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Magenta Devine is a name who might not be familiar to anyone who didn’t grow up in the ’80s like me, but when Network TV – a two-hour lunchtime “yoof” show on a Sunday – started on Channel 4 in 1987, it would completely Bart my world at the weekend. It was fast and frenetic camera work, computer graphic visuals, the likes of which I was used to from Kenny Everett’s TV shows, and lots of cool segments including Gerry Anderson Claymation series Dick Spanner, P.I., and 1-on-1 psychological celebrity interviews with Oliver James, who’s still entertaining today when he pops up on The Wright Stuff / Jeremy Vine from time to time.
However, Ms Devine simply looked cool as fuck. She certainly had the look, and as you can see from her picture above, she hardly ever took off those glasses. That was her thing. This continued in 1988 after Network 7 came to an end after two series, and she led BBC2 shows Def II and Rough Guide to Europe, and later, Young, Gifted and Broke between 1999 and 2001. However, after that, she was hardly ever seen except for the occasional one-off appearance.
I never knew her real name before today, but it was Kim Taylor, and she died following a short illness, and had been undergoing treatment at a hospital in London.
Her family issued a statement, remembering her as “a talented writer and stylish on-screen presence who was greatly admired by her many friends and colleagues for her creativity and wit”.
Network 7 co-host Sankha Guha, described her as “an icon for a generation… who invited attention and sometimes hostility for her bold look and style. “She used her public persona to tell stories about the world that mattered to her and inspired a whole generation to travel with a sense of adventure and an open mind… I knew she was ill, but her death is a body blow. I have lost a soul mate and a partner in adventure.”
This week is really turning into a bag of crap following the early deaths of The Prodigy’s Keith Flint and actor Luke Perry. No more, please!
RIP Magenta Devine 🙁
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.