Fifteen years after it was axed, the iconic show is a drawing in nostalgia junkies by offering eclectic music, dodgy lip-syncing … and lockdown escapism
For many of us, it was the soundtrack to our childhood. The opening riff of Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love still inspires an atavistic excitement in full-grown adults decades on. On Thursday – and later Friday – evenings, warbling singers and preening boybands would be beamed into homes across the nation as we waited to see which artist would take that week’s coveted No 1 spot. But in 2006, after years of falling ratings, Top of the Pops was cancelled. As music and TV streaming fractured our collective viewing habits, the singles chart started to feel like an irrelevance and, therefore, so did TOTP.
Related: In sync: how the mime-ban stripped Top of the Pops of its charm
