BBC TO REPEAT CLASSIC EDITIONS OF TOP GEAR AND COME DANCING TO MARK ANGELA RIPPON'S 80th BIRTHDAY

The BBC have announced a whole evening of programming dedicated to Angela Rippon on Saturday 12th October from 7pm on BBC Four. The full BBC Four schedule is as follows:

7pm - Angela Rippon At The BBC

7:45pm - Angela Rippon Remembers... Top Gear

7:50pm - Top Gear (S1E1, 1977)

8:20pm - Angela Rippon Remembers... Come Dancing

8:30pm - Come Dancing (1990 Final)

9:10pm - Angela Rippon Meets: The Hoofers

10pm - Angela Rippon Reporting: The Soap Opera Business

10:50pm - Masterteam with Angela Rippon

11:20pm - Angela Rippon: Portrait

Angela Rippon At The BBC

As broadcasting legend Angela Rippon celebrates her 80th birthday, we join her for a special programme looking at her career as one of British television’s most familiar faces.

It’s a journey that begins with Angela’s early days as a local reporter and then follows her as she rises through the ranks to become one of the most prominent female figures in UK broadcasting.

From quiz show host to the person quizzing Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer immediately before their wedding, Angela has seen it all over 58 years on screen, and here we get it all – the early days, the reporting work she’s still doing today and, of course, the moment that cemented her place in TV history: the invitation to appear on Morecambe & Wise’s 1976 Christmas Show.

Top Gear

Angela Rippon and Tom Coyne present the first ever episode of Top Gear, broadcast on 22 April 1977 and billed in The Radio Times as the 'first of a monthly series for road-users'.

Angela Rippon drives up the M1 in her Ford Capri, at a steady and safe 70 miles per hour, talking about the correct use of mirrors on the motorway, and Tom Coyne interviews William Rodgers, the minister of Transport, who reveals his hopes for the introduction of seat belts and curbs on drink-drivers.

Come Dancing

From the Tower Ballroom, Blackpool, Angela Rippon and Charles Nove present the grand final of Come Dancing 1990, with teams from Sheffield and London South.

Masterteam

Angela Rippon hosts the first edition of the daytime quiz programme, which aired on BBC One from 21 October 1985 until 21 December 1987 and featured the Team Challenge, Spotlight and In a Spin rounds.