Convention Memories – ‘Fifth Element’

Hello everyone! 🙂

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

I’ve decided to share my memories of the first ‘Doctor Who’ convention I attended. This was of course the ‘Fifth Element’ event run by Fantom Films on Sunday the 7th of February 2010 – a day that I will always remember!

Tim Bradley standing outside the George IV Public House & Comedy Club, Chiswick, London, February 2010.

The event was held at the GEORGE IV Public House & Comedy Club in Chiswick, London. I was pretty nervous at this first ‘Doctor Who’ convention I went to. I couldn’t wait to meet Sarah Sutton in person at last, after I’d written to her and received two lovely signed photos from her in late 2009.

I recall how naïve I was back then and didn’t know how conventions were supposed to work. The ‘Fifth Element’ event by Fantom Films probably wasn’t the best first convention experience I had, as that was basically a signing event with panel talks in between signings. I went to better conventions later.

The event was pretty tight in terms of its schedule and sometimes not going according to plan. They would have signings and panel talks at certain times, but some of the signings would overlap depending on who was seeing which guest. But it was an unusual and exciting experience to get into.

Tim Bradley at ‘Fifth Element’, Chiswick, London, February 2010

Tim Bradley with Sarah Sutton at ‘Fifth Element’, Chiswick, London, February 2010

Tim Bradley with Alistair Cumming at ‘Fifth Element’, Chiswick, London, February 2010

Tim Bradley with Andrew Boxer at ‘Fifth Element’, Chiswick, London, February 2010

‘Fifth Element’ was an event dedicated to the Fifth Doctor era of ‘Doctor Who’. There were guests like Alistair Cumming and Andrew Boxer, the Amsterdam boys from ‘Arc of Infinity’; Ingrid Pitt; Tara Ward; James Coombes and Vincent Brimble from ‘Warriors of the Deep’ and music composer Roger Limb.

I saw and chatted to Alistair Cumming and Andrew Boxer at the event; had a few signatures from them and had photos with them. I also met and chatted to Roger Limb, sharing how much I loved Nyssa’s theme music from ‘The Keeper of Traken’. Roger told me he was inspired by Bartok for that.

I didn’t get to chat to Ingrid Pitt, Tara Ward, James Coombes and Vincent Brimble from ‘Warriors of the Deep’, but I did get to see their panel talk. I recall Ingrid Pitt being very witty and naughty whilst on the panel with the interviewer. Sadly Ingrid Pitt passed away not long after doing ‘Fifth Element’.

Tim Bradley’s DVD cover of ‘Black Orchid’ signed by Sarah Sutton

Tim Bradley’s CD cover of ‘Circular Time’ signed by Sarah Sutton

The highlight of the event of course was seeing Sarah Sutton for the first time. Sarah was very friendly to me when I saw her. I remember telling Sarah that my name was Tim and she said to me, “Nice to meet you, Tim.” I couldn’t help feel a tingle down my spine when Sarah had said that to me. 😀

I also remember my knees trembling as I chatted to Sarah for the first time. I had my DVD cover of ‘Black Orchid’ and my CD cover of ‘Circular Time’ signed by Sarah at the event. She was glad to hear that ‘Black Orchid’ was my favourite ‘Doctor Who’ story. I also had a photo with Sarah at the event.

I had the chance to ask Sarah a question during her panel talk with Clare Clifford from ‘Earthshock’ in the afternoon. The question was, “Would she have liked to have been in the ‘Doctor Who’ TV series for longer than she’d already been in?” Sarah said, “Yes, she would, since she was enjoying herself a lot on the series and would have liked to have stayed if she had her own way but wasn’t allowed to.”

There was also Liza Goddard, who played Kari in ‘Terminus’, having her panel talk at the end of the event. I was saddened when the event was over, as I felt it went by so quickly. I wanted to see Sarah again, since I felt I hadn’t spent enough time chatting to her. At the time, I was doing my third year at Cardiff University. So I had to focus on finishing my degree before I could attend more conventions.

The ‘Fifth Element’ event by Fantom Films from February 2010 is something that I look back on with fond, nostalgic memories. It was pretty exciting and nerve-tingling for me to meet my favourite ‘Doctor Who’ companion, Sarah Sutton who played Nyssa, as well as attend my first ‘Doctor Who’ convention ever.

I also reflect on how naïve I was back then when I attended the ‘Fifth Element’ event. I feel I’ve become more experienced over the years with attending these conventions and comic cons. After ‘Fifth Element’, I wanted to see Sarah Sutton again. I had the chance to when I saw her later on in September 2010.

By the way, after all these years I’ve kept the souvenir programme from the ‘Fifth Element’ event. It reminds me that I did go to my first ‘Doctor Who’ convention and meet Sarah Sutton. Check out the pages for the ‘Fifth Element’ souvenir programme to see what it’s like. I’ve also kept the ticket too!

I hope to share my memories soon on the next ‘Doctor Who’ convention I went to, which was the ‘Regenerations 2010’ convention in Swansea, September 2010. Stay tuned for a blog post on that!

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim. 🙂

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