Hello everyone! 🙂
Last weekend, I had a lovely and an exciting time attending a ‘Doctor Who’ convention at the Arora Hotel in Gatwick. I attended ‘The Capitol II’ two-day convention, run by the ‘Doctor Who Appreciation Society’ (DWAS). It was the first time I attended a ‘Doctor Who’ convention by DWAS!
‘The Capitol II’ convention was the first convention for me this year in 2017! It was also perfect timing for a convention, as it was my birthday treat for this year! I’ve never been so lucky to attend a ‘Doctor Who’ convention for my birthday and also see my favourite stars for that amazing weekend!
Here are some of the highlights of that weekend for me!
Day 1 (Saturday 6th May 2017)
The convention began with a ‘Cyberthen/Cybernow’ panel talk. This featured the three Cybermen contributors to the ‘Doctor Who’ series – Jon Davey, David Banks and Nicholas Briggs. There was then a ‘Virgin Adventures’ panel that featured two novel/audio writers Gary Russell and Mike Tucker.
I later went to an autograph session and met Daphne Ashbrook who played Grace Holloway in the TV Movie of ‘Doctor Who’ with Paul McGann. It was lovely to see Daphne again after first meeting her in ‘Dimensions 2015’. She remembered my name at that convention and I had photos with her.
I also met David Banks the ‘EXCELLENT’ Cyber Leader from ‘Earthshock’. I had a nice chat with David and had a photo with him. I also met Gary Russell and Mike Tucker and had some nice chats with them on writing and ‘Doctor Who’ timelines. I also met producer Philip Hinchcliffe at the convention.
By the afternoon, I attended the ‘Highly Impressionable’ panel talk with Jon Culshaw, a very good impersonator of Tom Baker. There was a surprise during that panel as writer/script editor Terrance Dicks turned up. I got to meet and see Jon Culshaw and Terrance Dicks during an autograph session.
I also attended the ‘Gothic Horror’ panel talk with producer Philip Hinchcliffe and the ‘K9 Timequake’ panel talk with writers Bob Baker and Paul Tams, who co-created the latest ‘K-9’ series. There’s the news that a new movie with K-9 and Omega is going to be made, which was…interesting.
The day finished with the ‘Challenge Daffers’ panel talk with Daphne Ashbrook which I enjoyed. I purchased some items from the Big Finish stall including ‘The Ninth Doctor Chronicles’ and two ‘Early Adventures’ with the First Doctor. I also purchased ‘The Crawling Terror’ book, signed by Mike Tucker.
Day 2 (Sunday 7th May 2017)
Sunday was the highlight of the weekend for me, as it was the day before my birthday and my favourite ‘Doctor Who’ star was there! Guess who?! 😀 I was so pleased to see Sarah Sutton (Nyssa of Traken) on that day and also seeing Matthew Waterhouse, Katy Manning and Peter Purves there.
The day began with the ‘Blue Who’ panel talk with Peter Purves, which I enjoyed. There was then the ‘Big Finish’ panel talk with Jason Haigh-Ellery, Nicholas Briggs and Benji Clifford. I made my debut on their latest Big Finish podcast at the convention which I’m so thrilled about and you can find here.
Of course the joy of the day was seeing Sarah Sutton again at the convention. She was pleased to see me and I got to share my birthday with Sarah, including some cake. I also got to have photos with Sarah during the day. These included a Companions Group photo and a photo with Sarah and Matthew Waterhouse. I also saw Sarah for some autograph sessions and had lovely chats with her.
I also got to meet Matthew Waterhouse during autograph sessions as well as Peter Purves, writer Andrew Smith, Judy Cornwell (who played Maddy in ‘Paradise Towers’ as well as Daisy in ‘Keeping Up Appearances’), Pik-Sen Lim (who played Captain Chin in ‘The Mind of Evil’) and Stephen Thorne (who played Azal in ‘The Dæmons’; Omega in ‘The Three Doctors’ and Eldrad in ‘The Hand of Fear’).
I later went to see Katy Manning and Daphne Ashbrook at their ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’ panel talk. I also attended the ‘Full Circle’ panel talk with Sarah Sutton, Matthew Waterhouse, writer Andrew Smith and Anthony Quinn, who is the son-in-law of the late camera supervisor Alec Wheal.
I enjoyed the ‘Full Circle’ panel talk and got to be interactive with Sarah and Matthew during the Q&A session. There was also the ‘Finale’ with a raffle and Sarah took part in it. The day finished with me saying goodbye to Sarah and also thanking her in making my day and birthday at the convention.
‘The Capitol II’ convention was a great birthday weekend for me. Sunday was a busier day compared to Saturday and I didn’t get everything I wanted signed by guests on the day. But it didn’t matter, since I know I’ll be seeing Sarah Sutton again and I’m so pleased I got to see her before my birthday.
By the way, I’ve updated some ‘Doctor Who’ reviews with new signed CD/DVD covers and photos with the stars. They include ‘Mission To The Unknown’ (TV); ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’ (TV); ‘The Ghosts of Gralstead’ (Audio); ‘The Devil’s Armada’ (Audio); ‘Cold Fusion’ (Book/Audio); ‘Earthshock’ (TV) and ‘Paradise Towers’ (TV).
Thanks for reading!
Bye for now!
Tim. 🙂
Bradley's Basement 
Timmmmmmmmm, lol you got a photo taken with Daphne Ashbrook who i remember being in episode of Knight Rider, Airwolf & i had a huge crush on her during the 80’s as she appeared in several of my tv shows.
I like how Matthew Waterhouse stuck his thumb up in the group photo was that his response to you asking him to redub Andrew Sachs lines in The Boy That Time Forgot for timelord007 lol.
Nice picture of you & Sarah & Mike Tucker was there who i think is a very unrated writer & my favourite producer Philip Hinchcliffe & the legendary Terrance Dicks was there in attendance too.
I met Katy Manning & she’s lovely she gave me a big hug & squeezed my cheeks & said i was a cute, Jo Grant said i was cute i loved that lol.
Glad you had a great day Tim, if i ever break free of this social phobia that has affected my anxiety after my several breakdowns I’d love to attend a convention & meet some Doctor Who stars & writers.
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Hi Simon.
Glad you enjoyed my convention report. It was a great weekend for me and a lovely treat for my birthday.
I had plenty of opportunities to see Daphne Ashbrook during the day. I got to see her more at this convention compared to the first time I saw her at ‘Dimensions 2015’ in Newcastle. She was lovely to me and I enjoyed her anecdotes at the convention itself.
I’m not sure why Matthew gave a thumps up during the companions group photo. Perhaps he was pleased I was in the photo with them. 😀 I’m so pleased I got to sit next to Sarah on my right in the photo. Not sure why Matthew fell asleep in the photo with me, him and Sarah though. 😀
I’m so lucky to have seen Sarah for my birthday a second time. Sarah commented how she was seeing me for my birthday lately and I told her how nice it was to see her again in such a long time. I can’t wait to see Sarah again at the ‘EM-Con Bedford’ event in July.
I had a nice chat with Mike Tucker at the convention. He was apparently a last-minute guest since somebody else had to drop out and I got to have his book ‘The Crawling Terror’ signed by him. Terrance Dicks was also a nice surprise as I didn’t expect him to appear when Jon Culshaw did a really good impersonation of hm at his panel (which Terrance didn’t think so). I told him how much I enjoyed his Target novelizations of ‘Doctor Who’ and got to ask him about his production of ‘Oliver Twist’ for the BBC. I was in awe of Philip Hinchcliffe and I got to tell him my favourite stories of his era were ‘Robots of Death’ and ‘Talons of Weng-Chiang’.
I’m afraid I didn’t get to see a lot of Katy Manning during the day, but she was lovely to watch during her convention panels and I did get to hug Katy during a challenge at the panel.
I’m in the latest Big Finish podcast for ‘The Capitol II’ convention in case you didn’t know. Have you listened to me.
Thanks for your comments on my convention report, Simon. Glad you enjoyed the photos and how I found the weekend.
Tim. 🙂
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