Chalky, Dufus, Enigma, Zygon Curry & Shirt...

...K9 & Company

A convention had been announced being held on a Sunday at Epsom Funcottage, only 15 minutes away from Shirt’s home. To celebrate the 40th anniversary (that’s 280 in dog years !) of K9’s first appearance (01/10/1977), his voice, creator, designer, and operator were to be reunited, along with a number of his co-stars (and the Fifth and Sixth Doctors who never appeared with K9, unless you count ‘Search for the Doctor‘). Tickets had been booked months before to take advantage of a discount, and the whole gang were intending to attend. However, as is always the way, circumstances change, and Lupine had to withdraw at a late stage due to having to help his girlfriend move house, and Scooby was an even later withdrawal due to illness.

Dufus had come down on the Saturday, and that evening he and Shirt had failed to “go in” to a read-through of “Not Going Out” in a small pub theatre, despite having Priority tickets due to Shirt having failed to get in to another read-through a few days before. The new plan was to make their way to the area of the next day’s proceedings, watching ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’ at Epsom Odeon, before dashing back to Shirt’s in the early hours, Dufus managing to prolong the journey by a wrong turn.

Having snatched a few hours sleep, they left on time, making their way first to pick up Chalky, who passed them walking up to the nearby supermarket. They therefore joined him in the supermarket to get drinks to take with them. Chalky then made the mistake of attempting to direct Dufus on the best way to Epsom, leading to a number of wrong turns due to his misunderstanding directions. Enigma texted several times to state that she was in a queue, then out of the queue when it moved quickly and she did not have her ticket (all tickets still being with Shirt). Finally, they pulled into the multi-storey car park, and after trying several spaces and levels, Dufus parked up. Chalky rushed off to join Enigma, with Dufus and Shirt following on behind.

The queue was still moving swiftly, and a few places ahead was Servalan. Shirt handed out the tickets, which were then exchanged for carrier bags containing the entry wristband, a souvenir poster, several leaflets and an event schedule. Shirt also picked up the bag for Zygon Curry, who had sent a message stating that he would be there about 12pm.

Going into the auditorium they took seats, and began looking through their ‘goody-bags’, being slightly confused by a leaflet for a Brighton Bonsai business, until Shirt found something stating that the business was owned by Eric ‘The Invasion of Time’ Danot.

The lights went down, and the first guest of the day was Paul Lavers (Farrah in ‘The Androids of Tara’ and star of the Haribo ads), who regaled the hall with stories of his carousing with GOD (or Tom Baker, if you prefer), before being joined by Rosalind Lloyd (Nurse in ‘The Pirate Planet’) and her little dog too.

Leaving the auditorium they made their way into the autograph room, with Dufus joining the queue for Louise Jameson, whilst the others queued for their free autographs from Tony Harding (who built and designed the original K9 prop) and Mat Irvine (who took over the operation of K9). Dufus was surprised that having given a £10 note, he had been given £5 change (believing Louise to be £10 per signature). Mat was pleased to see Shirt had brought a copy of his ‘Special Effects’ book along, signing it with a large smile on his face. Dufus then moved on to Peter Davison, buying a signed copy of his autobiography.

The others had moved on to Paul Lavers and Rosalind Lloyd who had just sat down. Enigma had initially stated that she had nothing for them to sign, but at the others suggestion, got her souvenir poster signed.

Dufus had now rejoined them, and they side-stepped to a man that they did not recognise, but correctly guessed that it was Eric Danot.

Next up was Michael Keating, who though best known as Vila in ‘Blake’s 7’, also appeared as Goudry in ‘The Sun Makers’.

The guest that they were most interested in, Nigel Plaskitt (Unstoffe from ‘The Ribos Operation’, muppeteer, and voice of Hartley Hare) had not yet arrived, so they got their free Bob Baker autographs (Shirt ‘ringing the changes’ by getting him to sign a ‘Wallace and Gromit’ DVD cover), and returned to the auditorium after quickly looking at the Alex Wheal Collection, mementoes from WHO’s regular lead cameraman, compiled by his family after his death.

They were just in time for the end of Nigel Plaskitt’s panel. Fifth Doctor, Peter Davison, was next, being slightly unsettled by being interviewed surrounded by Daleks, but still managing to put in several plugs for his book.

Finally (12:45) Zygon Curry had texted to say that he had arrived, and waiting two minutes for Peter’s panel to finish, Shirt finally popped out of the auditorium to find him speaking to the box office despite having been previously told that Shirt had not left his ticket there. The two then quickly popped into the signing room, managing to get Nigel Plaskitt’s autograph, Shirt on a photograph that he had previously got signed by Timothy Bateson ten years before. The others then joined them, also quickly getting Nigel’s signature, before they all went into the nearby shopping centre to buy and eat some lunch. They were joined in this by a friend of Zygon Curry’s.

Dufus and Shirt returned some items to Dufus’ car, before rejoining the others in the auditorium for the first panel of the afternoon, Colin Baker, whose interviewer started by listing areas that he had been instructed to cover, such as a book and forthcoming audio, then promptly forgot to mention them again. Colin was then briefly joined by a young girl who was in the Guinness Book of Records for allegedly having the ‘largest Doctor Who collection’.

Meanwhile Enigma had popped out, returning with a poster of a Haynes Manual cover for K9, signed by Bob Baker & Paul Tams (producer of the new K9 series).

“It was only £5, and they both signed it”, she told them.

In the next break, Chalky, Dufus and Shirt, all went and bought a copy. However, when the latter two went, Paul Tams was away from the signing table, but they were told that he would sign it later for no charge. They both then decided to also get it signed by Tony Harding, with Dufus getting John Leeson to sign it also. (Shirt held back, hoping to use his audiobook copy of John’s autobiography, ‘Tweaking the Tail’ to get a free autograph later).

There then followed the first of a series of K9 panels, the first featuring Bob Baker, who was then joined by Tony Harding, Mat Irvine, and an original K9 prop.

Next up was the voice of K9 himself, John Leeson, who was joined after a while by Paul Tams (hence his being away from his table) who spoke about the proposed movie ‘Timequake’.

Next up were Michael Keating and Eric Danot, the latter turning out to be a friend of the organiser. Despite his limited screen-time Eric still had an anecdote relating to “corpsing corpses”. They was then joined by Louise Jameson, who on seeing him, began reciting the same anecdote. Michael and Eric having left after a few minutes, Louise kept the auditorium entranced with her memories of ‘Doctor Who’ and ‘Tenko’ and her involvement with Large Endings.

There was then a short panel talking about Alec Wheal, with Colin and Louise adding to anecdotes told by his family members. Having to get home, Chalky left at this point. There was then a final reunion of Bob, Tony, Mat, John, Paul & K9 onstage, before the event came to an end.

At this point Enigma left also. However, Dufus and Shirt were staying for John Leeson’s one-man show ‘A Dog’s Life’ that evening, and had Lupine’s ticket spare which they gave to Zygon Curry. Having all found somewhere to eat in Epsom, they reconvened in what had been the signing room, but was now back to being a studio theatre. John sat on a red sofa, referring to prompts on his laptop, as he spoke about the many strings to his bow, including ‘Mastermind’ question-writer, photographer, wine expert, and magistrate.

The show completed, Dufus bought a copy of the book, and Shirt seeing no audiobook versions that he could have claimed to have bought, paid £10 for John to sign his K9 Manual poster. Zygon Curry meanwhile asked John to pose for a photo.

Exiting the theatre, Shirt directed Zygon Curry to the bus stop where he could get a bus direct to Morden, and from there Tubes home.

Dufus and Shirt returned to Dufus’ car, paying at a machine on the way for their day’s stay. Returning to Shirt’s, Dufus almost took the same wrong turn again. Dufus had not decided whether he was going to return home that night or the next morning, but after a few minutes inside Shirt’s decided on the latter.

It had been the most local convention that any of them had attended, and all hoped that it might become an annual event.

[PL]