | 28 February 1997 | 1996–1997 | [151] |
Jeremy Hardy | 1 | 30 May 1996 | 30 May 1996 | 1996 | [152] |
Julia Carling | 2 | 21 June 1996 | 6 September 1996 | 1996 | [153] |
Gina G | 1 | 28 June 1996 | 28 June 1996 | 1996 | [154] |
Mark Morrison | 1 | 5 July 1996 | 5 July 1996 | 1996 | [155] |
Jas Mann | 1 | 2 August 1996 | 2 August 1996 | 1996 | [156] |
Peter Andre | 2 | 9 August 1996 | 14 February 1997 | 1996–1997 | [157] |
Dennis Pennis | 1 | 13 September 1996 | 13 September 1996 | 1996 | [158] |
Harry Hill | 1 | 27 September 1996 | 27 September 1996 | 1996 | [159] |
Tony Wright | 1 | 4 October 1996 | 4 October 1996 | 1996 | [160] |
Nigel Kennedy | 1 | 18 October 1996 | 18 October 1996 | 1996 | [161] |
Frankie Dettori | 1 | 8 November 1996 | 8 November 1996 | 1996 | [162] |
Charlie Higson | 1 | 15 November 1996 | 15 November 1996 | 1996 | [163] |
John Thomson | 1 | 15 November 1996 | 15 November 1996 | 1 | [164] |
Mark Williams | 1 | 15 November 1996 | 15 November 1996 | 1996 | [165] |
Ian Broudie | 2 | 13 December 1996 | 14 March 1997 | 1996–1997 | [166] |
Shaun Ryder | 1 | 20 December 1996 | 20 December 1996 | 1996 | [167] |
Rhona Cameron | 1 | 17 January 1997 | 17 January 1997 | 1997 | [168] |
Noddy Holder | 2 | 31 January 1997 | 27 November 2005 | 1997, 2005 | [169] |
Phil Daniels | 1 | 24 January 1997 | 24 January 1997 | 1997 | [170] |
Ardal O'Hanlon | 1 | 7 February 1997 | 7 February 1997 | 1997 | [171] |
Zoe Ball | 11 | 28 March 1997 | 21 October 2001 | 1997–1998, 2001 | [172] |
Mark Radcliffe | 2 | 4 April 1997 | 23 May 1997 | 1997 | [173] |
Marc Riley | 2 | 4 April 1997 | 23 May 1997 | 1997 | [174] |
Dannii Minogue | 2 | 25 April 1997 | 16 May 1997 | 1997 | [175] |
Cathy Dennis | 1 | 2 May 1997 | 2 May 1997 | 1997 | [176] |
Jayne Middlemiss | 58 | 6 June 1997 | 31 August 2001 | 1997–2001 | [177] |
Mary Anne Hobbs | 2 | 1 August 1997 | 31 October 1997 | 1997 | [178] |
Denise van Outen | 1 | 15 August 1997 | 15 August 1997 | 1997 | [179] |
Sarah Cawood | 26 | 22 August 1997 | 30 July 2006 | 1997, 2002–2003, 2006 | [180] |
Jamie Theakston | 99 | 3 October 1997 | 25 April 2003 | 1997–2003 | [181] |
Kate Thornton | 10 | 3 July 1998 | 7 May 1999 | 1998–1999 | [182] |
Katy Hill | 1 | 13 November 1998 | 13 November 1998 | 1998 | [183] |
Gail Porter | 36 | 12 March 1999 | 2 May 2003 | 1999–2001, 2003 | [184] |
Scott Mills | 5 | 2 April 1999 | 20 August 1999 | 1999 | [185] |
Emma Ledden | 1 | 17 September 1999 | 17 September 1999 | 1999 | [186] |
Name | Total episodes | Debut episode | Last episode | Years | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sara Cox | 3 | 14 April 2000 | 25 December 2001 | 2000–2001 | [187] |
Chris Moyles | 7 | 29 May 2000 | 14 May 2006 | 2000, 2004–2006 | [188] |
Richard Blackwood | 19 | 4 August 2000 | 29 December 2002 | 2000–2002 | [189] |
Josie d'Arby | 4 | 6 October 2000 | 5 October 2001 | 2000–2001 | [190] |
Sophie Ellis-Bextor | 1 | 9 August 2001 | 9 August 2001 | 2001 | [191] |
Dermot O'Leary | 2 | 21 October 2001 | 8 February 2002 | 2001–2002 | [192] |
Vernon Kay | 2 | 16 November 2001 | 14 May 2006 | 2001, 2006 | [193] |
Lisa Snowdon | 14 | 29 March 2002 | 13 June 2003 | 2002–2003 | [194] |
Melanie Blatt | 1 | 19 April 2002 | 19 April 2002 | 2002 | [195] |
Liz Bonnin | 14 | 24 May 2002 | 19 September 2003 | 2002–2003 | [196] |
Richard Bacon | 23 | 17 January 2003 | 6 March 2006 | 2003, 2005–2006 | [197] |
Fearne Cotton | 132 | 14 February 2003 | 31 December 2020 | 2003–2020 | [198] |
Ben Elton | 1 | 7 March 2003 | 7 March 2003 | 2003 | [199] |
Konnie Huq | 3 | 23 May 2003 | 18 July 2003 | 2003 | [200] |
Colin Murray | 6 | 6 June 2003 | 29 August 2003 | 2003 | [201] |
Edith Bowman | 11 | 6 June 2003 | 25 December 2006 | 2003, 2006 | [202] |
Jonathan Ross | 1 | 27 June 2003 | 27 June 2003 | 2003 | [203] |
Reggie Yates | 86 | 8 August 2003 | 31 December 2016 | 2003–2016 | [204] |
Jack Osbourne | 1 | 15 August 2003 | 2003 | 2003 | [205] |
Margherita Taylor | 6 | 3 October 2003 | 15 April 2005 | 2003, 2005 | [206] |
Tim Kash | 37 | 28 November 2003 | 27 August 2004 | 2003–2004 | [207] |
Aled Haydn Jones | 1 | 22 April 2005 | 22 April 2005 | 2005 | [208] |
Rachel Jones | 1 | 22 April 2005 | 22 April 2005 | 2005 | [209] |
David Vitty | 1 | 22 April 2005 | 22 April 2005 | 2005 | [210] |
Jeremy Clarkson | 1 | 24 July 2005 | 24 July 2005 | 2005 | [211] |
Christian O'Connell | 1 | 31 July 2005 | 31 July 2005 | 2005 | [212] |
Phil Tufnell | 1 | 15 August 2005 | 15 August 2005 | 2005 | [213] |
Rufus Hound | 16 | 21 August 2005 | 30 July 2006 | 2005–2006 | [214] |
Jeremy Bowen | 1 | 2 October 2005 | 2 October 2005 | 2005 | [215] |
Richard Hammond | 1 | 9 October 2005 | 9 October 2005 | 2005 | [216] |
Sharon Osbourne | 1 | 13 November 2005 | 13 November 2005 | 2005 | [217] |
Justin Lee Collins | 1 | 18 December 2005 | 18 December 2005 | 2005 | [218] |
Shane Richie | 1 | 25 December 2005 | 25 December 2005 | 2005 | [219] |
Peter Kay | 1 | 16 January 2006 | 16 January 2006 | 2006 | [220] |
James May | 1 | 29 January 2006 | 29 January 2006 | 2006 | [221] |
Colin Jackson | 1 | 13 February 2006 | 13 February 2006 | 2006 | [222] |
Sue Barker | 1 | 13 February 2006 | 13 February 2006 | 2006 | [223] |
Matt Allwright | 1 | 27 February 2006 | 27 February 2006 | 2006 | [224] |
Jocelyn Brown | 1 | 27 February 2006 | 27 February 2006 | 2006 | [225] |
Cyndi Lauper | 1 | 13 March 2006 | 13 March 2006 | 2006 | [226] |
Trevor Nelson | 3 | 19 March 2006 | 7 May 2006 | 2006 | [227] |
Diarmuid Gavin | 1 | 21 May 2006 | 21 May 2006 | 2006 | [228] |
Annie Mac | 2 | 18 June 2006 | 11 July 2006 | 2006 | [229] |
Noel Fielding | 1 | 14 March 2009 | 14 March 2009 | 2009 | [230] |
Name | Total episodes | Debut episode | Last episode | Years | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Clara Amfo | 10 | 25 December 2017 | 31 December 2021 | 2017–2021 | [231] |
Name | Total episodes | Debut episode | Last episode | Years | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jordan North | 2 | 25 December 2021 | 31 December 2021 | 2021 | [232] |
Jack Saunders | 1 | 24 December 2022 | 24 December 2022 | 2022 | [233] |
Top of the Pops (TOTP) is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1 January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its history, it was broadcast on Thursday evenings on BBC One. Each show consisted of performances of some of the week's best-selling popular music records, usually excluding any tracks moving down the chart, including a rundown of that week's singles chart. This was originally the Top 20, though this varied throughout the show's history. The Top 30 was used from 1969, and the Top 40 from 1984.
Top of the Pops 2 is a British television music show broadcast on BBC Two showing archive footage from the long-running Top of the Pops show, some dating back to the 1960s when the programme first aired on British television, as well as other surviving BBC programmes.
Sara Joanne Cox is an English broadcaster and author. A presenter on BBC Radio 2, she has been hosting the station's teatime show since January 2019. She previously presented BBC Radio 1's breakfast show from April 2000 until December 2003.
Stephen Richard Wright was an English disc jockey, radio personality, and occasional television presenter, credited with introducing the morning zoo format to British radio with a humorous collection of personalities. He presented Steve Wright in the Afternoon for 12 years on BBC Radio 1 and 23 years on BBC Radio 2, two of the BBC's national radio stations. He continued to present his Sunday Love Songs on Radio 2 until his death and, in October 2023, he took over as the host of the long-running Pick of the Pops chart show. On BBC Television, Wright hosted Home Truths, The Steve Wright People Show, Auntie's TV Favourites, Top of the Pops and TOTP2.
Pick of the Pops is a long-running BBC Radio programme; it was based originally on the Top 20 from the UK Singles Chart and was first broadcast on the BBC Light Programme on 4 October 1955. It transferred to BBC Radio 1 from 1967 to 1972. The show returned to the BBC in 1989 and its current production run started on BBC Radio 2 in 1997.
Gary Davies is a British broadcaster. From 1982 to 1993 he was a BBC Radio 1 disc jockey and a regular presenter of Top of the Pops.
Mark Goodier is a Zimbabwean-born British radio disc jockey best known for his time on BBC Radio 1 between 1987 and 2002. He had two spells presenting the station's Top 40 singles chart, from September 1990 to March 1992 and again from April 1995 until November 2002, becoming the show's longest serving presenter. He also had a stint on Radio 1 Breakfast during 1993.
Johanne Whiley-Morton, better known by her professional name Jo Whiley, is an English radio DJ and television presenter. She was the host of the long-running weekday later weekend Jo Whiley Show on BBC Radio 1. She currently presents her weekday evening Radio 2 show. She is also the main presenter for the BBC's Glastonbury Festival coverage.
Reginald Yates is a British television presenter, actor, writer and director with a career spanning three decades on screen as an actor, television presenter and radio DJ. Yates played Leo Jones in Doctor Who and has worked at the BBC in radio and television–presenting various shows for BBC Radio 1 for a decade as well as hosting the BBC One singing show The Voice UK, hosting the first two series with Holly Willoughby.
Jason King and Joel Ross, known professionally as JK and Joel, were a radio presenting duo, best known for hosting the official UK chart on BBC Radio 1 between 2005 and 2007 and presented the CBBC shows Hider in the House and Remote Control Star. In August 2012, JK & Joel confirmed they had split.
Matthew Edmondson is a British television and Sony Award-nominated radio presenter, best known for his work with BBC Radio 1 and ITV2.
Tim Kash is a British television presenter best known for formerly presenting Top of the Pops in the United Kingdom, and MTV News on MTV UK and Ireland. He appeared on the U.S. edition of MTV News, and as a presenter on E! Network's Daily 10 and ENews!. He currently resides in between New York City, United States and Los Angeles, United States and is working as a presenter at IMDb and Amazon. On April 6 it was announced that he is the host of Quibi's new daily music show called 'POP 5' and 'Musicology with Tim Kash'.
Top of the Pops Reloaded, originally known as Top of the Pops Saturday (2002–2005), is a weekly children's music show that was broadcast as part of the Saturday morning CBBC schedule on BBC One and later BBC Two. It ran from 2002 to 2006. It was based on the programme Top of the Pops.
Only in America is a children's television programme that originally aired in 2005 on the CBBC Channel. It is presented by Fearne Cotton and Reggie Yates.
Vernon Charles Kay is an English broadcaster and former model. He presented Channel 4's T4 (2000–2005) and has presented various television shows for ITV, including All Star Family Fortunes (2006–2015), Just the Two of Us (2006–2007), Beat the Star (2008–2009), The Whole 19 Yards (2010), Splash! (2013–2014), and 1000 Heartbeats (2015–2016).
Fearne Wood is an English broadcaster and author. She began her career in the late 1990s as a children’s television presenter for GMTV, CITV and CBBC. She went on to present various television shows, including Top of the Pops (2004–2020), Love Island (2006), The Xtra Factor (2007), and Interior Design Masters (2019). Cotton was a regular co-presenter of the Children in Need annual telethons from 2005 to 2015, with the exception of 2009. From 2008 to 2018, she was a team captain on the ITV2 comedy panel show Celebrity Juice.
Devin Joseph Jordan Griffin is a British radio presenter, DJ and actor, who is most commonly known for presenting Heart's evening show since January 2022 and Heart's Feel Good Weekend since January 2021. He is also known for his former weekend afternoon shows on BBC Radio 1.
BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. The 'About Radio 2' BBC webpage says: "With a repertoire covering more than 60 years, Radio 2 plays the widest selection of music on the radio - from classic and mainstream pop to country, folk, jazz, musical theatre, soul, hip hop, rock 'n' roll, gospel and blues."
This is a timeline of notable events relating to BBC Radio 1, a British national radio station which began in September 1967.
This is a timeline of the history of chart shows on UK radio.