Shirt…

...and the Jackson Fight.

Seventh Galaxy Events were having enough signing….event ! Present were to be Tony Selby, who had been unable to attend the “Trial” DVD boxset signing (see S…and A Catharsis of Spurious Morality), Joseph Milson & Juliet Cowan (Maria’s parents from SJA), Ben Righton from “Smith and Jones” and “Turn Left”, and finally, Jimmy Winston from “Day of the Daleks” (and The Small Faces). Christmas fast approaching, and Chalky having a three-month old baby, meant that Shirt again made his lonely way to Barking.

Arriving at the ‘Social Club’ about fifteen minutes after the signing had been due to start, he joined the medium length queue leading to the signing table. Reaching the table where you needed to pay, staffed by Mrs. Hamble, he bought four autographs for the increased price of £10 each, getting another one free due to it being Christmas. Save photographs, no other memorabilia was being sold, but there were free Santa hats, one of which Shirt declined.

The queue moved swiftly, and twenty minutes later, Shirt was in front of Tony Selby. Having decided to forego Mr. Winston, he handed over his DVD covers for “The Myterious Planet” and “The Ultimate Foe”, and watched as two autographs were ticked off his sheet. Having already seen lots of previous “Mysterious Planet” covers that morning, Tony did not ask who the other signatures were, knowing them to be Glenn Murphy and Dominic Glynn.

Moving along, Shirt reached Juliet Cowan (Chrissie in SJA). Opening his SJA Series 1 boxset to the middle, he passed it across, another autograph being ticked off on his sheet. Juliet did not seem surprised to see the three signatures already there, the majority of people in the queue also having been to the Frames Bookshop signing (see D&S…Shatter Time). Juliet signed the boxset and slid it along to her screen ex-husband, Joseph Milson.

Joseph was just finishing a conversation with Ben Righton. The fan in front of Shirt had asked Ben what it had been like working with Anne Reid in “Smith and Jones”.

“She’s quite formidable”, Ben was saying, “It was one of my first jobs and I told her that I was having trouble learning my lines, and she just told me to get on with it”

“Anne played my mother in ‘Peak Practice’”, Joseph was telling Ben, “I know exactly what you mean”.

Turning back to Shirt, he also signed the boxset, before Shirt moved on to Ben, getting him to sign his Series 3 poster. Shirt’s autograph allowance having been used up, he side-stepped Jimmy Winston, taking a seat towards the back of the room, reading his MDW until the ‘Question and Answer’ sessions started.

Twenty minutes later, the queue had died away, and the first Q&A was ready to begin. First up was Tony, Ben & Jimmy, with Joseph and Juliet moving to seats by the bar at the back of the room. Having discussed how they got into acting, the guests had moved on to their memories of the Doctors that they had worked with. Out of the corner of his eye, Shirt noticed a young boy approaching Joseph and Juliet to surrepticiously get some extra items signed for no extra charge. A few minutes later and he was shooed away by a member of Seventh Galaxy Events staff, returning to a small group including his father, to boast about how many items he had got signed. The Q&A continued for a few more minutes, with questions taken from the floor, Shirt particularly enjoyed Tony Selby’s response to “What have you got coming up ?” – “This !”.

The first Q&A complete, Joseph and Juliet retook their places at the front of the room, whilst the other three went for a much needed rest. Similar questions were posed, with the lovely Ms. Sladen being substituted for “What was it like working with the Doctor in your story ?”. They also revealed that Yasmin Paige’s brother appeared in “Doctor Who” at about the same time as the first series of SJA was being filmed. Juliet was also very taken by two fans in the front row both dressed as Chrissie, one in the infamous fur coat (the original of which, Juliet confessed, is her own, which she wears all the time).

Suddenly there was a disturbance, as Seventh Galaxy staff approached the father of the boy who had earlier got free autographs from Joseph and Juliet. The man was being asked to come outside to discuss something, but refused to go quietly.

“You’re charging a fortune. The prices are too expensive !!”

“Please leave !”, the staff member countered.

“Don’t worry, I don’t intend to come back again”.

As he left, he had one final riposte – “You didn’t even have the DVDs!!”

Joseph and Juliet were most amused by all this, even though they didn’t quite know what was going on.

(The truth it turned out, was that following his son’s secret mission, the man had then accosted Tony Selby in the toilets for extra items).

The Q&A continued with Joseph critiquing the RSC Hamlet, having played the part himself over the summer. For someone who claims to be a friend of David Tennant, his comments were quite harsh, and nowhere near as glowing as Colin Baker’s praise of his own take on the role (see D&S…Attack of the Giant Noel Clarke). However, he won the audience back, by confirming that Mr. Tennant might do conventions in the future, but probably not until there is a Twelth Doctor.

This second Q&A completed, Shirt wended his way home, via Naughty Asteroid, musing on the morning’s events.

[PL]