Dreamscape | The Toyah Willcox Fansite

Quatermass: Talking Pictures TV: Tue 9th June: 9pm
Chapter Four: An Endangered Species. Quatermass showing signs of his recent narrow escape emerges from the car park to find the stadium empty. An estimated 70,000 people died there. So many have now been harvested that the particles of dust in the air have turned the sky green. Kapp attempts to repair his equipment in order to contact the alien presence, but the Planet People destroy his efforts. They try to persuade him to join them but he refuses, convinced now that his family are dead. Quatermass, aided by Gurov, who has travelled to London from Moscow, assembles a team of scientists to find a solution. He deliberately selects old people for the task as they are immune to the call of the alien force. Quatermass decides to set a trap. He plans to fake the presence of a gathering of a million young people at Kapp’s observatory and, when the force comes, to detonate a 35 kiloton nuclear weapon. It is a focused charge where most of the force will go upwards, causing little damage in the area. Quatermass does not believe this will be sufficient to destroy the alien machine but he hopes that it will shock it enough to make it go away. Kapp volunteers to stay behind with Quatermass to help detonate the bomb. The pair set up the trap and wait in darkness. Suddenly, Kickalong appears with a group of Planet People, including Quatermass’ granddaughter, Hettie. Kapp tries to warn them away but is shot and killed by Kickalong.

The light appears, indicating that the alien force beam has arrived, but the shock of seeing his granddaughter among the Planet People causes Quatermass to suffer a heart attack. She has recognised him too and struggling to reach the detonator button, Quatermass is aided by Hettie and together they detonate the bomb. Later in a world that is recovering from the recent fall of civilization, Gurov tells us: “The message was taken. It has not come again. We pray it will never come again”.

This episode originally aired on 14th November 1979 on the ITV network and was watched by 11.2m viewers in the UK. The 1979, four-part, mini series Quatermass (also known as The Quatermass Conclusion or Quatermass IV) is airing weekly from Tuesday 19th May. Stars John Mills, Simon McCorkindale, Barbara Kellerman, Ralph Arliss, Rebecca Saire, Toyah Willcox, David Yip, Alison Dowling.

• Talking Pictures TV is An Archive Film & TV Channel. Available on the following platforms/channels: Freeview 81, YouView 81, Freesat 306, Sky 328 and Virgin 445.

Pete Prodge has tweeted that his new interview with Toyah airs this Saturday at Tiswas Online.

Been chatting with Toyah about The Goodies, Kenny Everett, Laurel And Hardy, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd and some Saturday morning show called Tiswas. The interview airs this Saturday.

• Watch online at Tiswas Online this Saturday morning at 10.30am (yes, the same time that the show used to air in the 1980s on ITV every Saturday! – Not sure if the Phantom Flan Flinger will make an appearance, but you never know!)

One of the little joys of the past few grim months have been the videos by Toyah and hubby Robert Fripp where they dance, sing and muck about in their kitchen and garden. Here’s a particularly quirky one.

• Continue reading/Watching at The Afterword.

At time of writing our upload of Toyah: This Is Your Life is just about to hit 200k of unique viewers, with almost 15,000 in just the past week alone!! Pretty incredible stats!

Tomorrow – 06.06.2020 – is the 40th anniversary of the release of an iconic album from Toyah’s music career, The Blue Meaning. Incredibly ahead of its time, both musically and in its artwork/design/imagery. Check back tomorrow for our feature – which is an amalgamation of four of Dreamscape’s previous Blue Meaning articles reworked to create a comprehensive feature.

**Updated** A sprinkling of pure, escapist, fun during these troubling, uncertain times many of us are experiencing. Check out Dreamscape’s Toyah & Fripp: The Lockdown Films News Archive. Watch the films at The Official Toyah You Tube channel. (Screenshots © Toyah Willcox)

• Acapela: Toyah 18th July 2020 rescheduled to 28th January 2021: Following our recent communication via email and social media concerning the closure of the venue due to the recent Coronavirus precautions, I am delighted to inform you that we have agreed a new date for the above concert – Continue reading…

• Acapela: Toyah Willcox returns again to Acapela: Household name, pop icon, TV presenter, and stage/screen actress (Calamity Jane, Cabaret, Peter Pan, Jubilee, Quadrophenia) Toyah comes to Acapela in July with her Acoustic, Up Close & Personal show – Continue reading…

• Official Toyah: Gig Diary: Browse Toyah’s forthcoming tours, gigs and festivals – Continue reading…

• BBC Radio 2 / Sara Cox: Guilty Pleasures: Plus sixty minutes of great music in The Wower and Tracy Hulme from Bourne tells Sara about her First & Last – Diana Ross and Toyah – Continue to listen…

• Tatler: Society photographer Cecil Beaton’s Reddish House is for sale: Since Beaton’s death, the house has been owned by the former Countess of Chichester, Ursula Henderson, and musicians Robert Fripp and Toyah Willcox, who have claimed that it is haunted by Beaton’s ghost – Continue reading…

• BBC Radio 2 / Jools Holland: Toyah is Jools’ guest!: There are 11 days left to listen to Toyah guesting on Jools’ first BBC Radio 2 show – Continue to listen…

Toyah’s new June 2020 blog is available to read at toyahwillcox.com.

Andrew Eborn is joined by Toyah with special insight into her amazing life and career. Also including an exclusive announcement! Watch below.

King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp and wife Toyah release another tongue-in-cheek lockdown video

King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp and wife Toyah have released another tongue-in-cheek lockdown video, this time pondering how to get more women to attend King Crimson shows.

“Welcome to Toyah and Robert’s Sunday Lunch,” says Fripp in the new clip. “I asked Toyah’s advice: how do we get more women to come and see King Crimson. And my wife says ‘If women can dance to King Crimson, they’ll be there!'”

• Contine reading at Louder. Watch the new video, “Women Dancing to King Crimson”, below. Browse toyah.net’s News Archive of posts on Toyah and Robert Fripp’s lockdown dances, Sunday lunch videos and more…

Quatermass: Talking Pictures TV: Tue 2nd June: 9pm
Chapter Three: What Lies Beneath. Quatermass is rescued by a group of elderly people living in a scrap yard who doctor his injuries. At the hospital, the doctors are shocked when Isabel levitates off her bed and explodes in a cloud of dust. Elsewhere, the devastated Kapp is left alone in the ruins of his cottage and observatory. More and more young people are joining the Planet People, including the gangs that have been terrorising the cities and the soldiers assigned to keep them away from the Megalithic sites. Contact is restored with Chuck Marshall and with the Russians in the form of Gurov (Brewster Mason). Quatermass theorises that this is not the first time this has happened; megalithic sites such as prehistoric stone circles are in fact markers where beacons have been left by the people living then as a sign that something terrible happened there, and that there are some kind of alien markers buried underground at these sites. Quatermass believes there is a sphere of energy surrounding the Earth. The Russians and the Americans send a space shuttle, commanded by Marshall, to make contact with the force. Quatermass is sceptical; he believes they are dealing not with an intelligence but with a machine constructed to harvest human protein. The space shuttle reports a giant beam of light stretching from somewhere in deep space to the Earth, just missing them. A second beam just afterwards destroys them.

Meanwhile, the Planet People are gathering at Wembley Stadium in the tens of thousands. Annie and Quatermass travel to the stadium but are powerless to prevent the Planet People from gathering. When they are attacked, Annie drives their car into the underground car park beneath the stadium where she crashes the vehicle and is killed. The lightning strikes the stadium and Quatermass underground, huddles against the wall to try and survive.

This episode originally aired on 7th November 1979 on the ITV network and was watched by 10.5m viewers in the UK. The 1979, four-part, mini series Quatermass (also known as The Quatermass Conclusion or Quatermass IV) is airing weekly from Tuesday 19th May. Stars John Mills, Simon McCorkindale, Barbara Kellerman, Ralph Arliss, Rebecca Saire, Toyah Willcox, David Yip, Alison Dowling.

• Talking Pictures TV is An Archive Film & TV Channel. Available on the following platforms/channels: Freeview 81, YouView 81, Freesat 306, Sky 328 and Virgin 445.

It’s not often, Toyah’s debut 1979 single, Victims Of The Riddle is included on a compilation!

It is one of 58 tracks on the forthcoming Musik Music Musique – 1980 | The Dawn Of Synth Pop, A new 3CD set exploring the arrival of synth pop and the dawn of a new musical era. Released by Cherry Red Records on 31st July 2020.

The set features music by OMD, The Human League, Ultravox, Toyah, Spandau Ballet, Kim Wilde, Philip Lynott, The Buggles, Fad Gadget, Suicide, John Foxx, DAF, Dalek I Love You, Visage, The Residents, Yello.

58 tracks marking the transition of electronic pop from the outer reaches of eccentricity and novelty to the very heart of a musical mainstream it would quickly dominate.

• Contine to the Cherry Red Records website for further info.

Stokie DJ recruits celebrities to sing Rick Astley hit for North Staffordshire mental health charity

The video, for North Staffs MIND, features members of 5ive, S Club 7, and the original dancer from the Rick Astley video

A Stoke-on-Trent DJ has recruited more than 30 famous faces for a second charity fundraising single. Last month, Terry Bossons enlisted help from indie artists to fundraise for the NHS with a cover of Chasing Rainbows under the alias ‘Indie Allstars’.

Now, he’s back with a new all-star cast including Sinitta, Lolly, and Gladiator’s Jet to cover Rick Astley’s 1987 hit Never Gonna Give You Up to raise money for North Staffs MIND charity.

• Continue reading at Stoke On Trent Live. See also: Retro Pop – Listen: Carol Decker, Hazell Dean, Toyah team up for Never Gonna Give You Up charity cover

Toyah and Hazel O’Connor’s Electric Ladies Of The 80s joint-headlining UK tour has been rescheduled to May and June 2021. This is of course because of the ongoing pandemic.

Ticketholders are being asked not to contact venues, or SEE Tickets at the moment as they will make contact with ticket holders in due course to explain the way forward.

All tickets remain valid for the new dates.

Refunds are available if needed, but we ask if possible for the sake of the venues and their long term financial security, you hold on to tickets and not request a refund if possible.

Post-punk and New Wave artists Toyah and Hazel O’Connor join forces to bring you their exciting new tour, Electric Ladies of the 80s. Performing alongside their full electric band, each artist will perform their own set alongside some duets and surprises.

• Further info at toyahwillcox.com. Click below for ticket booking links (though a number of the dates are sold out).

Clare Balding is currently recalling her favourite walks from her long-running BBC Radio 4 series Ramblings. Episode Four of the retrospective collection airs next Thursday, 4th June and includes Toyah, who guested on Ramblings back in February 2013.

Ramblings With Clare Balding: BBC Radio 4
Thursday 4th June: 3pm/Saturday 6th June: 6.07am
Joyful Highlights Part 4: Singers & Writers. Clare Balding recalls her favourite walks with a colourful variety of writers and singers including Bill Bryson, Toyah Willcox, folk duo Ninebarrow, and the choral group Werca’s Folk.

Clare has been walking on air since 1999, and for this lockdown series of highlights has been digging into the archives to retrieve some of her most memorable moments: Today she gets dressed with Bill Bryson, takes a lift across a small puddle with Toyah, discovers that Dorothy Wordsworth avoided marriage so she could continue walking, and hears from author Emma Mitchell about exactly why our mood is lifted when we spend time in nature.

Marking 20 years as presenter of the programme, Clare Balding digs into archives of Ramblings to share the best moments from her favourite walks. Producer: Karen Gregor.

• Listen to Ramblings – Joyful Highlights online at the BBC Radio 4 website. Click below to browse our Ramblings News Archive. (Photo © Toyah Willcox)

Here are the new dates and venues for next year’s Let’s Rock festivals

Having postponed its summer series due to the current pandemic the year, Let’s Rock have confirmed the rescheduled dates for summer 2021. The line-ups remain the same, with headliners including Adam Ant, OMD, Wet Wet Wet and UB40. Other performers including Tony Hadley, The Boomtown Rats, Kim Wilde, Marc Almond, Sister Sledge, The Undertones, Midge Ure’s Electronica, Toyah, T’Pau, Go West, Nik Kershaw, Chesney Hawkes, Betty Boo, and Heaven 17. LockdownFest, organised by Let’s Rock in aid of its official charity partner Child Bereavement UK, raised more than £130,000 for the charity.

• Continue reading at The Scotsman. Visit the Let’s Rock – The Retro Festival website.

Even though Strictly 2020 is still up in the air, the rumour mill keeps throwing out new names of celebrities reportedly signing up for the show.

So far, newspaper reports have already suggested that presenter Maya Jama, actress Michelle Keegan, singer Toyah Willcox, presenter Lorraine Kelly, Corrie star Jack P Shepherd and all-round icon Jane McDonald might have agreed to samba and salsa this autumn.

• Continue reading at the Radio Times.

Quadrophenia: Film 4: Monday 8th June: 1.35am
The Who wrote and produced this energetic story of a young man disillusioned with his life in 1960s London. Phil Daniels excels as the alienated anti-hero Jimmy Cooper. Director: Franc Roddam. Starring: Phil Daniels, Leslie Ash, Toyah Willcox, Philip Davis, Mark Wingett, Sting, and Ray Winstone.

Following our recent post about Toyah’s official You Tube channel… Here’s one about this website’s –  Dreamscape’s You Tube channel.

Our You Tube is pretty much what you’d expect from a fan based channel. We’ve compiled a selection of retro interviews, Toyah TV appearances and more from throughout Toyah’s career (which I believe is now in its 45th year if Glitter – filmed 1975, aired 1976 – is regarded as the very beginning!).

We are rollercoasting towards 1K of subscribers, and our most popular video is Toyah: This Is Your Life, which as of writing has been viewed 184,629 times and is currently increasing by around 2K views per day. Not that I’m a stats freak of course! Please click below to visit Dreamscape’s You Tube Toyah channel (which also includes some rare Madonna footage).

Edinburgh singer Shirley Manson has written a heart-felt apology to her teenage inspiration, Toyah Willcox

Edinburgh singer and iconic Garbage front-woman Shirley Manson has revealed how Eighties pop star Toyah Willcox inspired her in a heartfelt post on her Facebook page, in which she recalled seeing the diminutive punk princess at The Playhouse in 1982.

Introducing Toyah to nearly 300,000 followers on her Facebook page, Shirley wrote, ‘This is Toyah Willcox and this is a true story. I loved her growing up but I never admitted it publicly because I knew deep down that it wasn’t considered very cool by the serious music press to do so. The worst possible thing for me at that age was to be thought of as uncool. However truth was she fascinated me and I think it’s fair to say I studied her. By that I mean I obsessed over photographs of her in magazines and tried to emulate her fabulous, esoteric style, copy her make up, style my hair like she did.’

Singer and actress Toyah fronted the band of the same name between 1977 and 1983 scoring chart success with hits like It’s A Mystery, Thunder In The Mountains and I Want To Be Free. She also appeared in cult movies such as Jubilee, The Tempest and Quadrophenia.

After recalling how Toyah was considered ‘pretty mainstream’ back in the Eighties, Shirley remembered seeing the singer, who is now 62, at The Playhouse, ‘I was 15 and pretty mainstream myself but as I said, needed more than anything to appear cool to my peers so I kept my tastes to myself. I went to see her play when she came to The Edinburgh Playhouse in the summer of 1982. I remember the undeniable, visceral thrill of seeing Toyah on stage…. The impact of seeing your idols on stage, in the flesh for the first time was something immense and extraordinarily overwhelming… I just remember the lights and lusting after Toyah’s hair and being utterly transfixed.’

• Continue reading at the Edinburgh Evening News.

This is brilliant – In this week’s Sunday lunch, Toyah & Robert are discussing which has more cultural significance…. #Toyah or #KingCrimson. Only one way to find out….. a #showdown.