A reminder that the classic 1980 episode of Minder, “All Mod Cons”, starring Toyah as Kate airs again today on ITV4 (as well as very early tomorrow at 2am and 7.05am).
Minder: ITV4: Monday 1st July: 5.55pm Minder: ITV4: Tuesday 2nd July: 2.00am/7.05am All Mod Cons. Arthur decides to sell Terry’s flat without his permission. Meanwhile, Terry gets a job minding at a local club and ends up getting into more trouble than he had planned for when he realises the club’s manager is on the fiddle. Starring: George Cole, Dennis Waterman, Toyah Willcox, Simon Cadell, James Ottaway, and Tony Osaba. (Series 2, Episode 8, 1980). Also showing on ITV4 +1.
A screen cap of Toyah guesting on ITV’s early morning breakfast programme Daybreak last Wednesday. She appeared alongside Dr Hilary Jones to discuss palliative care. I’ll add a few more caps from the programme soon. (Thanks to Alec Kelly)
Next week its another busy schedule over on Vintage TV with shows featuring Jerry Naylor, Toyah (pictured), Trevor Horn, Feargal Sharkey and Mick Gallagher among others airing to delight your music pleasures.
Janice Long (pictured) hosts another lively episode of The Janice Long Review Show. Broadcaster Paul Sexton returns to the 12 Bar Club, alongside producer Trevor Horn and 80s starlet Toyah, to discuss her 1982 gothic release The Changeling and the Sex Pistols’ ground-breaking Never Mind The B*****ks.
Rare footage of Toyah guesting, and presenting on the Nickelodeon Channel in 1994 has just been uploaded to You Tube: Clips from the first week of NickAlive – or is it RickAlive? Rick Adams and Toyah Wilcox host the afternoon, which includes a Take That concert at 6pm. Watch by clicking below. View larger screen caps here.
The episode of the BBC series Love and Marriage in which Toyah and Robert Fripp featured is to air on Australian television on Friday (14th June).
The Sydney Morning Herald: Critic’s Choice: Love & Marriage: Friday, 8.35pm, SBS One
Subtitled A 20th Century Romance, this fascinating British documentary has traced the history of marriage over the past 100 years. In tonight’s concluding episode, it picks up the tale in the 1980s. As with the past two instalments, while a crisp narration provides important context, the real enlightenment comes from the frank, simple interviews with assorted spouses. I especially like the fact that everyone speaks as an individual, relating their own experiences. Not until the final frames do we see the people as couples – if indeed they still are. And we get that same wonderfully eclectic assortment of humanity. Fans of 1980s music may be particularly interested to see Robert Fripp and Toyah Willcox talk about their 25-year marriage – its ups and downs, and how they managed to keep it together.
A new article on Dear Heart, the BBC2 sketchshow series Toyah appeared in back in 1982.
The TV That Time Forgot – Dear Heart
In the early eighties, BBC2 made a short-lived attempt at filling the notorious scheduling wasteland between 6pm and 7pm with all manner of sophisticated teenager-slanted entertainment. Numerous high-concept dramas, sitcoms and pop music shows came and went in a flurry of cheers from the target audience and jeers from disapproving parents, but concepts never came higher than they did with bizarre comedy sketch show Dear Heart…
In a neat bit of audience-enticing, Super Advice Person was played by post-punk popster Toyah Willcox, then in the middle of a run of massive chart hits but also one of a baffling wave of ‘they can also act a bit’ punk rockers (see also Adam Ant and, erm, Sting) that emerged around that time.
• Continue reading at Tim Worthington’s Newsround. Great to see that, once again, Dreamscape’s Gallery has been of use. View more photos from Dear Hearthere.
Toyah’s classic 1982 appearance was included in last night’s The Best Of Kenny Everett’s Television Shows on BBC4. Toyah’s hair changes colour numerous times, Kenny plays Toyah, Toyah plays Kenny, plus both perform their own versions of ‘I Want To Be Free’. Brilliant stuff!
A few screen caps of Toyah, Robert and WillyFred from Wednesday’s airing of All Star Mr & Mrs. Please click on these to view larger versions. UK folks don’t forget that the programme is being repeated again this afternoon on ITV, in every region, at 12.30pm.
Wednesday night’s All Star Mr & Mrs on ITV achieved an overnight audience of 4.02m viewers, an 18.6% share of the total TV audience. 107k (0.4%) tuned in on ITV +1.
This is an increase on last week’s first show of the series and will no doubt be higher when the final figures are released next week. (BARB ratings data by Attentional)
• As everyone knows Toyah and Robert guested on tonight’s All Star Mr & Mrs on ITV. It’s now available to watch online (for UK residents only) at ITV Player for the next 28 days. It’s also available at UTV Player.
• The programme will also be repeated on ITV this coming Saturday at 12.30pm.
• STV Player are using a great photo of Toyah in their index of episodes of the series. View here.
• All Star Mr & Mrs Facebook: Backstage with singer Toyah Willcox & husband, guitarist Robert Fripp! – Congrats to Toyah & Robert, they won £5,000 for St. Richard’s Hospice, Worcester.
• Overnight viewing figures for tonight’s edition will be announced tomorrow. Last week’s programme was watched by almost four million people, though that will probably be over 5m when the final figures are released.
• Those Twitter folks were agog, tweeting: “Toyah Willcox & hubby are just so adorable!!“, “Awwww.. How sweet are Toyah Wilcox and her hubby Robert Fripp” and someone who doesn’t know that Toyah is only 54!!, “I want to be like Robert and Toyah when I’m old“… etc.
• The power of a prime time TV appearance. In the couple of hours after All Star Mr & Mrs aired tonight Dreamscape has had FIVE times as many visitors as it usually does.
• The last fortnight has been quite entertaining. Every time I’ve searched for Toyah news online there have been Fripp/King Crimson fans aghast at this programme lol!
A couple of screen caps from last night’s All Star Mr & Mrs end-credits preview of next week’s programme, featuring Toyah and Robert. The first programme of the new series had a viewing figure of 4 million. Click below to view larger versions.
All Star Mr & Mrs: ITV: Wednesday 8th May: 8.00pm All Star Mr & Mrs: ITV +1: Wednesday 8th May: 9.00pm
Phillip Schofield presents a new series of the classic game show as three celebrity couples battle it out to win £30,000 for their chosen charity. Who knows the most about their other half? The couples hoping to win big this time are TV presenter Gabby Logan and husband Kenny Logan, singer Toyah Willcox and husband, guitarist Robert Fripp, and EastEnders actor Jake Wood and wife Alison Wood.
Exactly 30 years ago Toyah was starring in Claire Luckham’s Trafford Tanzi at the Mermaid Theatre, London. BBC1’s Get Set aired a great interview on the Tanzi set, with Toyah, looking quite amazing, putting Peter Powell in his place! And here it is.
Toyah’s full interview from this morning’s BBC Breakfast is now available to watch at the BBC One website.
Punk princess Toyah talks about her latest role as a Hormonal Housewife
She’s been a punk princess, presenter and even lent her voice to a teletubbie, Toyah Willcox’s career has never been predictable.
Now, the singer is playing herself on stage in Hormonal Housewives, a no holds barred look at everything from pregnancy to old age. ‘Hormonal Housewives’ is touring the UK until the end of May.
All Star Mr & Mrs is back. Hosted by Phillip Schofield, this series will see celebrities such as Ricky Tomlinson, Gabby & Kenny Logan, Tom Fletcher, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Paula Radcliffe, Jake Wood, Will Mellor, Joey Essex & Sam Faiers, James & Ola Jordan, Jennie McAlpine and their partners competing to win up to £30,000 for their chosen charity.
Every episode, the audience gets an insight into the lives of three celebrity couples as they battle it out to win the jackpot for their charity.
In the second show of the new series TV Presenter Gabby Logan & husband Kenny Logan, singer Toyah Willcox & husband, guitarist Robert Fripp and Eastenders actor Jake Wood & wife Alison Wood will all compete for big cash prizes for a charity of their choice.
Toyah and Robert have recorded an appearance and will guest on a forthcoming edition of ITV’s All Star Mr & Mrs.
Phillip Schofield hosts and each week three celebrities with their partners compete against each other to try and win money for a charity of their choice. Each couple receives a carriage clock whether they reach the final or not. (Thanks to Paul Lomas)
Unfortunately it looks like Toyah won’t be guesting on The Wright Stuff today, despite being advertised as doing so on Channel 5’s website all week.
The guest for this morning’s show was announced as Maggie Philbin at the end of yesterday’s programme. It did seem odd, as Toyah was appearing in Hormonal Housewives in Ipswich last night and is in Kings Lynn tonight.
A new Region 1 DVD box set of Maigret: The Complete Collection is released by Acorn Media this week.
The 4-DVD set features all 12 episodes, starring Michael Gambon in the title role, which aired in 1992 and ’93, with English subtitles, plus an 8-page booklet featuring articles on Georges Simenon, Jules Maigret, and the television series.
Based on Georges Simenon’s classic detective novels! “Gambon is terrific.” – The Times (U.K.). Emmy nominee Michael Gambon (Harry Potter, The Singing Detective) is Jules Maigret, the “wonderfully entertaining sleuth” (Austin American-Statesman) at the heart of novelist Georges Simenon’s beloved detective series.
The new collection includes the eighth epsiode of the series in which Toyah had a guest role:
Maigret and the Hotel Majestic – A rich American (Michael Shannon) wife strangled in hotel kitchen. A prostitute (Toyah Willcox) attacks Maigret. Michael J. Jackson and John Kavanagh are guest stars.
BBC Breakfast Time went on air 30 years ago this morning. The original programme logo and memorable theme tune still remind me of getting ready for school.
Toyah has guested on the programme numerous times over the years: In 1983, talking about ‘Love Is The Law’ and The Ebony Tower; in 1985, around ‘Minx’ time, talking about a tour that didn’t happen (see below); in 1987, talking about ‘Desire’ and Cabaret; in 2007, talking about panto in Reading and in 2008, talking about Vampires Rock.
BBC Breakfast is celebrating 30 years of broadcasting with a trip down memory lane
Considered a “huge risk” when it launched on 17 January 1983, Breakfast Time was the UK’s first regular national breakfast show. Famous for its magazine-style approach, it combined news and lighter features. The 30th anniversary show will feature appearances from some of the original team.
Introduced two weeks before rival broadcaster ITV’s TV-am with David Frost, Breakfast Time hoped to lure audiences away from radio with a combination of news, travel information and lifestyle segments. Although breakfast TV had been the staple diet in the US for three decades, the British public was wary of the innovation in 1983.
• Continue reading at BBC News. View Toyah’s 1985 Breakfast Time appearance below.
Toyah’s full interview, recorded last week at The Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury, from this evening’s Channel 4 News. “I accidentally saw the Sex Pistols at a gig in Birmingham and it changed my life forever.” So Toyah Willcox told me this week, nearly four decades after punk exploded onto the British music scene, writes Channel 4 News Reporter Katie Razzall.
At that stage, in the late 1970s, she was a teenager from Birmingham who’d been told she must behave demurely and in a “feminine” way. At the gig, there were “people out there who were misbehaving“. As she puts it: “Suddenly I was in a room of spitting, shouting, angry people. I thought, right, I belong. I’ve found my voice.”
TheChannel 4 News feature on PUNK magazine’s forthcoming 40th anniversary, including interview footage with Toyah, aired earlier this evening on ‘Channel 4’. Click below to watch.
In the 1970s, Punk Magazine documented a scene which began in New York with bands like the Ramones, and then spread to Britain to produce the revolutionary sound of the Sex Pistols and the Clash.
Toyah and Robert have recorded an appearance and will guest on a forthcoming edition of ITV’s All Star Mr & Mrs.
BBC Breakfast Time went on air 30 years ago this morning. The original programme logo and memorable theme tune still remind me of getting ready for school.
