BBC Launches Top Of The Pops Saturday Spin-Off

The BBC is revamping its Saturday morning children’s TV programme, The Saturday Show, to include a spin-off of Top Of The Pops as part of a move to challenge ITV1’s dominance of the market.

BBC1’s The Saturday Show has been steadily losing ground to ITV1’s SM:TV Live and CD:UK. In an attempt to revive its fortunes the BBC is overhauling the programme to include a special version of TOTP, which will package selected performances from the previous night’s programme together with interviews and live performances.

As well as TOTP On Saturday, the new look Saturday Show will have two new presenters to replace Dani Behr and Joe Mace.

From September Fearne Cotton, who is already a presenter on a number of CBBC shows, and Simon Grant, a newcomer to television, will present the programme, which was launched in Autumn 2001 as the replacement for Live and Kicking.

Chris Cowey, executive Producer of TOTP, said: “The Saturday Show edition of Top Of The Pops is another natural extension to the current Top Of The Pops brand and it’s an exciting opportunity to build on its successful reputation.

He added: “In much the same way that Top Of The Pops 2 caters for the adult audience and Top Of The Pops magazine caters for the pre-teen audience, this new edition will ensure the Top Of The Pops brand continues to offer the best pop music to a new audience of Saturday morning viewers.”

BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk

Recent TV Stories from NewsLine Over 8 Million Watch Commonwealth Games Ceremony Carlton And Granada Defend Football League Attacks Big Brother Website Proves More Popular Than Ever

Subscribers can access ten years of NewsLine articles by clicking the Search button to the left