Some regular television faces fall from grace spectacularly – such as psychosexual risk-taking John Leslie. We all know why he’s no longer on the box. Frank Bough (lovable breakfast sex-slave that he was) also found the TV work was slipping away all those years ago when his gimp mask was uncovered, whilst the likes of Theakston and Deayton somehow survived getting caught with their cocks out.
But what about those we drew into our hearts only to have them disappear, never to return? Napoleon tells me he misses John Stapleton and his hideous wife, Lynne Folds-Wood. Personally I miss Maggie Philbin who, depressed at the loss of the brilliant Keith Chegwin to alcoholic shamanism, vanished in a puff of obscurity all those years ago.
Who do you miss then? Who do you find yourself asking of the heavens:
Where are they now?
Tags: Angus Deayton, Cocaine, Entertainment, Frank Bough, Jamie Theakston, John Leslie, Maggie Philbin, Rape, S&M, Sex, Television, The Friday Question, TV
August 22, 2008 at 10:09 am
As well as John Stapleton and his hideous wife Lynee Folds-Wood, I wonder where Noel Edmonds prodigy Mike Smith disappeared off to. Local radio? Satellite telly? WHERE THE FUCK’S MIKE SMITH?
AND JUDITH HAN?
August 22, 2008 at 10:10 am
Lynne, not Lynee. Pah!
August 22, 2008 at 10:21 am
John Stapleton is on GMTV quite a lot, should your missing of him need to be sated.
August 22, 2008 at 10:25 am
I want to know what happened to that BASTARD, Wincey Willis.
August 22, 2008 at 10:30 am
The only time I ever see Wincey Willis is on repeats of An Audience With Billy Connolly on UKTV Gold. Actually, those Audience With … shows are a bloody gold mine for ’stars’ who have disappeared into obscurity – a bit like the Band Aid video where half of the biggest stars of the 1980s are now completely unrecognizable.
August 22, 2008 at 10:31 am
Wenchy – Is he? Well I’ll be. Does he still look likes he’s got terminal cancer? And where’s his awful Scotch wife?
August 22, 2008 at 10:42 am
Is Lynne Folding Woods now Gillian McKeith? Is that how it works?
August 22, 2008 at 10:50 am
I don’t think so. Now there’s a woman who I wish was a ‘where are they now?’ candidate. Bloody awful harridan.
August 22, 2008 at 10:53 am
The very definition of ‘harridan’. Pseudo-science spouting hypocrite, she is. If I saw her in the street and she’d fallen over and got her leg jammed in a manhole, I’d probably wee on her.
August 22, 2008 at 10:55 am
The singing vicar that presented Fortean TV was a twinkling star in the C4 line-up.
August 22, 2008 at 10:56 am
Maggie’s now advertising baths for the elderly. Which is the career path for everyone who used to be on telly. Good God, Parky’s in TV Quick advertising financial products for the nearly dead every week….
August 22, 2008 at 10:57 am
Oh, I remember him. He was weird. Nigel something or other? One in a long line of eclesiastical TV presenters that included Sister Wendy and Canon Roger Royal.
August 22, 2008 at 10:58 am
Edna – Those over 50+ pay for your funeral ads have trapped Parky now.
August 22, 2008 at 10:59 am
I’m pissed off that America has stolen the Scotch Craig Ferguson. He’s one thousand times the presenter Woss is. A witty, warm presenter we shouldn’t have bloody exported.
August 22, 2008 at 10:59 am
Oh Christ – Sister Wendy… why did you have to mention her?
I’m covered in mucus now.
August 22, 2008 at 11:03 am
I would of, even with them teeth.
And that old Yorkshire woman who became briefly popular in the early 90s. Hannah something – lived on the moors and had no electricity or gas or toilet. Whatever happened to her, eh?
Dead, that’s what.
August 22, 2008 at 11:04 am
Maureen off Driving School – what about her. She was weird-looking and ( get this… ) she couldn’t drive!
Genius. Wonder where she is?
August 22, 2008 at 11:05 am
Another one I never expected to disappear was Derek Griffith (s). Is he dead? Or in prison?
August 22, 2008 at 11:06 am
Griffith (s) was in that terrible Fish Called Wanda sequel, I believe.
August 22, 2008 at 11:08 am
She did that horrible Five reality show ‘The Mansion’, or something like that. She was treated like reality TV royalty. Which reminds me, some woman I’d never heard of before who was the first reality TV star in the 70s died, I think. Is that interesting?
Fred Dibnah’s become a lazy bastard recently.
August 22, 2008 at 11:12 am
I thought it was a canny move on behalf of one of those Simon Cowell types to release a single of Maureen singing ‘Driving In My Car’. They must have been rolling in it when the song rocketed up the charts to fiftieth place.
Indeed, so confident were record producers that reality TV stars were the way forward for the music industry, they rushed to sign up Handy Andy Crane and his sensitive raggae version of ‘If I ‘Ad An ‘Ammer’ – raking in the cash when the single failed to chart.
August 22, 2008 at 11:14 am
Fierce Creatures? The very definition of the phrase ‘lightning doesn’t strike in the same place twice’. I wasted money going to see that at the cinema, and the realisation soon dawned that my childhood hero John Cleese was officially not funny any more.
August 22, 2008 at 11:19 am
A Fish Called Wanda’s one of my all time favourites, and the second one was crap, and I went to see it at the cinemas as a kid.
And I made the mistake of getting a rubbish Monty Python boxset that has ‘exclusive new Cleese material’. Not only does he look like he’s about to suffer a stroke, his shtick involves sitting next to a pool and moaning about the weather.
August 22, 2008 at 11:20 am
Which box set was this? The telly shows?
August 22, 2008 at 11:21 am
I’d like to know what happened to that Gary Glitter bloke from the 70’s
Maggie Philbin. Sad eyes. Didn’t Cheggars beat her up when he was all pissed without his clothes on?
August 22, 2008 at 11:21 am
The best of, where each member has their own DVD. I should have seen it coming really.
August 22, 2008 at 11:23 am
sharon osbourne
August 22, 2008 at 11:24 am
Osbourne? She’s more ‘thank God she’s gone’ than ‘where is she now’.
Good riddance to the patronising cow.
August 22, 2008 at 11:25 am
Monty Python’s Personal Best? They saw you coming. Five old men banging on about how England’s too stuffy and old fashioned, as if this is still 1965. And the shows aren’t holding up too well any more neither. Thankfully it’s a different story for the films.
August 22, 2008 at 11:26 am
She’s gone over to Simon Cowell’s America’s Got Talent after her much publicised spat with Simon Cowell that caused her to leave Simon Cowell’s X-Factor.
August 22, 2008 at 11:27 am
I don’t know why i did it. There’s an invention called YouTube that allows you to watch that stuff for free.
The films are far better.
August 22, 2008 at 11:33 am
Who is this Simon Cowell of who you speak?
August 22, 2008 at 11:33 am
michael palin… probably tibet, the chicken itza or another place that is exotic yet familiar.
August 22, 2008 at 11:34 am
All the Broomcupboard lot (except Ani Peters), the folk off Motormouth and Saturday morning telly… Anneka Rice and the other one that took over from her… Ummm… Timmy Mallet…
August 22, 2008 at 11:35 am
sh: Who is this Simon Cowell of who you speak?
see my last reply on blogpost about the dog with tits.
August 22, 2008 at 11:35 am
It’s the reason why you can justify stealing stuff off the internet, in my opinion. Python releases exactly the same material they’ve released umpteen times before on vinyl, 8-track, CD, tape, VHS, Beta, Laser Disc, Mini-Disc and DVD, and then tires to justify it by adding ‘new bonus material’ that amounts to five old men waffling about Harold Macmillan and a society that still wore bowler hats to work. I reckon I’ve paid enough money for Python now, so I’ll watch these new bits off a torrent or on YouTube.
August 22, 2008 at 11:36 am
Jonathan King, Chris Langham, where r they nows????????????
August 22, 2008 at 11:37 am
They did a new Challenge Anneka recently, didn’t they? I do wonder what happened to Andy Crane, now you mention it, Badger. Dead? Homeless? Sex Offenders Register?
August 22, 2008 at 11:38 am
piqued: doing research?
August 22, 2008 at 11:38 am
Piqued’s game today is …
Mentioning paedophiles! Who next? Him off the Bay City Rollers?
August 22, 2008 at 11:41 am
Hmmm, I love the net. Andy Crane is a newsreader for Manchester now:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Crane
August 22, 2008 at 11:43 am
Are you sure that’s not been added by Andy Crane? It is the notoriously unreliable Wikipedia, after all.
August 22, 2008 at 11:44 am
Unreliable? Pish.
I built my car from SCRATCH using information gleaned from wikipedia and haven’t had a single bit of trouble.
*crashes car into schoolchildren*
August 22, 2008 at 11:44 am
Surely if it were a lie they’d say he’d be doing sommit better than a tiny channel in Mancs?
August 22, 2008 at 11:44 am
http://www.aidan.co.uk/data_sheetPplAndyCrane7216.jpg.htm
August 22, 2008 at 11:45 am
http://www.channelm.co.uk/programmes/index/0/3/channel_m_news.html
August 22, 2008 at 11:45 am
And you doubted me, Napoleon!
August 22, 2008 at 11:45 am
When you’re Andy Crane, anything’s better than northing. People are less likely to question these claims if they’re small-fry.
And I still reckon John Leslie’s a rapist despite being found not guilty twice. There, I’ve said it.
August 22, 2008 at 11:46 am
That means nothing to me, Badger. I don’t trust the internet. I need hard copy evidence, and until I get it he’s a tramp.
August 22, 2008 at 11:48 am
Channel M is a brilliant channel, I thank you. They broadcast from the mighty URBIS building, and do loads to help Manchester culture. Frank Sidebottom even has a show there. Frank Sidebottom!
How rude you outsiders can be.
August 22, 2008 at 11:50 am
Never got Frank Sidebottom. Pointless man with an awful voice wearing a stupid helmet. Not funny now, not funny in the 90s.
Aaaaand, cue Swineshead …
August 22, 2008 at 11:50 am
I am a Frank Sidebottom fan. The man’s a bewildering genius.
August 22, 2008 at 11:50 am
Exciting news time, we are publishing in less than an hour.
*jiggles leg*
August 22, 2008 at 11:51 am
1944 owes much to Sidebottom, you hypocritical WAZZOCK.
August 22, 2008 at 11:53 am
No it doesn’t, Dave. I have very little memory of Frank Sidebottom other than his idot voice, his stupid mask and groaning at him and not finding him funny when I was 16. Believe it or not, people are capable of coming up with their own fucking stuff without first referencing someone else, Dave.
August 22, 2008 at 11:54 am
I wouldn’t go that far, Dave. It may sound similar at points but it doesn’t ‘owe’ anything to it. You’re making out Sidebottom’s an influential artist as opposed to a little heard of but amusing man in a papier mache hat.
August 22, 2008 at 11:56 am
There you go. I only knew him because of Swineshead and his brother, and his occasional appearances on stuff like The Word.
August 22, 2008 at 11:56 am
All I’m saying is Perry STOLE from a great Manchester artist and is trying to pass it off as his own work. His supposed hatred of the man only supports my claim. The more denies it the more obvious his plagiaristic approach to his blog becomes.
August 22, 2008 at 11:59 am
I still miss Christopher Price all these years later – only he could have made Eurovision bearable again. I still smile at his comment about Liz Hurley saying she spoke like she always had plums in her mouth.
Oh, and my sister works as a child looky after person in a playgroup – one the kids there is… Andy Crane’s. So he definitely still exists.
August 22, 2008 at 11:59 am
Up yours!
August 22, 2008 at 12:00 pm
mtv vj ray cokes, anyone? the guy that used to be one inch from the camera lense.
August 22, 2008 at 12:01 pm
The kid may be his, but that doesn’t mean he’s not in the gutter. He could have visiting rights or something.
John Leslie – No smoke without fire.
August 22, 2008 at 12:07 pm
No smoke without fire?
Tell that to poor old professional stalker Barry George.
August 22, 2008 at 12:08 pm
All people who used to be on the telly are sitting around, doing drugs, googling themselves, updating their wikipedias, going down their local pubs hoping someone will ask for their autographs and waiting for “Celebrity(insert occupation)” to call. It’s a sad life but one they deserve for daring to try and entertain people.
August 22, 2008 at 12:10 pm
I still harbour suspicions about Barry George. No smoke without fire.
August 22, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Barry George is a creepy stalker who has past convictions for attempted rape (what kind of loser can’t even rape someone, no wonder he’s such a sad loner). So regardless of whether he shot her or not he should still be locked away for our protection.
August 22, 2008 at 12:14 pm
attempted rape = attention seeker?
August 22, 2008 at 12:15 pm
I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to rape anyone, Tombstone.
August 22, 2008 at 12:17 pm
You would be able to, you wouldn’t want to. None of us here would ever try to rape anyone, but the fact that he tried to and failed is what makes him a loser.
August 22, 2008 at 12:20 pm
I’d have given it a go if I’d been a Viking, I reckon. I recall raping was one of the three great pillars of a Viking’s mandate along with looting and pillaging. I like to think I would have been gracious enough to learn the lady’s name before I set about her, mind. Just because you’re an invading barbarian, that’s no excuse to be uncivilised about these sort of things.
August 22, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Yeah it was the done thing for the Vikings. They did it properly as well, none of this slipping stuff into the drink and screwing her lifeless body until you come and cry. They did all the proper staring into her tearful eyes business. Of course no place for that sort thing in today’s society.
August 22, 2008 at 12:25 pm
no slander of my proud norse ancestors, thank you very much.
August 22, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Surely not all of ‘em were up to that sort of business though? There must have been some liberal, Guardian-reading Vikings who saw looting, raping and pillaging as the sort of old-fashioned thing Bernard Manning and Jim Davidson advocated in the 70s (the 870s)?
August 22, 2008 at 12:31 pm
we have gotten a better (”weaker”), i must admit. nowadays we always bring white wine, shrimps and condoms to the places we pillage. the original stay-at-home-viking is icelandic snorre sturlason, who stayed home writing the edda when all his homies went berserk (literally)
August 22, 2008 at 12:32 pm
23 minutes now…
August 22, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Like that bloke in the Monty Python type thing about the Vikings?
August 22, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Erik The Viking I think it was, load of tosh the comic’s well better.
August 22, 2008 at 12:38 pm
23? Blimey.
Indy – All the Scandinavians I’ve met have been thoroughly nice folk who wouldn’t rape, pillage or loot a thing. Mind you, I wouldn’t fancy Britain’s chances if any of ‘em ever sobered up. More pissed than the Poles, your Scandinavians – and that’s saying something.
August 22, 2008 at 12:39 pm
The comic? It was a childrens’ book, Tombstone.
August 22, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Mark Speight. I used to watch Smart now and again because I loved that man. I know it’s only been a few months, but I still miss him bad.
August 22, 2008 at 12:41 pm
My sister and a friend are going on holiday to Finland, they were going to slum it in hostels but then I showed her Hostel 1 & 2 so they’re going to be spending more on accommodation (how the fuck do you spell that?) now.
August 22, 2008 at 12:43 pm
I have a friend from Finland. He’s never raped or looted anything of note.
August 22, 2008 at 12:43 pm
But there was sex and swearing in it weren’t there?
What’s the difference between a tramp and Mark Speight? One hangs around train stations and stinks and the other is a tramp.
August 22, 2008 at 12:43 pm
I thought the hostel of Hostel 1 & 2 were in Slovakia? The only thing they need to worry about in Finalnd is the entire contents of their bank accounts disappearing when they order half a lager.
August 22, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Yes but now my sister is scared of all hostels, and the whole of Europe, and everything and everyone.
August 22, 2008 at 12:50 pm
She shouldn’t be scared of Europe. Well … not most of Europe anyway. I’d probably give Georgia a miss for a start.
August 22, 2008 at 12:50 pm
My brother was going to get on a plane until I showed him ‘Snakes on a plane.’ He said to me, ‘Stuart, that’s the fucking stupidest film I’ve ever seen in my life.’
August 22, 2008 at 12:53 pm
I wouldn’t say it’s the stupidest film ever made, though. There’s one I vaguely recall from the 70s (?) about a fridge that ate people. And it could have been Swineshead or one of his siblings that showed me a bizarre film about a rug wot killed people.
See? There’s always something stupider.
August 22, 2008 at 12:53 pm
I don’t think they’d be old enough to buy lager in Finland, the being alive and fit to travel. Just a children’s portion of Finlandia, I fear.
August 22, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Another piece of writing for the ages from literary colossus Dave there.
August 22, 2008 at 12:56 pm
I’m several generation ahead of my time, unlike you that copies from old shit and pass it off as your own. Your children’s, children’s, children will get and, and build monuments to me. Monuments.
August 22, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Yeah Snakes on a Plane really sucked, and not even in a ‘this is supposed to kind of suck so it’s funny way’ it just plane (geddit) sucked. I’ve never flown and hopefully never will. My sister is very easily freaked out and of a very nervous disposition. I did advise that the Hostels probably weren’t the films for her.
August 22, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Anyone see The Nostril Picker, or Maniac Nurses Find Ecstasy, now they were some stupid ass films. Both awesome though.
August 22, 2008 at 12:58 pm
A fridge that ate people? Isn’t that Reqium for a dream?
(boom boom)
August 22, 2008 at 1:00 pm
Ho ho! No, I think it was called ‘The Fridge’ or ‘The Refrigerator’ or something. Another stupid one I remember from the video nasty era was Microwave Massacre – that was a barrel of fucking laffs.
August 22, 2008 at 1:00 pm
came back from finland on sunday actually. have been to laponia. language exercise: “megapussi” means big bag in finnish.
August 22, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Anything with Massacre in the title is bound to be good. Slumber Party Massacre, Drive In Massacre etc.
August 22, 2008 at 1:16 pm
I’m not sure about that, Tombstone. If asked to describe Microwave Massacre, ‘good’ wouldn’t be a word that would instantly spring to mind. That said, I was only about eight when I was forced to watch it by my uncle, so I could be wrong.
Thinking about it, if you forced an eight year old to watch a film like Microwave Massacre now, it’d be considered child abuse. In my day it was just my uncle making me watch an ‘orrible video nasty against my will on pain of monkey scrubs and chinese burns. Never did me any ‘arm, etc.
August 22, 2008 at 1:19 pm
That’s nothing my Dad used to show me videos of him shagging my mum. “One day son, that will be you.” He’d say with a tear in his eye.
August 22, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Tromeo and Juliet, or anything by Troma is where I seek weirdness.
August 22, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Builds character in a boy. That’s what my father used to say to me as he was belting seven bells out of me for some minor childhood misdemeanour.
August 22, 2008 at 1:23 pm
I love Troma films, Cannibal The Musical! is my favourite film of all time.
August 22, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Troma make formulaic rubbish, Dave. I say that as a horror film buff.
I Bought A Vampire Motorbike (or cycle, can’t remember which) was fantastic and starred Neil Morrissey, if memory serves – Dave’s favourite.
August 22, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Define ‘minor’, you may have had it coming.
August 22, 2008 at 1:24 pm
I reckon you could offer me a fair list of decent horrors, SH. I’m not well ventured when it comes to film.
August 22, 2008 at 1:25 pm
What was formulaic about Terror Firmer?
August 22, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Anything by Troma, anything with Massacre in the title and anything with Koreans or Belgians or the French = good times.
August 22, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Or the French? Not seen the Asterix movies then?
The French, indeed!
August 22, 2008 at 1:31 pm
I mean French horrors like Satan and all that. Never saw the live action Asterix, but the cartoons rocked my little socks. It taught me that I could do anything with performance enhancing drugs.
August 22, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Oh, fair enough. I’d avoid the live action Asterix films like the bloody plague if I were you.
August 22, 2008 at 1:36 pm
The only French movies I’ve seen are about people on bikes shouting ‘papa’ and kissing each other to fragmented sounds of women screaming.
August 22, 2008 at 1:39 pm
And you can’t beat them Dave.