Live With… Toyah: New Trailer
The trailer for Live With… Toyah. Airing very soon on Vintage TV.
The trailer for Live With… Toyah. Airing very soon on Vintage TV.
The songs set to be played on the forthcoming Live With… Toyah have been revealed as: Dawn Chorus (From The Changeling, 1982), It’s A Mystery (from Anthem, 1981), Sensational (from In The Court Of The Crimson Queen, 2008) and Little Tears Of Love (from Velvet Lined Shell, 2003). Look out for the trailer for Live With… Toyah, which airs on Wednesday 7th October at 10.30pm on Vintage TV, coming to toyahwillcox.com very soon.
Toyah has already recorded Live With… Toyah for future broadcast on Vintage TV, and has now been interviewed for a new edition of Neil McCormick’s Needle Time which also airs on the music channel. Vintage tweeted a photo from the recording, saying: “Hugely talented and immensely versatile @toyahofficial shares the story of her career, spanning more than 30 years!“. Click below to see the full photo (Photo © Vintage TV)
BBC asks viewers to share their musical memorabilia to tell ‘The People’s History of Pop’
Do you treasure a ticket stub from David Bowie at Aylesbury Friars? Is there a glow-stick from an illegal rave in your attic? Does your teenage diary list every band you ever saw in painstaking detail?
Now the BBC is asking viewers to share their most cherished musical possessions to help tell The People’s History of Pop through a unique crowdsourcing appeal. An online archive is being created for a new BBC4 series which will tell the story of British rock & pop music from the 1950s to the noughties – but without the traditional narrative from chin-stroking “experts”.
Craig Astley uploaded a picture of himself, then aged 4, with his first pop idol, the punk singer Toyah after a concert in Newcastle. “Sixteen years later and I received a phone call from Toyah herself if I would be interested in running her website,” writes Astley, who now manages the singer’s archive. “Pop dreams can come true.”
• Continue reading at The Independent. View further info here.
Presenters Alex Jones and Matt Baker with Toyah, Simon Le Bon and John Taylor at The One Show on Tuesday. “Tonight we were joined by the 80s pop legends Duran Duran and Toyah Willcox, they had a quick look back at their iconic fashion style and retro pictures”. (Photo © BBC)
The lovely Toyah Willcox has blogged briefly about her role in “The Afternoon of the Living Dead” for Doctors. This makes me very happy. Go and take a peek at Toyah’s Blog.
• Continue reading at Scriptuality.
As tweeted by Toyah this week – the programme she filmed is the BBC’s daytime drama Doctors.
We have had the pleasure of being joined on set by the incredible Toyah Willcox. Toyah has returned to her midlands roots to film scenes for a fanatastic episode that will be aired in November. Keep your eyes on the website for an interview with the lady herself.
NB: Toyah has previously had a role in Doctors. She played “Marcy Preston” in an episode in April 2000.
This new show invites you to “trip the neon fantastic” and celebrate the best hits of the 1980s – and when they’re asking you to do that along to a soundtrack of the Pet Shop Boys’ Always On My Mind, how can you say no?
Eighties stars like Toyah Willcox, Tony Hadley, Martin Fry and Marc Almond all feature, reminiscing about shoulder pads, eyeliner and making pop history.
The show, narrated by the annoying Zoe Ball, has commissioned a poll to determine the nation’s favourite 80s tune, but really the poll is superfluous. It was surely just a hook on which to hang this glittery coat of nostalgia, giving the channel an excuse – and a mighty good one, in my opinion – to pull out some clips of all the old songs and wallow in how gloriously flamboyant pop music used to be.
• Continue reading at The National – This weekend’s TV highlights.
Another photo from The One Show shoot, tweeted by Toyah yesterday – Filming a special strand for @BBCOne The One Show. (Photo © Toyah Willcox)
Amazing photos!! Toyah is Thundering In The Mountains… Well, make-up style at least, for filming of a special strand for future airing on BBC1’s The One Show. Click on the photos to view larger versions. (Photos © Toyah Willcox/Sean Chapman)
Mindboggling – Toyah’s career began exactly 40 years ago.
There had been roles in amateur theatre productions and work as an “extra” but Toyah’s first actual professional job as an entertainer was filmed exactly 40 years ago – Glitter, a 30 minute drama, part of the BBC’s ‘Second City Firsts’ strand of programming. It also starred a young Phil Daniels in one of his first roles and appearances by Noel Edmonds, Doremy Vernon and the band Bilbo Baggins.
Toyah’s character in Glitter, Sue, also performs two songs with the band Bilbo Baggins, Floating Free and Heartbreaker (it’s unclear whether the songs were known by these titles in 1975 – Toyah wrote, at least some, of the lyrics to both). This was Toyah’s first major acting role, first lead vocal performances, first time as a singer with a band, first time on national TV. Many firsts!
Few watching when Glitter aired in late 1976 could imagine that the girl who played Sue would go on to be a music icon to millions of teenagers, release a discography of incredible albums, be known as one of the most visually creative “pop stars” of the modern music era, and work with the likes of Katharine Hepburn, Sir Laurence Olivier, Maximilian Schell, George Cukor, Diana Dors, Trevor Eve, Sir Christopher Lee, Derek Jarman, Christopher Eccleston and numerous others.
• Celebrate Toyah’s 40 years as a performer and artist: Musician, singer, songwriter, actress, writer… at her official website. View Dreamscape’s feature from 2005 on Glitter. (Top photo © The Official Toyah Willcox Website)
Hardly earth-shattering “breaking news”, but I’ve never heard of Bernard! Maybe you have.
Bernard, known as Backkom in South Korea, is an Spanish-South Korean-French 3-minute CGI-animated children’s comedy television series.
Starring: Tim Whintall, Toyah Willcox.
The show centers on a curious polar bear named Bernard, whose bumbling slapstick antics typically result in the bear being knocked unconscious or being severely injured by the end of an episode. Bernard doesn’t speak, but he does communicate through guttural sounds. Bernard is accompanied by penguins Lloyd and Eva, Zack the lizard, Goliath the chihuahua, Sam the baby, Pilot the dog, Pokey the porcupine and Santa Claus.
The programme ran for five series/seasons/60 episodes between 2007 and 2012.
• Continue reading at Wikipedia.
Full transcripts of two recent Toyah interviews are now available to read at The Toyah Willcox Interview Archive.
Severn FM’s The Encyclopaedia of Rock radio appearance, with Toyah and Bill Rieflin talking about The Humans and the Telling Strange Tales tour, and Toyah guesting on ITV’s Lorraine, again discussing The Humans, and much more.
Click below to visit the website.
Screen caps from this morning’s Lorraine. Click below for larger. Watch Toyah’s interview here.
Lorraine on ITV tweeted this morning: “‘Keep working and love life!’ says @toyahofficial as she prepares for her new tour“, and Toyah tweeted: “THANK U 2 @ITVLorraine 4 A FUN MORNING TALKING ABOUT THE HUMANS XXX“.
Did you catch Toyah’s Electric Ladies on Vintage TV at the weekend? Toyah wrote and presented the 60-minute programme, which airs again tonight at 8pm.
The full roster of “Electric Ladies”: Chaka Khan (I Feel For You); Debbie Harry/Blondie (Atomic); Cher (If I Could Turn Back Time); Celine Dion (My Heart Will Go On); Bjork (Human Behaviour); Annie Lennox/Eurythmics (Love Is A Stranger); Grace Jones (Pull Up To The Bumper); Janet Jackson (That’s The Way Love Goes); Wendy James/Transvision Vamp (Baby I Don’t Care); Whitney Houston (I Wanna Dance With Somebody).
Toyah’s Electric Ladies: Vintage TV: Tuesday 10th March: 8pm
New! The princess of punk shines the light on those iconic female artists through the years who have inspired and made their own mark.
Fri 6th Mar, 11.00pm – The Vintage TV Sessions
Must-see shows on the Vintage TV calendar, these live sessions offer all the excitement and atmosphere of a gig in your own home. So, sit back and enjoy two songs each, recorded at The Bedford in Balham, from indie rockers The Struts, punk princess Toyah Willcox and her band, singer songwriters Josephine and Judie Tzuke, of ‘Stay With Me ‘Til Dawn’ fame , and 80s icon Nik Kershaw. Veteran musician, broadcaster and campaigner Tom Robinson is your esteemed host.
Sun 8th Mar, 6.00pm – Toyah’s Electric Ladies
The princess of punk shines a light on those iconic female artists who have electrified the music scene in their own unique way. In this new show, Toyah pays respect not only to her 80s contemporaries but also to the legendary ladies whose spark and spirit has inspired through the decades. Flick the switch for full illumination!
• Continue reading at Vintage TV.
A new article on the episode of Shoestring, “Find The Lady”, in which Toyah had a significant role, by Memorable TV.
Shoestring: Find The Lady (BBC-1 2 Dec 1979 with Toyah Willcox)
In Find the Lady singer Toola asks Eddie to help her former bass player Gary “Mole” Molecombe who is convinced that his girlfriend Chrissie has been murdered by Toola’s manager Kenrick. Kenrick is quite the nasty piece of work but there seems to be no real evidence to support Moles claims of murder especially as a local photographer provides evidence of Chrissie being alive and well. But then Mole himself dies of an apparent overdose…
UK / BBC One / 1×50 minute episode / Broadcast 2 December 1979
Writer: Philip Martin / Production Design: Spencer Chapman / Director: Marek Kanievska
Series: Shoestring / Season 1 Episode 9
• Continue reading at Memorable TV. View their previous feature on, another 20th Century programme which also included Toyah, Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde.
So, so much not to be missed on Vintage TV! There’s nothing for it therefore but to clear the diary, book a place on the sofa and settle down for a music marathon. And, thoughtful folk we are, we’ve hand-picked some hot highlights for you among our stunning Sunday teatime shows.
Toyah’s Electric Ladies (8th March, 6pm) – those switched-on female artists who’ve electrified, inspired and very much strutted their own stuff through the decades, as presented by our own princess of punk. How illuminating.
• Continue reading at Vintage TV.
Thursday 25th December, 9.00pm – Toyah’s Christmas At The Zoo
Presenter Toyah Willcox wraps up warm for a trip to London Zoo, where she gets up close and personal with the animals, tells Christmas stories and introduces a host of favourite festive songs. Take a wander with our punk princess and bring a little creature comfort to your celebrations.
Saturday 27th December, 11.00pm – A Very Vintage Christmas: Part 1
The fire is lit and we are cosying up with the first of the special guests on our new festive show: presenters Toyah Willcox and Wizzard’s Roy Wood talk Christmas with singer songwriter Leddra Chapman, and also 80s beehive queen singer Mari Wilson, before they each perform for us. Leddra treats us to her take on ‘Happy Xmas (War is Over)’ and ‘Fairytale of New York’, while Mari enchants with ‘Mrs Santa Claus’ and ‘First of May’.
• Continue reading at Vintage TV. Check out Toyah’s full, so far, Vintage TV schedule.
Saturday 20th December, 8.00pm – A Very Vintage Christmas: Part 1
The fire is lit and we are cosying up with the first of the special guests on our new festive show: presenters Toyah Willcox and Wizzard’s Roy Wood talk Christmas with singer songwriter Leddra Chapman, and also 80s beehive queen singer Mari Wilson, before they each perform for us. Leddra treats us to her take on ‘Happy Xmas (War is Over)’ and ‘Fairytale of New York’, while Mari enchants with ‘Mrs Santa Claus’ and ‘First of May’.
Sunday 21st December, 10.00am – A Very Vintage Christmas: Part 2
Snuggling up by the fireside with our interviewers Toyah Willcox and Roy Wood this week to chat about the magic of Christmas are award-winning pop rock band The Feeling, who perform ‘Feels Like Christmas’ and ‘Fall Like Rain’, and Imagination’s Leee John who brings some soul to the season with his take on ‘O Holy Night’ and ‘The Christmas Song’.
• Continue reading at Vintage TV. Check out Toyah’s full, so far, Vintage TV schedule.
Friday 12th December, 7.00pm – Toyah’s Vintage Christmas
Prepare to cosy up with our yuletide-loving pop princess presenter Toyah Willcox as she pulls out all the stops for your holiday viewing pleasure and takes us on a nostalgic journey through some of the most memorable Christmas videos of the 20th Century, sprinkled with a generous handful of fun festive facts.
Saturday 13th December, 10.00am – Toyah’s Christmas At The Zoo
Presenter Toyah Willcox wraps up warm for a trip to London Zoo, where she gets up close and personal with the animals, tells Christmas stories and introduces a host of favourite festive songs. Take a wander with our punk princess and bring a little creature comfort to your celebrations.
• Continue reading at Vintage TV. Check out Toyah’s full, so far, Vintage TV schedule.