BBC cancels Christmas Day ‘Top of the Pops’ TV special
The BBC has canceled its iconic Christmas Day “Top of the Pops” show, a holiday television mainstay in England for close to six decades.
The program featured performances by homegrown musical talents like the Beatles, Elton John, and the Spice Girls and international stars like Madonna, Beyonce, and Mariah Carey for 57 years.
It was canned due to financial reasons, The Sun reported.
“Beeb bosses felt the cost involved in creating a one-off show like this were too high to justify,” a source told the outlet. “But it will be seen as the sad end of an era by millions of Brits who saw it as a Christmas Day must-watch along with the Queen’s Speech.”
“Top of the Pops” began as a weekly series in 1964, featuring the Rolling Stones as its first band. It debuted its first Christmas special on Dec. 24 that year. The next year, it ran on Christmas Day. A radio program with the same name ran on BBC
The series was the longest-running weekly musical show on television when it was taken off the air in 2006 amid faltering ratings.
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