BBC axes iconic Christmas Day show after 57 years on TV

BBC Scrooges have axed the Christmas Day Top of the Pops after 57 years on TV.

Cost-cutting measures have seen them pull the festive favourite from the schedules despite it being traditional viewing for generations of Brits.

It was considered so important that, even after the weekly Top of the Pops was axed in 2006, the corporation kept the annual show on BBC1 every December 25.

A TV insider said: "Beeb bosses felt the cost involved in creating a one-off show like this were too high to justify.

"Creating the studio and bringing together a string of artists to perform for just this programme required a disproportionate amount of resources.

"But it will be seen as the sad end of an era by millions of Brits who saw it as a Christmas Day must-watch along with the Queen's Speech."

The weekly Top of the Pops debuted in 1964, the same year that it had its first festive special, which initially aired on Christmas Eve.

The following year it started airing on Christmas Day - where it has stayed ever since and showcased the biggest hits of the previous year.

Only once in 1978 did it not appear in its traditional form due to industrial action at the BBC. But even then Noel Edmonds managed to host a watered down version of the show featuring a limited bands and singers performing in the studio, but without audiences.

This year there will be Top of the Pops: Review of the Year on BBC2 on Christmas Eve at 10.40pm featuring months-old clips of bands and singers performing at various events from the past 12 months.

The BBC declined to comment.