BBC4 has the perfect escape from football and politics as it turns over its schedule to Kylie Minogue

She first shot to fame playing Charlene on Neighbours in 1986 and scored her first UK number one in 1988 with I Should Be So Lucky. It was clear Britain had fallen for her charms, but few people would have guessed just how long the love affair would last.

Perhaps though the signs should have been there from the start that she was in it for the long haul. Although she was still in her teens when she became a star in the UK, Kylie was already something of a seasoned showbiz veteran in her native Australia. She’d made her TV debut at the age of 10 in the series The Sullivans and gone onto appear on the shows The Henderson Kids and Skyways.

However, her acting career took something of a backseat to music following the success of I Should Be So Lucky. With production and song-writing trio Stock Aitken Waterman, she notched up a string of incredibly catchy hits in the late 1980s and early 1990s (including a chart-topping duet, Especially For You, with her Neighbours co-star Jason Donovan).

By the mid1990s though, it seemed like Kylie was ready for a change, launching into a new phase of her musical career. That gave us one of her most acclaimed singles, Confide in Me, but not everyone was convinced by her ‘indie’ period, to the point that 2000’s disco-influenced smash, Spinning Around, was seen in some corners as a comeback.

She’s kept her status as a pop princess ever since – last year, she was back in the top UK 10 with Padam Padam, some 35 years after her first hit.

If you want further proof that the Australian-born singer has also become something of an honorary British national treasure, in 2023 she also got her second An Audience with show on ITV1, and then picked up a Global Icon Award at the Brits a couple of months later.

She said: “I am beyond thrilled to be honoured with the global icon award and to be joining a roll call of such incredible artists. The UK has always been a home from home so the Brits have a very special place in my heart.”

We’re reminded why she has remained a pop force to be reckoned with tonight, as we’re treated to an extended version of Kylie at the BBC, which brings together some of her archive performance – and there’s plenty to choose from.

It takes us though her career, and features her collaborations with Robbie Williams, Nick Cave and the aforementioned Jason Donovan.

It’s then followed by Kylie Live in the Park, which features her 2023 performance from Radio 2 in the Park in Leicester, and combines classics with tracks from her most recent album, Tension.

And she also crops up in Stock Aitken Waterman at the BBC alongside Rick Astley, Dead or Alive, Donna Summer, Bananarama, and Mel and Kim.