Colour Me Pop
Pioneering BBC2 colour music show from 1968–1969.
Colour Me Pop is a British music television programme broadcast on BBC2 from 1968 to 1969. It was a spin-off from the BBC2 arts magazine show Late Night Line-Up, designed to celebrate the introduction of colour to British television. Directed by Steve Turner, the programme showcased half-hour sets by pop and rock groups of the period and is considered a pioneering precursor to the BBC music programme The Old Grey Whistle Test (1971–87).
- Field
- Music television
- Nationality
- British
- Known for
- Early colour TV music performances, precursor to The Old Grey Whistle Test
- Broadcast years
- 1968–1969
- Director
- Steve Turner
Lore & Background
Colour Me Pop was created as a spin-off from Late Night Line-Up, with the specific purpose of highlighting the new colour broadcasting capability of BBC2. Each episode featured a half-hour set by a pop or rock act, directed by Steve Turner. The programme ran from June 1968 through August 1969, with additional unbroadcast editions and two compilation programmes aired over the 1969/70 festive season.
Most editions of Colour Me Pop are missing from the BBC archive due to the corporation's archival policy at the time. Currently, only the editions featuring The Small Faces, The Moody Blues, and The Move are held in the BBC archive, along with the unbroadcast Chambers Brothers episode. Other surviving material includes audio from numerous shows, black-and-white telerecordings of The Hollies and The Nice editions, and various film inserts held by the Kaleidoscope archive.
A common misconception is that The Mothers of Invention appeared on the show. This error arose because a studio session recorded for Late Night Line-Up on 23 October 1968 was incorrectly billed as being from Colour Me Pop when an excerpt was reused in the 1991 BBC2 series Sounds of the Sixties. Since it was never originally broadcast as a Colour Me Pop and used a different director and studio, that performance is not considered part of the series.
Reader's Guide
Colour Me Pop holds significance as an early colour television music programme that documented performances by many notable British and international acts of the late 1960s. Its legacy is tied to its role as a direct precursor to the long-running BBC series The Old Grey Whistle Test. The programme's near-total loss from the BBC archive—due to the corporation's then-policy of wiping or discarding tapes—makes the surviving fragments, both visual and audio, valuable historical artifacts. These remnants have been released on commercial DVDs and box sets, such as the Small Faces' 'All Or Nothing 1965–1968' and the Moody Blues' 'Timeless Flight' box set. The show's brief run captured a transitional moment in British television and music, preserving performances by artists like Fleetwood Mac, The Kinks, The Hollies, and Free. The existence of unbroadcast editions and off-air recordings further underscores the programme's importance to collectors and historians of 1960s pop culture.
Did You Know?
- Most editions of Colour Me Pop are missing due to the BBC's archival policy of the time.
- A common misconception that The Mothers of Invention appeared on the show stems from a misattributed Late Night Line-Up session.
- Only three complete editions (The Small Faces, The Moody Blues, The Move) plus the unbroadcast Chambers Brothers episode are held in the BBC archive.
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