Yesterday was the 45th Anniversary of the first broadcast of Doctor Who. Not that you’d know that from the BBC, who did almost nothing to commemorate this momentous day (there was a mention of it before the broadcast of the latest Eighth Doctor story, The Zygon Who Fell To Earth, on Radio 7)
I’d been doing lots of celebrating myself though.
The week before I’d been along to the Sarah Jane Adventures signing at Borders in Oxford Street. This was a great treat for me, as I’d wanted to meet Elisabeth Sladenfor a very long time (I nearly had on two previous occasions). Obviously the series is aimed at children, so the event was too – there had been a competition for children to win the chance to attend an exclusive reading by Lis, which I managed to experience by standing near the roped-off area (although I couldn’t hear what was being read). I was so excited just to be there! The competition winners then had their items signed and were allowed to have photos taken with Lis and the two other stars from the show, Tommy Knight and Daniel Anthony. I joined the queue with the rest of the non-winners to wait my turn to meet them and get my DVD signed.
I have to say the the staff at Borders were very lovely, keeping us informed of what was happening, how long we would have to wait and keeping us supplied with free activity sheets and wristbands. My only criticism would be that as I got towards the front of the queue (getting towards the end of the time allotted for the event) the staff told us we were now only allowed to have three items signed, which was reduced to one item just before I reached the front of the queue. As I only had one item to be signed, this didn’t bother me, but I think perhaps they should have applied a limit from the beginning (apart from for the competition winners). Oh, well. Also a note to add how very well behaved all the children were when waiting in the queue – I’m impressed with their patience.
I finally made it to the front of the queue and handed my DVD across to Daniel, along withthe sticky note we’d been given with our name on to help them know who to sign stuff to (Daniel and Tommy were fighting over these, to try and see who could collect the most ‘friends’!). Daniel said hello, and was very friendly, although I don’t think I managed to say much to him because next to sign was Lis, who also said hello. I was very awe-struck at just being there, but then she complimented me on the beret I was wearing and I just blethered a thank you (at least, that’s what I intended). My DVD was then passed to Tommy to sign. All three were very friendly and chatty and took plenty of time to talk to everyone as they were signing so that it didn’t feel rushed at all, and was well worth the wait. An extra treat then arrived in the shape of writer Gareth Roberts and former DWM editor Clayton Hickman.
Then we come to the anniversary itself.
On the day I was at the Memorabilia fair at the NECin Birmingham. There were various film, sport and games stands and people, but there was also a Doctor Who zone, filled withpeople from boththe new and classic series, along with various merchandise stands.
I arrived and got through the ticket queue just in time to go to the first Who talk. The panel was a good mix of old and new series people, with companions Anneke Wills (Polly), Frazer Hines (Jamie), Tracey Childs (Metella in Fires of Pompeii) and Ayesha Antoine (Dee Dee in Midnight). There was lots of chat about their various experiences of being in Doctor Who, as well as watching it.
Then there was time for a quick wander round before it was back to the stage area for another talk, this time with Torchwood’s Gareth David-Lloyd. He talked about Torchwood in general, how his character has grown from teaboy to dodging bullets (a phrase he used a few times about what Ianto is up to in series 3, so watch out for that), and how popular the series is in America. He also joked about the new Torchwood figures, and how he thought his figure should have been in the first wave released, rather than cybergirl who was only in one episode. He also spoke about being in Doctor who (Stolen Earth/Journey’s End) and the radio episode of Torchwood. After the talk there was an extra photo session put on, so I paid my money to get my picture taken with Gareth as the stand where he was signing said ‘no photos’.
In the afternoon there was another Doctor Who panel, this time with Colin Spaull (Revelation of the Daleks and Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel), Daniel King (The Unicorn and the Wasp), Paul Marc Davis (Utopia and The Trickster from SJA) and Anna Hope (New Earth/Gridlock). Again there was chat about their experiences of being in Doctor Who, and particularly from Anna Hope who had a long time being put in her mask to play a cat nun. There were also questions about where they would go if they had a time machine and who should be cast as the next Doctor.
After the talk there was just time to get photos with all of the guests (as well as those already mentioned, Katy Manning and Nicola Bryantwere there too). Everyone was very approachable and friendly and I even had a bit of a chat with some of them – I talked to Tracey Childsfor what seemed like ages about the golden era of Doctor Who with Tom Baker and Lalla Ward, as well as her appearance as Metellaand the Cambridge Latin Course ( and the dog, Cerberus, who should have been in it!). So I’ve been able to bring some lovely memories how with me from a fantastic celebratory day.
