The Official David Dickinson Website
News Page
With regular contributions from The Duke himself.
Archive News for February 2003
For information on David's many and varied TV appearances go to TV appearances in The Duke section
February 2003
the month when controversy surrounded David and the Drag Queens
the month when David's fans demanded his return after Tim Wonnacott hosted
a week of daytime Bargain Hunt
the month when David gave his support to Manchester Councils recycling campaign
the month we brought you news of David's biography
the month David was invited to appear on Parkinson in April
the month we brought you an exclusive report of David filming on location
Much has been made in the tabloid press of the story that David Dickinson and Bargain Hunt have been banned from filming at an antiques fair in Harrogate. The story which ran in The Sun Newspaper (01.02.03) stated that George Taylor, organiser of the Great Northern International Antiques and Collector's Fair had written a letter to Linda Cleeve the Series Producer and said the show was no longer welcome after an edition of Bargain Hunt featured four professional female impersonators, who were filmed at the fair in full 'drag queen' style costume.
Linda Cleeve told me that Mr Taylor has since contacted her and assured her that Bargain Hunt will be welcomed back to film at Harrogate in the future.
Many fans of David Dickinson and Bargain Hunt have
emailed this site today to register their distress that as from today (24.02.03)
daytime Bargain Hunt has got a new presenter and fans have
been asking 'what has happened to David Dickinson?'
David took the tough decision to leave daytime Bargain Hunt
way back in October 2002.
This is what David had to say about his decision when I interviewed him last
December.
"I want the fans to know that it was a tough decision to take leaving daytime Bargain Hunt. I simply couldn't continue to make the daytime shows and take on the prime time slot, it wasn't humanly possible. So after a lot of deliberation I decided to give the prime time slot a go and try my hand with the big boys. It was a challenge and an opportunity I couldn't really turn down and I hope it will lead to more opportunities in the future."
See David in a brand
new prime time series of Bargain Hunt commencing 27 March.
David Dickinson made such
a huge success of presenting daytime Bargain Hunt that a special series
for a prime time slot soon followed and the series commenced in August
2002. It was an instant hit with the evening audience and the viewing
figures of over 8 million were staggering. The success of the new evening
editions left David with a difficult dilemma, as the sheer volume of work,
filming shows for both a daytime and prime time airing became too great,
(He filmed 98 shows in 2002) David had to consider leaving daytime to
focus his energy on the prime time shows. He admits it was a tough decision
to take to leave daytime This is what he said in October 2002 "There's
only one of me, I'm going to have to sadly step down from daytime tv and
concentrate on making the evening shows - There's only so many hours in
the day and it isn't going to be physically possible to do both."
. David and Tim Wonnacott met many years ago through the antiques trade
and worked
together on TV for BBC2's Antiques Show and David sends his very best
wishes to Tim for the continued success of daytime.
Regular visitor's to this page have known about David's decision to leave daytime Bargain Hunt since his announcement in October, we were also the first to tell you who his replacement would be. To ensure you keep up with all the latest news about David, why not bookmark this page (press Ctrl and 'd' together) and visit here often.
Fans will be pleased to hear that David is back in the daytime slot on BBC 1 next week (w/c 03/03/03) presenting Bargain Hunt. The BBC have decided to run several weeks of repeats of David presenting the show.
The BBC was besieged with enquiries about David and demands to see him back hosting the morning show, after they showed one week of the daytime show with the new presenter Tim Wonnacott. Extra staff were drafted in to answer the switchboards, so many viewers were ringing in and the BBC Bargain Hunt message board showed hundreds of messages declaring their disappointment at David's leaving and demanding his return.
Viewers will have to wait until mid march to see new material from David, when he presents a brand new series of prime time Bargain Hunt. There are twenty shows scheduled. Ten once weekly editions which lead up to two full weeks of live shows.
(see articles below for more details)
Michael Parkinson is renowned for interviewing the biggest names in show business, and now it's the turn of David Dickinson to guest on his legendary chat show. 'Parkinson' enjoys a prime time Saturday night slot and David will appear on the 19 April edition. Forget the Chocolate Easter eggs this will be a very special treat that's guaranteed calorie free, so sit back and enjoy.
David took advantage of 'time in the shade' on his recent tropical holiday in Malaysia to sit down under a tree and reminisce. The book promises to be a great read. David has an exciting story to tell from his working class beginnings to his meteoric rise to fame on the small screen, by way of his life traveling the world as Lorne's Manager, and the extreme highs and lows of his antique business. He will no doubt tell it with his natural candour and wit. We will bring you further details of the books progress in the coming weeks and how to buy it as soon as it is available.
As well as a series of once a week shows David is also preparing for a two week stint of live prime shows in May, commencing 19 May (tbc) in Exeter.
(See feature below for more details.)
DAVID SUPPORTS RECYCLING CAMPAIGN(01.02.03)
No we don't mean the BBC's insistence
on reshowing so many episodes of Bargain Hunt! David will be adding his support
to Manchester Council's anti-litter and recycling campaign by appearing at
an event on 7 February at Manchester Town Hall. Being brought up around Manchester
and now living in Cheshire David is backing the campaign to encourage fellow
Mancunians to help clean up the city and recycle old newspapers. David says
"The environment is not cheap as chips. It is well worth preserving,
"I do my bit - there's no paper lying round in my barn!"
Other stars who have already been part of the five year campaign include Atomic
Kitten and
S Club.
OLD NEWS IS GOOD NEWS! (06.04.02)
We are now in the process of archiving 'old' news.
For archive news please click on the limk of your choice.
(more archive news will become available in the next month so please visit
often.)
January 2003
December 2002
For information on David's past TV appearances click
here.
Email me at fiona@david-dickinson.net
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