The last offering of the 1960s was a one-off 75-minute TV 'special' called 'Pop Go The Sixties!', a celebration of Sixties music, broadcast in colour on 31st December 1969 and shown on both stations on the same day, with some other European stations broadcasting the programme on either the same day or later. Although classed as a co-production, it was primarily produced by the BBC and was recorded at the BBC's Television Centre in London, in late 1969, featuring mainly British pop acts and hit songs. The end titles were in both English and German. The show was co-presented by Jimmy Savile and Elfi Von Kalckreuth. Both presenters introduced each act (with the exception of Cliff Richard), but neither was actually present for the artists studio recording, their links being added later. Savile presented in English and Elfi Von Kalckreuth spoke in German throughout. The show was produced by the BBC's Johnnie Stewart with Stanley Dorfman directing. Both of these men were regularly involved with the production of the BBC music show 'Top Of The Pops' and, therefore, the end of year show had a very similar look and production style. Klaus Weiding was the co-producer for the German station. The artists performed on platforms, surrounded by a standing audience who were encouraged to dance along with the music. A few of the artists present in the studio performed live, singing with a backing orchestra directed by Johnny Harris, but many mimed their hits to their original studio recordings. The Ascot Dancers performed with a large number of the artists. Strangely, although an Anglo-German co-production, only one German artist appeared - Horst Jankowski with 'A Walk in the Black Forest' - and even that was on a pre-recorded film insert. The only song actually performed in German was by Sandie Shaw - 'Wiedehopf Im Mai' which was a version of her Eurovision-winning 'Puppet on a String'. The participating artists were, in order of appearance: The Who - 'I Can See For Miles', Adam Faith - 'What Do You Want?' and 'Someone Else's Baby', The Tremeloes - 'Silence Is Golden', Lulu - 'Boom Bang-A-Bang', Kenny Ball & His Jazzmen - 'Midnight in Moscow', The Bachelors - 'Charmaine' and 'Diane', Sandie Shaw - 'There's Always Something There To Remind Me' and 'Wiedehopf Im Mai', The Marmalade - 'Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da', The Johnny Harris Orchestra & The Ascot Dancers - 'I Can't Get No Satisfaction', The Kinks - 'Days', Horst Jankowski - 'A Walk In The Black Forest', The Hollies - 'He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother', Helen Shapiro - 'Walking Back To Happiness', Tom Jones - 'Delilah', The Rolling Stones - 'Gimme Shelter', Cilla Black - 'Anyone Who Had A Heart', The Shadows - 'Apache', Cliff Richard & The Shadows - 'Bachelor Boy', Cliff Richard - 'Congratulations', The Beatles - 'I Feel Fine' and 'Help!', Dusty Springfield - 'You Don't Have To Say You Love Me'. Adam Faith's song 'What Do You Want?' had reached number 1 in the UK Singles Chart in 1959, but was the first number 2 record of the 1960s. Tom Jones had to withdraw from the recording session at short notice which resulted in an earlier performance of his song from 'Top Of The Pops' being broadcast. The recording shown was in monochrome and projected onto a giant screen in the studio, with the audience dancing to the soundtrack. Horst Jankowski appears in another recording shot in a snowy landscape in Germany. The Rolling Stones and Cilla Black were also absent from the original recording session, with their offerings being recorded (in colour) in other studios, minus an audience, and inserted into the final edit. Interestingly, The Rolling Stones song 'Gimme Shelter' was the only track in the show that had not achieved success as a hit single, but was an extremely popular album track. The Beatles performances were also archive clips which were taken from the documentary film 'The Beatles at Shea Stadium'.

Although her performances were presented one after the other, Sandie Shaw underwent a 'costume change' between her two songs. Most of the full programme recording has survived, together with some out-takes and a re-recording of The Shadows performance. The only 'missing footage' is that of Dusty Springfield's performance, which has not re-surfaced.
The show has been repeated on both BBC Four and the Yesterday channel in the UK and also on other European stations but, due to changes in rights issues, these broadcasts have often omitted The Beatles' performance / footage.

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Executive Producer: Johnnie Stewart Producers: Johnnie Stewart & Klaus Weiding Location: BBC Television Centre, London Running time: 75 minutes Original station: BBC1 & ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen) Original broadcast: 31st December 1969 10.35 - 11.50pm Film Editing: Bill Huthert Production Design: Ian Rawnsley Makeup Department: Liz Bandy Sound Department: Richard Chamberlain Camera and Electrical Department: Richie Richardson (lighting) Costume and Wardrobe Department: Bobi Bartlett Music Department: Jack Goddard Music Associate: Johnny Harris (conductor)

Pop Go The Sixties Pt1 with: The Shadows The Tremeloes Sandie Shaw The Marmalade Lulu Pop Go The Sixties Pt2 with: The Hollies Helen Shapiro Tom Jones Cilla Black Cliff Richard and The Shadows

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Also see: Bill Harry's Sixties