Talk:Debbie McGee

McGee was first attracted...
"McGee was first attracted to the millionaire Paul Daniels": is this meant to be a humorous reference to The Mrs Merton Show? See that article to see what I mean. I don't think in-jokes belong in Wikipedia. &mdash; Paul G 06:49, 10 April 2007 (UTC)


 * Agreed. I also think it is possible that Daniels was not yet a millionaire at that stage. Whilst he'd been on TV and had a successful stage magic career the Paul Daniels Magic Show hadn't yet launched on TV and he was still some way from the peak of his career. I don't doubt he was worth a few bob but a million was a lot in those days and you didn't become a millionaire by doing summer seasons at the seaside and guest slots on the Wheel Tappers and Shunters.
 * Circusandmagicfan 09:26, 10 April 2007 (UTC)Circusandmagicfan


 * Thanks, Circusandmagicfan (your name suggests you know what you are talking about in this regard), and thanks for the edit. Could you do a little further research and edit the article to say when they met and first worked together? I doubt that anyone other than Daniels and McGee knows when she was first attracted to him, and I doubt that anyone really would want to. When they met is of interest, however. &mdash; Paul G 14:03, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

Debbie McGee Models
It seems she may no longer be the owner of the business. At the time of writing the homepage of the agency's website has been replaced with a one-line statement saying the Debbie McGee agency has been taken over. It's not clear what's going on so until I see some more information from reliable sources I'll hold off making an edit.Circusandmagicfan (talk) 16:08, 29 December 2007 (UTC)Circusandmagicfan

Middle name
There seems to be some confusion over her middle name. The "Early life..." section states she was born Debra Alison McGee. However there seems to be no source for this - the source cited at the end of the paragraph makes no reference to her middle name. A source cited in the "Other activities" section (in connection with the demise of her model agency) says that her full married name given on company documents is Debra Ann Daniels. At the moment it seems to me that Ann is more likey to be correct. I suppose it's possible that officials might make mistakes when entering details into the companies registration records, but unless there is a source that supports Alison as her middle name then Wiki policy would be to put Ann in the article. Circusandmagicfan (talk) 11:02, 30 June 2008 (UTC)Circusandmagicfan

Too many ands
That series continued until 1994 and regularly attracted audiences of 15 million in the UK and was sold to 43 countries.[7] NotYourFathersOldsmobile (talk) 11:51, 17 March 2016 (UTC)

Irish or English?
In the text and categories she is described as English, but in the InfoBox she is described as Irish? 137.205.170.23 (talk) 17:08, 21 March 2016 (UTC)

✅ - fixed. Bastun Ėġáḍβáś₮ŭŃ! 15:14, 23 March 2016 (UTC)

National origin of father
This source suggests that McGee's father Patrick married her mother Lilian F. Howes, in Surrey bewteen Jul and Sep 1957. But it's harder to find any source as to whether he was Irish or Northern Irish. His name was first added to the article here as "Irish father, Patrick McGee" in October 2007 by User:Circusandmagicfan. But the source used, from "everything2.com", does not appear to be a WP:RS. "Northern Irish" was added here by an anon IP in February 2012. This addition was unsourced, but was accompanied by other, apparently accurate, information (or at least this information has not been challenged for over 4 years. Does anyone have a WP:RS source? Martinevans123 (talk) 21:25, 26 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Martin, the IP is now blocked, he is a serial IP hopper POV editor. But to conform to RS and BIO guides, I would suggest rmoving the fathers nationality totally. Murry1975 (talk) 21:31, 27 March 2016 (UTC)
 * I can't disagree. So maybe they've done us a favour. I'm a bit unsure about that "Bubbles" too (added in the same edit). Thanks. Martinevans123 (talk) 21:44, 27 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Have now trimmed accordingly. Martinevans123 (talk) 16:26, 30 March 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
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First professional dancer?
An anon IP editor is repeatedly adding the claim "McGee is the first celebrity to feature in the series who is a professional dancer" (four times now, one with an insulting edit summary). I'm pretty sure McGee is not a "professional dancer" and it's debatable that she ever was. Where is the source for this claim? Thanks. Martinevans123 (talk) 08:49, 7 October 2017 (UTC)
 * So we're now up to five times and ths source has been added again (for the second time) in support of this claim. But, as far as I can see, it doesn't include any support? Or perhaps I've missed it there? Martinevans123 (talk) 08:58, 7 October 2017 (UTC)
 * Then you're very unsure about your facts, aren't you? "McGee is a former ballet dancer and for three years was artistic director of her own ballet company" states the first paragraph of her wikipedia page. And surely, wikipedia is never wrong? It goes on... "At 16 McGee auditioned for and won a place at the Royal Ballet School. After graduating, she joined the Iranian National Ballet in Tehran. Aged 19, she became part of the Corps de Ballet and later a soloist, but her ballet career was brought to an abrupt halt by the Islamic Revolution" and continues "She later joined Dougie Squires's Second Generation troupe as a dancer, which involved touring Europe with acts including Chris de Burgh and James Last. After winter work in pantomime" Perhaps all this was amateur work for which she wasn't paid? I suggest you remove all of this "nonsense" from her wiki bio since you're so sure she never was a professional dancer.182.126.113.101 (talk) 09:24, 7 October 2017 (UTC)
 * So, where it the wp:citation of a wp:reliable source supporting this? The only citation is http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2017/09/09/strictly-come-dancing-2017-launch-show-live/ which is a timeline giving little, if any support to the paragraph. Jim1138 (talk) 09:28, 7 October 2017 (UTC)
 * Could you explain this edit summary? Thanks. Martinevans123 (talk) 09:30, 7 October 2017 (UTC)
 * None is needed. She is the first. Fact. I suggest you edit the entire McGee page demanding sources and citations for all the references (some of which are quoted above) stating she is a professional dancer, or the information will have to be removed. I will remove it all shortly if you are unable to provide the sources. Sorry if that distracts you from the 5000+ edits you'll be making on wikipedia today as you have no life. And I'm afraid I don't know what a suammry is.182.126.113.101 (talk) 09:31, 7 October 2017 (UTC)
 * Nope. See wp:verifiability this does not meet wp:SKYISBLUE Jim1138 (talk) 09:40, 7 October 2017 (UTC)
 * Seems you've shot yourself in the foot there, IP:182. A calm and timely discussion here might have achieved your aim. Now we're all just waiting for you to pop up as another abusive edit-warring IP? Martinevans123 (talk) 09:48, 7 October 2017 (UTC) p.s. I must say your English is very good for a editor based in China.

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Ballet Imaginaire section
I've recently watched "When Louis Met...Paul and Debbie", a Louis Theroux programme produced for BBC in 2001. The programme focuses largely on Debbie and Paul's development of Ballet Imaginaire.

As it stands, this WP article sums up Debbie's three year Ballet Imaginaire project thus: "In 2000, McGee and Daniels set up Ballet Imaginaire to produce ballet shows and tour them around the country. However, the enterprise did not have financial success."

This summary of the project absolutely fails to do it justice and rather misses the point. Debbie and her husband did not establish Ballet Imaginaire as a money-making venture - they were a wealthy couple (effectively in retirement) and it is obvious that Ballet Imaginaire was set up to allow Debbie to fulfill a lifelong dream and passion (in the world of ballet). The fact that their first shows were hosted by relatively small (but beautiful) provincial theatres, indicates that Debbie did not venture into this with any grandiose ideas of being an impresario. Had that been the case she might have tried to persuade her husband to liquidate all their assets to launch their show in a premier London Theatre.

Debbie and Paul clearly approached the venture in a very grounded, realistic way. I doubt they had any expectations of achieving "financial success". Equally, I doubt the Ballet Imaginaire project was a financial failure in any (relatively) significant way (relative to their financial status).

Very few theatre productions (whether dance, drama, musical etc) achieve financial success. That is not an indicator of their overall success - overall success has to take into account the producers' objectives.

I believe that Debbie achieved her objectives insofar as she produced many ballet shows that were well attended and enjoyed by audiences.

Dismissing the whole venture in two short sentences has the air of a 'personal take' by whichever contributor wrote them. More could be written. For example: the number of shows produced, some information on how well attended they were, the personal/employment opportunities they afforded to aspiring dancers, the revenue they brought to provincial theatres and so on.

If it must be said that the project was not a "financial success", that needs to be qualified. What constitutes a "financial success"? And the use of the word 'however' in the quoted text is not encyclopaedic - it is judgemental. Omitting that single word changes the tone of the this paltry description of a three year project entirely. 2A00:23EE:2120:27FF:6C3C:5F5:C493:76FB (talk) 14:28, 26 June 2023 (UTC)

McGee's "work with dogs"
This is a reference to an unconfirmed rumour that there are photographs of McGee engaging in sexual acts with a dog. A quick Google search can confirm that this rumour is far more widely known than any actual work she has done with dogs. There are two references for this edit, one of which is a broken link. Both links in fact refer to the same event; McGee and husband Paul Daniels did some voice work for a regional UK animal charity in 2014. Aside from this one referenced instance from ten years ago, I could not find any evidence that McGee does work with dogs. Regardless of the unconfirmed rumour, a single instance of an activity does not make someone known for that activity. 82.12.213.26 (talk) 15:05, 3 May 2024 (UTC)


 * Yes, here's another, obviously for the same event. Here's a video. I tend to agree it may be too trivial to warrant inclusion. But I'm not sure that gives anyone licence to brand the original addition as "malicious". It may well have been added in good faith. Martinevans123 (talk) 15:16, 3 May 2024 (UTC)
 * As far as I can tell, this edit was originally made in this version:
 * https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Debbie_McGee&oldid=613776154
 * The editor originally also added the claim that McGee has collaborated with author Susan Wilson, with the only reference being a link to Wilson's website. There is no evidence that McGee and Wilson ever collaborated on any books, and this claim has since been removed. However, looking at https://www.susanwilsonwrites.com/, it's clear she almost exclusively writes novels about dogs.
 * Also, I should correct my previous comment, Thames Hospicecare is not an animal charity, it's a regular hospice for humans that produced a video with dogs in, which McGee did voicework for. Describing this as "work with dogs" is a stretch, given that McGee likely did not even come into contact with any of the dogs and none of it is for the benefit of dogs.
 * So the editor has added one very weak and somewhat inaccurate claim, and another that is completely false, in order to link McGee to dogs.
 * Finally, on a separate but related point, I've just seen that the current version of this article contains a claim that in 2005 McGee was made brand ambassador for "Good Boy" chocolates, a brand of dog chocolates. There's nothing online to back up this claim.
 * I'm happy to stand by my claim that these are malicious edits. 82.12.213.26 (talk) 17:07, 3 May 2024 (UTC)
 * I'm really not sure how you would "prove" any malice. And it might be somewhat pointless, even if you did. But I tend to agree with you that her connection with "dog charity work" is currently somewhat tenuous and possibly too trivial to be worthy of mention. Martinevans123 (talk) 17:12, 3 May 2024 (UTC)