Zoe Ball

I remember singing along to the Bay City Rollers, is that horribly uncool of me? In their marvellous outfits, waving their arms around, just general cheese I guess. I used to get them confused slightly with The Osmonds because they were quite alike. Beyond that I guess my strongest memory is watching TOTP with my Dad when Spandau Ballet were No.1 with 'True'. My Dad was just sitting there going, "not this again" and it had been No.1 for weeks and weeks and I was like, "it's Martin Kemp, shut up Dad ". He would be really annoying because it would be someone like Paul Young, 'Wherever I Lay My Hat' and my Dad would sing all the wrong lyrics and be really hideously annoying, so I used to just go and watch it upstairs.

I was a very unhip kid. I liked Spandau Ballet and Haircut 100. I didn't mind Duran Duran but I wasn't a Durannie. I quite liked Wham!, I think I was still a bit stuck on Barbra Streisand and Abba at that point. My husband's horrified! I went to see Genesis, U2, Tina Turner and Level 42! I was really cool. Howard Jones too. I loved Howard Jones. I remember him on TOTP with the bloke in the chains. Yeah, and (sings) "We are detective", what were they called? Thompson Twins!. I remember them on TOTP as well. Class performances…

I can't remember, I can't work out whether I remember the dancing people just from watching endless documentaries about TOTP or whether it's actually remembering them being on the show. I used to do gymnastics and dancing and we used to do routines like it, wearing really bad leotards, to music and I think maybe I've actually confused myself with Pan's People! I've got a TOTP annual which has got some really dodgy bands in it and lots of pictures of Legs and Co so I think I was just starting to watch it as they were being phased out.

Yeah, my (gestures) heart bleeds. And their terrible, terrible monster outfits and things like that. Mind you, not much better than Kate Bush I have to say, and her outfits.

When I've watched! I went to TOTP when I was 15 with my friend Portia Dean and it was Doctor and the Medics - Spirit in the Sky and stuff like that. When I watch repeats on TOTP2 it's the really bad 80s clothing, the dodgy hair, the no-rhythm dancing, bad, ripped Frankie T shirts.I think that it is possibly the most appalling era 'cos there's some really dodgy music around and some awful clothes. I used to wear vest tops over sweatshirts you know, I am quite ashamed to look back at my record collection from that time. But it was obviously TOTP's fault! I've seen Beats International when they were on TOTP, what was he wearing, please? Lindy Layton with her big ear-rings and her big trainers was quite cool but you know, I'm sorry, cardigans were never cool, and bomber jackets and baseball hats…

I loved The Housemartins and I remember seeing the Happy Hour video on TOTP and actually seeing them on TOTP doing their funny dancing. I don't remember Norman particularly though. I didn't fancy him as I remember. I think they were probably far too good looking and they weren't wearing big billowy shirts. I thought they were kind of cool, but it's weird that I just do not remember what they looked like at all.

I didn't like 'Caravan of Love'. I liked all the other stuff and I knew all the words and I still do but no, I didn't like 'Caravan of Love'.Tell you who I remember on TOTP, Adam Ant was my era. He was so gorgeous, he was just dancing around with no shirt on, and I used to be so jealous of the girls in the audience being so close to him. And then when we went to TOTP there was no one really cool on, we were really annoyed. Doctor and the Medics and Peter Gabriel , who wasn't even in the studio, but we were gutted. I remember wearing a bangle on my wrist so that I could see my arm waving around! Cool. I reckon if you watch it back now there is a gold thick bangle waving around. I should've just written "Hi Mum!".

Yeah, I was going places. Sadly I was never one of those girls in the background who was dancing to Simon le Bon.

I don't know. I was at CBBC and doing The O-zone and my incredible rapport with major pop stars was obviously something that Chris Cowey (TOTP Producer) looked at and said, "So, come on board ". I was absolutely terrified the first time I did TOTP because all your great heroes have presented it in the past. John Peel was always my favourite, Peter Powell, who became my agent, who I used to quite fancy and these people were my idols in those days.When I came to do it myself I was absolutely terrified. Also getting those links right before going into a band who often were heroes and if you messed up your intro the whole crowd would be like "oh great", the band would have to stop and start again, so I was absolutely terrified. Because you want to look cool, you want to say something witty and clever in-between each band and when there's a band on you don't particularly love, you don't want to stand there going, "great, it's Steps, I love them ". I mean nothing against them personally, but it's like I'm putting my seal of approval on certain bands that I'd really rather not. So you try and make a difference between links.

I know! It's really strange. You get given this gold microphone and you try to wear something really cool and funky and you're lit and you're standing in a strange square and your voice automatically turns into Tommy Vance. You pull these really weird faces because the camera's on you for a couple of seconds and often you've got your hair spruced and your cheeks are red. I'd probably have looked more in place in the 80s actually presenting TOTP with some of my fashion faux pas. But yeah I do remember standing there just going, "It's TOTP" and thinking no, please, you're becoming everything you hate.

Yeah I think it was time to move on. I think they wanted to bring in young, new blood and I'm not so sure about the sexy thing, I think obviously Jo is very sexy, Jayne too, I don't think I'm really known for being particularly sexy, especially when I present TOTP because my mouth's all over the place, gobbing on that nice golden microphone. But it was really exciting to be part of that team. Then I realised I'd just taken on too many things. I do kind of miss doing it though.It's really lovely seeing all the audience as well. It's when the audience start to make you feel really old I think it's time to leave TOTP. They're all 18. They are really young. Also when you see who they get excited about, sometimes I just despair. You know, a boy band would come on and they'd go absolutely mad and then you'd have Lou Reed or Blur or Pulp, Underworld someone doing something exciting and new or really talented musicians and they'd just all be like (gazes upwards) "Where's the dancing boys?". Sometimes I just want to slap them, bless them, but some good outfits.

One of my favourite moments which kind of summed up the beauty of TOTP to me is The Eels were sitting in the dressing room and Mr E from the band was really lovely. I really like The Eels so I was quite excited to meet them and they were quite amazed by the kids in the crowd. They went out and did their song then came back in and they were like, "God those kids were really into it", really excited about it all. The next thing Steps came on and they were up the front jumping up and down to Steps and they were going, "We love those guys, Steps", but they really got into it and of course you could completely see that they were being ironic of course but I really liked moments like that. You'd have Lionel Richie sitting to the other side of you and some young thing going, "Who's Lionel Richie ?". I used to get quite, quite nervous. I remember Beautiful South were on and I don't know why but I kept getting the link to them wrong. I got it wrong about 10 times, and I could just see the whole band standing there going, "For God's sake, get on with it".But it's actually really hard to remember who was on when I was on. I remember The Seahorses being on because I remember thinking Chris Helme was a very sexy boy and trying to do the link as many times as possible!

It's difficult for DJs to do these things because I think they feel silly. You get people like Sash!. 'Encore Un Fois' used to be played every week that I was on TOTP - I used to hate that song. He'd be standing there with a couple of decks and a keyboard and there'd be some dancers in the front who were great, but they weren't 'Legs and Co.' Then you've got Steps, Take That and Spice Girls with their dances and the rest of it, and it looks really naff to have a DJ standing there or on keyboards with some bad dancers in front of them.I think that's the whole point of being a DJ and a producer in that you are behind the scenes. A lot of them are uncomfortable with it. Underworld are great because obviously he'll jump up and down and sing and they're quite physical, The Prodigy as well. I know my fella doesn't, and they keep saying to him, "Will you do TOTP with Macy Gray?" and he's like, "What am I going to do?"

I think it's terrible when people mime on TOTP and I'm really excited when I see people singing live, I think it's great when people do stuff live. There are some people who shouldn't be allowed to mime because they're so bad at it. I remember someone told me a great story about Oasis being on the show and Liam sulking because he wanted to sing live and they were saying look, by the time we get all the equipment in to do one song, you know, and he was "I want to do it live" and Noel just looked at him and went (pulls a face) and he shut up.

I think with Norman it's more that he just feels really uncomfortable standing there with decks, because it's not how he performs. He would put the record on or he would sit there with a little computer and a little sampler and that's not something you can perform. I think it's different if you've got a guitar to play or drums to play or you are actually singing. I know he can play a few instruments but he doesn't call himself a musician in that kind of light, and I can understand why people feel silly doing it with a load of dancers dancing round. I'd feel pretty silly.But I think that's why a lot of DJs make really good videos, it's so they can be shown on TOTP instead of themselves.

There was more fuss amongst friends and family when I did TOTP, and more people saw me do that than anything else. You know, I'd always get a call at 7.35 or something, "Oh, I liked your top", "Oh, you've got to meet so and so" and I suppose my parents remember watching it with me when I was a kid. I don't think they particularly watched it themselves. Mind you my dad was probably in one of them, loitering in the background standing by the Rolling Stones with bad big hair. I see those old clips and I'm like, "that's my Dad ", it just looks like my Dad, this big high thing, and friends' kids, it's like a show that everybody watches and I still watch it now. I have to flick over sometimes when I find things a bit painful. Songs, not the show obviously!