Arlene Phillips
Desert Island Discs: Archive 2005-2010
BBC
4.4 • 804 Ratings
🗓️ 28 June 2009
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Kirsty Young's castaway is the choreographer, Arlene Phillips. In a career spanning 40 years, she set up the dance group Hot Gossip and has masterminded numerous music videos and West End shows. Already one of the country's leading choreographers, the hit TV show Strictly Come Dancing then turned her into a household name.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Dinah Washington Book: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott Luxury: Tweezers.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, it's Nicola Cochlin. Young people have been making history for years, but we don't often hear about them. My brand new series on BBC Sounds sets out to put this right. In history's youngest heroes, I'll be revealing the fascinating stories of 12 young people who've played a major role in history and who've helped shape our world. Like Audrey Hepburn, Nelson Mandela, Louis Braille and Lady Jane Grey, |
| 0:24.7 | history's youngest heroes with me, Nicola Cochlin. |
| 0:27.8 | Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:30.4 | Hello, I'm Krista Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs Archive. |
| 0:35.5 | For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music. |
| 0:38.6 | The program was originally broadcast in 2009. |
| 1:01.4 | Music My castaway this week is the choreographer Arlene Phillips. |
| 1:06.2 | She became a household name as one of the judges on the TV smash strictly come dancing, |
| 1:12.1 | but her 40-year career has stretched well beyond the sequins and spats of primetime TV. |
| 1:15.5 | She has collaborated with Tina Turner and Elton John, |
| 1:17.9 | taught Albert Finney how to tap dance, |
| 1:21.2 | and apparently single-handedly corrupted the morals of a nation with her 80s dance troupe hot gossip. |
| 1:24.3 | It was you then, Arlene Phillips, was it, who corrupted the morals of a nation? |
| 1:46.3 | You caused a lot of outrage in Middle England back then, reminders of their reaction. Well, hot gossip had been going three years before they broke on TV and it was a real struggle. I was constantly told, no, it's too sexy for TV. And you weren't in the group, just to be clear you were the choreographer. I was the choreographer of the group. |
| 1:47.9 | I pulled the group together and we became London's cult dance group. |
| 1:53.5 | And then one of my dancers, the very beautiful Donna Fielding, |
| 1:57.9 | auditioned for a new show called the Kenny Everett Video Show. |
| 2:02.0 | They were all asked to send photographs to the producer. |
| 2:05.8 | She sent a very famous hot gossip picture of the group, circled her face and went, |
| 2:11.6 | this is me. |
| 2:12.8 | The producer took one look at the photograph and went, find this group, bring this group to me, this is the |
| 2:19.7 | group I want for the Kenny Everett video show. And we were an overnight sensation. So hot gossip |
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