Heavens. You know you're getting old when...
...you realise that "Violet Elizabeth Bott" - from the 70s TV adaptation of my fave childhood books by Richmal Crompton, Just William, in which Diana Dors played her mother - is 55 years old!
Bonnie Langford (for it is she) is now, of course, well-respected as a West End hoofer and choreographer - but back in the 80s, she tried desperately to shake off her precocious "child prodigy" persona by appearing in The Hot Shoe Show alongside Wayne Sleep; and, on this Tacky Music Monday, it is to that cringeworthy era we turn for our traditional "wake up call"!
Facts:
- At just six years old, she won the talent show Opportunity Knocks.
- Bonnie began her on-screen career as "Lena Marelli" in Bugsy Malone.
- In the mid-80s, she played "Mel", companion to both Colin Baker's Sixth Doctor and Sylvester McCoy's Seventh in Doctor Who.
- She is the aunt of West End actresses Summer, Scarlett, Zizi and Sasi Strallen.
- Latterly, she appeared as blowsy matriarch of the "Kazemi" clan in Eastenders, before quitting that in order to return to the stage in 42nd Street.
"I'll thcream and I'll thcream until I'm thick. And I can!"
ReplyDeleteOh, the nightmares... Jx
DeleteI remember watching this with my sister at my nan's house, my sister went into such a rage upon Bonnie's arrival that she threw a slipper at the telly with such force it knocked over the fibre optic lamp. Oh how we laughed. I think she was jealous of Bonnie's high kicks.
ReplyDeleteAccording the the late Michael Hurll (producer of BBC shows including Top of the Pops) about Rod Hull: ‘He was the most miserable, nastiest man you ever met, and what he did with that emu…
Delete‘I told him once, “Look Rod, you’ve got your hand in that emu, up girls’ skirts and squeezing their tits; doing things you would get locked up for.’ And he would just go “Oooh naughty emu”. That’s why Parky hated him; because he was a dirty bastard. Just a horrible, horrible man.’
https://www.chortle.co.uk/interviews/2007/02/08/4997/hurlls_of_wisdom#
Jx
Did this poor thing have no drag queen friends who could have taught her how to lip synch?
ReplyDeleteIt's OK - I don't think anyone was watching anyhow. They only made eleven episodes over two years. Jx
DeleteHow we loathed Bonnie back then, but she came good in the end.
ReplyDeleteYou've brought it all back with that clip!
Sx
Madam Arcati used to work in a theatre where Miss Langford was appearing, and apparently she was widely known as "Shut Up, Bonnie!"... Jx
DeleteOh, Bonnie... You're not convincing anyone in that get-up.
ReplyDeleteLet's face it - she was never very convincing in any get-up. Jx
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