Boyd, Tommy

Born Timothy Leslie Boyd in Feltham, his path into broadcasting was anything but conventional.

Before the microphones and television cameras beckoned, he cut his teeth as a stand-up comic at Butlin’s in Bognor Regis (1972 – 1973) and, in a decidedly more exotic chapter, as a dolphin trainer at the Brighton Dolphinarium (1974 – 1975).

His broadcasting career took its first steps at BBC Radio Brighton, where he worked as a producer/presenter between 1971 and 1973. A move to London followed, with Boyd taking up a producer role on the AM show at LBC (1975 – 1976).

Television came calling in 1977, when Boyd stepped into the role of co-presenter on ITV/Thames’ long-running children’s magazine flagship Magpie, succeeding Douglas Rae.

He remained with the programme until it concluded in 1980, after which he turned his hand to the news quiz What’s Happening? in 1981.

That same productive period saw him presenting Puzzle Trail for BBC Children’s TV (1981 – 1982), before joining the ensemble cast of Jigsaw in 1982 – a team that included Janet Ellis, Sylvester McCoy and David Rappaport.

Central Television provided the next chapter, with Boyd fronting the Saturday morning children’s show The Saturday Show alongside Isla St Clair (1982 – 1984), succeeded by The Saturday Starship, co-presented with Bonnie Langford (1984 – 1985).

He also provided CITV continuity links in August 1983, December 1984, and June 1986 under The Wide Awake Club Gang banner, returning to the role on a regular basis from May 1991 through to December 1992.

In 1985, Boyd joined ITV’s breakfast broadcaster TV-am to front the Saturday morning show The Wide Awake Club. His three-year tenure ended in 1988, after which came its Sunday offshoot WAC Extra, followed by Wideawake (1988) and WAC ’90, the latter filmed at Granada Studios (1989).

Further television work included a stint on satellite channel The Children’s Channel (1993 – 1994) and presenting MLB (Major League Baseball) coverage on Channel 5 in 1997.

Boyd’s radio career has run in parallel with his television work, spanning five decades and an impressively varied range of formats and stations.

During the late 1970s, he hosted Jellybone – a Saturday morning children’s programme on LBC in London.

The show was built around a phone-in news quiz and a segment in which members of clubs and groups, from bus spotters to hobbyists of every stripe, were brought into the studio to discuss their interests and sit on the Jellybone Jury, rating new record releases.

The programme’s best-known host was LBC stalwart Therese Birch.

In June 1980, Boyd took over the weekend Nightline phone-in, filling the Sunday night slot vacated by Jeremy Beadle.

Among the show’s most fondly remembered features was the mystery guest segment, in which a well-known figure would adopt a disguise of voice – or, in the case of Roy Castle, simply play the trombone – while listeners attempted to identify them.

The show earned Boyd the Royal Variety Club Radio Personality of the Year award.

His return to children’s radio on LBC came via Lazily Stacey, a Sunday afternoon programme named after a fictional detective of his own invention.

He later co-presented the station’s breakfast show with Anne Diamond, departing LBC for the final time in 1999. He had also been honoured with the Independent Radio Personality of the Year Award in 1981.

During the late 1980s, Boyd appeared on the ILR station Southern Sound on its late Sunday evening show, alongside Nicky Keig-Shevlin and David Legg.

The format blended phone-ins with quiz elements and the occasional record – Two Little Boys by Rolf Harris and Narcissus by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band among the regulars – with Boyd invariably signing off each edition with What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong.

At BBC 5 Live, he presented the weekday afternoon programme running from 2pm to 5pm, a blend of sport and music.

When Talk Radio – later to become talkSPORT – launched on the AM dial, Boyd was among its opening roster of presenters, broadcasting from February 1995 until November 1998.

His departure came as a result of a management reshuffle following the station’s acquisition by a consortium headed by former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie.

It was during this period that Boyd established himself as one of radio’s more provocative voices. Broadcasting initially in the 3pm – 7pm slot, the show was structured around a bold proposition put to listeners – ‘Save a life…humiliate a sunbather’ or ‘Who needs their legs?’ among them – which would ignite frequently spirited, often combative discussion.

Regular features included ‘The Angry Hour’ and ‘The Wonderful Hour’, the latter a fixture of the Friday afternoon finale.

Boyd returned to the station in April 2000, having deputised for various presenters in the interim.

In May of that year, an experiment on his Sunday night programme – in which calls were put straight to air without prior screening – evolved into The Human Zoo, presented alongside Asher Gould.

This unfiltered format later influenced a new wave of live phone-in broadcasting, most notably when LBC presenter Iain Lee launched Triple M in May 2006.

Boyd also hosted Talk Wrestling, a professional wrestling show on talkSPORT.

The programme’s success emboldened him to explore the prospect of returning wrestling to mainstream British entertainment: he hired Crystal Palace as a venue and mounted one of the largest UK-run wrestling events in recent memory, featuring Eddie Guerrero – subsequently a future WWE heavyweight champion.

Boyd was dismissed from talkSPORT in March 2002 after failing to activate the profanity delay to filter a caller’s remarks advocating that the British Royal Family should be shot.

In early 2004, Boyd joined BBC Southern Counties Radio, presenting a Saturday night show – broadcast with a live internet feed from 9pm to 1am – alongside co-presenter Allison Ferns.

The format revived both The Human Zoo and the more provocative elements of his Talk Radio years. When Allison Ferns was unavailable, cover was provided by Lisa Francesca, Alyson Mead, or – on New Year’s Eve 2005 – Boyd’s wife, Jayne.

From April 2006 to December 2007, he presented a daily afternoon show on the same station, running from 1pm – 4pm Monday to Friday. Familiar features resurfaced, including ‘The Angry Hour’, ‘The Irritable Hour’, and the ever-popular Friday finale, ‘The Wonderful Hour’.

From August 2007, Boyd co-presented a Sunday night programme on Play Radio UK, an internet radio station.

January 2008 brought a move to Original 106 FM, where he hosted the weekday breakfast show until September of that year, before returning once again to Play Radio UK with a general talk and phone-in programme on weekday late nights, distributed as a podcast under the title Global News Talk.

Summer cover for Jon Gaunt on the internet-based Sun Talk followed, and in September 2009 he stepped in for Steve Berry on 106.1 Rock Radio Manchester’s breakfast show for a week.

That same year, Boyd launched Digital Sport Radio, a company producing radio content for major sporting clubs and brands.

He remained characteristically candid about the broader landscape: “I’m still hopeful that we’ll get a proper Talk service in the UK before I go fully senile.”

On Friday 19th May 2017, Boyd made a one-off return to British talk station talkRADIO, covering for Iain Lee – a stint that extended across several further slots over the following weeks.

In 2023, he joined Brighton’s Regency Radio as a presenter.

He appeared on Channel 5’s Morecambe and Wise – The Unseen Tapes on 12th April 2025.

Interview

Paul R. Jackson interviewed Tommy by phone in February 2026 about his career.

Paul began by asking if Tommy minded talking about his long career, going back to the mid-1970s?

“It is therapeutic and I don’t mind at all.”

Tell me about your name change and where you grew up

“I changed my name when I became a comic – Tommy sounded better. My oldest friends still call me Tim, but when I did the application form for Magpie I signed it, Tommy.”

“Two fun facts about Feltham. My parents’ house backed onto Mr and Mrs May, whose eldest son was Brian. A few streets down lived Freddie Bulsara (later Mercury) but they never met in their teens and became one of the biggest rock bands, Queen.

“Many kids from the area went to work at Heathrow, as it was so close. I went to audition for pilot school but so pleased I didn’t go down that route.”

“Aged 19, I went to America to work in a summer camp and loved it. I did theatre with the kids and was offered a green card to set up a scheme in Harlem.

“My mum comes from a teaching profession and so encouraged me to enrol at Brighton College.”

How did you get your first radio job?

“I put on my best denim suit and went down to BBC Radio Brighton and met the producer of a student programme and was offered a job.”

What did you do at the Brighton Dolphinarium?

“It was opposite BBC Radio Brighton and they didn’t have an announcer for their shows. They heard me on the radio and gave me a job.

“I watched seven shows a day for six weeks. One day the trainer didn’t turn up and the boss asked me to do it, so I did it as I liked the audiences.

“I did these jobs whilst learning to be a broadcaster and teacher.”

Tell me about working at Butlin’s

“I couldn’t sing, so was given the comedy role.

“I watched other comedians like Bob Monkhouse, Tommy Cooper and Ken Dodd who did midnight cabaret. I learnt that the punchline is the important part of the joke.

“Fellow Fulham FC supporter Tommy Trinder was a resident at Butlin’s and taught me so much. I absorbed what he did. He told me to get the first laugh in before you open your mouth.

“Therefore, walk on stage and trip over an imaginary nail. Then have trouble with the microphone.”

How did you come to work at LBC?

“I was interested in journalism and knocked on their door and met the head of arts and programme editor who fancied me.

“I was quickly promoted to a producer, aged 23.

“Douglas Cameron and Bob Holness were the presenters on AM. I used petty cash to get good coffee for the studio and they used to share scripts, so I got them photocopied, so they could have one each.

“They were both asked who they would like as their permanent producer/journalist and as I looked after them, they wanted me.”

How did you get the job on Magpie?

“When I was aged 14, I was watching Blue Peter with John Noakes and my mum said, ‘you would be good at that’.

“It sowed a seed and I thought I can do that. I met him years later and he told me that when he did a recipe item, he couldn’t find the oven gloves. He hid them and set it up to get a laugh without telling anyone.

“I was a teacher, journalist and entertainer aged 24 and wasn’t nervous at doing television.

“Tim Jones (producer) liked a news feel, so breathed a sigh of relief as I could bring a good mix to the programme.

“Did you know the programme’s name was taken from Rossini’s The Thieving Magpie? As the magpie is a thief and they basically stole the format from Blue Peter, which was a private joke.

“After my audition I was standing in the corridor thinking I had done well and thought it would be a life changing job.

“I was asked to meet the head of children’s Sue Turner who was smoking and she offered me a cigarette. I thought I would be polite until I heard the news.

“When I was told I had the job, I lit up! She was a hard drinking and smoking country girl.

“I taught myself to look through the lens and think there were two youngsters, 15 feet away watching.

“The team had heard I was a dolphin trainer (I only stepped in at short notice), so introduced me as that on my first programme – the other presenters thought I was a bit of an airhead.

“I was an eminent journalist and provided a good mix to the team.”

Memories of your co-presenters?

“One of the directors asked if I would stand next to the two most beautiful people on television! I thought, oh. But I had a great personality.

“Mick (Robertson) brought a down-to-earth approach. He was originally a researcher and was in the office helping with auditions when Pete Brady left.

“They had to do three minutes to camera including a recipe. At the last minute he was asked to stand in for someone who was running late, so didn’t get a chance to be nervous.

“When Tony (Bastable) left, he got the job.

“Men and women were struck by his looks. He never wore a watch and didn’t keep a contacts book.

“I opened doors for him and when the programme ended, I told Lewis Rudd he should be used and that led to him producing the award-winning factual children’s programme Wise Up.

“He was 80 a week ago and we are still good friends 50 years on. We go to watch cricket at Sussex CCC and football at Portsmouth FC.”

“Jenny (Hanley) came from acting royalty (editor’s note: her parents were Dinah Sheridan and Jimmy Hanley). My earliest memory of her was that when she entered a restaurant everyone stood up. She was very photogenic, but as a presenter was slightly off the pace.

Any guests stand out?

“My father was a good sportsman who did lots of sports and then got into bodybuilding.

“Dad rang in his Geordie accent and said he had met a young man who was a good bodybuilder who was living in a flat above a garage in Hayes and was bigger in the UK than in his homeland.  He thought he would be a good guest on the programme.

“I mentioned it to the production team and they booked him for a fee of £250 with a car to Teddington. He arrived at 10am for a 3pm record.

“I took him to the canteen and he said his ambition was to be the best bodybuilder, go to Hollywood to be the best action hero and be the first non-American President of America.

“Yes, you guessed – it was Arnold Schwarzenegger.”

Were you told that Magpie was ending?

“Benny Hill’s shows had subsidised the programme. Thames TV then had to cut budgets.

“For our annual trips, 21 crew and presenters were sent first class air travel and hotels. We drank vintage champagne, ate caviar and watched movies that wouldn’t be seen in the UK for six months.

“The first year we went to Peru. I chatted to singer Bryan Ferry in the lounge and he asked me for my autograph for his niece.

“We had an audience of five to eight million. However, the newly installed head of children’s at Thames got nervous and called in each presenter to tell us that the programme was finishing.

“I had enjoyed being famous at first but it soon wore off.

“Magpie was the last time I ever auditioned as I was fortunate that producers wanted to use my talents in other programmes.

“I wanted to do an animation series, so gave several ideas to choose from but they chose the one I didn’t really want to do! That was What’s Happening? – which Lewis Rudd commissioned for three years.”

How did you end up back at LBC?

“They offered me a job – Jellybone – and then Jeremy Beadle got fired and I took over his programme.

“I won the Variety Club Radio Personality of the Year award a year later. I won for the commercial stations.

“Terry Wogan was hosting the event. In my acceptance speech, I said that the judges must have had a difficult job as he had won it before, which made Wogan laugh.”

How did you come to work at CBBC?

“I used to drink with Jeremy Beadle in Soho and we met his mum who was his landlady and dressed like a stripper.

“I owned one of the early VHS machines and Jeremy rang to ask me to tape Jigsaw, so the producer Clive Doig could view it as he couldn’t at the BBC.

“He sat cross-legged three feet away from the TV watching everything on screen. He was a former cameraman and vision mixer and could do the latter job upside down – a clever man.

“I became good friends with Clive and Janet Ellis. Jigsaw was quite intense as it had to cram a lot into 15 minutes.

“I later got shortlisted for Doctor Who when they were looking for a new Doctor – but Sylvester McCoy got the role.”

How did you move into Saturday mornings and doing the links for CITV?

“I had two ambitions: to work on Saturday mornings and do the broom cupboard.

“The wrestler Big Daddy was due to present The Saturday Show along with Isla St Clair.

“10 days before its launch, he disappeared to a croft in Scotland. The producers got cold feet.

“A producer saw Tommy in the bar and came over and asked if he was free on Saturday mornings? He was and got the job. It was canned after two series as it was rubbish.

“Dave Lee Travis had done the pilot with Bonnie Langford for The Saturday Starship, but had not been chosen. The producer saw Tommy in the bar (right time again) and was asked to do the programme.

“There was a short-lived joke that ‘TBA’ on a script meant ‘Tommy Boyd Again’.

“CITV got rid of Scally the Dog and the lady with it (editor’s note: Jeanne Downes). I got a phone call from Lewis Rudd asking if I would like to do it.

“The TV-am work was drifting away and I was doing some stuff at The Children’s Channel.

“Aged 43, I achieved another of my ambitions. It was live opt-out from Central TV’s studios in Birmingham. They had a catacomb of dressing rooms and a huge canteen and bar which was empty as there was less made there.

“I once spoke to an accountant for Central TV in the Holiday Inn that was next to the studios. He said if they didn’t make TV programmes it would be more profitable.

“Both Thames TV and Central TV thrived socially.

“Once I saw Laurence Olivier and Benny Hill in the bar. My guest was Richard Kiel, Jaws from James Bond. When Kiel stood up, the place went silent as he weaved between tables. He said it always happened due to his size.

“I watched the programmes like Children’s Ward and Press Gang and commented on them afterwards. Danny Baker wrote an article saying how refreshing it was to have a presenter watch the output.

“It became expensive and they choose to have a voiceover. And I was too expensive!”

Memories of working on TV-am’s children’s shows?

“Each year our producer Nick Wilson took the show to Alton Towers for six weeks. I was there with James (Baker) and Arabella (Weir) – and Timmy (Mallet) did it once.”

How did you come to work at The Children’s Channel?

“Nick Wilson, who I had worked with at TV-am rang me. It had been struggling a bit. He’d read the Danny Baker article.

“It was a pre-record working with a puppeteer.

“It was a conscious decision to move away from television, as I probably presented 1,500 children’s programmes in my career.

“I was aged 45 and thought the phone will stop ringing soon, so threw my earpiece into the bin.”

How did the move into more radio work come about?

“BBC Radio 5 – Mike Lewis had been the afternoon controller at LBC, so I got in touch.

“I was given an afternoon show called Sports Beat covering sport and children’s but 50% had to be music.

“It was over-staffed with various producers for each sport. I did that for a year and they then decided that they didn’t need a kid’s presenter.

“BBC Radio Southern Counties in Guildford offered me a three-month contract.

“They asked me to reduce their audience as 90 or 100 complained about something which took up considerable time dealing with them, as they wrote to the head of the BBC and the Prime Minister.

“I did things like dropping the ‘g’ off words and went off track. We had two locations: in Brighton and Guildford.

“Once we booked an antiques expert who drove to Brighton by mistake. Once all the technical equipment and cartridges didn’t work for 3 hours and the Evening Argos did a piece on it.

“Talk Radio got a licence. I knew the programme controller Jeremy Scott from BBC Radio Southern Counties. It was a much leaner operation and I was offered a comedy chat show. The head of creative was a cynical Scotsman.

“The station was 33% owned by American radio stations and I was sent to America and was blown away with their professionalism. They said don’t use phone operators aged under 55 as the youngsters don’t have the experience and knowledge to know what callers will be good on air.

“I learnt how to place callers and you didn’t use the first one as they had not listened to the debate. By the time you put them on air they still had that initial anger.

“There was an eight second delay on callers. If one was waiting and was swearing, I would swear back which amused the engineers but wasn’t on air.”

What are you working on currently?

“I have got into podcasts and we have installed cameras in the studio so we can put them on YouTube and hopefully get into the American market.

• Pompey Sound for Portsmouth FC;
• A weekly one with political commentator Duncan Barks and Shell executive Hayley Hayes called Rambling Retro-Nonsense;
• The Wonderful Hour that celebrates the joy, quirks and everyday marvels of life.

Final thought

“At Lewis Rudd’s book launch (Not Just About Managing published in November 2018), I was introduced to an archivist.

“He asked me if I kept in touch with anyone. I told him I did, with Mick.

“Anyone else in the cast he asked? I was puzzled and when I queried it, he told me he thought I was Johnny Briggs from Coronation Street!

“You have given back a good name to archivists during our chat.”

 

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