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Celebrating Operetta & Musical Comedy

Created for television in the 1980s, Top C's & Tiaras was one of the very first and best star vehicles to bring popular classical music to a large and mainstream audience.  In 2026 the concept, format and brand are being relaunched for licensing and production in the age of multi-media.

Introducing Top Cs & Tiaras™

Format

The original television show was designed
with an international market in mind, having the potential for 
spin-offs and extended opportunities for
​exploitation and licensing. 

​Find out more about the unique Top C's formula.

The Origins

Shows which celebrate Operetta & Musical Comedy
became known as Top C's & Tiaras™.  
The specials shot on location.  The Sunday night prime-time
​series at a Downton Abbey-like stately home.

Discover how it became a household name.

The Top Cs Repertoire

Titles

2,700

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Showlist

241

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Composers

83

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Brands

1

The Top C's and Tiaras™ Brand

Professional Enquiries

For commercial partners interested in the potential of the brand, further details are available which highlight aspects of this extraordinary and unique opportunity:

• About the brand
  
• ​Top Cs by name
  
• ​Iconic destinations and sponsorship
  
• The Top Cs Heritage
  
• ​About the format
  
• ​Legacy of the concept

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Top C's on Wikipedia >

The Original Series >

Top C's on IMDB >

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Neil's Notes:

Top C's and Tiaras was ground-breaking, very much ahead of its time.  It was huge fun to drill-down into the operetta repertoire, not only for the researchers and the production team, but also for the musicians and artists.
​
We first developed this crossover concept and the modular format for another TV company but when Channel 4 first said they needed a popular music entertainment show for a peak viewing slot to get the ratings up, Top Cs was the obvious choice.  It didn't fail to deliver.  ​Being the most viewer-requested show on Channel 4 at that time, they then chose not to go to another series.  Apparently, it wasn't edgy enough!  Too mainstream for C4.

In recording the main series we simultaneously recorded digital sound for marketing purposes, CDs, videos and the like.  At that time the MU and PRS rights and residuals made secondary exploitation cost-prohibitive.  By the time the unions released their 'death-grip' a few years later we had moved on to other projects.  

​Top C's never reached its wider audience nor fulfilled its potential.  The format is as fresh today.  There has been nothing like it on tv, event cinema, or elsewhere, since!

Professional Enquiries >