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Top of the Pops 2
TOTP2 Title card (2013–2017), as seen on the Christmas 2013 special.
Narrated by	Johnnie Walker (1994–97) Steve Wright (1997–2009) Mark Radcliffe (2009–2017)
Theme music composer	Bill Padley (1994–1998) CCS (1998–2006, 2013–2017) Tony Gibber (2006–2013)
Opening theme	"Red Hot Pop" (1994–1998) "Whole Lotta Love" (1998–2006, 2013–2017) "Now Get Out of That" (2006–2013)
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of episodes	523
Production
Producers	Ric Blaxill (1994–97) Rory Sheehan (1997–1998) Mark Hagen (1999–2010)
Running time	30 minutes (1994–2007) 60 minutes (2006–2017)
Original release
Network	BBC Two BBC Four
Release	17 September 1994 (1994-09-17) – 22 December 2017 (2017-12-22)
Related
Top of the Pops Top of the Pops Reloaded TOTP@Play

Top of the Pops 2 (also known asTOTP2) is aBritish television music show broadcast onBBC Two showing archive footage from the long-runningTop of the Pops show, some dating back to the 1960s when the programme first aired on British television, as well as other surviving BBC programmes.

The original format of the show consisted of various segments including "recorded for recall", which would showTOTP performances from a certain decade, "video stir" which featured a new music video from a popular artist in the charts, the "first time" would feature an artist's firstTOTP appearance, "world hits" would feature a new international hit, "tomorrows hits" would feature artists who were predicted to enter the UK Top 40 the following week, and then "the original" would feature numerous performances from that week's edition ofTOTP. The 'Top 10' singles chart and the number one single of the week would also be shown. This format existed until 1997, when the show format changed to only feature performances from theTOTP archive, mixed with the occasional exclusive new performance forTOTP2.

From its debut in 1994, the show was narrated byJohnnie Walker.Steve Wright took over narrator duties in 1997 until December 2009, whenMark Radcliffe took over presenter duties until the show's cancellation in 2017. To date, the presenter has never appeared in-vision, but provides voice-over commentary that introduces each performance.

For a period of time, the BBC ran a daily version ofTOTP2 in which celebrities chose their favourite archive performances. These celebrities, typically comedians, have includedVic Reeves & Bob Mortimer,Phill Jupitus andJack Dee. There have also been a number ofTOTP2 specials, where a "greatest hits" show dedicated to one musician or band has aired. Examples include the Bee Gees,Elvis Presley,Shania Twain andDionne Warwick specials which aired between 1997–2003.

Since its debut,TOTP2 has also broadcast regular specials for certain theme nights or calendar events. Examples include Christmas and New Years Eve specials.

In 2004, the controller ofBBC Two,Roly Keating, announced that the programme was to be "rested".^[1] After the 4 June 2004 episode,^[2] the channel's only subsequentTOTP2 broadcasts for two years were Christmas specials on 24 December 2004 and 24 December 2005.^[3]

The hiatus preceded a format change for the mainTop of the Pops programme, which was moved from itsBBC One Friday-night primetime slot to a new slot on Sunday nights onBBC Two in 2005.^[4][5]Top of the Pops' new format merged its usual format of new chart performances with theTOTP2 format of archival recordings.^[5]

ThisTop of the Pops format ran until the show was cancelled in July 2006.

After the cancellation ofTop of the Pops,TOTP2 returned to BBC Two on 30 September 2006. The new show format was similar to the earlierTOTP2, but also included live/original BBC performances. These episodes were produced and broadcast in the 4:3aspect ratio like the majority of its archive material, except for the first two episodes, which were shown in the 16:9 aspect ratio to accommodate new performances. The first 50-minute special includedNelly Furtado,Jamelia andRazorlight, before it reverted to a 30-minute weekly format at 20:00.^[6]

The BBC planned to replace the mainTop of the Pops special on Christmas Day 2008 with a special edition ofTOTP2, that would have included some live performances and archive footage as well as the 2008 Christmas number one UK single; these plans were later scrapped due to complaints by viewers. This led toSimon Cowell asking the BBC to buy the rights to theTop of the Pops brand so he could produce a version of it forITV1.^[7] The BBC later refused Cowell's offer and announced that they would showTOTP on Christmas Day onBBC One as well as theTOTP2 specials onBBC Two.

Since 2008, new sporadicTOTP2 specials have aired, most notably Christmas specials, alongside repeats of episodes originally broadcast between 1997 and 2012.

On 27 June 2009,TOTP2 returned unexpectedly to celebrate the life ofMichael Jackson, who had died two days earlier.^[8] This later turned out to be the last episode to be narrated by Steve Wright.

In December 2009, Mark Radcliffe took over as presenter ofTOTP2. On 10 May 2010, aTOTP2 80s Special aired on BBC Two.^[9] This marked the 500th edition ofTOTP2.

December 2013 saw the introduction of a newTop of the Pops logo, and a presentation refresh forTOTP2. It also saw the return of "Whole Lotta Love" as the shows theme tune, this variant being a mix of the original and the 1998 remix version.^[10]

In recent years,BBC Four has aired vintage editions ofTop of the Pops – originally 35 years to the week of the original broadcast, starting with 1976 repeats shown in 2011 – with the renewed interest in the original shows earning ratings of up to a million viewers, prompting the channel to repeat editions ofTOTP2, such as in the aftermath of the Christmas Day 2016 death ofGeorge Michael. In addition, various performances fromTOTP and other programmes have been repackaged as music specials by theTOTP2 team, such as "Disco at the BBC", "Country at the BBC" and "Abba at the BBC". Music documentaries fronted by the likes ofNile Rodgers andGregory Porter have also featured alongside, under the slogan "Friday night is Music Night".

In tandem with their launch of whole-episodeTOTP reruns, BBC Four launched a new clip-show format,Top of the Pops: Big Hits. The first programme covered the period from 1964 to 1975 (the era prior to the full-show reruns starting in 1976) and subsequent editions have compiled a selection of music from each year. Similarly toTOTP2, theBig Hits programmes provide additional information over each performance in the form of onscreen captions; however,Big Hits does not have a voiceover. A Christmas show in theBig Hits format,Top of the Pops: Christmas Hits aired on BBC Four in 2016, with no ChristmasTOTP2 running that year.

The 2017 Christmas show was the last episode ofTOTP2 to be produced and broadcast, though past episodes are still repeated onBBC Two andBBC Four.

In September 2014, the BBC accidentally transmitted an episode containing footage of disgraced presenterJimmy Savile, posthumously revealed to be a prolific sexual abuser which resulted in seven viewer complaints and a statement of apology by the BBC. The offending footage was subsequently removed fromBBC iPlayer.^[11] The repeat run ofTop of the Pops onBBC Four was already omitting episodes featuring Savile andDave Lee Travis (due to a suspended sentence), whileJonathan King's reviews of the American charts were edited out of the repeats, due to his conviction.^[12] Additionally, episodes presented by or featuring performances byGary Glitter are also no longer shown following the singer's conviction for downloading child pornography.^[13]

The original opening sequence, used between 1994 and 1998 used a 'rewind' theme to represent the show's rewound content. Paula Williams devised the concept by filming abstract objects in a studio on 16mm film with bold 'pop' colours. The sequence was edited and composited at Red Post Production on Flame.^[14] The presentation style ofTOTP2 in 1994 was actually ahead of parent show,Top of the Pops, which didn't get a similar presentation update until 1995.

Since 1998, the presentation ofTOTP2 has generally followed the style of parent show,Top of the Pops.TOTP2 used modified versions of the May 1998–December 2001 and January 2002–November 2003 titles during those eras of the show. However, between November 2003 and December 2005, an original title sequence based around the 2003Top of the Pops spiral logo was used alongside the original version of "Whole Lotta Love" byCCS.

• 
  TOTP2 title card used from the first episode on September 17, 1994 until March 28, 1998.
• 
  TOTP2 title card used from September 12, 1998 to Christmas 2001.
• 
  TOTP2 title card used from January 2002 to November 2003.
• 
  TOTP2 title card used from December 2, 2003 to Christmas Eve 2005.
• 
  TOTP2 title card used from August 2006 to October 2013.

This is a guide to show a list of new episodes not in a particular series ofTOTP2, broadcast since December 2008.

From 2004 onwards, repeats of edited episodes ofTOTP2 have been shown on a number ofUKTV channels, includingDave,^{[clarification needed]} andYesterday. Recent episodes of the show are also repeated onBBC Two andBBC Four occasionally.

• Top of the Pops 2 atBBC Online.
• Top of the Pops 2 atIMDb.

• 1994 British television series debuts
• 2017 British television series endings
• 1990s British music television series
• 2000s British music television series
• 2010s British music television series
• BBC Two original programming
• Pop music television series
• Top of the Pops
• British English-language television shows
• British television spinoffs

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