7th August

1980: A very important show, this. The first show back after the Musicians' Union forced TOTP off the air for nine weeks, it was the beginning of a run of co-hosted programmes, the first to be produced by Michael Hurll who would eventually overhaul the whole thing in his seven year run, and perhaps most of all the disbandment of the TOTP orchestra and the necessity to re-record the song before anyone would be let across the TV threshold. As you can see from the rundown clips, which also pinpoint the moment Elton John realised introducing the show in a Norfolk accent was a bad idea, Peter Powell had to fill in the chart gaps with the aid of an ass-shaking Legs & Co. The first band on pointed up the brave new world of all-miming, the Piranhas drumming with fish and showcasing Bob Grover's penny whistle skills. The aforementioned Sheena Easton dresses like a Nolan, while the "Dougie and crew" Powell refers to are Bad Manners, Buster in his perpetual motion boiler suit. Roxy Music dress down, including a tie tucked into a shirt. This is the less notorious of Kelly Marie's appearances but that blue eyeshadow matched with that outfit is doing her no favours.

1986: Tastes change and pop angles move along, but it's worth recalling there was a great swathe of the 80s when you could not get away from Lulu performing Shout on family television, re-released or not. Status Quo do the same performance, in the same jackets and jeans, they did for about a decade and a half straight. Representing the modern age, Sinitta finds the most lurid of matching yellows.