Top of the Pops 13 October 1988

 

Words: Chris Arnsby.
Bruno Brookes: “Good evening. Thursday night means Top of the Pops. Europe's number one TV pop show.”
Gary Davies: “We've got a knockout show for you. We start off with a great record. It's been twenty one years since PP Arnold first appeared on Top of the Pops. This week she's the highest climber together with the Beatmasters. At number sixteen, this is Burn It Up.”

 [16] BEATMASTERS WITH P·P· ARNOLD: burn it up. Brian Whitehouse is still clinging in there as Producer, but Tony Newman is back for a second go as Director after his first try on 29/09/1988 was deemed acceptable. Burn It Up starts off with a voiceover from PP Arnold and Tony Newman gets Vision Mixer Carol Abbott to combine a wide shot of the studio with a big close up of PP Arnold, which makes her giant head loom over the audience. It's a simple effect but a good one.

 

Another simple but good effect comes from Rod Litherland, Lighting. He colours the stage red, obviously, until the percussion bit in the middle of the song when the red floodlights go off. The stage immediately dulls to its default grey colour and looks gloomy and atmospheric, until the red floodlights are turned back on to accompany a “burn it up.”

[31] SABRINA: all of me. Tony Newman studied at the Stanley Appel School of Direction and obviously got top marks in shooting programmes continuously. The camera pushes in towards Gary Davies as he introduces Sabrina (and also for some reason launches into part two of the introduction to the show telling the viewers that we can look forwards to seeing T'Pau, Sinitta, and Kim Wilde; did he and Bruno Brookes forget to do this earlier?) and then spins round to reveal Sabrina waiting for her cue to start bouncing. A disappointed generation of teenagers realise Sabrina is wearing considerably more than the flimsy top and jeans she wore on the 16/06/1988 edition. Well, it is October.

TOP 40 FROM 40 TO 31.

[19] T'PAU: secret garden. Bruno cocks it up. “Here are Secret Garden with T'Pau!” he burbles. Do we have time for another go at the link Tony? Apparently not.

BREAKERS: [29  ENYA orinoco flow];  [21 THE CHRISTIANS harvest for the world]; [20 D·MOB FEATURING GARY HAISMAN we call it acieed ].

[15] KIM WILDE: never trust a stranger. “It's been a terrific year for this next young lady,” says Gary Davies, “a big tour with Michael Jackson, a very big selling album called Close, and three hit singles from that album. Never Trust A Stranger is at number fifteen. It's Kim Wilde.” It has indeed been a good year for Kim Wilde, a good seven years in fact since she first appeared on Top of the Pops with Kids In America; 26/02/1981.

TOP 40 FROM 30 TO 11.

[25] SINITTA: i don't believe in miracles. Bilge.

TOP 10.

[1] WHITNEY HOUSTON: one moment in time. On video.

[23] BANANRAMA: love, truth, and honesty. I'm not entirely clear on what Bruno Brookes says at the end of the show. It sounds like “next week on Top of the Pops, Steve Wright and Caron Keating will have something in the oven for you.” What the hell does that mean? Is Bruno Brookes implying that Caron Keating is carrying Steve Wright's love child? What a revolting development.

Top of the Pops ends with a repeat performance from the 29/09/1988 edition. It's more usual to finish with a video but this was a studio performance heavy show and maybe the aim was to cram in as much studio material as possible, especially with a video sitting in the Number One slot.

 PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK: Beatmasters with PP Arnold, Burn It Up.