Convention Report – ‘London Comic Con Spring’

Hello everyone! 🙂

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

I’ve had the first of two exciting weekends this month in March. Last weekend, I attended the ‘London Comic Con Spring’ held at the Olympia in London. I had a great time, enjoying seeing my favourite ‘Doctor Who’ stars, including my best friend Sarah Sutton who plays Nyssa in the TV show.

I have attended this London event before…sort of. This is one of the events run by Showmasters Events. They’re very good with organising comic con events like these. The first time I attended one of their events was in London – specifically the ‘London Film and Comic Con’ in Earl’s Court back in July 2011.

The second time I attended a London event was the ‘London Film and Comic Con’ at the Olympia in July 2017. The summer events in London are…infamous, to say the least. I mean, they’re great events no doubt. But there are often a huge amount of guests attending the London summer events.

The feedback on the London summer events tends to vary. Most people come away happy from attending the events; other less so happy. This is due to a number of issues including queuing in photo shoots and autograph queues and the pricing for some of those photo shoots and autographs.

‘London Comic Con Spring’, Olympia, March 2019

‘London Comic Con Spring’, Olympia, March 2019

‘London Comic Con Spring’, Olympia, March 2019

‘London Comic Con Spring’, Olympia, March 2019

Anyway, this third London event run by Showmasters that I attended last weekend was one with a difference. It was a smaller event and it was being held in the spring, not the summer. They’re still doing the summer event this year, but this spring one is like a precursor towards that summer event.

And me personally, I really enjoyed the ‘London Comic Con Spring’ event. I managed to achieve everything I wanted. Well…okay, not everything. Sunday was a better day than Saturday and there are issues with the event that I’ll get onto later. But otherwise, the comic con event was worthwhile.

I think from previous experiences of attending London comic con events run by Showmasters as well as attending the equally busy event of ‘Destination Star Trek Birmingham’ last year in October, I’ve picked some lessons along the way and planned my days better. Thus it made it all the more enjoyable.

Anyway, you want to know what were the highlights of the ‘London Comic Con Spring’ for me and what celebrities I met at the two-day event from the 2nd to the 3rd of March 2019. Well, let’s take a look!

The TARDIS in Earl’s Court, London, March 2019

The TARDIS in Earl’s Court, London, March 2019

First of all, upon my arrival into Earl’s Court on Friday the 1st of March, close to where I was going to stay at the Premier Inn near the Olympia, I took pics of the TARDIS blue police box situated outside the tube station. Goodness, the TARDIS is still there! I am so pleased it was there to welcome me. 😀

Saturday 2nd March 2019

The Venom car at the ‘London Comic Con Spring’, Olympia, March 2019

Anyway, the first day of the event was pretty busy. The Saturday for the ‘London Comic Con Spring’ had sold out. Thankfully it wasn’t a worry for me as the main day was the Sunday, but I’ll get to that bit later. As I entered the Olympia building…the ‘Venom’ car was parked inside to welcome us fans.

Yeah! They had a ‘Venom’ car at the event. I know it hasn’t been that long since I saw the movie at the cinema, but I don’t think the car was the major event. I mean…it’s not the Batmobile, is it? Also, I consider ‘Venom’ to be an awful Marvel superhero movie despite it winning so well at the box office.

(clears throat) Anyway, after taking a photo of the ‘Venom’ car, I explored the venue which was pretty busy indeed. There were so many stalls of merchandise at the event and crowds of people during the day. Thankfully I was able to manoeuvre my way around and get my lunch during the day.

Tim Bradley and John Simm at the ‘London Comic Con Spring’, Olympia, March 2019

Tim Bradley and Vinette Robinson at the ‘London Comic Con Spring’, Olympia, March 2019

Tim Bradley and David Warner at the ‘London Comic Con Spring’, Olympia, March 2019

Tim Bradley with Bernard Cribbins and Jacqueline King at the ‘London Comic Con Spring’, Olympia, March 2019

Tim Bradley and Jacqueline King at the ‘London Comic Con Spring’, Olympia, March 2019

Tim Bradley and Sylvester McCoy at the ‘London Comic Con Spring’, Olympia, March 2019

Tim Bradley with Sylvester McCoy and the TARDIS console at the ‘London Comic Con Spring’, Olympia, March 2019

Tim Bradley and Tom Baker at the ‘London Comic Con Spring’, Olympia, March 2019

I soon met the ‘Doctor Who’ stars I wanted to see at the event. These included John Simm who played the Master in ‘Doctor Who’. Yes! John Simm was at the event! I was thrilled to have a photo shoot with him as well as get a photo of him as the Master signed. He was a pleasant guy to meet. 😀

There was also Vinette Robinson who played Rosa Parks in the Series 11 episode ‘Rosa’ (she was also in the Series 3 episode ’42’). There was also David Warner at the event; Bernard Cribbins, who plays Wilfred Mott; Jacqueline King who plays Sylvia Noble; Sylvester McCoy who plays the Seventh Doctor and of course, there was the ‘Doctor Who’ legend…Tom Baker who plays the Fourth Doctor.

Timelord007: (does Darth Vader yell) “NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Timelord007 sobs in background.

(reassuringly; to audience) “Don’t worry. He’ll get over it.” 😀

With that said though, I didn’t get a chance to speak to Tom Baker or to Bernard Cribbins at the event. I mean…I had a photo shoot with them (well with Bernard Cribbins, it was him and Jacqueline King). But during the day, I didn’t get the chance to see the two of them or have anything signed by them.

There were reasons for this. One was that both Tom and Bernard were working limited times during the day e.g. 12pm to 4pm. These two actors must be getting on, I suppose. Another reason was that because of the event sold out on that day, they were only allowing people with diamond passes to see them. This was something I wasn’t happy about as I discovered it during the day at the event.

It does make me realise that I should’ve got a diamond pass before seeing Tom and Bernard for an autograph or a photo shoot. The reason why I didn’t get a diamond pass that day was because it was expensive. It’s something to bear in mind anyway next time I see a guest attending in a limited time.

John Simm was a different matter as I was able to get a queuing ticket with a number on it and didn’t need a diamond pass to see him. Not the same for Tom and Bernard sadly. But I’m glad I had my photo shoots with the two. I do hope that Tom Baker liked the Fourth Doctor scarf I wore that day. 😀

Yeah, you may have noticed in a few photos I’ve had with the guests that I’m wearing the Fourth Doctor scarf I bought for my Dad on his birthday one time from the ‘Doctor Who Experience’. I decided not to wear it after a while since it was getting too hot for me to wear. And trust me, the Fourth Doctor scarf is long and tricky to untangle. But as long as I wore it for the Tom Baker photo shoot, that’s fine.

Tim Bradley’s photo of the Master from ‘The End of Time’ signed by John Simm

To Tim. How lovely to meet you and so close to St. David’s Day. All best wishes Jacqueline King

Tim Bradley’s cover of ‘Doctor Who – The Thirteenth Doctor #05’ signed by Vinette Robinson

I had a lovely time chatting to people like Jacqueline King and Vinette Robinson who were all very friendly to me. Jacqueline King liked the daffodil I was wearing to celebrate St. David’s Day the day before. In fact, Jacqueline King; Colin Baker and Sarah Sutton liked my daffodil during the weekend event. 😀 Jacqueline King also wrote a sweet message when she signed an autograph for me on the Saturday.

At the event, I purchased a special edition of the latest issue of a ‘Doctor Who’ Titan comic featuring the Thirteenth Doctor. This was ‘Doctor Who – The Thirteenth Doctor’ #05. I’m not a comic book reader but it was nice to get it at the event. I had the comic cover signed by Vinette Robinson that day.

I had one photo taken of me with one of the guests via my Samsung phone that Saturday and that was with Sylvester McCoy. Sylvester also signed the DVD cover of ‘The Airzone Solution’ for me. I also had a photo shoot with Sylvester at the TARDIS console from the 1980s. I also had a photo shoot of just myself at the TARDIS console too. My dream as Billy Walker inside the TARDIS is coming true. 😀

Sunday 3rd March 2019

Tim Bradley and Sarah Sutton at the ‘London Comic Con Spring’, Olympia, March 2019

Tim Bradley and Sarah Sutton at the ‘London Comic Con Spring’, Olympia, March 2019

Sunday of course was the highlight for me as I got to see Sarah Sutton, my favourite ‘Doctor Who’ companion. It was lovely to see Sarah that day. Sunday was a relatively quieter day compared to Saturday with not so many busy crowds and the event was not sold out that day compared to yesterday.

I saw Sarah a number of times during the day, having chats with her as well as having my ‘Dawn of the Dwaxi’ cover signed by her. Sarah was interested in the stories I had written for my blog. I enjoyed sharing with Sarah what ‘Dawn of the Dwaxi’ was about as well as another short story I wrote.

When at the event, I purchased two versions of the latest piece of ‘Doctor Who’ artwork Sarah had done. One was fully coloured in by her and the other was a black-and-white version. Sarah said I could colour in the black-and-white version of her latest ‘Doctor Who’ artwork using felt tips. That’s a challenge to achieve in the run up to the Cardiff comic con before I see Sarah again. Will I succeed? 😀

Sylvester McCoy, Colin Baker and Sarah Sutton in the ‘Doctor Who’ talk at the ‘London Comic Con Spring’, Olympia, March 2019

Brian Miller, Sylvester McCoy, Colin Baker and Sarah Sutton in the ‘Doctor Who’ talk at the ‘London Comic Con Spring’, Olympia, March 2019

I also had a photo with Sarah using my Samsung phone as well as a photo shoot with her during the day. Sarah was also there during the ‘Doctor Who’ panel talk that day along with Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Brian Miller. I enjoyed the panel talk and Sarah included me in the question and answers. This was especially in the question I asked about what movies the stars would like to be in.

Tim Bradley with Colin Baker and the TARDIS console at the ‘London Comic Con Spring’, Olympia, March 2019

Tim Bradley and Brian Miller at the ‘London Comic Con Spring’, Olympia, March 2019

Tim Bradley with William Russell at the ‘London Comic Con Spring’, Olympia, March 2019

And yes, I saw Colin Baker and Brian Miller at the event that Sunday as well as William Russell. Colin Baker plays the Sixth Doctor in ‘Doctor Who’ whilst William Russell plays Ian Chesterton. Brian Miller is the husband of the late Elisabeth Sladen and he also starred in ‘Doctor Who’ stories like ‘Snakedance’ and ‘Deep Breath’ as well as starring in one of ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’.

I had a nice time chatting to Colin that Sunday as well as having a photo shoot with him at the TARDIS console from the 1980s. I also chatted and said hello to Brian Miller and William Russell at the event as well as have photo shoots with them. I had some pleasant encounters with the three gentlemen.

Star Wars cosplayers at the ‘London Comic Con Spring’, Olympia, March 2019

I didn’t take many photos of cosplayers at the event, but I did take a shot of some ‘Star Wars’ cosplayers that Sunday. I’ll try and get more shots of cosplayers when I go to the ‘Film and Comic Con Cardiff’ next. Sarah and I chatted about how impressed we were by the cosplayers at the event.

I also saw Tom Mitchell and his mum Bev, my ‘Bradley’s Basement’ fans, at the event. It was nice seeing them again and I’m sure I’ll be seeing them again at the ‘Film and Comic Con Cardiff’ event. 🙂

I had a great time that weekend at the ‘London Comic Con Spring’. Sunday was the best day for me as I enjoyed seeing Sarah Sutton again for chats; photo shoots and the panel talk. I came away happy from seeing Sarah Sutton as well as feeling sad. But thankfully I don’t have to wait too long to see Sarah again. She’ll be there with other guests like Wendy Padbury and Colin Baker in Cardiff next. 😀

The ‘London Comic Con Spring’ feels like a much better Showmasters Event compared to the summer events that they annually have in London. Granted, there are still issues regarding the ‘London Comic Con Spring’ that I’ve encountered. I’m disappointed I didn’t get to see Tom Baker and Bernard Cribbins for signings during the event. Otherwise, it was a worthwhile and fulfilling weekend for me.

I’m looking forward to ‘Film and Comic Con Cardiff’ next! Bring on this coming weekend!

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim. 🙂