Tune in for BBC’s Top of the Pops, 2017-style

A NEW live pop show is set to hit our screens each week, more than a decade after the axing of Top of the Pops prompted a national outcry.

BBC bosses are poised to launch Sounds Like Friday Night next month featuring a mix of up-and-coming acts and established stars.

Each programme will be fronted by a different musician alongside regular hosts Radio 1 DJ Greg James and BBC 1Xtra’s ‘Dotty’.

Just like its predecessor, the show will broadcast live from the BBC’s former headquarters, London’s Television Centre.

Mr James said: ‘We have been missing a prime-time music show from our TV screens for far too long so it’s fair to say being part of Sounds Like Friday Night is something I’m really, really excited about. One thing that’s fantastic is being able to provide new and emerging acts a home alongside the megastars, introducing them to a new audience.

‘Also having the opportunity to interview and have a laugh with some of the biggest stars in the world is completely brilliant. I can’t wait to get going.’

The six-part series will also feature sketches and interviews plus comedy skits performed by Mr James and that evening’s musician presenter.

The series will be made by James Corden’s production company Fulwell 73.

Top of the Pops was a BBC staple for 42 years becoming the world’s longest-running weekly music show.

It was axed in 2006 amid fears it was losing its relevance in the era of digital downloads.

But it had also been shifted around the schedules from a high-profile Friday night slot on BBC1 to Thursday evenings in the 1990s.

The final nail in the coffin came in 2004 when it was relegated to Sunday evenings on BBC2. Its demise triggered a public outcry and Simon Cowell said he wanted to buy the rights to revive the show.

The BBC said the rights were not for sale and launched a semi-revival a few years later by rerunning Top of the Pops shows on BBC4. But it had to drop half of them after the Jimmy Savile scandal as they featured him as a presenter.