Top Of The Pops is returning to television screens five years after it was axed, with the BBC showing weekly reruns of classic shows in the programme's original time slot.
The much-loved live music show was a viewing staple for 42 years until it was dropped in 2006 after falling audiences.
But now the BBC is to draw on its huge cache to retransmit old editions of the programme, episode by episode, each Thursday night at 7.30pm from April 7 on BBC Four, the digital channel.
The series will start at 1976, the point at which the BBC's full archive of shows begins.
Although the series began in 1964, originally recorded in a Manchester church, many editions were famously lost or taped over in the days when TV stations were less rigorous about cataloguing their shows.
Individual performances have been used for editions of TOTP2, but they have rarely been shown in full. It is hoped the reruns will continue to run for subsequent years.
BBC4 controller Richard Klein said: ''Let's see how it goes.''
Acts who featured on TOTP during 1976 included Abba with Dancing Queen and The Wurzels performing Combine Harvester, as well as artists as diverse as Jethro Tull, Tina Charles, Bryan Ferry and Acker Bilk.
It was also the year that long-time dance troupe Pan's People were replaced by Legs And Co.
The reruns will be a mixed blessing for many of the presenters, who may be horrified to see the dated outfits they wore to host the show.
The series will launch with a documentary, to be shown this Friday, which looks at the show in 1976 as a ''barometer'' of music and light entertainment in general.
BBC commissioning editor for music and events Jan Younghusband said: ''You realise that it was most successful as variety. People take it is a chart show but really it is a variety show.''
Although TOTP was dropped five years ago, it is revived annually for a Christmas Day edition.
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