#SCF was a kind of experimental youth answer to Play for Today; produced at Pebble Mill in Birmingham (the titular
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Second City Firsts: Glitter (BBC, 1976)
"Everybody wants a piece of you, stuffed and hanging on the wall with your mouth open! They may get my body but they won't get my head."
#second city firsts#glitter#single play#classic tv#bbc#tony bicât#toyah willcox#phil daniels#dixie dean#noel edmonds#doremy vernon#colin chisholm#tara prem#nick bicât#with the bbc centenary now in full swing (?) bbc4 have opened up their archives just a crack to let a few choice morsels plop#out on Wednesday evenings for us hungry fans of old tv‚ including a clutch of Second City Firsts (catch them on iplayer while you can)#SCF was a kind of experimental youth answer to Play for Today; produced at Pebble Mill in Birmingham (the titular#second city) and concentrating on first time writers (the firsts aspect) the series is notable for being the first step on the road to#success for many famous faces both in front of and behind the cameras; Julie Walters had her first screen role for the series‚ as did Toyah#Willcox here‚ and Ian McEwan wrote for the series before publishing his first novel. the survival rate of these individual plays is patchy#(28 of the 53 survive) which isn't unusual for single play strands in this era‚ and perhaps especially when there were fewer big names#attached. seeing the survivors hasn't been too easy either so I'm grateful for the opportunity from bbc4#Glitter was the work of writer director Tony Bicât and starred Toyah in her screen debut opposite Phil Daniels (already something of a#known face thanks to a string of well regarded teen roles (inc. 4 Idle Hands)‚ and the two would be reunited in a couple of years and gain#immortality in 1979's Quadrophenia. there are thematic links between that film and this play too‚ not least in the generational conflict at#play and the idea of music as something quasi religious in effect‚ but this doesn't reach the heights of The Who. actually it's slightly#silly; a girl's dream of being on top of the pops made manifest‚ complete with awkward cameo by Noel Edmonds (game for a laugh#apparently‚ but certainly no actor). it's experimental‚ in the way that sixth form creative writing projects are experimental; I don't know#any of Bicât's other work but I'm afraid on the strength of this I'm not much tempted to seek them out. but that's the single play#they can't all be winners and they can't all launch careers; but then Toyah ended up doing ok in the end anyway
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