Dreamscape – Toyah Willcox Fansite

Another great review for Children Of The Circus.

Doctor Who
Children Of The Circus
Review

“Children of the Circus,” an audio musical drama from AUK Studios, marks a triumphant reunion for the cast of the Seventh Doctor story, “The Greatest Show in the Galaxy.” This limited edition CD set, released on December 14th, 2023 and available to purchase here, commemorates 35 years since the original episode aired on BBC One. Written by Kenton Hall with songs by Christopher Guard and based on an idea by Barnaby Eaton-Jones, the story resurrects the magic of Stephen Wyatt’s “The Greatest Show in the Galaxy,” while venturing into new, imaginative territories.

The story revolves around the Psychic Circus, once a refuge for universal misfits, which later succumbed to the control of malevolent Gods. Years after these Gods have departed, the scars of the survivors linger. However, the Children of the Circus, equipped with the power of song, are ready to confront their past.

Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred headline the cast, but not in their familiar roles. McCoy, as the High Poet, brings a mix of charm and underlying duplicity, while Aldred delivers two distinct performances as Captain Gren and AJ. Aldred’s dual roles as the captain of a Time Ship and sentient rust showcase her range and versatility. Joining them is 1980s icon Toyah Willcox, who plays The Band of Infinite Harmony, a multi-voiced role that she relishes, culminating in a solo song featured as a bonus track.

• Continue reading at Warped Factor. See more on Children Of The Circus, here.

A great review for Children Of The Circus, from Sci Fi Bulletin.

Review: Doctor Who: AUK: Children Of The Circus

Years after the events of The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, the survivors of the Circus are gathered. Bellboy has a plan. A plan that won’t just save them but stop them needing to be saved at all. All it takes is putting the band back together, a mostly functional time ship and the power of rock and roll.

But who’s Ella?

Kenton Hall, Barnaby Eaton-Jones and Christopher Guard, faced with the impossible task of following up on one of the Seventh Doctor’s oddest stories, have achieved the impossible: they’ve not only done it, but done it as an audio drama and rock opera. Linear time is the characters’ foe but the script’s friend.

The cast are uniformly excellent, but Guard’s exhausted, desperate Bellboy is a standout, a rock star pushing flat out past the redline, burning out and fading away in the hopes that sacrifice will erase itself and give him what all good performers pray for: a comeback. Ideas fly as thick and fast as great performances and there are multiple moments where you have to just sit back and applaud.

• Continue reading at Sci Fi Bulletin. See more on Children Of The Circus, here.

A sneaky peek of Toyah recording her solo song for Children Of The Circus, being directed by songwriter Chris Guard.

• See the preview clip, here. More info on the audio adventure, released on 2CD on 14th December, by clicking below.

Children Of The Circus cast: from left to right, Toyah Willcox, Ian Kubiak, Christopher Guard, Barnaby Eaton-Jones, Dee Sadler, Kenton Hall, Ian Reddington, and Sophie Aldred. (Photo © AUK Direct)

This month is huge for Doctor Who and Whovians all over the planet – It’s Who’s 60th Anniversary on 23rd November – and it’s just been announced Toyah is a cast member of a new Doctor Who inspired audio drama, released on 14th December.

Children of the Circus is a new, original, musical play (on audio) based on Doctor Who’s The Greatest Show in the Galaxy by Stephen Wyatt. Out 14 Dec, Toyah stars as The Band Of Infinite Harmony alongside a reunited cast including Sylvester McCoy (Seventh Doctor) and Sophie Aldred (Ace).

Starring Christopher Guard as Bellboy, Dee Sadler as Flowerchild and Ella, Sophie Aldred as Captain Gren and AJ, Toyah Willcox as The Band of Infinite Harmony, Ian Reddington as Delios and the Chief Clown, and Sylvester McCoy as the High Poet.

With Daisy Dunlop, Verity White, Kim Jones, Kenton Hall, Barnaby Eaton-Jones and Ian Kubiak.

Special guest appearances by Ricco Ross as The Ringmaster, Jessica Martin as Mags, Chris Jury as Deadbeat, Deborah Manship as Morgana, Gian Sammarco as Whizz Kid, Daniel Peacock as Nord, and Dean Hollingsworth as the Bus Conductor and Station Announcer.

Produced and directed by Barnaby Eaton-Jones, for AUK Studios.

• Further info at toyahwillcox.com and doctorwhonews.com. Pre-order the limited-edition 2CD set here.

Martin Kiszko’s fifteen-part audio/radio drama King Frank & The Knights Of The Ecoquest has won Bronze Award as best Children/Young Adult Programme at the New York Radio Festival. Toyah plays Haroldia The Herald in the epic audio production.

Aesop’s Astronauts, an audio drama/play broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 1996, in which Toyah has a main role, has a rare airing on BBC Radio 4 Extra early next month.

Aesop’s Astronauts, by Tony Mulholland, explores what might have happened to the animals used as astronauts in the earliest years of space exploration. In the play the animals develop Accelerated Evolutionary Syndrome and the power of speech.

Toyah plays Mona in The Mona Story ‘episode’. The production was directed and recorded at BBC Pebble Mill.

• Listen to the drama at the BBC Radio 4 Extra website on Saturday 4th December. The audio drama has a running time of 1hr 30m.

Aesop’s Astronauts: BBC Radio 4 Extra: Saturday 5th December: 6am
Tony Mulholland’s play answers the question – what did happen to the animals that were sent up to Space in the early days of the Space Race? Produced by Brian Lighthill, with original music written and played by Jeff Mearns. Original first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 17th February 1994 at 2.30pm.

Supermind is available now on Audible, Apple Books, Storytel and more – View the trailer below. See further info at toyahwillcox.com.

In 1930s New York, the hot sensation of the cabaret circuit is urbane illusionist Art Hardwicke, whose stage name – Supermind – hints at his real-life mentalist powers. Aided by his manager, Lady Daphne Witcombe, and manservant Frampton, he fights crime and injustice wherever and whenever he is able.

In this comic melodrama aping the earnest American radio serials of the era, Supermind manages to rescue society heiress Anastasia Del Ray from being kidnapped by hoodlums, and her gratitude comes in the form of declaring she’s going to Hollywood to make a movie of Supermind’s life – but starring herself as Supermind.

Meanwhile, Professor Fenella Vaytell, of the Institute of Brain Studies in New York, has been developing a powerful weapon to seize control of the minds of the entire country. In the employ of her Nazi paymasters, Vaytell’s nefarious scheme will not only endanger Anastasia, Supermind, Lady Witcombe and Frampton, but also the entirety of the United States of America!

Will Supermind use his prestigious powers to save the day? Will Lady Witcombe profit from them? Will Frampton faint at the sight of fisticuffs? And will Professor Fen Vaytell throw her head back and emit a wickedly evil laugh?

Starring – Colin McFarlane, Toyah Willcox, Barnaby Eaton-Jones, Julie-Ann Dean and Darrell Maclaine.

The Adventures of Supermind (Series 1: The Brain Drain) – the new audio drama starring Colin McFarlane and Toyah – is available now! Click below for more info.

Toyah plays Lady Daphne Witcombe in the new AUK Studios’ audio production of Supermind… – Coming to your headphones this year! (The great graphic which accompanies the announcement is a design by Robert Hammond)

“I’m your manager, not your friend. Only my mother calls me Daphne. And my husband, on our wedding night. Not a mistake he made twice.”

This is Series One, subtitled: The Brain Drain. Written by Barnaby Eaton-Jones.

Prepare to hear the brilliant Toyah in the brand-new AUK audio production Supermind, coming to your headphones this year! Set in 1930s, Art Hardwicke, Colin McFarlane is an urban illusionist – Supermind. Toyah plays Hardwicke’s manager!

Colin McFarlane tweeted: “Had a wonderful day in the home studio recording this brilliantly witty new audio series by Barnaby Eaton-Jones with awesome Toyah”.

• See AUK Studio’s tweet on this. See also Colin McFarlane’s tweet about the recording, which includes a photo of Toyah.

Toyah plays the role of Haroldia The Herald in Martin Kiszko’s fifteen-part audio/radio drama King Frank & The Knights Of The Ecoquest for Fun Kids Radio. See Martin’s tweet about this (including a photo of him and Toyah) here, and Toyah’s by clicking below.

A new, 30 minute, audio interview. Toyah chats about the frustration of currently not playing live, looking forward to a decadent 2020s and a busy 2021, having a diverse career, how the entertainment industry has changed over the past four decades, fighting against ageism, and much more.

Cat interviews Toyah Willcox
May 2020: My guest today really needs no introduction.

She’s appeared in the 1978 film Jubilee, and Quadrophenia the following year. Her early hit singles included It’s A Mystery and I Want To Be Free, and by 1982 she had made two platinum-selling albums. And, after more than 40 years in the music business, she is as creatively hungry as she was in her teens.

She is a singer, an actress, a writer, a punk, rebel, and an icon…but most importantly, she’s an independent, strong woman who doesn’t take any prisoners.

• Listen to the interview at Audio Boom.

Toyah and Robert read The Girl With The Unicorn – aka La Fille à la Licorne – by Dominic Toller. The short story is about hope and self-belief and all funds go to the mental welfare charity Young Minds.

Dominic said: “I wrote the original as a one-off birthday gift to my friend’s daughter – she loved unicorns; the character in the story is based upon her, her dog and her ‘teddy’. But the subtext is also about my own belief in the power of having hope, and how important this is for all of us in dealing with the stresses of our lives. Everyone has mental health and so mental health welfare has relevance to everyone.” (Source: theisleofthanetnews)

Click below to watch/listen at Robert’s website, DGM Live.

Information links for The Girl With The Unicorn: Original narrated animation | Original online advert | Original Facebook ‘preview’ of book

Toyah reads Brum At The Seaside from 1994. Transferred to digital from cassette.

Toyah reads Brum and the Fire Engine from 1991. Transferred to digital from cassette.

Why have one retro Toyah interview from 1981 when you can have a quadruple? Click below to listen online or download My Top 12, The Annie Nightingale Show and Talkabout – all from BBC Radio One, plus an interview from BFBS Radio from December of that great year.

1. Radio One: My Top 12 (Nov 1981): Toyah chooses her favourite songs and talks about her life, music, hobbies, childhood, fans, career… 2. Radio One: The Annie Nightingale Show (Aug 1981): Toyah talks to Annie about her life, 1981 and new single. 3. BFBS Radio: (Dec 1981): Toyah interviewed in Europe at the end of her successful 1981. She talks about the year, her future plans, Christmas and the band’s new EP ‘Four More From Toyah’. 4. Radio One: Talkabout (Feb 1981): A Valentine’s Day special.

A couple of retro Toyah radio appearances: The New Recruit, from BBC Radio Four (April 1994), and an interview with Toyah (and Sting) from The Annie Nightingale Show, which aired on BBC Radio One (January 1984). Click on each below to listen or download.

It’s Toyah’s 60th Birthday week… Listen to some retro Toyah interviews from throughout her 40 year career at Dreamscape’s Downloads section…

Toyah guested on BBC Radio Four’s In The Psychiatrist’s Chair in September 1992. A fascinating interview with Dr Anthony Clare. Certainly one of the most honest and interesting of the many Toyah has given over the last 40 years. This originally aired on 9th September 1992 and runs for approximately 40 minutes. Click below to listen or download.

Four rare radio interviews with Toyah; 1979 – 1982. Click below for the Downloads section.

1. Capital Radio: Mummy’s Weekly (1979): Fighting talk from Toyah! She also chats about being discovered, ‘Victims Of The Riddle’ and more. 2. Radio One: Rock On (1980): Toyah talks Shoestring, Glitter, the band’s influences, mayhem, ’Sheep Farming In Barnet’, ‘Neon Womb’, and future plans. 3. Radio Trent: (January 1981): Toyah, interviewed just before the release of the ‘Four From Toyah’ EP. Great interview with lots of interesting pre-mainstream fame chat. 4. Radio One: Rock On (May 1982): Toyah talks to, former ‘Smash Hits’ writer and eternal cynic, Mark Ellen about ‘The Changeling’, aliens, fairies, her ‘Brave New World’ image and much more.

• Thanks to Giddy Gavin (aka Logan 5) and Sean.

All four episodes – 1. Away To Neverland, 2. In The Mermaid’s Lagoon, 3. An Awfully Big Adventure. 4. Spring Cleaning Time Again – of JM Barrie – Peter Pan, which aired this week on BBC Radio 4 Extra, are now available to listen to at your leisure at BBC iPlayer – for the next month. Click on the cast photos below (Thanks to Official Toyah) to browse the iplayer list.