email jessica-fox.netAbout this website |
This site is a tribute to the actress Jessica Fox, in the form of a picture archive of her TV work. It concentrates on the sort of programmes that are unlikely to be repeated in the future or released on DVD.
I hope you enjoy visiting these galleries. They are not funded by advertising so there are no annoying popups, though you might get the urge for an instant cappuccino.
The internet should carry a warning: may contain traces of nuts.
Back in January 2003, the British teatime soap opera, Crossroads, was relaunched in the UK. I happened to catch some of the first weeks omnibus one Saturday and was strangely drawn to it. Amongst other things I had missed the incident where Max's bit on the side got killed so I taped the repeat while I was out the following day. Not usually one to follow soaps, I continued watching and taped the episodes in the week while I was at work.
I think it was marketed as something like "Dynasty for tea-time". After watching the early episodes, most were taped over (DOH!), which I now regret. Low ratings led to the shows cancellation and I dont think they could get advertising support to continue showing omnibus episodes after the first month. It may sound really sad, but for a while I actually looked forward to getting home and having my 'Crossroads fix'. A nice escape from reality for 22 minutes. One actress in particular stood out, largely for her ability to draw you in to empathise with the character, but also for sometimes being like a ray of sunshine. That of course was Jessica Fox. At the time, I was hugely suprised that there was little about her on the internet. No web site, just an agency CV and the odd mention of her on 'Worst Witch' fan sites. And overnight, Jessica Fox disappeared from the screen for nearly two years (save for the Kenco Cappio advert) and largely I forgot.
Then in November 2005, during a day off work I recognised Jessica while channel hopping (in Hollyoaks of course). It was then I found her website. It struck me that there must be very few people who ever taped Crossroads, let alone still had any two years on. Thankfully I had switched to recording on DVD and not reused the tapes. I made some video captures and posted them to a web forum on November the 12th 2005. Now really, that should have been an end to it, but it sort of snowballed from there. Whenever things went quiet, I'd find something more to post. It wasn't until the end of December 2005 that the stills were presented in gallery form, and the "Jessica Fox Appreciation Page" was born.
There isn't one, I'm just a fan who runs this site. So please don't send me anything to pass on to her, I won't be able to help.
Now recorded on a Humax Freesat HD box (in non-freesat mode so video remains unencrypted). The recording is triggered by an R2D2 toy which has been fitted with a microcontroller, programmed to send the infra red control commands!!? This works well unless some muppet leaves an obstacle blocking the beam. Video is copied to a USB drive, uploaded to computer and run through a video editor I wrote, which also removes the 4HD channel ident.
Originally, this process required editing episodes down on a Sony Harddisk recorder, burning a DVD, then vidcaps were done on a PC running Linux.
I look for:
I try to keep things flattering and respectful.
Technically, the copyright of the image content belongs to the makers of the TV programmes and not to myself. All galleried pictures contain a copyright message to that effect, which I hope will remain with them for their lifetime in the public domain. I took the trouble to generate the jpegs, a form in which they can be easily distributed, in the hope they will be used responsibly. As such, I ask that you please keep to the guidelines below.
I don't have a problem with other people using the pictures for their own sites, provided that:
Lecture over, thanks for listening.
email jessica-fox.net