Dreamscape – Toyah Willcox Fansite

A new Doctor Who 3-disc DVD box set, The Best Of The Doctor 2005 – 2011: The Documentaries, is released tomorrow on Region 4. The DVD consists of all the BBC America Documentaries and will also include an episode to accompany each documentary. Included on the set are the specials Toyah appeared in:

Doctor Who: The Best of the Doctor
Doctor Who: The Best of the Monsters
Doctor Who: The Best of the Companions
Doctor Who: The Best of the Christmas Specials
Doctor Who: The Science of Doctor Who Info here
Doctor Who: The Women of Doctor Who Info here
Doctor Who: The Timey Wimey of Doctor Who Info Here
Doctor Who: The Destinations of Doctor Who Info Here
Doctor Who: Doctor Who in America

Discover whole new worlds behind three of your favourite Doctor’s; Christopher Eccleston, David Tenant and Matt Smith. Immerse yourself in a total celebration of all that is Doctor Who! These unique documentaries explore Doctor Who through the ideas and moments that make the series such an unforgettable experience. Be awed by the artistry and imagination of the series’ most iconic monsters, take an in-depth look at the Time Lord’s trusty companions Amy, Rory and River Song, gather a new perspective on the perplexing and confounding paradoxes of time travel; and venture beyond the known universe for extra surprises, facts and theories that could fill the TARDIS. A must-have for every fan, this collection will expand your knowledge and increase your appreciation for the universe of Doctor Who.

• View further info here. (Thanks to Doctor Who News)

Celebrity fans of the Time Lord hop into the Tardis to revisit their favourite memories.

Toyah Willcox, singer and actress

When Doctor Who was made into a cinema film in 1965 as Dr Who and the Daleks with Peter Cushing as the Doctor, I insisted on going. The problem with seeing a horror film in public when you are only seven years old is that it’s unforgivable to show fear.

Even the opening sequences of mist-covered marshlands surrounding the Daleks’ city had me frozen to the spot. I remember wanting to slide down the seat and hide but I was flanked by my parents who were all too ready to laugh at my fear. So I sat, wide-eyed and as petrified as those on-screen forests, for two tortuous and exhilarating hours… which kept me in full supply of nightmares for a good month.

• Continue reading at bt.com.

Toyah talks Doctor Who, in a new article by the Birmingham Mail/Sunday Mercury, ahead of its 50th Anniversary episode this weekend. (Text originally published in Behind The Sofa)

Brummie chart star turned stage singer Toyah Willcox admits that she can’t wait for Saturday’s big Doctor Who special.

Brummie chart star turned stage singer Toyah Willcox admits that she can’t wait for Saturday’s big Doctor Who special. Because she’s TURNED ON by the telly Time Lord, who’ll be played in the 50th anniversary adventure by no fewer than three actors.

Matt Smith, David Tennant and John Hurt will all appear as incarnations of Britain’s best-loved sci-fi star – and viewers may also be treated to fleeting glimpses of all the other Doctors who have graced the Tardis over the years.

And that’s great news for Toyah, 55, who was born in Kings Heath. “When I was a ratty pubescent teen I started to find the whole concept of Doctor Who highly erotic,” she admits. “And I still do!” The singer says that the show played a big part in her Second City childhood. “Haven’t we all hidden behind the sofa when Doctor Who was on the telly?” she asks.

• Continue reading at the Birmingham Mail/Sunday Mercury.

• Doctor Who: BBC Worldwide have announced details of Doctor Who: The Complete Seventh Series DVD set in Regions 2 and 1. Both include the BBC America documentary The Science Of Doctor Who, one of a series of four programmes Toyah contributed to in July and August of last year – Full info on the release at Doctor Who News – Read here…

• Worcester Standard: Last chance to enter exclusive Upton Music Festival competition: Standard readers have just one week left to enter our exclusive competition which offers one lucky winner the chance to arrive at one of Worcestershire’s biggest ever music festivals in style. Upton Music Festival, which takes place over the August Bank Holiday from August 23 to 25, has unveiled its best ever line up including soul legend Alexander O’Neal, 70s rockers Slade, Neville Staple and Pershore’s very own Toyah Willcox – (closing date is Friday 9th August) – Enter here…

• Dark Night of the Soul with Julie: Toyah was, once again, included in Julie’s WFMU radio show playlist – ‘The Helium Song’ was played last night – Full show details here…

• Toyah 1979: Another rare shot of Toyah from 1979 has recently went on sale at ebay – View it here… (Thanks to Lärwi)

• Giving To George’s: Stories From 2012: Toyah opening their children’s art exhibition last year is included in St George’s newly compiled “Stories From 2012” – View here…

• You Tubing: A blink and you’ll miss her appearance by Toyah in this clip – Original footage taken from a TV show from about 1993 with Toyah Willcox in the Sun Rooms, Southend. Additions with the TX boys being ‘creative’. Hard to believe it was 20 years ago – Watch here…

• It’s Slade: The documentary Toyah contributed opinions to in 1999 was repeated again on BBC Four on Monday night. It’s available online, in the UK, for the next few days at BBC iPlayer – Watch here…

• An Occasional Plug: I Was A Teenage Toyah Fan chronicles a slice of adolescent life from late 1979 to late 1986 and recalls the experience of being a pop music fan in the early eighties, evoking the feelings of a very different time before the internet, mobile phones or multi-channel TV put media at our fingertips.

• Strawberry Line Times: Sat 27 Apr. Theatre preview: ex punk Toyah teams up with Julie Coombe for a hormonal moment: The former pink haired punk rocker Toyah Willcox is appearing in Bristol next month in Hormonal Housewives. She stars in the show at the Bristol Hippodrome with Julie Coombe.

• Robert Fripp’s Diary: Lots of “behind-the-scenes” photos from the ‘At Home’ part of the forthcoming All Star Mr & Mrs programme. Robert says: “A four-hour visit for perhaps two minutes of screentime“. Looks like the adorable Willyfred was ready for his close up!

• Red Funnel: Jack Up The 80s: 10-11 August 2013. Don’t miss this great new 2 day 80’s music event featuring Heaven 17, Bad Manners, Katrina and the Waves, Bootleg Blondie and Toyah to name just a few.

• _Black_Acrylic: Derek Jarman – Jubilee: Jubilee is a 1978 cult film directed by Derek Jarman. It stars Jenny Runacre, Ian Charleson, and a host of punk rockers, including Adam Ant and Toyah. The title refers to the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II in 1977.

• The Quietus: Adam Ant On Fashion, Back-Carving & MJ: Interesting video interview with Adam in which he also talks about Jubilee.

• BBC America Doctor Who Specials: Three of the documentaries Toyah guested in last year, The Women Of Doctor Who, The Timey Wimey Of Doctor Who, The Destinations Of Doctor Who, have been released on R1 DVD. Although they are on a standalone disc with its own artwork (see photo) they can only be purchased as part of a huge, 41-disc, six-series spanning, box set. View more info on the BBC America DW specials here.

• Birmingham Music Heritage (Untold Stories 1965-1985): Below, Toyah Willcox, Fuzz Townshend of Pop Will Eat Itself, and former Black Sabbath manager Jim Simpson, along with Birmingham band manager and promoter, Barry Tomes talk about Birmingham’s venues of the 60s, 70s and 80s.

Toyah is mentioned in ‘SFX’ magazine’s review of Doctor Who: The Legacy Collection box set, referring to one of her appearances in More Than 30 years In The TARDIS when she says she found the Cybermen “sexy”.

More Than 30 Years In The TARDIS is an extended version of a documentary that celebrated Who‘s 30th anniversary. An impressive array of talking heads includes celebrity curveballs like Toyah Willcox perving over Cybermen. Dramatic sequences riff on classic Who moments, with, for example, First Doctor companion Carole Ann Ford purused by flying Daleks…

(Thanks to James Armstrong for the scan)

The full artwork, DVDs and box, for the UK version of The Legacy Collection, featuring Shada and More Than 30 Years In The TARDIS, has just been released by the BBC.

There is an abundance of content and extras in the three-disc set, including documentaries, features and interviews.

The Legacy Collection, which includes Toyah in More Than 30 Years In The TARDIS, is released in the UK on the 7th January 2013 and outside the UK the following day.

It’s the artwork for the UK DVD release of Doctor Who: The Legacy Collection box set.

The release contains the unfinished 1979 story Shada and the 1993 BBC documentary More Than 30 Years in the TARDIS (in which Toyah appears), both previously released on VHS. The version of Shada on the DVD is a remastered version of the 1992 VHS release (including the Tom Baker linking scenes, the Keff McCulloch score) and contains no extra footage.

The other extras in the set include:

Shada – Flash version (2003 Paul McGann animated webcast)
Taken Out of Time
Now and Then
Strike! Strike! Strike!
Being a Girl — Women in Doctor Who
Remembering Nicholas Courtney
Doctor Who Stories – Peter Purves The Lambert Tapes – Part 1
Those Deadly Divas
Plus Photo Galleries, Radio Times Listings and Production Note Subtitles

• View more info on The Legacy Collection here.

The artwork for both the Australian and American DVD releases of Doctor Who: The Legacy Collection (aka The Legacy Box) have now been made available. These go on sale in early January 2013. BBC Worldwide are releasing the DVD in the USA as Shada, but do still include More Than 30 Years In The TARDIS as an extra. No sign of the Region 2 artwork as yet. View much more info on this release at The Doctor Who Site.

More information on the forthcoming Doctor Who DVD set ‘The Legacy Box’ has been made available by the British Board of Film Classification.

The set will be bursting with extras, including tributes to Verity Lambert and Nicholas Courtney, the full 2003 Shada animation starring Paul McGann and a More Than 30 Years In The TARDIS photo gallery.

• A full rundown of ‘The Legacy Box’ contents is available at Doctor Who News.

Behind The Sofa, the Doctor Who book in which Toyah contributes a memory, has finally been published and is now available to buy from Amazon and other online book stores.

Behind The Sofa is a collection of over 100 celebrity memories of Doctor Who, compiled in aid of Alzheimer’s Research UK.

• View a review of the book at Impact Online, a news report at Velvet Onion and a preview of some of the excellent content at Radio Times.

Screen caps from the trailer for the forthcoming Doctor Who DVD set The Legacy Box. Click here to view larger versions of the caps and below to view the trailer at You Tube.

The BBC have confirmed that ‘The Legacy Box’ will be the first Doctor Who DVD release of, the programme’s 50th anniversary year, 2013, being made available on Region 2 on 7th January and Region 1 the following day.

The two-disc set will include the “lost” Tom Baker episode Shada and the 1993 documentary More Than 30 Years in the TARDIS, in which Toyah appears. The set will also include numerous extras, including a feature on DW‘s first producer Verity Lambert.

• Record Press: Five Murder Mystery Films & Songs to Celebrate Agatha Christie Week: And to celebrate this year’s “Agatha Christie Week”, here is a Top 5 Murder Mystery Songs: 1) Tavares – Whodunit?, 2) Sophie Ellis Bextor – Murder on the Dancefloor, 3) Toyah Willcox – It’s a Mystery, 4) Technotronic – Move that Body, 5) Beatles – Paperback Writer.

• It looks like a Facebook page dedicated to the, now defunct, North American Toyah Fanclub may be up and running soon. More details to follow if it happens.

• 10th Planet: There’s a signed photo of Toyah for sale at the 10th Planet website. I’m not sure why as I can’t recall Toyah ever appearing at a 10th Planet convention or event, but it’s there all the same!

• The New Zealand Doctor Who Fanclub: ‘More Than 30 Years in the TARDIS: A Clip-Spotter’s Guide’ article. It identifies, and lists, all the footage and guests (including Toyah) who appear in the BBC 1993 documentary.

• Middlesbrough Theatre is ready for Toyah and ‘The Changeling Resurrection II’.

• I Was A Teenage Toyah Fan: The Kindle edition of “I Was A Teenage Toyah Fan” is available for just 80p at Amazon – A coming of age tale of Adolescent Misadventures in Eighties Pop. You don’t have to have a Kindle to read it – Kindle editions are also readable on iPhones, iPads, Macs, PCs and many more portable devices with the Kindle app. The paperback has been dropped to £5.99 + P&P on Lulu.

• Behind The Sofa: Celebrity Memories Of Doctor Who: In which Toyah contributes a memory, is now available to pre-order and goes on general release, in print and digitally, in late September: Behind The Sofa is a collection of over 100 celebrity memories of Doctor Who, compiled in aid of Alzheimer’s Research UK. Steve Berry decided to undertake this project in memory of his mother Janet, who suffered from Alzheimer’s in her final years and passed away in 2009. The book has taken more than four years to put together and its publication has been “crowd-funded” by the pre-orders of an enthusiastic Whovian community. More details at Troubador and Amazon.

All four of the recent ‘BBC America’ Doctor Who Specials are being reshown this weekend as part of the channel’s marathon DW Day. A 22-hour feast of Who! Toyah appears in at least three of the specials (though probably all four as I missed the first one).

The Science Of Doctor Who: BBC America: Saturday 1st September: 00.00am
Explore the real life science behind the biggest concepts and most iconic ideas in the incredible Doctor Who universe.

The Women Of Doctor Who: BBC America: Saturday 1st September: 1.00am
Behind every great time lord there’s a great woman. Whether they’re busting Daleks or the Doctor’s ego, the women of ‘Doctor Who’ prove that you don’t need testosterone to save the universe.

The Timey-Wimey Of Doctor Who: BBC America: Saturday 1st September: 2.00am
When the Doctor’s around, tomorrow is yesterday, yesterday is tomorrow and 18th century France is in your fireplace. Confused yet? Watch the Timey-Wimey of Doctor Who. You’ve already seen it in the future.

The Destinations Of Doctor Who: BBC America: Saturday 1st September: 3.00am
Leave the beach towel at home and take a trip to the end of the earth – literally. From the Starship UK to one very haunted hotel, you won’t find the destinations of “Doctor Who” in any guidebook.

Toyah guested in the final ‘BBC America’ Doctor Who docu special, The Destinations Of Doctor Who, on Saturday night. Here’s a transcript of what she said:

Toyah on Starship UK (the spaceship/mini planet on the S5 episode ‘The Beast Below’): “Starship UK is this circular, metal planet floating through space BURSTING with skyscrapers because they’ve run out of… space… The amazing think about the people on this planet, they’re all so busy living for themselves and for the quality of their own life that they don’t realise that they’re actually being supported by a kindly, old saviour.”

On Gallifrey (The Doctor’s home planet): “It’s quite clever that the Doctor does not fit in with the map of what these other Timelords are. they’re all completely different, with very different agendas. But they’re all fighting for their survival. It’s wonderful that the immortals are threatened.”

On the destinations of Doctor Who: “The destinations that you go to in Doctor Who are always really surprising, they open out to reveal something completely different. You never quite know the reality of the destination.”

On Satellite Five (the space station in the episodes ‘Bad Wolf’ & ‘The Parting Of The Ways’): “Christopher Eccleston suddenly appears in this brightly coloured room, which is really confusing, and he’s suddenly in Big Brother, and he’s taking part in a gamshow. Of course! My favourite bit is The Weakest Link, where Ann Robinson is actually a robot and she has the power to destroy.”

• Screen caps of Toyah from The Destinations of DW coming soon. (Thanks to Paul Lomas)

Please excuse the alliteration and also my self indulgence, though I’m hopefully also indulging other Toyah/Doctor Who fans out there: My two favourite ‘things’ beginning with “T”. Toyah and the TARDIS, but not just one, three of them! These are taken from the recent ‘BBC America’ Doctor Who documentary specials, the last of which, The Destinations Of Doctor Who, aired on Saturday. View all of Dreamscape’s DW updates by clicking below.

Screen caps of Toyah from Saturday night’s The Timey-Wimey Of Doctor Who, which aired on ‘BBC America’. Click below to view larger versions. Read up on all of our recent Doctor Who documentary specials news here. (Thanks to Paul Lomas)

Toyah did, after all, guest in Saturday night’s third documentary special, The Time-Wimey Of Doctor Who, on ‘BBC America’. Here is a transcript of what she said.

Toyah on Rose Tyler in the epsiode ‘Father’s Day’: “Rose Tyler is human. She’s made like all humans, to nurture and save, and she sees her father and she has a chance to save him… So she saves him from the car hitting him, and all hell breaks loose. It cracks a moment in time, where these demons, these gargoyles, can come to life.”

On the Doctor and instant time travel, specifically from the episode ‘The Big Bang’: “He can go like that (clicks fingers) and he’s with one person, and he can be having a conversation with that, and he can go like that (clicks fingers) and he’s back in another time having a conversation with someone else. ‘Oh! I forgot to say something’ (clicks fingers), and he’s back somewhere else!”

On Doctor Who and its effect on viewers: “What the writers of Doctor Who manage is to broaden our perceptions, broaden our beliefs, broaden our horizons. They get it brilliantly correct every time.”

• Screen caps of Toyah from Timey-Wimey coming soon. (Thanks to Paul Lomas)

The Destinations Of Doctor Who: BBC America
Sat 25th August: 9.00pm/Sun 25th Aug: 0.00am
Leave the beach towel at home and take a trip to the end of the earth – literally. From the Starship UK to one very haunted hotel, you won’t find the destinations of “Doctor Who” in any guidebook.