#toyah tv

[toyahinterviews]

CELEBRITY BRIDES UNVEILED 2009

TOYAH: When I was a little girl I never dreamt about my wedding. I was a tomboy. All I ever wanted for Christmas and for my birthdays was punch balls, guns, tanks. So weddings just weren't on my agenda at all   In fact, I probably as I got older and got into my teens and became a punk rocker - and then got into my 20s - was quite phobic about thoughts of marriage and quite phobic about the thought of having a permanent partner and having a family. So when I did eventually get married, I shocked everybody I knew I grew up in Birmingham, which was quite a difficult place for a girl to grow up 35 years ago. Women were forced into relationships and I felt forced into being sexually active. An awful lot of the girls that I knew their ideal was to have a child out of wedlock and get the security of a nice apartment and never get married and get a job. I hate to generalise about it, but that is the environment I grew up in Because I grew up in that environment I was ferociously against relationships. So I got involved in punk and then in music around the age of 14. I knew that I was always going to be very different  

I started making my own clothes and started to look very punky. I was very pre-punk. I was influenced by a film called The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which was pre-punk. So I was walking around Birmingham with peacock coloured hair about two years before punk rock ever appeared 

My husband and I should have met at least five to six years before we actually did because we had the same management company. The very first time I met him was 1983, where we shared a taxi to an award ceremony together. He sat on the front seat and I was on the backseat with my manager - our manager. He was very quiet and he had these little round glasses   I just took the mickey out of him from the Kings Road to the Grosvenor Hotel, which was about half an hour trip. I can remember my manager just being flabbergasted that I had the guts to just provoke this man for half an hour and I'd only just met him I didn't know that he is in the Top 10 of the world's most famous guitar players. He's a man called Robert Fripp and 1983 he was just like God in the music world. He worked with David Bowie he produced Peter Gabriel. He'd been on Blondie’s his albums - so he was a megastar. The picture behind me (above) is of me and Princess Michael of Kent, laughing at someone joking. And that someone is Robert Fripp, my husband    This is the first moment I really got to talk to him because Princess Michael wanted a photograph taken with him and me. That picture appeared in a very famous newspaper the next day with Robert cut out of it, because Robert was never really a celebrity, but I was and that was 1983 - three years before I married Robert So we didn't meet again until two years later, when we met at exactly the same award ceremony. He said to me would I visit him at his home in Dorset and make an album with him, a charity album for children's school in America and I said yes    But what I didn't know, and this is very much how my husband works - when we met again in 1985, which would have been around June - July he'd already said to his friends in America, where he lived in New York, he said "I'm wiping the diary clean for the next three weeks, because I'm going to meet my wife". So we'd already had a kind of intuition about this   

Then the following week after we met and had this discussion, I went down to work with him on this album for a week. He said “will you marry me?“ and “I said it was a bit quick, isn’t it?” He said "no, I know you're my wife. I've been planning this for the last month." And I kind of went "OK, well let's get to know each other"     So I actually moved to Washington for three months to the school where we were raising the money for, where he taught, because he also teaches guitar. I went there and taught drama for three months and that was our courtship (Shows the bouquet) I still have my wedding bouquet, which is hard to believe. This dear thing is 22 years old. We keep it in our front room. It was yellow, originally. I adore yellow flowers. So we had yellow roses, yellow Carnations and then Lily of the Valley     This is probably the most expensive thing about the wedding - the Lily of the Valley on May the 16th - we're already out of season. So we had to have them brought in from Holland and it wasn't cheap. But I did a little drawing of what I wanted and a friend went along to a florist and got it organised. And miraculously, we have managed to keep it I organised the wedding. My husband didn't want anything to do with any of those traditions other than the church ceremony. So he participated in the rehearsal. We married in St. Mary & Cuthberga & All Saints Church in Witchampton in Dorset where his father was buried, and I think his grandparents were buried     We did the rehearsal but that was about as far as it went. I bought the wedding rings, I bought the wedding dress. I cooked all the food for the wedding party. He didn't want children at the wedding. He didn't want any of my friends at the wedding but I insisted on close family Basically I realised that it was nerves. He can't bear big events. I have never had a party since I've been married because he can't bear those kinds of events, which is unusual but bearable. So he didn't want music at the wedding. It was a silent wedding         The extraordinary thing was it was on May the 16th 1986 and it’d rained for a month but the moment we arrived at the church, the sun came out and streamed through the windows exactly where we stood at the altar

(Shows the hat) I had the veil made. My sister-in-law had to organise it so no one knew I was having a wedding veil made. That went over the front, it's very brittle and delicate. You've got to remember it's 22 years old, and this big flower went at the back. Now these are back in again today. Back then this was 1986, big things were in. But seriously that went out in the 90s big time. I suppose you would see that in Sex And The City today We managed to have the reception with very close family. And then the precious day ended and that evening and the next day we were hounded. We were chased everywhere by journalists in cars. Eventually we drove off to a Franciscan retreat in Sand Creek in Cornwall, who hid us and we hid that for a week and they blessed our wedding (Shows the garter) This is the garter I wore for something blue and I wore it on my left leg I think, I could be wrong. But there's only two legs to choose from. It was a gift from my husband's best friend. They had it made by a local lacemaker in Dorchester. My husband now keeps this on his desk in his office.      (Shows the dress) Because Robert and I were getting married secretly I couldn't order a wedding gown. Because I was paying for everything and basically was not interested in a huge expensive public wedding I had to really ponder of how I was going to be a bride I thought OK, I'll just go buy a ball gown and it was really hard for me to shop at this time because I was incredibly well known. I couldn't go anywhere on my own. So I knew of a kind of debutante ball shop in a town called Windborne in Dorset. I went there pretending I was going to a ball and I bought the only ball gown that would fit me       That was a little pink organza Bo Peep dress, a family dress. I didn't want a traditional white wedding dress which was lucky. This is actually a little ball gown, very Bo Peep, off the shoulder puffball sleeves that just rested on the upper arm. Little kind of gatherings at the bottom. So it's very feminine, very pretty indeed I think marriage is cyclical. I think everything in life is cyclical. You go through cycles. And if you can recognise those cycles, you can recognise when a cycle is dipping, and you're in a bad time and also when a cycle is lifting and you're in a good time. I think you only grow to recognise these things if you have longevity in a relationship      

So seven years ago, we found the home we're in now (Toyah and Robert in 2020, above), which is just the most perfect beautiful home in the world in the Midlands. We decided that we wanted to spend more time together and travel a little bit less and just enjoy ourselves. We've worked really hard, not only as a couple, but as individuals as well. You've got to bear in mind we don't have children either so we're not fixed and one of us isn't financially dependent on the other But we go off, we have little honeymoons three or four times a year and just lock the world out and we're just romantic. The one thing that both of us are - we are both very romantic. I love buying him gifts and I love telling him to pack a bag and (say to him) you’re going be in a warm climate. You'll be in a cold climate. Oh, don't worry, you're not going to leave the bedroom for a week. I've kind of I like surprising him and taking him on nice adventures You can watch the programme  HERE

[haveyouseenthisseries-poll]

[totaleclipseofthesun]

Toyah Habeeb in Coronation Street (05.07.23)

[latestnews69]

Chris McCausland's journey from salesman to Strictly winner

Read more click here

[scotianostra]

Happy Birthday Scottish actor Richard Madden born June 18th 1986 in Elderslie.

Richard was raised by his mother, Pat, a classroom assistant and his father, Richard, who worked for the fire service. He also has two sisters, Cara and Lauren.

His parents were “hippies”, he says, and their house was pretty open, with friends always piling in for big vegetarian meals. Madden spent a lot of time outside, in the woods behind their house. He has several injuries: he shows me where he shot his dad’s old air pistol and blew off part of his finger, then managed to wreck the same finger when he nailed a wooden plank to his skateboard, then crashed it, so apart from the Hippie parents it was much like most of our own days as bairns.

Despite growing up wanting to be an actor, Richard was very shy during his childhood. To overcome this, at age 11, he joined Paisley Arts Centre’s youth theatre program. In 1999 he was given the lead role as Sebastian Simpkins in BBC1’s children’s TV comedy series Barmy Aunt Boomerang, that’s him aged 12 in the first pic with co-star Toyah Wilcox.. By 2000, he’d made his feature film debut in the Iain Banks adaptation, Complicity.

After high school he was accepted to the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, Scotland and in 2007, he graduated.

Less than two years later, Richard had a recurring role as Dean McKenzie on the 2009 BBC series Hope Springs. Soon after, he landed the role of Ripley in the 2010 movie Chatroom, a film about a group of teenagers who encourage each other’s bad behaviours after meeting online. In the same year, Richard played punk band Theatre of Hate singer Kirk Brandon in Worried About the Boy, a TV film about the life of British singer-songwriter Boy George.

In 2011 Richard landed his breakthrough role as Robb Stark in the HBO fantasy-drama series Game of Thrones. Also in 2011, he played gay paramedic Ashley Greenwick on the short-lived British comedy-drama Sirens. During hiatus from filming Game of Thrones in 2013, Richard was cast to star as Prince Charming in the 2015 Disney film Cinderella.

Richard won his first Screen Actors Guild award in 2014 for the Discovery Channel mini-series, Klondike. He played Bill Haskell, one of two adventurers who travel to Yukon, Canada during the Klondike Gold Rush in the 1890s. He further enhanced his reputation as a good actor when he appeared in the BBC drama Bodyguard in 2018, the following year he played Lieutenant Joseph Blake in the film 2017 and was Elton John’s manager/lover in the biop of the star Rocketman.

In January 2019 Madden won a prestigious Golden Globe for his role as war veteran David Budd in the BBC show Bodyguard. He also appeared in the 2019 war movie 1917.

We last saw Richard in the movie, Eternals, which was okay, but nothing great, he is one of several actors being touted as the next James Bond,

Last year Richard starred in the Amazon Prime series Citadel, I've watcheit and was not really impressed with it,I think he does pull of the American accent well, but I noticed there have been people saying he doesnt, Madden revealed he spoke in the accent for two years straight to prepare for the series. The show has been earmarked for a second series. Richard is set to appear in the feature film Killer Heat next, it is in post production.

In July 2019, Madden received an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. When asked about his personal life during a New York Times interview following speculation about his relationships and sexuality, Madden stated: “I just keep my personal life personal.”

Madden was recently named one of ‘Scotland’s Sexiest Men' following a new study that identifies the most attractive features for men, he has competition though, also in the running are Bathgate’s David Tennant and Glasgow’s James McAvoy,

Richard, quizzed on what he would like to do next he sad “I’d like to do something in comedy. It’s nice to not… I mean we go to work every day and we’re like, ‘You’re gonna die today,’” he said, adding that he wanted to “do something fun for a minute.”

[sweetdreamsjeff]

Reading Festival, Melody Maker Stage

Dave Simpson, Melody Maker, 3 September 1994

SO HERE I am, it's 12.15pm, the f***ing cab driver's turfed me out onto the street. I've got miles to walk to the flamin' festival and it's started to pour down. The last thing I need in my life right now is a bunch of Pearl Jam wannabes fronted by Ian Astbury's dustman, but, lo and behold, CANDLEBOX are here with their low-rent Marquee metal, guitar solos that seem to last several centuries and a "love song" that includes the words "f***in'" and "bullshit". No, really.

What quirk of fate or nature has brought these people together with us? Did they actually sit down and arrange to produce the most appalling, indulgent fret-wanking cover of 'Voodoo Chile' imaginable? "We are from Seattle, Washington," they chirp. In the real world, this gross display of geographical misfortune and mind-boggling cheesiness would be met with a firm "Get outta here" and a handful of shotguns, but this is not the real world. This is Reading. People clap more forcefully, they pogo harder, they do everything they can to do my bleedin' head in.

I need a break already but instead I get Andrew Mueller ranting on about the Chelsea result (while it lasts, mate, while it lasts). Oh and DIG, whose punky-spirited rock metal comes as a refreshing surprise after all the posturing of the previous act. Mueller, that is. Lordy, they've even got some Good Songs. Dig, that is. But hold on... those rousing chords, those earnest political lyrics, that walloping drumbeat. They've turned into Simple Minds! Which makes the fact that they have a "song about loving relationships" called, impeccably, "F*** You" all the more confusing.

Hardly anybody watches SCRAWL, probably cos they coincide with a rare burst of sunshine and the appearance of Whitesnake or somebody on the Main Stage. A shame, cos their delicate but punchy blend of Muses, Au Pairs, tight red mini-skirts and way, way soulful vocals is most palatable. Something's gotta give and JEFF BUCKLEY gives it loads. 'Grace' is much rawer than usual, 'Kangaroo' is simply lust-crazed. "When I first saw you" — he sounds almost disgusted with himself — "you had on blue jeans". He spits out the line as if blue jeans were the utmost in degradation. I swear the sky's turning red and molten electricity is swirling around our ears. And is that really Liz Fraser jumping up and down in the front row or am I finally succumbing to Festivalitis? I dunno, my hangover's turned into nervous exhaustion, someone's given me a strange pill and there's a champagne cork popping inside my stomach.

Now here come MORPHINE with their dark and haunting "lo-rock". Outside, the sun's shining and a girl has some kind of metal ring in her arse. But in here we're in a late-night bar. Orson Welles fronts an avant-jazz, two-string-bass Birthday Party, Sherlock Holmes sips quietly in a corner and the smells are of fast sex and slow Gauloises. 'Thursday' plagiarises 'TV Eye' (cool) and the melancholy vibe of 'Candy' suggests they've got more strings to their bow. If not their bass.

About now I fall asleep. I dream that THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS are onstage and that Carl Puttnam has left the floundering CUD and embarked on a solo career as a Las Vegas entertainer and is being taken seriously but I am dreaming. Aren't I?!

There's a delay before ECHOBELLY cos they've forgotten the chords to 'There Is A Light...' When they finally appear, there are two Echobellys. (That's just the echo — Sonics Ed) The first are great. They have a warm, charismatic singer and stirring, intelligent songs about drugs and abortions and ego. But the second, f***. Scrape away the veneer of the first and you get a hoary rock beast with interminable solos and boots on monitors and meetings with poets forsaken in favour of lunches with A&R men. Songs that could be written by Battle Of The Bands entrants from say, Derby, but seem destined for America and a vocalist like Toyah Wilcox on helium. They're muso but they can't play 'Bellyache'. They're popular but a section of the crowd thins. I wait patiently for the reappearance of the first Echobelly of the first four numbers. They never return.

Instead, Mark Eitzel of AMERICAN MUSIC CLUB gives the most committed performance of the festival. His songs are peppered with words like "phony" and "charade" and they cut through rock's pretensions like a knife through shit. The intensity of Eitzel's performance is remarkable. One minute he's all deadpan, the next joking with the crowd, the next hurling down his guitar lead and exiting the stage because some security guy looked at him funny. Psychiatrists call them mood swings; I call it the sincere temperament of a genius. 'Firefly' fizzes and crackles, 'Western Sky' is gorgeously poised and they do this odd punk song that could be Johnny Thunders. I could die listening to this group.

But here we are, light years away from the bad HM of the opening acts and listening to TINDERSTICKS: music played by men in suits which owes as much to old music hall, working men's clubs, Scott Walker and Jacques Brel as it does to rock music. Sadly, no 'City Sickness', no 'Marbles', but still I marvel at Stuart Staples' voice, which sounds like the last 10 per cent of all his syllables have been surgically removed, giving him an intoxicating, clipped croon. Of course, some of the time he does sound worryingly like Steve Wright's Pub Singer and has an awkward, hunchback posture that certainly wasn't the result of a childhood footballing injury, but what the heck. A new ballad called 'No More Affairs' (right!) is well storming and although they bore me by playing too long, they bore me with style...

Can I go to bed now?

© Dave Simpson, 1994

[tiggymalvern]

people i'd like to get to know better Tagged by @derpinathebrave Last song/album: Will You - Hazel O'Connor (was talking about her with the SO (got there via Toyah) and remembered that it was a good song) Favourite colour: Purple. It suits me. Good for clothes and I like it generally. Sweet, spicy or savoury: Wouldn't like to live without either sweet or spicy. Both are mandatory (though not at the same time, obviously). Last TV show: Just caught up with Slow Horses, finished S3. S3 not as good as the first two. Last film: Night at the Museum. It crops up on my tumblr dash now and then and I'd never seen it. It was okay, not amazing. Last thing i looked up online: How best to farm an obscure item for an achievement in Elder Scrolls Online. Relationship status: Married. Been together 30 years in May, though only married for two thirds of that. Current obsession: That would be Burn Notice. A year and three months in. Tagging!! @evilvvithin @iamdelighted @chaotic-plotter anyone else who might be bored enough to play!

[sicakking]

Toyah - Don’t Fall In Love (Classic TV) | #SaturdaySongs

[tellurian-in-aristasia]

In the mid 1990s, Miss Martindale was riding high and appearing on several different TV shows, not just the infamous BBC late night broadcast. As far as I am aware, only the the late night documentary and the Toyah Wilcox interview have been archived from this era. But perhaps one day some of the others will pop up. This particular entry, from the Wildfire News mailer, mentions that she was on Pyjama Party on March 9th 1996, which appears to be a late night talkshow/variety show. March 11th 1996 would see Miss Martindale on the U.K. Living channel, but it's unclear which show. Perhaps this was the Toyah Wilcox interview. Later in 1996, an Aristasian piece apparently would appear on Takeover TV.

[uneasylisteningradio]

Transistor Sister #183 October 7, 2023

Image: At Night

listen on Mixcloud

Freddy Cannon - Transistor Sister L'Orange & Kool Keith - Twenty Fifty Three (feat. Mr. Lif) At Night - I'm Afraid They're All Talking About Me Cinecyde - Behavior Modification Onyon - Goldie Collate - Static Object Hooper Crescent - Late Night TV Golpe - Ogni Giorno Malattia

Dog Faced Hermans - Timebomb Götterflies - Empty Melenas - Mal Cherry Cheeks - Ad Shark Butthole Surfers - U.S.S.A. Choncy - Default

Soft Covers - Nth Qld, late 80s Strange Anatomy - See It In Her Eyes Toyah - I Want to Be Free The Red Herrings - Red Herrings

Chumbawamba - The Day the Nazi Died

[80sheaven]

TV Tops 1982

[toyahinterviews]

THE LATE EDITION, E4 WITH MARCUS BRIGSTOCKE 24.3.2005

MARCUS: The fabulously taut Toyah Willcox! TOYAH: Fabulously taut, eh? MARCUS: The fabulousty taut Toyah Willcox and I don't mean your education (Toyah laughs) You look fantastic! TOYAH: Thank you very much. I should hope after that amount of money MARCUS: How much did it cost? TOYAH: 11,000 Euros. So at the point of exchange, it was about £7500 MARCUS: Money well spent! TOYAH: I think so MARCUS: Yeah. And you've written a book which is moving and scary and at points a sickening account. It's very graphic about exactly what you went through

TOYAH: I hope to put people off as much as tell people what goes on. There's some women you will never stop having it done like me, but I hope that the book actually puts the weaklings off. It takes a bit of kind of mettle to go through with it MARCUS: There are some who would say it takes more mettle not to change how you look TOYAH: Bollocks! (the audience laughs) MARCUS: Fair enough. Why bollocks? TOYAH: Because I think sometimes women – and I’m talking from a woman's point of view - and I know men to this ... look at Dale Winton, obviously MARCUS: Not for too long (the audience laughs) Those lights bouncing off that brighter colour, you can actually damage the retina     

TOYAH: Sometimes you do it for yourself. It is a selfish act sometimes and I did it because I wanted to do something. Having a facelift doesn't stop you ageing, you're going to carry on ageing. Nothing will stop that but hopefully I will do it a little more attractively MARCUS: Right TOYAH: Am I boring you shitless? (Toyah and the audience laugh) MARCUS: No, not at all! In all honesty I'm trying to be delicate or I had intended to be delicate but you're talking in a far more - TOYAH: Don’t be delicate because you're a sweetheart! MARCUS: OK, can I feel behind your ear? TOYAH: (moves towards Marcus) If I can sit on your knee MARCUS: Oh my good God! (feels behind Toyah’s ear) There’s almost nothing there! TOYAH: See! It’s good work! MARCUS: I'm not going to grab it and pull TOYAH: Oh, by the way, I've had my arse done. Could you feel that? MARCUS: Yes, I could (the audience laughs) And I want to say for the record, I'm not bored now! (Toyah and the audience laugh) And if Thatcher was here he (sic) could measure things. There have been some real horror pictures, haven't there? Let's have a look at that (a photo of Jocelyn Wildenstein) TOYAH: I have to tell you about Jocelyn Wildenstein. She's one of the richest women in America and this is body dysmorphic disorder. This is when you don't see the truth of who are MARCUS: Yeah, you see, that's the thing. I think if you look at lots of the elements of her mashed face, they look OK individually. It's just when you put it all together you just think oh, my God! TOYAH: It's like Burt Reynolds and Julian Clary married together. I mean, it really is quite bizarre! MARCUS: It is a hideous mess. Let’s have a look at the next one. Joan Rivers TOYAH: Sorry, when I'm 73 I want to look like that woman 

MARCUS: Yeah, that's taken a lot of surgery, hasn't it? TOYAH: Yeah, there's about three facelifts there. That's my guess MARCUS: Looks like she's got a beard coming up eventually (the audience laughs) It’s an oldie but a goodie. There are women, I think, who were very critical. I mean, Melanie Phillips who writes in The Daily Mail absolutely tore a strip off Anne Robinson when she had her face done TOYAH: And do you think Anne cares? MARCUS: I know that she does. It didn't hurt her but she was angry and she wanted to get back at Melanie TOYAH: I think if anyone gets back at anyone it’s going to be Anne because she's rich and she's powerful. But I do think a time comes when you do stand up and go "see, Melanie's kind of had a go at me, that's fantastic! I’ve arrived!" MARCUS:  Has Melanie Phillips got a point at some level that unless women are allowed to grow old on screen - because you're someone who's who's very much in the public eye ... If women aren't seen to be growing older it will be impossible for them ever to grow older TOYAH: OK, I totally agree women must be allowed to grow old on screen and it's been an actress's dilemma for since the TV's been going but from the age of 35 to about 50 women weren't finding jobs. Caroline Quentin has broken that mould and parts are being written for her    But the biggest problem that I predict is that it's going to become about those who have the money to have the really good work and those who don't have the money to have any work at all. And it's going to be like them and and us so a huge social divide MARCUS: I think it is enormously difficult to have a career particularly in presenting if you're a woman of advancing years. I make absolutely no judgement. I've thought about surgery myself. I've got quite a long, narrow face, and I'd quite like it shortened and made more round (Toyah laughs)   Whether I shall ever actually have that done I don't know. It would mean removing bone from here to here. Quite dramatic! But nonetheless, I think your surgery has made you look sensational. And I'd like to thank you very much indeed for joining me this evening. Toyah Willcox! TOYAH: Thank you! You can listen to the interview  HERE

[mariocki]

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."

[natromanxoff]

Smash Hits (October 5 - October 18, 1988): 115/?

Credits to Michael Kane.

You've got a headstart on this old boy.

Times have changed since Brian May, Queen's lead guitarist, was at school.

Then, with the bad boy image of stars like Gene Vincent and Elvis Presley, rock and roll was frowned upon by both teachers and parents.

It was something that "nice boys and girls ought to when they left school.”

Which was probably why Brian became a before he became a star.

However, rock music is now acceptable to everyone and today your teachers can actually help you along the way.

The TSB Rock School Competition has, since it began eight years ago, been encouraging pupils aged between 13 and 19 years to develop their talents in the field of music.

And this year the competition is better than ever.

We're holding regional contests up and down the country, with the final being held in March 1989 in front of a packed audience, millions of TV viewers and top stars, as in previous years, like Toyah Wilcox, Robert Plant, Rick Parfitt, Roger Taylor, Phil Oakey and Nik Kershaw.

And, just to make entering really irresistible, first prize is to the value of £2,500, plus runners-up prizes worth £6,000.

To find out more just fill in and return the coupon.

We'll send you all the details together with your personal entry form (closing date for entries is 31 December 1988). The sooner you do it the quicker you can start.

[tvtimesmagazine-blog]

TV Times issue published June 27 2017

[scotianostra]

Happy Birthday Scottish actor Richard Madden born June 18th 1986 in Elderslie.

Richard was raised by his mother, Pat, a classroom assistant and his father, Richard, who worked for the fire service. He also has two sisters, Cara and Lauren.

His parents were “hippies”, he says, and their house was pretty open, with friends always piling in for big vegetarian meals. Madden spent a lot of time outside, in the woods behind their house. He has several injuries: he shows me where he shot his dad’s old air pistol and blew off part of his finger, then managed to wreck the same finger when he nailed a wooden plank to his skateboard, then crashed it, so apart from the Hippie parents it was much like most of our own days as bairns.

Despite growing up wanting to be an actor, Richard was very shy during his childhood. To overcome this, at age 11, he joined Paisley Arts Centre’s youth theatre program. In 1999 he was given the lead role as Sebastian Simpkins in BBC1’s children’s TV comedy series Barmy Aunt Boomerang, that’s him aged 12 in the first pic with co-star Toyah Wilcox.. By 2000, he’d made his feature film debut in the Iain Banks adaptation, Complicity.

After high school he was accepted to the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, Scotland and in 2007, he graduated.

Less than two years later, Richard had a recurring role as Dean McKenzie on the 2009 BBC series Hope Springs. Soon after, he landed the role of Ripley in the 2010 movie Chatroom, a film about a group of teenagers who encourage each other’s bad behaviours after meeting online. In the same year, Richard played punk band Theatre of Hate singer Kirk Brandon in Worried About the Boy, a TV film about the life of British singer-songwriter Boy George.

In 2011 Richard landed his breakthrough role as Robb Stark in the HBO fantasy-drama series Game of Thrones. Also in 2011, he played gay paramedic Ashley Greenwick on the short-lived British comedy-drama Sirens. During hiatus from filming Game of Thrones in 2013, Richard was cast to star as Prince Charming in the 2015 Disney film Cinderella.

Richard won his first Screen Actors Guild award in 2014 for the Discovery Channel mini-series, Klondike. He played Bill Haskell, one of two adventurers who travel to Yukon, Canada during the Klondike Gold Rush in the 1890s. He further enhanced his reputation as a good actor when he appeared in the BBC drama Bodyguard in 2018, the following year he played Lieutenant Joseph Blake in the film 2017 and was Elton John’s manager/lover in the biop of the star Rocketman.

In January 2019 Madden won  a prestigious Golden Globe for his role as war veteran David Budd in the BBC show Bodyguard. He also appeared in the 2019 war movie 1917.

We last saw Richard in the movie,  Eternals, which was okay, but nothing great, he is one of several actors being touted as the next James Bond,

James is currently in the Amazon Prime series Citadel, I've watched the first three episodes and am not really impressed with it,I think he does pull of the American accent well, but I noticed there have been people saying he doesn't pull it off, Madden revealed he spoke in the accent for two years straight to prepare for the series. The show has been earmarked for a second series. Richard is set to appear in the feature film Killer Heat next.

In July 2019, Madden received an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. When asked about his personal life during a New York Times interview following speculation about his relationships and sexuality, Madden stated: “I just keep my personal life personal.”

Madden was recently named one of ‘Scotland’s Sexiest Men'  following a new study that identifies the most attractive features for men, he has competition though,  also in the running are Bathgate’s David Tennant  and Glasgow’s James McAvoy,