Dreamscape – Toyah Willcox Fansite

Doctor Who Magazine Yearbook 2024 is on sale from today, with the special issue looking back on the 60th anniversary of the show last year, and much more.

Children Of The Circus, the audio drama based on Doctor Who’s The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, gets a write-up in the ‘Sounds’ section of the magazine, with a few photos and a couple of quotes from an interview the writer did with Barnaby Eaton Jones, who produced and directed the production.

Also included in the special issue:

A year in the life of the stars of Doctor Who.
A look back at the 2023 Specials.
The producer of Tales of the TARDIS discusses this nostalgic series.
A summary of various instalments of the Doom’s Day multi-media event!
Wrarth Warrior actor Robert Strange speaks to the magazine about his role in The Star Beast.
A special feature on Goblin celebrity Janis!
A report from the Doctor Who at 60 musical celebration at Cardiff’s Millennium Centre.

• Further info and buy the magazine here. Browse our Children Of The Circus news archive.

Toyah is currently receiving a lot of praise for her performance in the, just released,  Doctor Who related audio drama, Children Of The Circus, in the role(s) of The Band of Infinite Harmony.

Sci Fi Bulletin: Toyah Willcox is spectacular as the Band of Infinite Harmony, a gestalt musician maimed into something approaching harmonious perfection by the Gods of Ragnarok

Warped Factor: 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.

• So, here’s that question again – When is RTD (Russell T. Davies, Doctor Who showrunner) going to get his arse in gear and cast Toyah in the main, BBC, series? (Image/Logo © BBC/Disney)

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.