Behind the Scenes
An intriguing insight into the recording of the Christmas and New Year’s Day specials
This show takes a look behind the scenes of the recording of Top of the Pops Christmas and New Year’s Day specials. It offers an intriguing insight into what performing on Top of the Pops means to the artists taking part, from established global stars such as Coldplay to newer acts who’ve made major breakthroughs with their songs in 2015. We catch up with artists in rehearsal and backstage in the alleys, corridors and dressing rooms of Elstree studios and get a sense of what recording the show really entails for them.
A key ingredient of Top of the Pops over the years has been the audience and the festive party atmosphere they experience in the studio is central to the show. We meet some of lucky few who got to attend this year as well as Dan Stegall whose job it is to warm up the crowd - amazingly he started working on Top of the Pops 34 years ago!
We also meet the studio and production teams who help to make this televisual wonderland a reality and see how the filming all comes together over two days.
Featuring contributions from presenters Fearne Cotton and Reggie Yates and artists including Coldplay, The Vaccines, The Vamps, Years and Years, Tinie Tempah, Katy B, Fleur East, Grace and WSTRN
Music Played
Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes
-
![]()
Years & Years
King
-
![]()
Nick Jonas
Jealous
-
![]()
Years & Years
Shine
-
![]()
Jess Glynne
Hold My Hand
-
![]()
Calvin Harris
Thinking About You (feat. Ayah Marar)
-
![]()
Ellie Goulding
Army
-
![]()
Coldplay
Yellow
-
![]()
Coldplay
Adventure of a Lifetime
-
![]()
KDA
Turn the Music Louder (Rumble) (feat. Tinie Tempah & Katy B)
-
![]()
Five Star
The Slightest Touch
-
![]()
Sigala
Easy Love
-
![]()
WSTRN
IN2
-
![]()
OMI
Cheerleader
-
![]()
Sigma & Rita Ora
Coming Home
Featured in...
![]()
Christmas Hits
Whether you're a 70s, 80s or 00s kid, there's a Christmas TOTP here for you...
