Top of the Pops 26 January 1990

 

Words: Chris Arnsby

Simon Mayo: “We're the Breakfast Crew, staying up late just for you. New temporary time slot just while the Commonwealth Games are on. The only show on BBC1 without Des Lynham.”
Jakki Brambles: “Lots of portions of talent tonight for you. We've got Sinead O'Connor, Phil Collins, and the wonderful Del Amitri.”
Simon Mayo: “We're gonna start with an AARGH!”
Jakki Brambles: “Think that's a yell.”
Simon Mayo: “That is a Yell. Down there.”

 [24] YELL!: INSTANT REPLAY. Where to begin? There's a new old broom back in town. Paul Ciani has returned; the hosts start the show in the Crow's Nest; Quantel graphics are used while Yell! perform (and also, probably, breach article 106 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice by impersonating a Captain. They should be fine as long as they don't go to America).

And what's this? New captions. Welcome to Cypher. The operator gets a credit as well; this week the Cypher Graphics are by David Ward. The captions are multi-coloured (yellow for Simon and purple for Jakki) and they spin and shrink and make letters fly across the screen. It's a whole new world.

It's 8pm. The Commonwealth Games occupy the 7-8pm slot. Top of the Pops has been bumped from Thursday to Friday. Chaos!

Canary Wharf Winter Lights 2025 photo post

Here's some pictures I took at this year's Canary Wharf Winter Lights. There's more on my Instagram page including video clips. Unfortunately its not possible to add film to Blogger any more.

Top of the Pops 18 January 1990

 

Words: Chris Arnsby

Nicky Campbell: “Oh well. Good evening and welcome to Top of the Pops and can I be the first person to wish you a very happy new year. What a show tonight. A gallimaufry of musical wonders to... seduce your senses. Starting off with a potent mixture of Tina Beale* and genuine talent, here they are. It is, Halo James.”

*Tina Beale? (John- Google tells me she's a real estate and planning educator in Jamaica. Probably not who they meant?)

[13] HALO JAMES: could have told you so. Blue and purple. Blue and purple. Everything is blue and purple. Chris Kempton is still assigned to the Lighting and Stanley Appel is still driving the show. Actually, to be fair to Chris Kempton, he has allowed some orange to creep into the lighting. It looks nice, in the same way that all modern television looks nice because its all teal and orange (nurse, he's out of bed again). I can't blame Chris Kempton for 25+ years of films and television. Or can I?

The Line, The Cross and The Curve (1993)

 

If Kate Bush fans can sometimes treat her work with a bit too much reverence, it says something about the artist herself that she is less precious about her back catalogue. Indeed she has latterly tinkered with old albums and has dismissed this 1993 short film even though at the time poured considerable effort into directing as well as writing and starring in it. Its thirty two years old now and often overlooked so in the continued absence of new Kate Bush material I thought I’d have another look at it.

 

Top of the Pops 11 January 1990

 

Words: Chris Arnsby

Simon Mayo: “Welcome to Top of the Pops. Coming up before seven thirty, you're going to see some of the UK's top live bands. Don't go away. Sorry about the glasses by the way but underneath I look though I've done about five rounds with Mike Tyson. I might show you later. We'll start at number fourteen with the FPI Project, Going Back to My Roots.”

 [14] F.P.I. PROJECT featuring SHARON DEE CLARKE: going back to my roots.

Simon Mayo is doing the whole Roy Orbison bit. Black leather jacket and dark glasses indoors. He looks like an idiot. Alas for my powers of attention, I talked over his explanation for the glasses because I was too busy having a conversation about how silly he looked. Conjunctivitises, apparently.

Meanwhile, the F.P.I. PROJECT have gained a singer. Sharon Dee Clarke. This results in the group getting their third caption from two performances; the 21/12/1989 show credited them as F.P.I. PROJECT present RICH IN PARADISE; the 04/01/1990 repeat listed them as just the F.P.I. PROJECT; and now they are F.P.I. PROJECT featuring SHARON DEE CLARKE.

The Rig season two

The first season of The Rig was a curious series that ended up a long way from what you might expect with an ecological thread and ambitious staging far exceeding expectations. When you think of recent series cancelled by streamers, despite creating a big buzz and seeming popular, it seems odd that The Rig has sneaked though to a sophomore year. I liked the first season but I hadn’t realised it must have done well enough to pass the mysterious criteria streamers have for renewal. Yet survive it has and two years on we have season two.

Top of the Pops 4 January 1990

Words: Chris Arnsby 

Bonus master tape bit: The recording starts on a VT countdown clock held at 10 seconds. The Next Generation by Neneh Cherry is playing and mixed with the low mumour of the studio audience. Several of the studio crew can be heard attempting to gee up the crowd. “Ah go on,” says someone who is probably Gary Davies as the clock begins counting down to the titles.

 Gary Davies: “Hello. Good evening. Welcome to Top of the Pops. Firstly, happy new year. Secondly, happy birthday because Top of the Pops is twenny six years old tonight. And thirdly we are totally live tonight. So we have a real fast frenzied show for you. To start us off, here's Hey You from Quireboys”.

 

The Box of Delights (1984)

 

Produced in 1984 and recently re-released in a special edition blu ray, the BBC’s The Box of Delights adaptation is lauded as a classic and it’s easy to see why. With an unprecedented for the time £1m plus budget the six-part serial places John Masefield’s story in as many real surroundings as possible with a minimum of tv studio and a maximum of location while depicting the more fantastical elements largely using animation. It’s an approach that gives the production a timeless look which, had it relied solely on blue screen effects of the day, might appear more ragged to the modern eye. Noticeably where it does do that those are the bits that have dated the most though the composition of many of them still looks good. A serial that is fondly recalled by a generation, how does it hold up forty years on?