Regular slot for TOTP 'unlikely'

Top of the Pops is not likely to return as a regular weekly fixture, the BBC's music controller has said.

Andy Parfitt said the show was "a long way" from being recommissioned, despite recent successful one-off shows.

Mr Parfitt told a Radio Academy forum in London that the show would probably return in other "event-driven moments".

Top of the Pops ran for 42 years before being cancelled in 2006. It was resurrected for special Christmas, New Year's Eve and Comic Relief specials.

Revived calls

"It's got a mythical status... but I don't think we should get hung up on that one programme.

"We are a long way from [BBC1 controller] Jay Hunt recommissioning Top of the Pops in its old-school form on BBC One," said Mr Parfitt.

"The days are gone when we can make a programme and just put it out there," he added.

The Christmas Day and New Year's Eve programmes attracted around four million viewers.

The Comic Relief special, which was broadcast much later than Top of the Pop's traditional early evening slot, drew in an audience of more than 6.5 million.

The Christmas specials featured performances from some of the biggest acts of 2008 and revived calls for the music programme to make a regular comeback.

The BBC reneged on earlier pledges that the show would never be brought back, but insisted at the time that its more regular reinstatement was not on the cards.