Top of the Pops was the longest running weekly, music chart show featuring videos and performances on BBC1, UK which ran for over 42 years from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006 and featured around 2,000 episodes in total. The show saw many changes through the decades, in style, design, fashion and taste. Due to the BBC's former policy of deleting old programmes, the vast majority of the episodes from the first ten years of the programme's history have been lost. Of the first 500 episodes (1964–73) only about 20 complete recordings remain in the BBC archives. That's why only four of the seven ABBA studio performances exist in their full-length episodes). The 1976 Mamma Mia performance exists only in a Christmas retrospective episode; So Long from 1974 has been found thanks to the help of ABBA fans c/o this ABBA on TV website but it is feared the performance of SOS from 1975 is wiped forever.

Episode 641

A rare live vocal performance of Fernando introduced by DJ Noel Edmonds over a re-recorded backing track made in London.

(It was only around 1979 that Bjorn and Benny discovered that they could fool the musician's union by remixing the tracks a little in Sweden and then pretend to re-record the songs for the five minutes the union representative turned up to check the track).

The acts appearing on this episode (in the following order):

1. Hot Chocolate - Don’t Stop It Now
2. ABBA – Fernando
3. Paul Nicholas – Reggae Like It Used To Be
4. The Beatles – Paperback Writer (danced to by Pan’s People)
5. 10CC – I’m Mandy Fly Me (VIDEO)
6. Linda Lewis – Baby I’m Yours
7. Bay City Rollers – Love Me Like I Love You (VIDEO)
8. The Four Seasons – Silver Star
9. Carpenters – There’s A Kind Of Hush (All Over The World) (danced to by Pan’s People)
10. Sheer Elegance – Life Is Too Short Girl
11. Frankie Valli – Fallen Angel
12. Brotherhood of Man – Save Your Kisses For Me (No.1 this week)
13. Barry White – You See The Trouble With Me (and credits)

This performance was repeated on 21 October 2009 on Eins Festival, Germany and has been officially released on the CD/DVD Arrival Deluxe Edition.

Pan's People danced to The Carpenters' There's A Kind of Hush (All Over The World) on the same stage set

Lyrics available on the Official ABBA site

Top of The Pops (Waterloo), 1974; 
Top of The Pops (Waterloo), 1974; 
Top of The Pops (So Long), 1974; 
Top of The Pops (Waterloo), 1974; 
Top of The Pops (SOS), 1975;
Top of The Pops (Mamma Mia), 1976; 
Top of The Pops (Fernando), 1976;
Top of The Pops (Christmas greeting), 1978;
Top of The Pops (Frida), 1982; 
Top of The Pops (Agnetha), 1983; 

Archive data from public site:
Title: TOP OF THE POPS
Caption: Noel EDMONDS intros weekly cart progr; with HOT CHOCOLATE, ABBA, Paul NICHOLAS, Linda LEWIS, FOUR SEASONS, SHEER ELEGANCE, Frankie VALLI, BROTHERHOOD OF MAN, 10CC, BAY CITY ROLLERS. PANS PEOPLE dance seq Studio perfs,film:NB:ONLY INCL PERFS WHERE ARTIST/GROUP IS KNOWN TO APPEAR
Guid: LLV1766P
Transmission date: 08 Apr 1976
Clip #: BBC_LLV1766P
Restrictions: Prior approval required for all uses, please contact your local Getty Images representative for screener requests and approval details. No use as a complete program, for sequential use with other BBC clips, for unofficial association with BBC, or in a manner that brings BBC into disrepute. Additional BBC Motion Gallery restrictions apply – see Section 10.6 of applicable Getty Images license agreement.
License type: Rights-ready
Filmmaker:
BBC Broadcast Archive
Collection:
BBC Broadcast Archive
Clip length: 00:39:36:00
Credit: BBC Broadcast Archive
Source: BBC Broadcast Archive
Final delivery options: Other digital and analog formats available. Please contact us for assistance.
Release information: Not released. More information
Aspect ratios: 4:3
Object name: BBC_LLV1766P
Subject: Arts, Culture and Entertainment
Keywords: Heat, Elegance, Chocolate, Brother, Adult, Males, Men, Arts Culture and Entertainment, Noel Edmonds, Frankie Valli, ABBA, Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. Find similar clips
Availability: Availability for this clip cannot be guaranteed until time of purchase.
Transcript:
Noel EDMONDS intros weekly cart progr; with HOT CHOCOLATE, ABBA, Paul NICHOLAS, Linda LEWIS, FOUR SEASONS, SHEER ELEGANCE, Frankie VALLI, BROTHERHOOD OF MAN, 10CC, BAY CITY ROLLERS. PANS PEOPLE dance seq Studio perfs,film:NB:ONLY INCL PERFS WHERE ARTIST/GROUP IS KNOWN TO APPEAR
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STUDIO PERFS:HOT CHOCOLATE - 'Don't stop it now'(2m56s) ; ABBA - 'Fernando' (3m47s) ; Paul NICHOLAS - 'Reggae like it used to be'(2m27s) Linda LEWIS - 'Baby, I'm yours'(2m46s) ; FOUR SEASONS - 'Silver Star'(3m13s) ; SHEER ELEGANCE - 'Life is too short girl' (2m19s) ; Frankie VALLI - 'Fallen Angel'(3m23s) PRE-REC VT:BROTHERHOOD OF MAN - 'Save your kisses for me'(2m56s) ; 10CC - I'm Mandy fly me'(4m28s) ; BAY CITY ROLLERS - 'Love me like I love you'(2m48s) ***Pan's People dancers perf in studio to The Beatles - 'Paperback Writer' (Dur 02m58s). They wear white plastic outfits & huge flares with fringing. They dance with books around white plastic library book stands ***
BBC Item Type: Programme
BBC SubCatalogue: LONPROG

Thanks to Chris Williams; Jan Bach, Jun Seo, Jozsef, Carl Magnus Palm, Steve Layton, Ken Griffin and Ian Cole c/o ABBAMAIL (no longer online).
YouTube link c/o Fafner888