Dreamscape | The Toyah Willcox Fansite

15 years ago, Summer 2003, Toyah was “going great guns” starring as the lead in Calamity Jane at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London’s West End. The musical had spent a year touring the UK playing at numerous theatres around the country, again with Toyah playing Jane, and received many positive reviews along the way. There was a lot of press, below is just a few articles from various newspapers. Click on the collage to visit Dreamscape’s mini Calamity Jane website.

Toyah mentioned last August that she was filming for Sky Arts. This was for an episode of Video Killed The Radio Star focusing on the making/creation of her 80s pop videos. The programme airs at the beginning of next month on Sky Arts.

Video Killed the Radio Star reveals the genius, madness, excesses and ideas behind some of music’s most famous videos.

Featuring interviews with iconic bands and artists, directors, cameramen and others involved in the creative process of making the ultimate pop promo.

Video Killed The Radio Star: Sky Arts: Friday 3rd August: 8.30pm
Video Killed The Radio Star: Sky Arts: Tuesday 7th August: 7.30pm
Toyah Willcox. (Series 7, Episode 6) A look back at the most memorable music videos of Toyah Willcox, who has had eight Top 40 singles over the last four decades.

Toyah will be in attendance at The Liverpool Institute For Performing Arts, aka LIPA, this week, to receive an honour from possibly the most famous Liverpudlian on the planet… Paul McCartney

Toyah says in her latest blog: At the end of the month Paul McCartney is awarding me a Fellowship to LIPA in Liverpool. I need to write a short two minute speech to inspire the students….the challenge is how to condense such a message into two minutes!

Emma Goswell remembers the weekend that was

Similarly, punk priestess Toyah was in her element and thrilled to be at L Fest. Before she went on stage, I asked her if she thought there was a need for lesbian festivals and she really did. “I think its really important,” she told me. “I think it’s community. People who live in a hostile environment need to know there is somewhere they can go and be safe and included and they can express themselves. It’s so important that things like this exist!”

As well as her hits, Toyah treated the crowd to singalong versions of rock classics like Sweet Child Of Mine, Rebel Yell and I Love Rock N Roll. It’s so wonderful, having seen her at Pride events too, to know that someone I was a fan of when I was in the closet is now such a supporter of the LGBT community. Jumping up and down singing Toyah songs with hundreds of other sleep-deprived lesbians filled my little-exhausted heart with glee and it was hard not to feel – at least for a moment – that everything was right with the world.

• Continue reading at Diva.

The first series of The Older Woman, the six-part radio drama which was originally broadcast in 1993, is currently airing again on BBC Radio 4 Extra.

Toyah plays Elsa, alongside Martun Clunes and Zoë Wanamaker as Roy and Jane in this excellent, and slightly surreal, drama by Tony Bagley. Toyah also performs the theme song to The Older Woman.

The series, produced by Paul Schlesinger, also features David Troughton, Geoff McGivern, David Holt, Keith Drinkel and Melanie Hudson in a variety of roles.

The Older Woman: BBC Radio 4 Extra: Monday 23rd July: 7am
The Older Woman: BBC Radio 4 Extra: Monday 23rd July: 5pm
The Older Woman: BBC Radio 4 Extra: Tuesday 24th July: 5am
Episode 5 of 6. Roy is temporarily distracted from his obsession with Jane by Dick’s rapid descent into alcoholism – and the sudden appearance of Elsa’s ex-husband. However, a night of unbridled passion with Jane looks increasingly likely…. Stars Zoe Wanamaker, Martin Clunes and Toyah Willcox. From February 1993.

There’s only a few weeks until Toyah plays the Jack Up The 80s Festival and the Isle Of Wight County Press have made her the cover star of their Weekender supplement (Friday July 20, 2018 issue), with a one page interview feature inside.

In the court of the crimson queen
Eighties music remains popular because it tells relevant and grounded stories everyone can associate with.

That’s according to Toyah, one of the decade’s most iconic stars, who is returning to Jack Up The 80s this Summer.

The 80s revival started in around 2000 and has kept a lot os artists busy ever since, such is the appeal of the 80s sound, which arks back to a time before grunge, rave and grime.

Toyah does four shows a week, all year round, and this will be the second time she has been at the island’s most fluorescent summer event. “Jack Up The 80s has grown since I was last there and I’m looking forward to coming back,” she told the County Press.

• Continue reading here. Many thanks to Official Jack Up The 80s. Browse our Jack Up The 80s news. Visit the festival’s Official Website.

The Top 20 of Toyah’s Top 60 was revealed last night by Official Toyah. Good to see so many Toyah classics, especially Thunder In The Mountains high up in the list. Just a brilliant pop single. Click below for the full Top 60, via various versions, at Toyah’s You Tube channel. #toyah60

Hold on to your ‘80s ra-ra skirts for a little while longer and don’t chuck your roller boots away just yet, as the Isle of Wight is once again gearing itself up for the ultimate feel-good festival!

Jack Up The 80s is a two-day retro pop festival which takes place on August 11 and 12, and provides a family weekend of musical entertainment from household chart names, food, attractions, kids arts and crafts and stalls.

The 2018 artist line-up includes Grammy Award-winning and international chart-topping music legend Leo Sayer, British pop rock group T’Pau, punk princess Toyah Willcox, soul star Jaki Graham, Spandau Ballet’s Martin Kemp, the one and only Chesney Hawkes and many more.

Special guests from the noughties Phats & Small will be helping to mix things up a bit, along with boy band Five.

The event is fast making a name for itself as the most fun festival on the South Coast. It offers an unbeatable atmosphere and is completely safe, inclusive and affordable for all.

• Continue reading at the Daily Echo. Browse our Jack Up The 80s news. Visit the festival’s Official Website.

Toyah is currently voicing continuity on BBC Four’s Smashing Hits! The 80s Pop Map of Britain and Ireland. The final part of the three-episode series airs this Friday at 10pm, with a repeat late night Saturday. The first two episodes are currently available at BBC iPlayer.

Smashing Hits! The 80s Pop Map of Britain and Ireland: BBC4: Fri 20th July: 10pm
Smashing Hits! The 80s Pop Map of Britain and Ireland: BBC4: Sun 22nd July: 0.00am
Two 80s icons explore the distinct sounds that came out of different parts of Britain and Ireland in one of pop’s golden decades. Midge Ure, lead singer of Ultravox and one of the men behind Band Aid, and Kim Appleby, who had a string of hits with her sister Mel in the Stock, Aitken and Waterman-produced band Mel and Kim, go on a journey back in time to the 80s to figure out why certain cities produced their own diverse tunes.

• Further info/Watch the episodes at BBC iPlayer.

The Fairkytes Live stage will be back at The Havering Show again in August, and the headliner this year is none other than Toyah! As always, admission to the show is free, and the Fairktyes Live stage will be running from 11am to 5pm each day.

• See further info on The Havering Show here.

Trailblazers: Sky Arts: Monday 30th July: 5pm
Trailblazers: Sky Arts: Tuesday 31st July: 3am/12pm
Trailblazers: Sky Arts: Saturday 4th August: 10am
New Romantics. Toyah Willcox and Billy Bragg are among those examining the New Romantic movement, from The Human League and Adam Ant, to David Bowie and Ultravox. (Series 1, Episode 16)

Nottinghamshire Pride 2018 – when, where, tickets, times, prices, parade route, weather, stages, line-up and everything else you need to know

80s pop star Toyah will be entertaining the crowd along with a Britney tribute

An eighties pop star, an X Factor finalist and a Britney Spears tribute act are among the entertainers lining up for the city’s most fabulous festival, Nottinghamshire Pride.

Taking place on Saturday, July 28, this year’s annual LGBTQ+ celebration promises to be jam-packed with free comedy, live music and theatre shows from 11.30am until late, late, late.

So who can we expect to see on the main stage?

Performance Times: 12.15pm – Sheriff of Nottingham speech, 12.30pm – Michaela Weeks Britney Spears Tribute, 1pm – The Scream Queens, 1.30pm – Amrick Channa from The Voice and X Factor, 2pm – Tash Bird, 2.30pm – Nicki French, 3pm – Kitty Tray, 3.30pm – Intro from Charity Shop Sue, 4pm – Toyah Willcox, 4.30pm – Rob Green, 5pm – The Half Eight, 5.30pm – Titty Bon Bon, 6pm – Co-op Arts Theatre Group.

• Continue reading at Nottinghamshire Live at the Nottingham Post.

Toyah’s blog for July 2018 is available to read at toyahwillcox.com.

The first series of The Older Woman, the six-part radio drama which was originally broadcast in 1993, is currently airing again on BBC Radio 4 Extra.

Toyah plays Elsa, alongside Martun Clunes and Zoë Wanamaker as Roy and Jane in this excellent, and slightly surreal, drama by Tony Bagley. Toyah also performs the theme song to The Older Woman.

The series, produced by Paul Schlesinger, also features David Troughton, Geoff McGivern, David Holt, Keith Drinkel and Melanie Hudson in a variety of roles.

The Older Woman: BBC Radio 4 Extra: Monday 16th July: 7am
The Older Woman: BBC Radio 4 Extra: Monday 16th July: 5pm
The Older Woman: BBC Radio 4 Extra: Tuesday 17th July: 5am
Episode 4 of 6. Roy tries to impress Jane with some campaigning local journalism. Stars Zoe Wanamaker, Martin Clunes and Toyah Willcox. From February 1993.

Neil McCormick’s Needle Time: Vintage TV: Thursday 19th July: 4am
Toyah Willcox. Prolific artist and actor, who enjoyed hits with ‘It’s a Mystery’, ‘Thunder in the Mountains’ and ‘I Want to be Free’, shares the story behind her remarkable career – Running Time: 60 minutes. Vintage TV is available on Sky 369, Freeview 242, Virgin 343 and Freesat 505.

Classic Toyah has made it on to the catwalk via Raf Simons Spring 2019 collection. See Toyah’s tweet by clicking below. (Photos © Raf Simons)

“At last TOUCH THE WISHING STAR for Worcester Stands Tall is installed on Worcester High Street and it looks fab. Make your wish! xxx” Toyah at Twitter. (Photo © Toyah Willcox)

Going Live: Vintage TV: Saturday 14th July: 4pm
Vintage TV Originals make up some of our most memorable exclusive performances, starring Toyah Willcox, Andy Bell, Steve Harley and so many more.

The first series of The Older Woman, the six-part radio drama which was originally broadcast in 1993, is currently airing again on BBC Radio 4 Extra.

Toyah plays Elsa, alongside Martun Clunes and Zoë Wanamaker as Roy and Jane in this excellent, and slightly surreal, drama by Tony Bagley. Toyah also performs the theme song to The Older Woman.

The series, produced by Paul Schlesinger, also features David Troughton, Geoff McGivern, David Holt, Keith Drinkel and Melanie Hudson in a variety of roles.

The Older Woman: BBC Radio 4 Extra: Monday 9th July: 7am
The Older Woman: BBC Radio 4 Extra: Monday 9th July: 5pm
The Older Woman: BBC Radio 4 Extra: Tuesday 10th July: 5am
Episode 3 of 6. Roy’s quest to insinuate himself further into Jane’s good books gets a new lease of life when she requests his help to save a tree. Stars Zoe Wanamaker, Martin Clunes and Toyah Willcox. From January 1993.

Can a team of pop stars, doctors and nurses help the NHS top the charts?

Toyah Willcox says she was lucky. Back in the day, they used to lop off dodgy legs like hers. But her mother – and the NHS – came to the rescue. The musician and actor was born with a twisted spine, no hip sockets, clawed feet, a clubbed right foot and one leg two inches shorter than the other. “It was a time when the way you dealt with a problem was to remove it, so my mother fought for my leg. My mother saved my leg.”

Twice a day, she was given intensive physio by her mother, and every six months she had corrective surgery. Willcox flexes her impressive biceps. “See, I hold myself through my own muscle strength. That is why I’m built like Arnold Schwarzenegger. I’m really muscular because my mother had to teach me how to straighten my own spine. It wasn’t good for my relationship with her because she was dictatorial about it, but in the end I was able to disguise what I had. I always wore boots and my raise was hidden in them.” At 51, she had an operation to make her legs the same length.

• Continue reading at The Guardian.

Aaaaaaaah!: Film 4: Thursday 19th July: 2.25am
Writer-director-star Steve Oram’s experimental satire is set in a parallel present in which, despite wearing clothing and developing advanced technology, mankind never attained the power of speech. Instead, people communicate in gestures and non-verbal vocalisms, ranging from grunts to whistles and growls. And this isn’t the only similarity to our great ape cousins, as social and sexual behaviour is closer to that of gorillas or bonobos and is completely shorn of social niceties. The film opens with a grieving alpha male and his companion ritually urinating on a photo of the dominant male’s wife to mark her loss. They then move through woodland and into London’s sprawling suburbs, intent on staking out new territory for themselves…

Starring: Jade Alexander, Julian Barratt, Missa Blue, Holli Dempsey, Marcus Dempsey, Noel Fielding, Toyah Willcox.

• Aaaaaaaah! @ Dreamscape: Browse all of our related news…