Words:
Chris Arnsby
24/01/1991
Simon
Mayo: “Hello. Good evening. Here we go again. Another Top of the Pops. We’ve
got a slightly shorter than normal programme tonight so we’ve got some...
slightly shorter than normal pop stars. We’ve got Rick Astley, we’ve got The
Simpsons on, Queen at the end of the programme, and Robert Palmer as well. We
start at number twenty six with Tongue ‘N’ Cheek and Forget Me Nots.”
[26]
TONGUE ‘N’ CHEEK: FORGET ME NOTS. The BBC has gone all-in on coverage of the Gulf War. I’ve taken a
quick look at the 24/01/1991 schedule printed in the Evening Standard and
once Going for Gold finished at 2.25pm you could watch live coverage of
the war all the way through to 5.05pm. The kids programmes were all booted on
to BBC2, so two and a half hours of conflict were followed by the Thursday
repeat of Film 91, which normally ran on BBC2. Film 91 neatly
filled the gap until Neighbours. Then an extended Six O’Clock News
ran until 6.45pm and was followed by a shortened local news programme. This had
an awkward 20 minute running time that required Top of the Pops to begin
at 7.05pm and end at 7.30pm for Eastenders.
