Shirt…

…Queues for Myles.

Having convinced himself that he had not spent too much at ‘Bad Wolf’, the previous weekend (see D&S…Do Not Go To The Ball), Shirt decided to attend London Film and Comic Con at Earls Court 2. Having looked at the line-ups for the two days, Shirt chose to go on Sunday. Signing would be wife of the new series Master, Alexandra Moën; Series 3 guest star, Thomas Sangster; Blake’s 7 (and Eastenders) star, Michael Keating; Sixties companion, Frazer Hines; and Gwen Cooper herself, Eve Myles.

Arriving at 10.30am, Shirt decided not to join the long queue outside in the rain, waiting for 11am when they could be let in for a cheaper price, buying an ‘earlybird ticket’, and walking straight into the hall. Making a beeline for the queue for Eve, Shirt picked up a ‘virtual queue’ ticket numbered 378. The sign beside the queue indicated that Eve was up to 220. He also picked up a ‘virtual queue’ ticket for Frazer, who was very popular due to attendees getting a free autograph from him with entry.

Moving a few queues to the left, Shirt found only one person in the queue for Alexandra Moën. Struggling to extract his Series 3 poster from its cardboard tube, he approached the signing desk. Ms. Moën had just finished signing the man’s items, and he moved away. Picking up a photo for Dufus (as requested the previous weekend), Shirt paid for two autographs, getting first his poster, and then Dufus’ photo signed. Alexandra was very chatty, and so Shirt asked for a photo with her, which was duly taken by the steward sitting next to her.

Thanking Alexandra, Shirt moved off, noticing that the desk with Thomas Sangster’s photo over it was currently empty. Frazer’s queue was continuing to move slowly, and on Shirt’s return, Thomas had returned. Two minutes later and Shirt had another signature on his Series 3 poster. He then noticed no queue for Michael Keating, where he got him to sign the photo of Vila, Avon and Tarrant that he already had Paul Darrow and Stephen Pacey on. This done, Shirt again asked for a photo, for which the steward with Michael obliged.

The queue for Frazer was indicating tickets ‘1-80’, so Shirt joined the queue, but when the steward asked for his ticket it turned out to be 87, not 78 as Shirt had believed. However, Shirt was allowed to remain in the queue. Next to Frazer on the signing table was Nicholas Courtney, who seemed a little glum that Frazer was getting all the attention (but only because he was free). Frazer was in a chatty mood, and so the queue moved slowly. Eventually, Shirt reached the front, and Frazer was soon signing his copy of “Helicon Prime”.

Leaving the queue, Shirt glanced at his watch – 25 minutes and he had got everyone but Eve. A quick jaunt down to her queue revealed that she was up to 280.

Shirt therefore wandered round the stalls, looking for the latest DW comic book as its artist had a stall at the event. However, it was not to be released until the next week, so no-one had a copy for Shirt to get signed. He did however, buy two publicity postcards of Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law as Holmes and Watson from the forthcoming “Sherlock Holmes” film. Shirt then spent some time flicking through a rack of DVDs of programmes not currently available on official DVD – including “Dimensions in Time” – tempted by the idea of owning 80s classic ‘Manimal’ on DVD.

Finally returning to Eve’s queue, it seemed that she had reached 360, but had gone for lunch. Having wandered around for a further few minutes, on his return, Shirt found that although Eve was not back yet, they were allowing numbers up to 380 to queue. Joining the queue of six people, Shirt paid for two autographs (one for Dufus again) and selected two photos of Ms. Myles. The two young girls in front of him were very excited about meeting ‘Gwen’ (should they really be watching ?), but not as excited as about a forthcoming trip to Cardiff and the Bay, having spent twenty minutes googling the exact location of ‘The Rift’ and ‘The Hub’. A fan then completely ignored the large ‘No photographs or videoing’ signs, filming Scott Bakula at a nearby table. A steward stopped him doing so, so he moved to out of her eyeline and continued doing so. He was then stopped by another steward, but unrepentantly, continued doing so, a further five of six times from other locations.

After about fifteen minutes, the heavily pregnant, Eve returned, sitting down with a sigh. The queue moved quite swiftly, with Eve sharing the girls’ excitement, particularly when one turned out to be called Eve. Reaching the front of the queue, Shirt placed down his ‘Torchwood’ poster. The steward was initially confused about the two names written on the autograph slip, but Shirt made sure that Eve signed his poster ‘To Shirt’ and Dufus’ photo ‘To Dufus’. Due to the ‘No photographs’ signs, Shirt didn’t ask for a photo with Eve.

Restowing his ‘Torchwood’ poster, Shirt made his way out of the venue, slowly wending his way home via Naughty Asteroid.

[PL]