Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
I’ve had an exciting and adventurous weekend at the ‘London Film & Comic Con’ for July 2017. This was the second time I attended the event, as I attended the ‘London Film & Comic Con’ at the Earl’s Court building in July 2011. The event was still so overwhelming the second time I attended it.
This event was held at the Olympia in Kensington, London for three days from Friday the 28th to Sunday the 30th of July. I attended the event on the Saturday and Sunday of that weekend. I met up with Stephen, my best mate from school, on Saturday and met my favourite ‘Doctor Who’ stars too!
All in all, it was a very successful weekend indeed. There was plenty to do and it was huge scale event, especially in London. But that doesn’t mean to say it was altogether perfect. It’s difficult to not talk about the issues with this Showmasters comic con event. Three issues spring to mind for me.
London Film & Comic Con 2017, Olympia, July 2017
Firstly, there’s the crowd control as there were so many attendees on the two days. The event for Saturday was sold out and it a challenge to manoeuvre my way around and find where everything was. Sunday wasn’t as bad as Saturday, but it was still very busy and things happened at a fast pace.
Secondly, there were the queues in connection to the crowd control. Because there were so many people attending, it took a while to see my favourite stars. I was expecting the queues to have died down by the time the afternoon came, but the queues were still long and I had to take my chances.
Thirdly, there was the expensiveness of the event. Now with London, that is to be expected. But there were other guests as well as ‘Doctor Who’ stars in attendance like John Cleese and Benedict Cumberbatch. As much as I would like to meet them, their autograph prices were pretty high for me.
I’ve read feedback from other people who attended the event on how they felt disgruntled in connection to the three issues I mentioned. But you have to be forgiving to Showmasters for organising ‘London Film & Comic Con’, as it’s a massive event and they have so many guests there.
I’m glad I made the wise decision to stick with seeing the ‘Doctor Who’ stars; otherwise I wouldn’t be able to achieve all I wanted at the comic con. I suppose I’m not used to the mega scale events like the ‘London Film & Comic Con’, as I prefer smaller and intimate events like the ‘GEEKS Salisbury Comic Con’.
But anyway, that’s enough of the negative stuff of the ‘London Film & Comic Con’. Let’s talk about the positive stuff, as I gained a lot from attending the event. Here are some of the highlights for me!
Saturday 29th July 2017
On Saturday, I went to see some of the displays they had the comic con. They had the ‘Batman Display’ which included vehicles from the ‘Batman’ TV series with Adam West. I was thrilled to see the Batmobile with the Batcycle and the Batboat. I had my photo taken with the Batmobile that day!
The Sons of Skaro also came in attendance at the comic con. I saw these Dalek guys previously at the ‘GEEKS Salisbury Comic Con’. I took some photos of the Daleks as well as having my photo with the Bronze Dalek from the new series. The Dalek Emperor from ‘The Evil of the Daleks’ was also there that day!
In terms of the guests, I saw Lalla Ward who played Romana in ‘Doctor Who’. I had a photo shoot with Lalla and had some nice chats with her during two signing sessions. I had the covers of some of my favourite stories signed by Lalla, including ‘City of Death’ and the audiobook CD cover of ‘Shada’.
I also saw Mark Strickson who played Turlough in the ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. It was great catching up with Mark again. I had a photo shoot with Mark as well as seeing him for chats during two signing sessions. Mark told me he was going to produce another wildlife documentary back in New Zealand.
There was also Sylvester McCoy who played the Seventh Doctor in ‘Doctor Who’. It was great to see Sylvester again. During the signing session, I had my copy of the ‘Cold Fusion’ book and the CD cover of the audio adaptation of ‘Cold Fusion’ signed by Sylvester. I also had a photo shoot with Sylvester.
I also met Selwyn Ward who played T.J. in ‘Power Rangers’ in the ‘Turbo’ and ‘In Space’ series from the 1990s. I had a nice chat with Selwyn and enjoyed sharing with him how much I loved watching ‘Power Rangers’ as a kid and he was pleased to hear that. I also had a photo shoot with Selwyn too.
Sunday 30th July 2017
On Sunday, I managed to get a group shoot with Doctors and companions inside the 1980s TARDIS. These included Sylvester McCoy, Nicola Bryant, Matthew Waterhouse and Louise Jameson. I also had a photo shoot of me sitting in the captain’s chair from ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’. Yippee!!
I saw Matthew Waterhouse, who played Adric in ‘Doctor Who’, for two signing sessions in the morning. It was great catching up with him. I enjoyed hearing him share his latest audio work with Big Finish and the BBC. I also chatted to him about the ‘Four To Doomsday’ novelization/audiobook.
I also saw Nicola Bryant, who played Peri in ‘Doctor Who’, for two signing sessions in the morning. It was lovely seeing Nicola again and I said “Hello!” to her from Colin Baker from the Salisbury event. I chatted with Nicola about ‘The Two Doctors’ and of her appearance in ‘The Untold Story’ tour in Blenheim Palace.
There was also John Leeson, who voiced K-9 in the ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. John came straight from ‘The Attic’ convention for ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’ in Cardiff. It was lovely to see John again at the London event, as I enjoyed chatting to him about ‘Shada’ and ‘The Pirate Planet’ TV soundtrack.
And I saw Louise Jameson, who played Leela in ‘Doctor Who’. Louise recognised me and remembered my name when I saw her again. She seemed delighted to see me and I was pleased to be chatting to her like we were old friends. Louise had worked with John Hurt before ‘The War Doctor’ audios.
During the weekend, I gave ‘Doctor Who Timelines’ to Lalla Ward, Mark Strickson, Nicola Bryant, John Leeson and Louise Jameson for each of the characters they played in ‘Doctor Who’. They were impressed by my ‘Doctor Who Timelines’, especially Louise Jameson who liked my timeline for Leela!
I didn’t purchase a lot of merchandise whilst I was at the ‘London Film & Comic Con’. But I did purchase a ‘Spider-Man’ mask which I wanted to wear and be Spidey when I got back home. I’m so pleased I did, since it’s a good purchase and the mask fits me so well! “It’s over for you, Doc Ock!” 😀
By the way, I had to take a photo of the TARDIS-like blue police box in Earl’s Court on my way home!
The TARDIS in ‘Earl’s Court’, July 2017
Despite the issues I had with this event, ‘London Film & Comic Con 2017’ was a successful weekend for me. It was a huge scale event and I’m glad I achieved what I set out to do with the comic con, in seeing the ‘Doctor Who’ stars and having the photo shoots I wanted in those two days.
By the way, I’ve updated some ‘Doctor Who’ reviews with new signed CD/DVD covers and photos with the stars. As well as ‘Cold Fusion’, there’s ‘Horror of Fang Rock’, ‘State of Decay’, ‘Warriors’ Gate’, ‘Mawdryn Undead’ and ‘Heroes of Sontar’.
Thanks for reading!
Bye for now!
Tim. 🙂
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