Remember Legs & Co.? No? Well, grab a cuppa, because you're about to meet the most fabulously forgotten dance troupe in British TV history. These were the ladies who gyrated through the Top of the Pops set when actual bands couldn't be bothered to show up. They were like synchronized glitter bombs, all thigh-high boots and feathered hair, filling three minutes with pure, glorious chaos.
The Glamorous Grind
From 1976 to 1981, Legs & Co. were the official house dancers for the BBC. Their job? Interpret whatever song was number one, no matter how absurd—yes, even a somber ballad about a dead cat would get a jazzy shuffle. Imagine six athletic women in leotards trying to "dance" to "Bohemian Rhapsody" while a fog machine tries to assassinate them. It was beautiful, ridiculous, and oddly hypnotic.
Their routines were a surprising mix of ballet, mime, and what looked like someone having a mild seizure near a disco ball. The BBC loved it; the viewers were mostly confused, but they kept watching anyway. It was the kind of TV you’d stumble home to after a night out, and suddenly a woman is pretending to be a lamp while the Sweet plays.
Must Read
Where Did They Go? (Spoiler: Not to the Moon)
The show ended in 1981, and the troupe quietly evaporated into the fog of the 1980s. So, where are they now? Well, prepare for the least dramatic reveal in history: most of them became perfectly normal people. Fancy that. No cocaine-fueled rock star marriages. No reality TV meltdowns. Just... life.
Lead dancer Flick Colby—the genius choreographer with the sharpest bob in television—moved to Canada and started teaching dance. She passed away in 2015, but her legacy is a weirdly poignant one: she taught a nation that dancing to Kraftwerk in leg warmers is Absolutely Acceptable. The other dancers? Sue Menhenick became a yoga instructor. Lulu Cartwright ran a photography studio. Rosie Hetherington opened a dance school in a barn. Literally a barn.
BBC - Top of the Pops 2 - Trivia
The Shocking Truth About Their Pensions
Here’s the kicker that will make you choke on your biscuit: many of the dancers were never paid properly. The BBC classified them as "casual workers," so they got no residuals when repeats aired. That means every time you see a fuzzy YouTube clip of them dancing to "Wuthering Heights," they earned exactly nothing. It’s the most British heist since the Crown Jewels.
Still, they have no regrets. Sue Menhenick once said in an interview, “We were just having a laugh. And we got free tights.” Free tights! That’s basically the 1970s equivalent of a gold Rolex. Honestly, can you imagine a job where your main perk is “unlimited control-top hosiery”?
BBC - Top of the Pops 2 - Trivia
The Eternal Legacy of Legs
Today, Legs & Co. live on as a bizarre footnote in pop culture. They’ve been meme-ified, referenced in indie films, and even sampled in a song by the band The Divine Comedy. Their YouTube videos have comments like, “This is what peak performance looks like. Change my mind.” And we can’t. Because it is.
So next time you see a montage of 1970s weirdness, raise a glass to those six women who twirled through a fog machine for your entertainment. They’re probably gardening now. Or knitting. Or teaching 12-year-olds to jazz-square. But in our hearts, they’re still Legs, and they’ll always be Co.—the dancing department of the BBC’s fever dream.
