1991-1994 Revamp: The Break Away From Radio 1 and Television Centre
When production moved to the BBC's studios in Elstree, Hertfordshire, a new team of young presenters were introduced in place of the aging Radio 1 DJs. Tony Dortie and Claudia Simon had been working for Children's BBC, with Dortie having presented Saturday morning magazine UP2U (with former TOTP presenters Jenny Powell and Anthea Turner) in the summers of 1988 and 1989 and Simon being one of the presenters of BFT in 1990. Elayne Smith was an underground club DJ and compere who started hosting Channel 4 late-night variety show The 291 Club just a few weeks before the revamp. Smith left after just two episodes to concentrate on The 291 Club and was replaced in March 1992 by Femi Oke who was working at BBC Radio 5, whilst 17-year-old Mark Franklin was picked from local radio station BBC Radio Wiltshire. With a new theme tune and set of titles modelled on a weathervane, the first show was presented by Mark Franklin and Tony Dortie on 3 October 1991 with the first live performance Erasure's Love To Hate You. The first show of the revamp attracted 8.93m viewers, over 1m up on the show's average. Performance rules were altered so that acts had to sing live whether they wanted to or not and performances reflected the current album charts and American Billboard Hot 100 as well as the UK Singles Chart. Two presenters from the team always hosted each episode until July 1992 when Tony Dortie and Mark Franklin began to host some shows individually. By October 1992, the rest of the team had been dropped completely.
- Mark Franklin (1991–1994)
- Tony Dortie (1991–1994)
- Elayne Smith (7 November and 5 December 1991)
- Claudia Simon (1991–1992)
- Adrian Rose (1991–1992)
- Steve Anderson (1991–1992)
- Femi Oke (1992)
Special appearances:
- 2 April 1992 – Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse were guest presenters under the alias of Smashie and Nicey
- 18 June 1992 – Bob Geldof guested as a co-presenter with Mark Franklin
- 17 December 1992 – Mr Blobby guested as a co-presenter with Tony Dortie
- 25 December 1992 - Sid Owen and Danniella Westbrook of EastEnders made guest appearances with Tony Dortie and Mark Franklin
- 25 December 1993 - Patsy Palmer of EastEnders made a guest appearance with Tony Dortie and Mark Franklin
- 4 January 1994 – Smashie and Nicey returned to present a special 30th birthday show
- 20 January 1994 – Joe Elliott of Def Leppard guested as a co-presenter with Tony Dortie
On Thursday 11 June 1992, BBC1 screened England's Euro 92 0–0 draw with Denmark so TOTP was moved to Saturday 13 June, broadcast at 5:30pm.
Read more about this topic: List Of Presenters On Top Of The Pops
Famous quotes containing the words break, radio, television and/or centre:
“At the heart of male bonding is this experience of boys in early puberty: they know they must break free from their mothers and the civilized world of women, but they are not ready yet for the world of men, so they are only at home with other boys, equally outcast, equally frightened, and equally involved in posturing what they believe to be manhood.”
—Frank Pittman (20th century)
“... the ... radio station played a Chopin polonaise. On all the following days news bulletins were prefaced by Chopin—preludes, etudes, waltzes, mazurkas. The war became for me a victory, known in advance, Chopin over Hitler.”
—Margaret Anderson (1886–1973)
“Never before has a generation of parents faced such awesome competition with the mass media for their children’s attention. While parents tout the virtues of premarital virginity, drug-free living, nonviolent resolution of social conflict, or character over physical appearance, their values are daily challenged by television soaps, rock music lyrics, tabloid headlines, and movie scenes extolling the importance of physical appearance and conformity.”
—Marianne E. Neifert (20th century)
“Freedom to think our own thoughts, freedom to utter them, freedom to live out the promptings of our inner life ultimated in this convention, was termed a monstrosity of the 19th century. What was it?—the legitimate out-birth of the eternal law of progress. This reformation underlies every other; it is the only healthful centre around which hope of humanity can revolve.”
—Harriot K. Hunt (1805–1875)