I'll be watching because I always do but the music has generally been awful for years now. I'm too old to be in the target audience for modern chart music though so I'm fine with that,

 

What does bother me about these Top of the Pops specials in recent years is them featuring records that never made the Top 40. I get that they have to make do with who they can get but there have been over 200 Top 40 hits this year, surely that can find enough people from that to fill the show.

 

As for Fearne Cotton leaving, I think that was always going to happen sooner or later. She's a similar age to me so it's highly likely she's not into the music on the show either.

I'll be watching because I always do but the music has generally been awful for years now. I'm too old to be in the target audience for modern chart music though so I'm fine with that,

 

What does bother me about these Top of the Pops specials in recent years is them featuring records that never made the Top 40. I get that they have to make do with who they can get but there have been over 200 Top 40 hits this year, surely that can find enough people from that to fill the show.

 

As for Fearne Cotton leaving, I think that was always going to happen sooner or later. She's a similar age to me so it's highly likely she's not into the music on the show either.

 

Yes Fearne turned 40 this year, and says she chose to step down as part of making major changes in her life, which I hope is the truth of the situation, but I think the BBC did used to have a rule that presenters of youth and childrens' programming had to be under 40, so I hope she wasn't pressure to leave due to her age. I just checked and Clara is 37, so potentially she isn't into most of the music on the show either. Even totp new boy Jordan is 31 apparently, so maybe he is a bit more likely to like the music featured, and at least he'll probably have some memory of the weekly show and thereby have some level of affection for the TOTP brand I guess.

Clara’s 37?? Wow thought she was like 27!

Yes Fearne turned 40 this year, and says she chose to step down as part of making major changes in her life, which I hope is the truth of the situation, but I think the BBC did used to have a rule that presenters of youth and childrens' programming had to be under 40, so I hope she wasn't pressure to leave due to her age. I just checked and Clara is 37, so potentially she isn't into most of the music on the show either. Even totp new boy Jordan is 31 apparently, so maybe he is a bit more likely to like the music featured, and at least he'll probably have some memory of the weekly show and thereby have some level of affection for the TOTP brand I guess.

I hope it’s not true that the BBC have such a discriminatory rule, there are countries like Italy where many people just start regularly working at around 40 years.. Fearne should not be forced to stand down for this reason.

There’s no evidence she was asked to stand down. It’s more likely they wanted a radio 1 team and a presenter who actually might listen to the songs on the show. Fearne moved to radio 2 a few years ago and I was impressed how long she continued to do it after the main show ended. She’s the last remaining link to the weekly show I think.

I watched the 1998 Christmas special last night on BBC Four. How very nostalgic!

List all the artists they couldn't get to perform and then introducing Joel Corry was a bit harsh

I watched the 1998 Christmas special last night on BBC Four. How very nostalgic!

 

Watched the 2002 one, can deffo see why they killed it off by that point

The 2002 one didn’t feel that Christmassy. I remember watching it at the time but I just don’t get the same nostalgia that I do when watching the 1998 one.

Yeh they changed producers by 2002 and it was done in a really crap way!

Yeh they changed producers by 2002 and it was done in a really crap way!

The 2002 Christmas special wasn't very festive but the worst of all the Christmas TOTP's was the one from 25 December 1978 when industrial action not only stopped an audience being present but it also meant the programme couldn't even be filmed in a studio. It was presented from what looked like a room in the production office. Featuring video clips and performances from the weekly Top Of The Pops programmes the whole episode looks like it was put together for under a fiver!

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b008p...-christmas-1978

 

Yeh they changed producers by 2002 and it was done in a really crap way!

The producer of 1998 and 2002 would've been Chris Cowey who was replaced Andi Peters in 2003.

The 2002 Christmas special wasn't very festive but the worst of all the Christmas TOTP's was the one from 25 December 1978 when industrial action not only stopped an audience being present but it also meant the programme couldn't even be filmed in a studio. It was presented from what looked like a room in the production office. Featuring video clips and performances from the weekly Top Of The Pops programmes the whole episode looks like it was put together for under a fiver!

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b008p...-christmas-1978

 

Add to that an absolutely dreadful selection of artists - we caught it the other night and weren't impressed.

Interesting that there was only one post made here about yesterday's episode! That seems very telling. I didn't watch it but I might do on iPlayer eventually.

I had it on but it was distinctly average. Sigrid's performance was probably the best of the bunch.

I watched the Anne-Marie performance before heading to the in laws which was ok, will watch at some stage. But I didn’t watch last years Xmas special until the beginning of June when it was 28 degrees outside 😂

Interesting that they the usual suspects performing, some with songs that didn’t chart that highly at all. I still live in hope that TOTP will make a full time return any decade now, but the BBC need to have a good think and get it right.

None of the music on there was to my liking but that was to be expected. It was good to see it wasn't just the usual EDM tune followed by dreary ballad formula they've been using in recent years. However, I don't like the fact they were featuring tunes that didn't make the Top 40. There were artists who have had Top 40 hits this years appearing but playing a non-Top 40 hits. That's not what Top of the Pops is about.

The line up for the last 3 years has been pretty dire. They’ve booked Mabel for the last 4 years? Does she have nothing else to do.

 

I don’t like Ed Sheeran or Coldplay, but I don’t know why they couldn’t be booked, if they’ll go on Jonathan Ross or Graham Norton. The endless D-List acts and collabs are getting boring.

I usually tune in for this even when the lineup is awful (which it usually is recently) but I completely forgot this year. Might watch the NY episode if I remember but I can't say I'm that gutted about missing it :kink: