Editing Pan's People (section)

==The end of Pan's People (March/April 1976)==
In early 1976, the last remaining original ''Top of the Pops'' dancer, Ruth Pearson, now approaching 30, was looking to retire. At the same time Flick Colby and ''Top of the Pops'' production staff had become keen to develop a new group for the show, with both male and female dancers, and also moving away from having all dancers wearing the same costumes and performing the same moves. Ruth recalled: "Flick and I made the decision. The writing was on the wall when Dee and Babs left. I think our time had passed".<ref name="Express">{{cite news |title=Dee Dee Wilde on her Pan's People dancing days: 'We were sexy but not over the top' |url=http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/life/453909/Dee-Dee-Wilde-on-her-Pan-s-People-dancing-days-We-were-sexy-but-not-over-the-top |work=Daily Express |date=15 January 2014 |access-date=13 June 2017}}</ref> Senior BBC management did not have full knowledge of the intention to adopt a new group format, and later expressed disapproval of this change.

By March 1976, the replacement group for Pan's People, [[Ruby Flipper]], had been selected and began rehearsing; just two of the existing Pan's People, Sue Menhenick and Cherry Gillespie, were retained as dancers, with Ruth Pearson retiring. There was to be no role in the new group for the remaining two dancers, Mary Corpe and Lee Ward, but they continued to appear in Pan's People while the Ruby Flipper rehearsals began.

However, following the Pan's People performance transmitted on 1 April 1976, Lee Ward left the group. She was reported as saying, with regard to the change to a mixed-gender group, "It's a big mistake. Men rush home to watch sexy ladies. They do not want to see other men." Following this, Ward ended her career as a dancer.

The line-up for the final performances in April 1976 was therefore:
*Mary Corpe
*Cherry Gillespie
*Sue Menhenick
*Ruth Pearson

The final performance on ''Top of the Pops'' was on 29 April 1976, dancing to "Silver Star" by [[The Four Seasons (band)|The Four Seasons]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Pan's People – 'Silver Star' Top of the Pops Four Seasons |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXmV3BVKAYs |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/BXmV3BVKAYs |archive-date=11 December 2021 |url-status=live |website=YouTube |access-date=3 June 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The end of Pan's People went otherwise unmentioned on the show, though it marked the end both of Pearson's eight years on the show as a dancer, and Corpe's seven-month run. Corpe initially joined [[Nigel Lythgoe]]'s Young Generation, but returned to ''Top of the Pops'' for two performances in [[Zoo (dance troupe)|Zoo]] in 1982.

The following week, the mixed-gender seven-member Ruby Flipper made their first appearance on the show with Colby as choreographer, Pearson as manager, and Menhenick and Gillespie starting the performance on their own, then joined by the five new dancers.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ruby Flipper – I Can't Help Falling In Love With You – Stylistics (6th May 1976)|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f_626gkyng |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/0f_626gkyng| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|website=Youtube|access-date=2 June 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref>