In the era before promotional videos were routinely produced for every charting single, the BBC would frequently have neither the band themselves nor alternative footage available for a song selected for the programme.
[10] The Go-Jos' final Top Of The Pops performance was in June 1968 dancing to Jumping Jack Flash by The Rolling Stones.
Whilst producers were aware of the switch to the new group, Bill Cotton, the then head of the light entertainment unit of which Top Of The Pops was part, was not.
This group started as a seven-piece with three men (Gavin Trace, Floyd Pearce and Phil Steggles) and four women (Menhenick, Gillespie, Patti Hammond and Lulu Cartwright).
[20] Their final appearance was in October 1976 (by this time Trace and Gillespie had already left, reducing Ruby Flipper to five members), with the senior management insisting on a replacement all-female grouping.
Flick Colby recalled of this time “Bill Cotton called me in and said the British public didn’t want to see black men dancing with white women...I argued, but he told me to form another all-girl group or I was out.
"[citation needed] The group created to replace Ruby Flipper was Legs & Co, reverting to an all-female line-up, and once more choreographed by Colby.
[22] By late 1981, Legs & Co (by this time Anita Chellamah had replaced Peters) had become more integrated into the studio audience, rather than performing set-piece routines, as a result of the 'party atmosphere' brought in by Michael Hurll.
[24] By the early 1980s, record companies were offering the BBC free promotional videos, meaning dance troupes no longer fulfilled their original purpose.
After the demise of Zoo, the audience took a more active role, often dancing in more prominent areas such as behind performing acts on the back of the stage, and on podiums.