Yes it was, holding off the top five which featured:
Patti Labelle & Michael McDonald
Level 42
Peter Gabriel

Hope the re runs do extend to and beyond 86, thought snooker loopy was on its way to the number 1 spot

Foster & Allen = if my Gran was still alive, she'd love this song being played as she loved it back then. I miss you Gran but I don't miss this music...

The Boomtown Rats coming to the end of their career with a fairly poor song. What could Bob do next?!

I have been watching this week's show a number of times in the last couple of weeks, while the episodes haven't been on air, as it is already part of my collection. However, i have to say this is possibly my least favourite of the year so far, where a number of the acts seemed to simply be going-through-the-motions, without their regular level of inspiration. Altered Images, The Boomtown Rats, and The Nolans, especially, spring to mind in that regard. With the exception of Altered Images one significant big hit, approximately a year later (''Don't Talk To Me About Love''), all these groups were winding down, with regards to any further major successes.

It seems a shame with regards to Altered Images, who's first two hit singles promised so much, and yet by ''See Those Eyes'', the formula suddenly appears to have grown rather thin. Clare Grogan's appealing girl next door charm, really fails to save this song, although it still shares just a little, the infectious quality of their previous hits. The slight change in line up, and the group's collaboration with Mike Chapman on ''Don't Talk To Me About Love'', and the accompanying album, breathed fresh life into them briefly.

Julio's Iglesias ''Yours'' is ok, and i don't mind a bit of Foster And Allen with ''A Bunch Of Tyme'' (i have always loved a little acoustic guitar), however, i do have a big preference for The Fureys featuring Davey Arthur hit, a few months back, in that similar style. Killing Joke don't appeal to me especially, but Pluto's ''Your Honour'' has grown on me a little in recent weeks.

The only truly standout tracks for me this week are Bucks Fizz ''My Camera Never Lies'', and Chas And Dave's ''Ain't No Pleasing You''. Also not forgetting probably the best of them all, in The Associates ''Party Fears Two'', which unfortunately was only used as the playout track this time round.

Garth Crooks wasn't a bad host apart from him messing up his introduction to Bucks Fizz, but he's definitely better suited to the football pitch. Peter Powell was his usual self, although this is the first week i have definitely felt age is creeping up on him.

4/10

I would have given it 5/10, simply for the first appearance of Killing Joke (otherwise I agree with 4/10). Most of the episode was rubbish though.

Good morning all.

I saw that Beeb Four aired the dreadful Top Of The Pops where they inflicted a footballer by the name of Garth Crooks as co-host on Peter Powell for his sins. The edition of 25th March, '82 which was quite a momentous week and not just because Britain was on the verge of a fight with Argentina either. This was just two days before the 146th and last ever edition of BBC1's Multi-Coloured Swap Shop on Saturday, 27th March, 1982.

Now Garth is a lovely chap and I met him that week at TV centre and I've met him on another occasion since too, and it's rumoured he once played football quite well but no TV presenter of pop shows is he. Quite what Mike Hurll was thinking of on this one I've no idea but I've been trying to put his appearance into some kind of context of the time, but even so it doesn't excuse it, as good as Mike Hurll was as a BBC producer most of the time. I seem to remember Powell being far from amused, maybe indignant would be a good word even at his inclusion. Pete knew he could carry the show alone I just know for a fact. He's also such a professional too. Not everyone is you know!

A contributor here has asked if the producer Mike Hurll actually had any proper interest in music himself, insofar as the weekly pop hits were concerned? Well I have to impart a rather shocking secret here, that your beloved Top Of The Pops chief actually, are you paying attention, had very little if any interest in the music on the show. While you pick yourselves back up off the floor I'll add that he was first and foremost a TV producer of many shows, not ever a music man. He has more BBC production credits than those on here may be aware. He was more a light entertainment and comedy producer. Who remembers a Friday night primetime BBC1 show called The Time Of Your Life for instance? The BBC's very own take on This Is Your Life from this era? The British Comedy Awards were also his baby and he produced those many times too. He also produced the 1982 Eurovision when it came to the UK and chose Jan Leeming to front it, the beeb's best know woman newsreader of the time. Not quite sure if he had a hand in the rather curious choice of Harrogate of all places.

So there you have it popmasters. I'd love to indulge a few meatier tales from the beeb regards Top Of The Pops but in the interests of positivity they'll stay under wraps as far as public consumption is concerned.

A fabulous browse as always. Until next we meet.

It seemed to me last night that Garth Crooks got to do the majority of the links, with Peter Powell almost reduced to a bit part player. That may just be the effects of the editing, though - perhaps some of Peter's links got lost in the removal of the three-song block in the middle? Haven't watched the full edition yet.

It was me who asked that question concerning whether Michael Hurll had any genuine interest in the music. Thanks for replying, because i don't think it takes too much brain power to deduct that there is a pretty good chance that his interest in popular music was probably minimal. You don't showcase the music in such a poor and ineffective way, if it means something sincerely to you. I accept his presentation isn't always so bad, and especially in his first year/18 months (he may even have done one or two good things), but even in those early days, with a little perception, it wasn't difficult to conclude the show's emphasis had changed. The celebrity guests, i think, was a way of broadening the show's appeal (if it wasn't already popular enough already), and i believe ultimately Michael Hurll attempted to dumb down the show in the process to make the show appeal to everyone (including introducing page 3 girls). It was never a serious music show in the way of The Old Grey Whistle Test etc. of course, but pre - Hurll, it was very adaptable at showcasing the different styles. It did that very well, i believe. After, though, it was never quite the same. As you say, Hurll's mind wasn't primarily on the music (he was light entertainment minded in a more general sense) - and it shows!

Peter Powell strikes me as a much more sincere person than i initially thought at the time. He's very professional, true, but he always seemed a little too eager to love everything. I wondered whether he really felt any true affinity for the music beneath all the bluster, at the time. When i read Bob Stanley's excellent 'Yeah Yeah Yeah - The Story Of Modern Pop', i began to see Peter in a very different light. I was surprised he would take the step of quitting Radio One, and Top Of The Pops, because he could no longer identify with the music, although i am also sure he probably had some lucrative back up business venture up his sleeve!

Re: Garth Crooks
Just been thinking that we've already had the precedent of course, when footballer Kevin Keegan did co-hosting duties, as well as other non-presenter people like comedian Russ Abbott. So, it looks like this was a temporary return to the unsuccessful formula they had tried out the other year. Why Garthy in particular? Well, he did become a football presenter later, so maybe presenting was always on his agenda and inspired by Kev's experience, might he not have written a letter to Michael Hurll asking to be given the chance to follow Kevin?

Featuring the worst song i've seen/heard since I started watching the repeats all the way from 1976

More likely this song was used in 1982 to torture Russian spies into Confessing all after 30 seconds of listening to this song

It should be pointed out that, at the time, Spurs were quite big, and thus as one of their two main strikers, so was Garth Crooks. The 1981/82 season is one where Spurs had been in serious contention for 4 trophies, up until losing the League Cup Final in extra time to Liverpool on March 13th. In the end the fixture pile-up took effect (plus the loss of their two Argentinian stars once the Falklands conflict started), and they just ended up retaining the FA Cup in a very poor final and replay against QPR.

Rather listen to Foster&Allen any day than this crap.

Is it Ok that I quite like both of them.

Then again I have a bit of a strange taste in songs heh

Wouldn't they put 'Seven Tears' on a constant loop to achieve that?

Great to see totp 82 back after its olympic break with a mixed bag of songs as usual:

Altered Images - good start to the show hopefully we will see my favourite by them next year Don't Talk To Me About Love
Julio Iglesias- Not my cup of tea but he's good at doing what he does
Bucks Fizz - Excellent track by the fizz they really made some good stuff and there's loads more to come from them
Foster and Allen - Again not for me but they did what they did very well
Boomtown Rats - Completely forgotten about this song by Bob and the boys and I enjoyed listening to it again even though they were coming to the end of the road by now hits wise
Nolans- Ok track by the girls I noticed that all 3 Irish acts were cut from the early edition
Killing Joke-One of the best things about these repeats is that every now and then a song comes along you've never heard before and you think "wow " this was one of those moments for me and I've put this straight onto my MP3 player
Pluto- From the sublime to the ridiculous
Chas and Dave- By far the best thing the cheeky chappies ever did and a deserved number 2 for them
Goombay Dance Band- Made a change to see a different performance from these thankfully one hit wonders
Associates- Cracking tune to finish the show with the usual suspects dancing along I was looking forward to seeing Club Country in a few weeks but I think it's yewtreed

7/10 from me

Apologies - I stand corrected!

I somehow had it in my head that Rich was the big Shaky fan … so attributed that to him!

Who/what type of people bought this Julio Iglesias record I wonder.

I love My camera never lies by Bucks Fizz.

Click click I love it too! - I love even more their follow up single, the gorgeous 'Now Those Days Are Gone'

Chas & Dave's There aint no pleasing you is excellent.

Fans of Julio Iglesias I guess, my Gran was one of them heh

The lead singer from Goombay Dance Band is creepy.

1982 was a momentous year for shows of your childhood coming to an end as Its A Knockout / Jeux Sans Frontieres also concluded after the `82 season

146 editions is a mighty number and it was truly missed, everyone on there going onto further success but whatever happened to Lamb?!? Im hoping he is still with John Craven on Countryfile having a lovely retirement

And who on earth was buying the Goombay Dance Band? Oh yeah.....

In fairness it was a present for my mum.