Read this poignant report earlier today (Media Guardian – requires registration)
My Top of the Pops would never flop
Jimmy Savile
Thursday July 31, 2003
On Wednesday January 1 1954 at 6.30pm I presented the first ever Top of the Pops. I remember a journalist asking me how long I thought the programme would last. I said to him: “It will last as long as people buy records.” As far as I was concerned, people would always want to see the moving bodies behind the record they bought.
But now the future of the longest-running music show in British television is in doubt. We’re being told that it doesn’t appeal to enough people any more, and that a move from BBC1 to BBC3 cannot be ruled out.
The only reason Top of the Pops is in trouble now is because it is run by people who sit behind desks all day. I invented Top of the Pops when I was a top-class DJ playing in dance halls and discotheques. We did a pilot called the Teen and Twenty Record Club. The BBC liked it but didn’t like the name – so Top of the Pops was born. I presented it once a month for 20 years.
The problem is that people who organise it now miss the point. I ran Top of the Pops from the perspective of a DJ. So I would identify the best dancer and the best-dressed audience member and make them part of the show. They were as important as any of the bands. People really wanted to know how people in Penzance or Aberdeen danced, or what they wore. That’s what made it a great show. Now the audience doesn’t matter – they are just hands waving in the darkness.
Because I had a disco mentality, I knew what was important. Today’s programme is just a factory, with the same thing churned out every week. I also used to wear amazing outfits – flowered suits with matching shirts and ties. But, when I did a Top of the Pops special about two years ago with two modern-day presenters, they told me that they were only allowed to wear dark clothes that didn’t startle. Anybody who prevents a presenter from showing their personality has no idea how to run a show.
They sell Top of the Pops to 112 different countries around the world – so don’t tell me it’s not a success. The biggest viewing figure I got in my day was around 1970, when 20.8 million people watched the show.
I changed people’s lives with Top of the Pops. I used to get letters saying: “Dear Jim, the only time I can talk to my kids is when Top of the Pops is on because I’m interested in what’s going on and they tell me. It’s the only time in the week we can get any dialogue.”
There’s no need for any of that to go. Top of the Pops is fun, it’s escapism, it’s a laugh, it’s a rhythm, it gets your foot tapping. And that’s all it is. Do it nice and simple and it will always be a winner.
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