Shirt...

...The Sky's The Limit.

Guest Starring: Zygon Curry

2011 had been a bad year for classic WHO luminaries, with Nicholas Courtney and Elisabeth Sladen dying within a few months of each other. This meant that Series Five of the Sarah Jane Adventures would be the last. Having had a successful event at the TFN previewing the Matt Smith and Katy Manning guest-starring episode of Series Four, IBF decided to go all out for their preview of the opening episode of the final series, moving the preview to the IBF IMAX behind Waterloo Station. The preview was originally only for children and their parents, but on realising quite how many seats there were to fill in the new venue, booking was opened to all. Having seen this, Shirt decided to book a ticket, in the hope of meeting some of the cast.

Having spent the week testing a new Probation IT system, Shirt made his way to the South Bank in plenty of time for the event, so wasted an hour in the IBF Mediatheque at the TFN, watching an episode of ‘Knightmare’ in which four idiots from Worcester Park and Sutton completely failed to progress any distance through the game, and ‘Emmerdale Farm’ episodes featuring Louise Jameson. Moving to the IBF IMAX, and picking up his ticket from one of the ticket machines, Shirt mingled in the foyer with a variety of families and grown-up fans. At 6.15pm, the crowd was let up the stairs and into the auditorium, where they all found their assigned seats.

At 6.30pm, the lights dimmed slightly, and a member of IBF staff welcomed everyone, before the head of CBBC paid tribute to Lis. The lights then dimmed further, and the first two episodes edited together were projected onto the large screen. 50 minutes later and the lights came up again, and Chris Johnson, CBBC continuity man and MDW ‘Time Team’ member came onto the microphone, introducing the guests for the ‘Q&A’ session – head writer, Phil Ford; writer, Gareth Roberts; and cast members Tommy Knight, Daniel Anthony, Anjli Mohindra and Sinead Michael (the eponymous ‘Sky’ in the first story).

The session went well with usual questions of “What’s your favourite monster/episode/guest star ?”, as well as “What’s been your most embarassing moment on the programme ?”. There was a brief period of shocked silence after one child asked “How did you feel after you heard that Lis had died ?”, but this was quickly glossed over. After nearly an hour of questions, the screening came to an end and everyone trooped out.

As he reached the stairs back to the foyer, Shirt noticed a small group surrounding Tommy and Sinead, who it turned out had tried to sneak to the toilet. Grabbing his SJA Series 3 DVD cover, Shirt joined the queue, as he did so he heard his name being called from the stairs, and turned to see Zygon Curry, another recent gang member, walking down.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes”, he mouthed, before disappearing out of sight.

Meanwhile, Shirt had managed to get Tommy’s signature on his DVD cover when Tommy finally managed to get Shirt’s silver pen to work. Having ummed-and-ahhed, Shirt decided to get Sinead’s autograph too, in an exercise book that he had been given for the IT testing.

Moving away, Shirt was just in time to meet up with Zygon Curry again, who was just accosting Phil Ford and getting his autograph, whilst asking a question that Phil didn’t seem to understand. Leaping on his chance, Shirt also got Phil on his DVD cover, whilst Zygon Curry joined the small queue for Tommy and Sinead. Having got Tommy’s signature on one of the large white boards that he gets signed, Zygon Curry was annoyed at accidentally making a black spot on the next board with his pen, and so donated it to Shirt, who asked if he could get Sinead to sign it, as the exercise book was lined. He did so, and as they walked back down the stairs to the foyer intending to walk to Waterloo Station together, they shared their unease at getting the autograph of a thirteen year old girl.

However, on reaching the foyer, they found large groups of people around what turned out to be Daniel and Anjli. Shirt therefore rummaged for his items for signing in his bag, having stowed them away again. Having grabbed the cardbaord envelope, he dragged his open bag behind him towards Daniel, who was frantically signing anything put under his nose, including about nine items for one fan. However, Shirt finally got him on the photograph that he already had signed by Tommy and Anjli at Memorabilia nearly a year before and on his Series 3 DVD cover, whilst Zygon Curry got another board signed.

Turning round, Shirt realised that he had left a trail of items from his bag, which he swiftly scooped up and stuffed back into the bag. Both he and Zygon Curry then made their way towards Anjli, Shirt begging Zygon Curry to take a photo of him with her. Having got a fourth signature on the DVD sleeve, Shirt asked for a photo which she happily posed for, taken by Zygon Curry. It was then Zygon Curry’s turn for a photo which he foolishly asked Shirt to take, meaning that instead of the close-up that he was expecting, a long-shot of the two of them was the result. Having taken a further photo of Daniel, and having realised that having donated one board to Shirt, he did not have one for Anjli, Zygon Curry attempted to get another photo with Anjli. Unfortunately, she had a car waiting for her, and so had to rush off without Shirt being able to make amends.

Having got autographs from all those signing, Shirt and Zygon Curry finally made their way to the Station from which they wended their merry ways home, full of expectation for Sarah Jane’s last hurrah.

[PL]