Top of the Pops 14 June 1990

 Words: Chris Arnsby

 Bruno Brookes: “Good evening. How are you? Hope you're well. Welcome to Top of the Pops, another wild n wacky version reflecting seven new entries on the chart this week and the first one on the show tonight at number thirty two, Guru Josh back in the Top Forty with this song, Whose Law Is It Anyway.”

 [32] GURU JOSH: Whose Law (Is It Anyway?). Josh gets a nice visual gag into his performance, about halfway through. The camera pushes in towards him and he flinches backwards with a pretend shocked look on his face as if it has knocked him backwards. You don't often see physical comedy on Top of the Pops.

The title of the song made me check to see when Channel 4 showed Whose Line Is It Anyway? 1988, if you were curious. I found this on the Wikipedia page where I also learned the two Norwegian versions were called Minus Manus and Spinn, the version shown in Pakistan was called Black fish, and there were three different versions show on Malaysian TV called Actorlympics, Super Spontan and mega spontan.

[38] MAUREEN: Thinking Of You. When Bruno Brookes introduces Maureen the picture cuts away to a different camera which makes it look like Maureen is being played in from VT, but she's not. The pull back at the end of the song reveals Bruno Brookes is standing on the stage opposite, which is also where he stood to introduced Maureen (he hasn't moved, lazy*).

The cut to another camera stands out because Paul Ciani much prefers to try and move from host to band, and vice versa, in a single camera move and make the show look seamless.
It's odd as well because the sequence of camera moves is:
1) Crane pulls back from Guru Josh, to find Bruno Brookes on the Triangle Stage.
2) Cut to a different crane to zoom in on Maureen; you can see the camera crane used for the previous shot over on the left of the screen.

Why not just keep on the original crane and pan round to Maureen? Maybe Paul Ciani didn't want to repeat the, more or less, same shot at the end of the performance.

Maureen is on the Film Strip stage and if you look stage left into the black abyss at the side (remember not to gaze into it for too long) then you can spot the dapper bloke with the walking stick who appears to pop out of thin air to do the rap at the end. He's there patiently waiting for his cue all the way through the song. (John- You're thinking- is this the same Maureen who sang on Bomb the Bass' version of Say A Little Prayer two years ago? Yes, it is. Her full name is Maureen Walsh. She really should have cooked up a proper pop name though like Mostar or The Amazing Mo)

*This footnote has been deleted. How tantalising!

CHARTS: 40 TO 31

[13] SNAP: Oops Up. Promo VT.

[36] MAXI PRIEST: Close To You. Sorry Maxi. A fine performance but I have nothing to say. Maybe you should try to remind me of an old Channel 4 comedy show (Chance In A Million maybe) or have someone hanging around backstage.

[22] BOBBY BROWN: The Free Style Mega-Mix. Promo VT.

CHARTS: 30 to 11

[9] THE CHARLATANS: The Only One I Know. Promo VT.

[7] BETTY BOO: Doin' The Doo. Who knew there was an official Doin' The Doo dance? Betty Boo's dancers do(o). I feel a bit guilty about calling them dancers because one has been stood at a record deck and the other has been given a keytar but, I think I could have done a better job of pretending to work those pieces of kit (but and this is the important bit, I couldn't possibly remember the sequence for the Betty Boo dance and I also don't look great in a pixie cut wig and calf-length boots).
The correct gestures for the Doin' The Doo dance are as follows:

“Betty Boo” curl your left arm over the top of your head and pull it back until your left hand rests on your left cheek.
“Betty Boo” repeat the curling gesture
“just doin' the doo” hold your left arm horizontally and make a neck cutting motion with your hand.
“And you are through,” left arm bent across the body and fling your hand in a wide arc for a get-outa-here gesture.
“And there's nothing you can do,” cross your arms in front of your body and circle them out vertically, then left hand out with two fingers extended as if you were pointing at someone, then both arms to the right of your body, left arm on top of the right, with your hands cradling your elbows.
Très simple.

(John- Just tried this and tumbled into a pile of crockery setting off a chain reaction that ended up firing vegetables at my neighbour.)

[2] NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK: Step By Step. Promo VT.

TOP 10

[1] ENGLAND/NEW ORDER: World In Motion. Promo VT. No live link with Sardina this week. The lads are preparing for their 16/06/1990 match against the Netherlands.

[31] 49ERS: Girl to Girl. Promo VT. Jakki Brambles next week.

 Performance of the week: Betty Boo, Doin' The Doo