Doll House, the new horror film from 101 Films, directed by Steven M. Smith (Doll Cemetery, The Howling, The Doll Master, Haunted) and starring Toyah Willcox (Invasion Planet Earth, Quadrophenia), Mark Wingett (The Bill, Quadrophenia), Louisa Warren, Jennifer Leahey and Paul Danan (Hollyoaks, Are We Dead Yet?) is released on DVD and digital download on 23rd March.
Synopsis: A care home for child runaways takes in a 12-year-old girl, found alone, late at night, on the street, whos only belongings are her Doll and mysterious Doll House. She refuses to speak and wont ever let go of her doll or doll house and the other children tease her. As the days pass, the residents start to disappear and seem to appear as tiny dolls inside the doll house. An evil entity haunts the doll and doll house and is collecting the souls of the children for its ultimate cause, to be alive.
The Let’s Rock 2020 line-up has been released and it’s a belter – here’s everything you need to know about this year’s event
80s icons aplenty will descend on Dalkeith Country Park in Midlothian on Saturday 13 June.
It’s time to party back to the 80s with Let’s Rock, the UK’s biggest retro festival. And this year, the stellar line-up makes for their biggest summer yet.
A celebration of all things pop and 80s, Let’s Rock offers gloriously unpretentious non-stop fun, with legendary artists performing hit after hit to a crowd of all ages – many of whom embrace the throwback vibe by dressing in their finest retro fashion.
Let’s Rock 2020 headliners include: Adam Ant, OMD, UB40 and Wet Wet Wet. Other performers include ABC and Howard Jones – exclusives for Let’s Rock, plus Billy Ocean, Tony Hadley, Kim Wilde, Sister Sledge, The Boomtown Rats, Belinda Carlisle, Heaven 17, The Undertones, Midge Ure’s Electronica, Toyah, T’Pau, Go West, Nik Kershaw, Chesney Hawkes, Betty Boo + many more.
❉ This is a fine time to look back at the solo career of an underrated artist.
“I’m too qualified, to give up lie down and die. This is my unsentimental education.”
Toyah Willcox has been a household name since her eponymous band burst onto the UK pop charts in the early 1980s. Juggling her musical career with high profile work as an actress on stage and screen, and a string of television presenting work was both a blessing for her career longevity and a poisoned chalice when it came to her enduring legacy as an artist in her own right.
The release of Solo – the first ever Toyah boxset – is the first step for Willcox and her faithful master of the archives Craig Astley in a bid to right those wrongs.
Compiling most – but crucially not all – of Toyah’s solo albums released since the Toyah band broke up in 1984, alongside a collection of rare and unreleased material, plus a bonus DVD, the release starts a dedicated reissue campaign which continues with standalone coloured vinyl pressings of almost every studio album in the set in March, bringing most of them back into print for the first time in over a decade.
Toyah Solo is released tomorrow – Check out Dreamscape’s, just uploaded, tribute to Toyah’s first box set – An info-packed digital issue – Spring/Summer 2020 – of our Toyah fanzine, compiling new and previously published features related to Toyah Solo + extra bits and pieces!
• Toyah Solo: Review: Released this Friday, Toyah’s new box set is reviewed, and given four stars, in the new issue of Classic Pop magazine, which is on sale now.
• Classic Pop: Toyah Solo Review: The complexities of Toyah leaving her band – called Toyah – to become a solo singer – called Toyah – takes up several spreadsheets and pages of footnotes. In short, Solo rounds up the first six albums Toyah made when she left Toyah in 1985…
• Toyah Solo: Unboxing the box set: See Toyah unboxing her new, just about to be released, 8-disc box set here…
• Super Deluxe Edition: Out This Week/on 28 February 2020: Toyah Solo 7CD+DVD box – Toyah Solo mops up the era from 1985 onwards when Toyah Willcox signed as a solo artist to Sony’s Portrait Records and then subsequent EG releases, and comprises of seven CDs and a DVD plus a 48 page book – Continue reading…
Toyah and China Crisis set for Middlewich Folk and Boat – aka FAB – Festival 80s party night
Eighties stars Toyah and China Crisis will headline the Saturday night party at this year’s Middlewich Folk and Boat Festival.
Middlewich Town Council has announced Brit-award nominee Toyah Willcox and chart regulars China Crisis as Saturday night headliners for the festival’s 30th anniversary.
Marking a landmark year, the festival is running for five days from Wednesday, June 17 through to Sunday, June 21.
This year’s ticketed Saturday night concert is an 80s party night, also including local electronica tribute band Electro 80s.
Tales Of The Unexpected: Sky Arts: Friday 6th March: 4.30pm Tales Of The Unexpected: Sky Arts: Sunday 8th March: 9.30am Tales Of The Unexpected: Sky Arts: Monday 9th March: 10.30am Blue Marigold. Series 5, Episode 1. Dropped by her agency for her diva-like behaviour, supermodel Marigold’s mental health deteriorates. Years later, she plots a comeback. Director: Giles Foster. Starring: Toyah Willcox, Ralph Bates, Sharon Duce, Helen Fraser, Billy Hamon, Edward Jewesbury.
Carol Decker’s 30 Rock Chicks!: NOW 80s: Monday 24th February: 4am
T’Pau’s Carol Decker brings a bit of Heart and Soul to a countdown of ’80s ladies who like to rock! With Joan Jett, Tina Turner, Stevie Nicks and Pat Benatar. (as well as Toyah via the Thunder In The Mountains video)
Charity Stars currently have three original artworks by Toyah up for auction, in aid of CALM. There are just 10 days left to bid. Click on previews of the art below for more info and/or to bid.
“Beneath My Feet” by Toyah Willcox based on a lyrical poem by the artist. “The Rose” by Toyah Willcox inspired by Amanda McBroom’s Song. “Cry Me a River” by Toyah Willcox inspired by Arthur Hamilton’s Song. Dimensions: 8×8 inch canvases inside 30x30cm frames. On canvas.
The Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) is leading a movement against male suicide – the single biggest killer of men under 45 in the UK. CALM runs a free and confidential helpline and webchat – 7 hours a day, 7 days a week – for anyone who needs to talk about life’s problems, as well as supporting those bereaved by suicide and working in the community to reengage with people before they reach the point of crisis. The charity actively campaigns via the media to spread awareness of suicide and challenge male stereotypes, using cultural touch points like art, music, sport and comedy.
The brilliant new trailer for Toyah Solo – a box set of incredible albums, released on 28th February. View the trailer below or at Toyah’s You Tube channel. The new 7 CD + DVD anthology of collected works by Toyah, released by Edsel Records, can be pre-ordered here.
Celebrity Fantasy Homes: Really: Sunday 1st March: 6am Celebrity Fantasy Homes: Really: Thursday 5th March: 1pm Toyah (Series 2, Episode 2). Celebrities hunt for a new home. Gaby Roslin helps the original punk-pop princess Toyah Willcox search for a second home, in Richmond upon Thames, with a budget of £650,000.
Toyah guested on Adam Tomlinson and Anna Wallace’s BBC Radio York show late last month (22nd January), talking about her career, punk, autism, playing an Acoustic, Up Close & Personal gig at Selby Town Hall (21st February, Sold Out), making movies, being ridiculously busy all year and much more.
Special guest Toyah (22/01/2020) Toyah talks to Adam ahead of her performance at Selby Town Hall.
• Toyah’s interview begins around 2hr 14m into the show and is divided into a couple of segments. The show is available for just the next 7 days at BBC Sounds.
Toyah guested on Su Davies show on BBC Radio Wiltshire on Saturday (8th February), talking the Electric Ladies Of The 80s tour, Hazel O’Connor (“How well do you know Hazel, Toyah Willcox…?“), the Eighties, big hair and much more. There were also plays of I Want To Be Free and It’s A Mystery.
Toyah – Sue’s joined by singer and presenter Toyah Willcox ahead of her visit to Wiltshire.
• Toyah’s interview begins around 1hr 14m into the show and is divided into two segments. The show is available to listen to for the next 23 days at BBC Sounds.
• Charity Stars: “The Rose” by Toyah Willcox inspired by Amanda McBroom’s Song: Dimensions: 8×8 inch canvases inside 30x30cm frames. Painting on canvas. The Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) is leading a movement against male suicide – the single biggest killer of men under 45 in the UK – Continue reading/View auction…
• Toyah Live 2020: Toyah Willcox Featuring Supporting Act The Lomax Brothers: Toyah plays Bacup Royal Court Theatre in Lancashire this Saturday – Further info/Book tickets…
• Official Toyah: Doll House Released 23 March: Doll House ia a new British horror film starring 80s pop legend and 4-time Brit Award winner, Toyah Willcox (Quadrophenia, The Tempest, Invasion Planet Earth) and Film and TV legend Mark Wingett (The Bill, Quadrophenia, Snow White and The Huntsman) with also reality TV star Paul Danan (Celebrity Love Island, Celebrity Big Brother, Hollyoaks) – Continue reading…
• Toyah Solo: Toyah unboxing her first box set can also be viewed at You Tube…
• Pop Goes Christmas: This newly uploaded clip includes the rare ITV Christmas 1982 advert for Pop Goes Christmas – Watch here…
• Charity Stars: “Beneath My Feet” by Toyah Willcox based on a lyrical poem by the artist. Dimensions: 8×8 inch canvases inside 30x30cm frames. Painting on canvas – Continue reading/View auction…
• Toyah Live in London 2020: Toyah performing the, always awesome, Danced – Watch/Listen here…
Singing sensation Toyah Willcox will be headlining the ‘Las Vegas Cabaret Night’ in Peterborough next month.
The annual fundraiser is organised by the local committee of children’s charity Action Medical Research.
“I was invited to perform last year,” says the ‘It’s A Mystery’ hit-maker. “It was a fantastic event, really well organised and the guests were really into it.
“I’m delighted to be back in Cambridgeshire on 20 March and can’t wait to help bring a bit of Vegas to Peterborough!”
Dreamscape is almost 20! In my spare time I’m slowly bringing the Press Archive, Features and a few other slightly neglected site sections up-to-date.
I’m also planning on installing an SSL Certificate to the site. Though it isn’t necessary as Dreamscape does not collect any info on visitors or sell anything. But a secure site seems to be the way to go these days.
Whenever I sporadically question whether a “fan site” is still pertinent, appropriate or even relevant in 2020, when social media seems to be all, I check the hit stats for this site and I always find it mindboggling that so many Toyah fans from so many areas of the planet visit here.
It’s been almost a year since the last stats update, so… In the last day there have been visits from the UK, Australia, South Africa, Germany, United States, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Bulgaria, Philippines, China, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Japan, Turkey, Poland, New Zealand, India, Hungary.
Toyah has such a global fanbase. Thanks to everyone who still takes the time to visit.
Toyah unboxing Toyah Solo. It looks great. A much better looking box set than Madonna’s Complete Studio Albums released in 2012 (and that one was really good!)
“I am so excited. This is the first ever Toyah box set… The first of a few to be announced. Enjoy!” TOYAH
Toyah Solo is a new 7 CD + DVD anthology of collected works by Toyah, released 28 February 2020 by Edsel Records
An Amazon Exclusive edition featured a signed print and was strictly limited to 500 copies. (Now Sold Out!)
The first Toyah box set ever features six studio albums (Minx, Desire, Prostitute, Ophelia’s Shadow, Take The Leap!, Velvet Lined Shell).
The set also boasts 44 bonus tracks, including rarities, B-sides, collaborations, and several unreleased tracks, plus a DVD of promo videos and a brand new exclusive interview filmed in December 2019 with Toyah talking about her solo albums.
RELEASE DATE: 28 February 2020 | FORMAT: 7 CD + DVD in wallets in 2-piece box with 48 page booklet.
There was a brief glimpse of Toyah on ITV’s The BRITS at 40 last night. She was presenting an award at the 1985 show, which was called the BPI Awards back then (previously known as The British Rock & Pop Awards). Last night’s programme was a fairly dire two hours but here’s a great photo of Toyah from the 1985 awards.
Toyah’s Sack The Stylist and Carol Decker’s 30 Rock Chicks are both airing on NOW 80s later this week.
Carol Decker’s 30 Rock Chicks!: NOW 80s:
Thursday 13th February: 0.00am T’Pau’s Carol Decker brings a bit of Heart and Soul to a countdown of ’80s ladies who like to rock! With Joan Jett, Tina Turner, Stevie Nicks and Pat Benatar. (as well as Toyah via the Thunder In The Mountains video)
Toyah’s Sack The Stylist?! Top 30: NOW 80s: Friday 14th February: 10am
Pop legend Toyah brings 30 memorable videos featuring a cavalcade of clothing calamities from superstars including Bowie, Madonna, Adam Ant and many more in this crazy countdown!
Doll House, the new horror film from 101 Films, directed by Steven M. Smith (Doll Cemetery, The Howling, The Doll Master, Haunted) and starring Toyah Willcox (Invasion Planet Earth, Quadrophenia), Mark Wingett (The Bill, Quadrophenia), Louisa Warren, Jennifer Leahey and Paul Danan (Hollyoaks, Are We Dead Yet?) is released on DVD and digital download on 23rd March.
• Toyah Solo: Review: Released this Friday, Toyah’s new box set is reviewed, and given four stars, in the new issue of Classic Pop magazine, which is on sale now.
Toyah’s Sack The Stylist and Carol Decker’s 30 Rock Chicks are both airing on NOW 80s later this week.
