Top of the Pops for the chop

Top of the Pops is being axed from BBC1 after 40 years.

Ratings for the pop charts show have slumped by 25 per cent in a year, forcing bosses to dump it from the main channel.

In an attempt to revive the format, it will be moved to BBC2 on Sunday nights from next spring and aimed at older audiences as well as its core teenage following.

It will be extended to include archive clips, much like its sister show TOTP2, with which it will merge.

The move marks the end of an era for Top of the Pops, which was once essential viewing for teenagers.

First broadcast in 1964, it drew audiences of 20million at its peak in the late 1970s and made stars of radio presenters such as Sir Jimmy Savile and Tony Blackburn.

Its best-known segment was the Top 40 countdown to the Number One single - this week the Children in Need charity single I'll Stand By You, by Girls Aloud.

But satellite channels such as MTV - and ITV's chart show CD:UK - have taken viewers away, with audiences now down to just 3.1million.

Last year's £1million revamp failed to boost ratings and, when digital channel BBC3 was ruled out, the BBC2 move was agreed.