Top of the Pops

Top of the Pops was one of the most famous TV Shows in the UK. It was broadcasted weekly for almost 50 years (January 1st 1964 to July 30th, 2006.) There is 2,269 episodes with 508 of them missing including Beatles. All of the episodes were pre recorded except for the 1966 appearance. All the songs were mimed and were playback. On March 19, 1964, Between 7-8:30 PM the Beatles were at the BBC's Television Theatre (since renamed to Shepherd's Bush Empire) to film for the British TV series "Top of the Pops." This was pre-recorded and not live and they sang "Can't Buy me Love" and "You Can't Do That." The performance was broadcasted on March 25th and "Can't Buy me Love" was rebroadcasted on April 8th. A 2:08 clip of "Can't Buy me Love" and a 0:13 clip of "You Can't Do That" with no audio and a huge email on the screen was found but is the only surviving clip of this performance. The clip isn't in the best quality and can be viewed here and the footage was found on a silent 8mm at a car boot sale.

On July 7, 1964 From 2-5PM The Beatles recorded another appearance for "Top of the Pops". They sang "A Hard Day's Night", "Things We Said Today", and "Long Tall Sally." "A Hard Day's Night" and "Long Tall Sally" were first broadcasted on July 8th and "Things we Said Today" was broadcasted on July 29th. No footage of this performance is available however, probably due to the fact that the songs were aired separately but no one knows. The only footage from this day was after filming they had a "celebration" because it was Ringo's birthday.

They went on the show again on November 16, 1964. Between 2-5PM they recorded "I Feel Fine" and "She's A Woman." They were both first broadcasted on December 3rd 1964. Yet this is another one with no footage or photos of this performance.

They recorded for "Top of the Pops" on April 10, 1965 and performed "Ticket to Ride" and "Yes it Is." There is a surviving clip of this performance from a "Doctor Who" episode that 1st aired on May 22nd. In the episode "The Executioners" part of a serial called "The Chase", Ian and Barbara wants to go home to London 1965 and look through to see The Beatles singing Ticket to Ride. The clip can be viewed here on YouTube. On June 16, 1966 The Beatles performed their first live appearance on the show. The live broadcast was between 7:30pm and 8pm. They recorded "Paperback Writer" and "Rain." The only footage that has survived are a 90 second clip and a 19 second clip. Here is all the footage available synced with different audio. On June 25, 1967 they made their last appearance on the show. It was a pre recorded video of them at Abbey Road Studios singing "All You Need Is Love." This was made for a show called "Our World" which was a show that transmitted all over the world. This performance was also put on "Top of the Pops." You can view the entire performance by purchasing the 1 or 1+ set wherever you get your DVD's. These DVD's were made by the official Beatles and are not bootlegs. It would later be colorized for Anthology in the 90's