28th August

1975: Easy to forget that Jasper Carrott's single success came well before he was ever a national concern - indeed his first series didn't come until 1978 - hence Tony Blackburn feeling he has to mention he "appears in a lot of clubs" and, in introducing Gilbert O'Sullivan afterwards, claim too highly of his very name. Stout work, though, and on TV Hell's Rock Bottom there's a clip of Jasper waiting for his cue and whiling away the time with his mike. I wonder if Funky Moped and Chris Spedding's Motor Biking being on the same show was deliberate? Already a show veteran as Wellington Womble, he's slicked back and ready to ride responsibly through a village. It's a more convincing look than Desmond Dekker and his plunging neckline top of much fringing - watch for the none more irie pianist, and the photographer near-obliviously wandering through the shot during his solo - or for that matter Kenny, whose singer appears determined to stare down the camera lens, and the bit of jaunty jiving on the second chorus seems oddly placed. Peter Skellern meanwhile went a third way and dressed like Geoffrey Boycott. Now, what to do if the French musicians behind Bimbo Jet are unavailable and, I don't know, Pan's People were washing their hair? Simple - turn to the rampant charisma of the Top Of The Pops orchestra, including the famously prolific Clem Cattini on drums. Would you be surprised to learn it doesn't really sound much like that instrumentally? I don't know for sure, by the way, whether the El Bimbo logo you see from 32 seconds in inspired that of Danger Mouse.

1980: How to make Ian Dury & The Blockheads look even more threatening/disturbing? Add Wilko Johnson, obviously. Look at that shot of him between Davey Payne and Norman Watt-Roy, for instance. And then wonder whether Dury was told the cameraman would get that close behind him. Among other sons of punk, The Skids with Richard Jobson fresh from a bank managerial training course and surf-pop thrills from The Barracudas, their college jackets and their terrible, terrible miming.

1986: Proving his intention not to take his clothes off, Jermaine Stewart has donned a suspiciously white hat while his dancers demonstrate the various lengths of jacket you could buy those days. Stay til the end for some top Peelage into the following video. Meanwhile The Human League women seem to have dozed off.

1998: The Corrs bring their sepulchral Irish charm, Caroline in particular taking every opportunity she can to beatifically smile. Robbie Williams did two songs, hence Jamie's comedy double take of disgust at the start, the first, Millennium, missing online, but this one getting the full treatment, that is to say Robbie hopping from foot to foot.

2005: By the detail the show dropped dancers thirteen years earlier, when Crazy Frog's reign of terror was at its peak the show had to go out and hire some more for the one-off occasion. Bodypop or pyramid, not both. Coldplay's Chris Martin is his usual ebullient, up from the piano when you don't expect it (and then forgetting to sit down for the coda) self, his longeur way with an intro leaving Jonny Buckland visibly staring off into space for nearly two minutes. Their future duet partner Rihanna visited the country for the first time, boasting surprise dancers and a very casual DJing style.