Convention Report – ‘MCM Birmingham Comic Con 2017’

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

Oh I’ve had a fantastic time at the ‘MCM Birmingham Comic Con’ last weekend! This was held at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham, which I attended twice previously in November 2011 and March 2016. This event was exciting for me! I got to meet my favourite stars from ‘Doctor Who’ and other franchises.

For me, the main stars of the weekend to see were Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding who played the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan in ‘Doctor Who’! I missed seeing them at a similar two-day ‘MCM’ event in Scotland in September. This weekend in Birmingham made up for that loss.

I’m lucky to have met my favourite stars of ‘Doctor Who’ at the Birmingham event recently. Peter, Sarah and Janet know my name pretty well now and they’ve been very nice and pleasant to me. I enjoyed seeing the other stars too! Some I met before; some I haven’t. Some even remembered me.

These are some of the highlights of the weekend for me. The event was pretty busy on the two days, but not as bad as the ‘London Film and Comic Con’ I attended in July. Things were pretty smooth-running during the two days and weren’t chaotic. I’m very glad I achieved all I wanted that weekend.

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Day 1 (Saturday 18 November 2017)

Tim Bradley with Peter Davison at the ‘MCM Birmingham Comic Con’, NEC Birmingham, November 2017

Tim Bradley with Sarah Sutton at the ‘MCM Birmingham Comic Con’, NEC Birmingham, November 2017

Tim Bradley with Janet Fielding at the ‘MCM Birmingham Comic Con’, NEC Birmingham, November 2017

Tim Bradley with Colin Baker at the ‘MCM Birmingham Comic Con’, NEC Birmingham, November 2017

Tim Bradley with Pearl Mackie at the ‘MCM Birmingham Comic Con’, NEC Birmingham, November 2017

Tim Bradley with C-3PO and Anthony Daniels at the ‘MCM Birmingham Comic Con’, NEC Birmingham, November 2017

Tim Bradley with Denise Crosby at the ‘MCM Birmingham Comic Con’, NEC Birmingham, November 2017

Tim Bradley with Colin Baker at the ‘MCM Birmingham Comic Con’, NEC Birmingham, November 2017

Tim Bradley with Lisa Bowerman at the ‘MCM Birmingham Comic Con’, NEC Birmingham, November 2017

Tim Bradley with David Warner at the ‘MCM Birmingham Comic Con’, NEC Birmingham, November 2017

Saturday was a pretty good day, as it began with me seeing Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding. Sarah and Peter knew me pretty well by this point. I didn’t know Janet very well, even though I had seen her at three previous conventions including two in Slough and one in Newcastle.

I was wearing my Fifth Doctor cricket pullover for the whole day on Saturday. Peter, Sarah and Janet really liked my pullover and I wanted to wear it for some time after purchasing it from the ‘Doctor Who Experience’ in Cardiff before it closed down. It kept me warm from the November weather. 😀

It was interesting to chat to all three of them about what they thought of the new crowded TARDIS team with Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor. All three weren’t sure how it was going to work out and they argued that it seemed unfair to crowd Jodie’s TARDIS with three more people, which I can understand.

It was lovely to see Sarah Sutton again, who I’ve become great friends with over the years and share a warm rapport with. I enjoyed chatting to Sarah about her work in ‘Doctor Who’ with ‘A Heart on Both Sides’ and a new Audible audio she’s appearing in called ‘Apprentice – Scarlet City – Part I’, directed by Barnaby Edwards.

It was great to see Peter Davison again, who I had some enjoyable chats with during signings. We chatted more about his work in the ‘Vintage Roads’ documentary series with Christopher Timothy. I also enjoyed chatting to Peter about ‘Sink or Swim’, which he thinks is better than ‘Holding the Fort’.

I enjoyed seeing Janet Fielding that weekend and was able to have some nice friendly chats with her. I asked her about how her ‘Project Motor House’ charity was going, which she says is doing very well. I’m pleased Janet signed my CD covers of the recent ‘Doctor Who’ audios by Big Finish she did.

I also saw Colin Baker, the Sixth Doctor in ‘Doctor Who’, that Saturday. Colin signed my DVD cover of ‘The Airzone Solution’ as well as having a quick photo with me on my digital camera. Colin enjoyed working with Jon Pertwee on ‘The Airzone Solution’, but he never got paid for the DVD release of the film! 😮

I got to meet Pearl Mackie who played Bill Potts in Series 10 of ‘Doctor Who’ with Peter Capaldi. I never would’ve thought I’d be meeting Pearl Mackie! I also met Denise Crosby who played Tasha Yar in ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’. I’d only seen Season 1 of ‘Star Trek: TNG’ beforehand. It was surreal and nice to meet Denise. I had signed photos from Pearl Mackie and Denise Crosby that day.

I also met up with Lisa Bowerman who plays Bernice Summerfield in ‘Doctor Who’ and David Warner who plays the Unbound Doctor as well as having played three roles in ‘Star Trek’. Both remembered me from previous conventions and I was delighted to see them again. I also met Tim Bentinck who has guest starred in many Big Finish audios of ‘Doctor Who’. It was great to meet another Tim! 😀

Tim Bradley’s photo of Bill Potts signed by Pearl Mackie

Tim Bradley’s photo of Tasha Yar signed by Denise Crosby

To Tim All best David Warner

To my namesake Tim, best wishes Tim Bentinck

In the afternoon, I had some photo shoot sessions with the stars. These included photos with Sarah Sutton, Janet Fielding, Peter Davison and Colin Baker. I also had a photo shoot with Pearl Mackie, Anthony Daniels (who played C-3PO in ‘Star Wars’ and liked my cricket jumper) and Denise Crosby.

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Day 2 (Sunday 19 November 2017)

Tim Bradley with Peter Davison at the ‘MCM Birmingham Comic Con’, NEC Birmingham, November 2017

Tim Bradley with Sarah Sutton at the ‘MCM Birmingham Comic Con’, NEC Birmingham, November 2017

Tim Bradley with Janet Fielding at the ‘MCM Birmingham Comic Con’, NEC Birmingham, November 2017

Tim Bradley with Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton and Peter Davison at the ‘MCM Birmingham Comic Con’, NEC Birmingham, November 2017

Tim Bradley with David Bradley at the ‘MCM Birmingham Comic Con’, NEC Birmingham, November 2017

Sunday was an equally exciting day that weekend as well as Saturday. I got to see Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding and enjoy some more chats with them during signings. I also had some photos with the three stars on my digital camera as well as some autographs signed by them.

It was lovely to see Sarah again. I enjoyed the chats we had and sharing jokes with her. Sarah became interested in the ‘Doctor Who: The Complete History’ series by Hachette Patchworks. She also wished me a ‘Happy Christmas and New Year’ before the day ended as I wished her the same.

I enjoyed seeing Janet Fielding again and got to ask her about what she did in her partaking of Sylvester McCoy’s screen test back in 1987 as well as her appearance in ‘A Fix With Sontarans’ with Colin Baker. Janet wished me well and to enjoy the rest of the day before the weekend had ended.

I also gave Janet a copy of ‘Tegan’s Timeline’ from my ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog. Sarah joined in and told Janet that my ‘Doctor Who Timelines’ are good. I also gave Sarah an updated version of ‘Nyssa’s Timeline’ at the convention. Both Sarah and Janet really appreciated these timelines I’d given them.

I met one of my ‘Bradley’s Basement’ fans at the ‘MCM Birmingham Comic Con’ called Tom. He told me he liked my timelines and reviews on my blog. It was nice chatting to him. I also introduced him to Sarah that day. “Thanks for saying ‘Hello’, Tom! It was so nice to see you again!” 🙂

I also enjoyed seeing Peter Davison again. I chatted to him about his appearance in ‘All Star Mr and Mrs’ with his wife, Elizabeth Morton. I also shared a story idea with Peter about his Doctor and his companions facing an evil version of Tom Baker. Peter suggested that I write it. This I may well do! 😀

That day, I also met David Bradley who played William Hartnell in ‘An Adventure in Space and Time’ and is about to play the First Doctor in ‘Twice Upon A Time’, the upcoming Christmas Special of ‘Doctor Who’. It was a joy to meet David Bradley, as I had a nice time chatting to him about his work.

I also met Claudia Grant, who played Carole Ann Ford in ‘An Adventure in Space and Time’ as well as Dan Starkey who plays the Sontarans in new series ‘Doctor Who’ and in the Big Finish audios. I met Anthony Daniels, who played C-3PO in ‘Star Wars’ during a signing session that day. I also had signed photos from David Bradley, Claudia Grant, Dan Starkey and Anthony Daniels that day.

Tim Bradley’s photo of William Hartnell from ‘An Adventure in Space and Time’ signed by David Bradley

Tim Bradley’s photo of William Hartnell and Carole Ann Ford in ‘An Adventure in Space and Time’ signed by Claudia Grant

Tim Bradley’s photo of Strax signed by Dan Starkey

Tim Bradley’s photo of C-3PO and R2-D2 signed by Anthony Daniels

In the afternoon, I had two photo shoot sessions. First of all, I had a group photo shoot with Sarah Sutton, Peter Davison and Janet Fielding. I also had a single photo shoot session with David Bradley.

The ‘MCM Birmingham Comic Con’ for November 2017 was a great and exciting weekend for me. This is my latest convention for 2017. I can’t wait for 2018, as I look forward to attending another convention. I hope to see Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding again, as they’ve been a great bunch and a joy for me to see. It has been very lovely to meet my favourite ‘Doctor Who’ stars.

By the way, I’ve updated some ‘Doctor Who’ reviews with new signed CD/DVD covers and photos with the stars. There’s the CD audiobook cover of ‘Earthshock’, the CD cover of ‘The Demons of Red Lodge and Other Stories’, the DVD cover of ‘Enlightenment’; the CD cover of ‘The Butcher of Brisbane’ and the DVD cover of ‘The Five Doctors’.

Sarah Sutton has also signed my cover of ‘The Austen Code’. I enjoyed sharing with Sarah how I enjoyed writing this ‘Doctor Who’ story set in Bath. Sarah was interested and she loves Bath as well.

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim. 🙂