Top of the Pops 2 June 1988

 

Reviewed by Chris Arnsby. Asbestos was discovered in BBC Television Centre at the end of May 1988. The peak of the disruption, which closed virtually all the studios, came in the week of 30May when programmes scrabbled to relocate to alternate venues around Television Centre. Tomorrow's World was broadcast from the car park, Wogan came from reception, Blue Peter used their garden, and Newsnight and Breakfast Time came from what Stage and Television Today -2 June 1988*- described as “tiny, cramped, back-up studios,” and noted, “a final decision had yet to be made on the venue for Wednesday's recording of this week's edition of Top of the Pops.”

Peter Powell: “Hello! Tonight's edition is not so much the big bash as usual, more like a private party!” Nicky Campbell: “And I've, er, I've gatecrashed it. Where's the fridge.”
Peter Powell: “Why didn't you RSVP?! We're not in our usual studio setup bit we do have a show!”
Nicky Campbell: “What a show we've got. Rod Stewart. Aztec Camera. Wet Wet Wet. You name it. To start us off with their second hit in as many months, here's Aswad.”

 [18] ASWAD: give a little love. So what venue did Top of the Pops choose? The following week's Stage and Television Today reported a BBC spokesman who said it was broadcast from “the gallery.” I assume he means the studio gallery rather than Tony Hart's place. Later, the 2019 documentary The Story of 1988 describes the venue as “a corridor.” Who is right? Well they both are. The opening link is filmed in a doorway. A Top of the Pops logo has been tacked to the wall to the left of the door and Rob Litertherland, credited with Lighting this week, has dragged in a few bits and pieces to try and replicate the colours of the real studio, and also provide a few flashing lights. Check out the neon disco strip draped over the back wall of the room behind the hosts. How retro and seventies.

 

Peter Powell doesn't bother to explain why Top of the Pops is in a corridor; presumably by that point news of the disruption was well known to viewers. I don't remember any of this at all, my mind must have still been on revision and the eight causes of the Spanish Armada. The hosts are surrounded by flunkies, described in The Story of 1988 as “TOTP Studio crew”, and one of them, Daniel Steggall, is interviewed and talks about people coming in because they were “on Equiry contracts.” So, Studio Crew is the favoured BBC Term for the audience cheerleaders. Listen for the sound of cheers and applause over the title sequence and the way it thins out as the picture cuts to Peter Powell's private party. Odd that.

The room behind the hosts contains a stack of monitors, all showing the Top of the Pops logo. It does look like the sort of setup I'd expect to see in a studio production gallery so if Nicky Campbell and Peter Powell take a step backwards they will be in the gallery.

First, here's Aswad. You won't be surprised to learn they are on video.

[14] DESIRELESS: voyage voyage. Peter Powell goes solo to introduce Desireless; Nicky Campbell was sent down to the canteen for a round of BBC coffee.

Powell is in the room that was behind him in the previous link. You get a better look at the monitors and a window behind. The room doesn't match what I think of as a studio gallery (the classic dark room with a bank of monitors and a desk for the director, production assistant, and vision mixer, to all steer the show) but maybe they've had to turn on the lights for the cameras. The window is bugging me. It opens on to an interior space but the other side doesn't look like a studio. Could this be some weird nook of Television Centre like the continuity area? I'll have a think about it while Desireless perform, on video.

TOP 40 FROM 40 TO 31. Nicky Campbell's back. Before the pair introduce the charts we get a better look at the makeshift studio. The five monitors behind them are clearly part of the room, and just behind Nicky Campbell's leg we can see a bit of a control panel; so this is a production gallery of some sort. The view through the window is odd. There's no lighting grid -the ceiling beyond is smooth- so it can't be a studio we're looking into, can it? I reckon this is Andy Crane's CBBC broom cupboard from an unfamiliar angle.

[23] TIFFANY: i saw him standing there. Nicky Campbell's back in the corridor. The picture quality of all the links is a little lower than normal. Maybe because there's less control over the lighting levels but the links are also being recorded with a hand held camera, which often seemed to produce a slightly worse quality picture.

The best thing about this link, the sign in the background. It reads “PLEASE SPEAK QUIETLY.” There's another open door to the right of the sign, leading on to a space that's darker. Yeah, I'm convinced we're somewhere near the broom cupboard.

Oh this is lovely. When Tiffany finishes doing terrible things to Lennon and McCartney the picture cuts back to a classic shot of a studio gallery, looking over the shoulders' of Vision Mixer Carol Abbott and Paul Ciani, in the Director's chair (although this week his credit is given as Production which was the traditional BBC way of indicating someone working as Producer and Director). It's worth freezing the picture and taking it in -or if I've remembered to attach the JPG to my email to John- check out the picture underneath.

 

Along the middle of the screen are five monitors, let's number them 1 to 5 from left to right. Monitors 3 and 5 are showing the picture as broadcast. Monitor 4, just under the clock (recording time of half past five), shows a different picture. It looks like the backs of a bunch of people. The Studio Crew? Given Peter Powell's slightly crass comment, “Nicky and I've got a good gig tonight! We've chucked the guys out of our party! Just left with the girls! Very nice!” (and very Smashy and Nicey) I'd guess it's the “guys” standing outside in the corridor looking into the room containing the hosts and the “girls.”

Monitor 1 is blocked by Paul Ciani's head but appears to show a cue card -maybe for the forthcoming BREAKERS graphics? What's on monitor 2? It's really difficult to tell because the camera starts panning away from the monitors almost as soon as the shot appears on screen. My best guess, monitor 2 is showing the still running, but no longer selected for broadcast, video of Tiffany.

TOP 40 BREAKERS. [22 TIME LORDS doctor'in the tardis]; [27 VOICE OF THE BEEHIVE don't call me baby]; [25 FIVE STAR another weekend].

[5] AZTEC CAMERA: somewhere in my heart. Peter Powell goes back to the corridor to introduce this repeat from 19/05/1988.

TOP 40 FROM 30 TO 11

[21] ROD STEWART: lost in you. The Popscene database claims, “Rod Stewart was originally booked to do his first studio appearance since December 1973,” instead here he is on video. This was the song's high water mark so Rod never had the chance to come back.

TOP 10. Pete and Nick reunite in front of the monitors. I can't quite figure out the geography of the rooms and corridors they are in and out of, so I've done some more research. There's a lovely behind the scenes item from a 1977 Swap Shop in which Noel Edmonds goes on a tour round the TC7 galleries; the studio often used for Top of the Pops, so ironically we might be looking at the same set of control rooms 10 years earlier.

You can watch the tour at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTbqIjIaNWM&list=PLxhh3wy2vqRZQwoTEgRrRZI8dnpV_Jm1N

Anyway, based on that Swap Shop item, here are some inaccurate guesses. I think the room Peter Powell and Nicky Campbell are currently in, and the one also used for the link into Desireless and the Top 40, is the Lighting Control Room -not really needed on this show because there ain't much call for studio lighting. People who know the actual layout of Television Centre are welcome to correct my terrible guess.

[1] WET WET WET: with a little help from my friends. Billy Bragg has been airbrushed from history, here's a second repeat of the Wet Wet Wet performance from 12/05/1988.

[4] BELINDA CARLISLE: circle in the sand. Peter Powell links tonight's odd presentation to the Number One song. “With a little help from our friends we've brought you a different style Top of the Pops tonight!” Who is hosting next week? Only Nicky Campbell has the answer. It's Simon Mayo and Peter Powell again. Is he the new Gary Davies?

The high concept of the Belinda Carlisle video is that footage of the singer is matted on to photographs hanging from a line. Hats off to Carol Abbot for a clever transition into the video, the picture of Powell and Campbell is shrunk down and matched to one of the photos and then gradually faded to black. It looks seamless.

 

PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK: Asbestos stopped play.

*look! Actual research!

(John- So what were the eight causes of the Spanish Armada then?)