Shirt…

...Gets a Rory Deal

Introduction

Seventh Galaxy Events were holding another Bad Wolf at the usual Birmingham hotel. Dufus, however, being without gainful employment was unable to attend. Shirt was umming-and-ahhing about going on his own when a triple whammy of guests was announced – David Troughton, Sophia Myles and Sean Gilder. This finally decided Shirt and he booked a ticket, as well as a hotel room, once he had found a room online that was half the double room rate that he usually shared with Dufus. He also managed to find bargain train and coach fares to travel to the ENC.

However, a week before the event, there was bad news on the Seventh Galaxy Events website – David, Sophia and Sean had all cancelled due to work commitments. There was however, some good news – Arthur ‘Rory’ Darvill would now be attending, as well as a ‘mystery guest’ from the New Series. Christopher ‘Jago’ Benjamin and Trevor ‘Litefoot’ Baxter would also be in attendance. Having enjoyed his last meeting with them (see CDS…Oh, The Horror of It All), Shirt , therefore resolved to make the best of things.

Day One (Saturday)

Leaving on a ridiculously early train, Shirt made his way to London Euston, and having taken his seat on his booked train, managed to listen to Parts One and Two of Large Endings’ first Sixth Doctor/Jamie audio “City of Spires”, before reaching Birmingham International. Hurrying from the station, Shirt made his way to the hotel and the registration desk, joining a short queue to get his convention pack. Inside he found two copies of the weekend’s schedule, a “Are You My Mummy?” button badge, a collage photo of the weekend’s main guests and a 10x8 photo of K9 (unsigned). The schedule (which had not been published as usual online prior to the event) indicated that the first set of autograph sessions had begun in the main hall, and so Shirt made his way there, leaving his overnight bag with the concierge as it was too early to check-in to his room.

Signing in the first session were Third Doctor companion, Caroline John; failed Ninth Doctor companion, Bruno Langley; and metal dog voice and ‘mystery guest’, John Leeson (‘Hence the photo’, thought Shirt). Several fans seemed to be moaning about John being described as a New Series guest, but Shirt ignored this, deciding to get the free photo signed. Next up was Bruno Langley, who as Shirt had met him twice before, signed an index card to go in Shirt’s Series 1 DVD boxset. Caroline had just returned from her photo studio session, and so Shirt got her to sign his “The Silurians” DVD cover.

There being a short gap before the next signing session, Shirt wandered into the merchandise room next door. Having browsed the stalls, and picked up the latest copy of the Large Endings “Vortex” magazine. Signing at the Large Endings’ stall later would be Chalky’s favourite companion, Sarah Sutton, as well as the lovely Lisa Bowerman. However, both were still on their way up in Lisa’s car. Colin Baker, another sponsored guest was also away from his table. Moving back to reception, Shirt noticed that ‘coffee clubs’ had now been renamed ‘guest encounters’, and that you either bid for a place or entered a raffle for two other places. Shirt decided not to involve himself in this.

Returning to the signing hall, the second session was about to begin. Event crew were indicating the currently empty tables and who would be signing at each one. Avoiding the longest queue, for Ian McNeice (Churchill in “Victory of the Daleks”), Shirt stood in front of the table for Ruari Mears (monster man in Series 2, 3, 4 and the Specials). Shirt was at the front, but as no-one joined behind him, it could not really be called a queue. Ruari arrived, and took the lack of a queue at his table in good heart. Struggling with his poster tube, Shirt got Ruari on his Series 2 poster and Specials poster, handing over also the extra autograph voucher that he had bought earlier.

Next up was Nicholas Briggs, who signed Shirt’s “Holmes and the Ripper” with limited discussion, save stating that it was nice to see Shirt again, but can you remind me of your name. Shirt then moved on to Andrew Hayden-Smith who signed Shirt’s “The Cyberman Collection”. Deciding to leave Ian to last, Shirt joined a short queue for Gary Russell, getting his “Dreamland” DVD cover, “Divided Loyalties” books and “SJA: The White Wolf” CD cover signed (the front desk indicating that all extras from Mr. Russell were free). It seemed that Phil Ford, writer on all three strands of the franchise was not present, and so Shirt finally joined the queue for Ian McNeice, adding another signature to his Series 5 poster.

Re-entering the merchandise room, Shirt noticed that Colin Baker was now seated, promoting his book of newspaper columns. The rule was that unless you bought the book, you could not get another item signed. Shirt decided therefore that he was willing to pay the £10 for the book to get his “The Twin Dilemma” DVD cover signed. Book purchased, and signed but not dedicated, Shirt proffered the cover for Colin to sign with a flourish. Another audience with Shirt’s favourite Doctor at an end, he wandered over to the other end of the room where Sarah Sutton and Lisa Bowerman were now sitting at the Large Endings’ stall. Only two of the “Stockbridge Trilogy” CDS were on the table, and so Shirt purchased these at two for £20, as well as the Charley Pollard/Celestial Toymaker audio “Solitaire”.

Sarah happily signed the CDs, as well as “Return to the Web Planet”, which Shirt had brought with him. Lisa signed the “Jago and Litefoot – Series 1” boxset, as well as Companion Chronicle “The Criminal Code” and the “Dreamland” DVD cover.

“Remind me of your name”, said Lisa, “I should remember it”.

“Shirt”, said Shirt.

“Of course it is”, said Lisa enchantingly.

Signings completed for the day, Shirt took the opportunity to wander back to the station and then via a monorail onto the airport to find the bus stop from which he was to catch his bus home, and grab some lunch from Waders. Finding an internet point, he decided to check on other ways to get home, as the final panel of the next day, which he would need to leave in the middle of to catch the bus, was Arthur Darvill’s. Having found that there were not any later coaches, he decided to go by train, but was unable to make the website take his booking. The booking office at the station was unable to sell him the same sort of ticket, and so Shirt had to ring up to book the ticket, finally getting to speak to a human not a machine.

Back at the hotel, he managed to check-in early, retrieving his bag from the concierge and dumping all his excess items in the room. Returning to the main hall, he settled down into a good seat just behind the gold and silver pass holders. The first panel featured Andrew Hayden-Smith, Bruno Langley and Ruari Mears, discussing early fame, monster work, character development, and future plans. Next up was Caroline John, who discussed working with Jon, a desire for Liz to be in “Torchwood” and her views of the new ‘Homo Reptilia’.

The next panel was something different, a screening of a New Series episode with live commentary by Ian McNeice and Nicholas Briggs.

“Which episode do you think it will it be ?”, someone behind Shirt asked her friends in all innocence.

Her friends quite rightly, predicted “Victory of the Daleks”, given the two guests. Cue a highly amusing forty-five minutes, as Ian and Nick gave attendees a glimpse of the fun that can be had making “Doctor Who”. Ian suggested that he had had affairs with many of the female cast, Nick plugged Noel Clarke’s new film “4.3.2.1” in which he has a cameo, and Ian revealed the secrets of his special-effects cigar, as well as the many props that he had ‘accidentally’ taken home with him, and his illegal filming of proceedings.

“I’m open to offers for the footage”, he joked, before the lights were raised very sharply and everyone in the hall cried out in pain. Nick and Ian then took part in a short question-and-answer session.

The final panel featured Nicholas Briggs again, this time joined by fellow ‘voice actor’ John Leeson, who seemed keen to talk about as much of the rest of his career as he could. He also gave a less than glowing view on the new K9 series, despite it providing him with work.

The day’s main events ended with the annual Auction, and Shirt found himself bidding for and winning the original “Doctor Who Trump Card Game” (the presence of a certain Great Detective amongst the ‘Historical Figures’ which added to the ‘Monsters’, obviously having nothing to do with his bids).

The usual lot of a bottle of “Bubbleshock” was wheeled out, along with various ‘rare’ promotional items from previous conventions. All items sold, and the hall was emptied to prepare it for the 1940s-themed party.

Due to being unable to get a ‘live feed’ into the convention hall, that evening’s episode “The Lodger” would not be being shown on the big screen, so Shirt retired to his room, to settle down to watch the anti-penultimate episode of Matt Smith’s first season. Downstairs, the hotel bar was filled with fans watching the episode. Unfortunately despite the episode having a football theme, hotel staff changed the channel at 7.25pm ready for England’s first match of the 2010 World Cup at 7.30pm, meaning that the fans saw adverts instead of the last few minutes of the episode. Upstairs, Shirt had no such problems.

Deciding to forego the first-half of the England game, Shirt went out in search of nourishment, deciding to make for the airport’s large Burger King just a minute away from the monorail. Returning to his room just in time for the lacklustre football second-half, and having picked up his train ticket for the next day, Shirt decided not to bother going to the party, as he still had a headache from the bright lights earlier, preparing his items for signing the next day, then had an ‘early night’.

Go to Day Two

[PL]