Top of the Pops 20 December 1990

 

Words: Chris Arnsby

Bruno Brookes: “Thursday night. Hello. Welcome to Top of the Pops. Here we are in our cuddly studio all over again with the hits. Stay with us, the stereo sound of Radio 1 FM and we're going to kick off with Snap. This is great. Mary Had A Little Boy. Right over there.”

 [8] SNAP: Mary Had A Little Boy. Let's editorialise. This is a poor edition of Top of the Pops. If you are wondering what the Performance of the Week will be, you're watching it. There are no other live studio performances. Video, video, video, video, video, video, repeat, repeat, video. Maybe there are behind the scenes reasons. Maybe everyone was away. Maybe the studio was packed with bands recording songs for Christmas Day. One thing wasn't happening. The production team wasn't preparing any kind of bumper Christmas presence.

 

 This is the last regular 1990 edition. After this there's the one hour Christmas Day special the following Tuesday, then nothing for nine days until the first Thursday of 1991, 03/01/1991. The Christmas Day special is treated as part of the standard weekly rotation. This means if Top of the Pops is brought forward to Tuesday then Thursday is dark. Well not literally dark, BBC1 showed The World's Strongest Man from 18:30-19:30, they didn't just broadcast a black screen and the sound of the continuity announcer breathing.

Obviously the production team need a festive break from the weekly grind but look back to 1984, the last time Christmas fell on a Tuesday. You got the last of the regular shows on 20/12/1984, then the Christmas Day edition, and then a review of the year on Thursday 28/12/1984. Yes, the Thursday show was a dirty cheat filled with videos and repeat performances but an hour long look back is a good way to cap the year and Michael Hurll hired Lenny Henry for the links. In 1984, BBC1 took it for granted that Top of the Pops would put something out every Thursday.

The change has come since last year. 1989 saw the programme given three slots across the Christmas period. The last regular edition on Thursday 21/12/1989, then the Christmas Day show on Monday followed by an hour long review of the eighties on Thursday 28/12/1989.

“That was a dreadful rag bag programme and was thought of such at the time within TVC; it was put together very last minute and some of guest choices were definitely a case of who was around rather than genuinely representing the 80s.” That's Richard Marson, writer, television producer and director, who was working for the BBC at the time, commenting on the Review of the 80's at Roobarb's DVD Forum.

The Review of the 80's was compiled by Brian Whitehouse during a period of extended absence for Paul Ciani, from 31/08/1989 to 26/01/1990. Presumably Paul Ciani committed to the special before he went off and the production was put on hold and put on hold and put on hold in the hope that he would soon be back. Except he wasn't. There's a period in November when the Radio Times credits Paul Ciani three times as if he's expected to be resuming his duties, 02/11, 09/11, and 30/11/1989, but it didn't happen. I wonder if that was the point it was realised someone else had to make the Review of the 80's and fast. Enter Brian Whitehouse, who also produced and directed the 07/12/1989 edition. If -and it is a big if because this is all speculation- production of Review of the 80's didn't start until December 1989 it would explain Richard Marson's memory of it being poorly regarded in Television Centre.

The point of all this lengthy speculation is just to say, I can imagine the Review of the 80's became an albatross for everyone concerned and when the planning for Christmas 1990 rolled around it was decided to simplify things. And suddenly there are nine Top of the Popsless days over the New Year break.

[26] THE CARPENTERS: Close To You. Promo VT. (John- I love the way that some people do this in karaoke but also try and do all the backing vocals as well!)

CHARTS: 40 TO 31
[21] INXS: Disappear. Promo VT.

[6] ENIGMA: Sadeness Part 1. Promo VT.
[14] THE GREASE MEGA MIX: John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John. Promo VT.

CHARTS: 30 to 11

[10] M.C. HAMMER: Pray. Promo VT.
[20] STATUS QUO: The Anniversary Waltz -Part Two. Promo VT.

[2] CLIFF RICHARD: Saviour's Day. BBC VT, 06/12/1990.

TOP 10

[1] VANILLA ICE: Ice Ice Baby. BBC VT, 06/12/1990 again.

[25] JIVE BUNNY & THE MASTERMIXERS: The Crazy Party Mixes. Promo VT. “Anthea and Mark Goodier,” host the Christmas Day special and that's it until next year. 2026 or 1991 as you prefer. Before I return to 2025, I need to thank Billy Smart who keeps these posts going by sending me Top of the Pops episodes each month and mumu03 who leaves comments and gives me behind the scenes facts which stop me writing too many essays in which I speculate inaccurately and at length on things about which I know very little.

 Countdown to Year Zero revamp: 41

Performance of the week: Go on, guess*.

 

*If you guessed Snap, Mary Had A Little Boy then award yourself a mince pie.