Virtual Convention Report – ‘Spearhead: Day of the Time Lords’

Hello everyone! 🙂

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

2020 hasn’t been a great year in terms of conventions. Most of them have been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic taking place this year – please keep safe. Thankfully, through the power of technology, a number of online virtual conventions have taken place for fans to enjoy during 2020. 🙂

I was reluctant about attending an online virtual convention when they started, but yesterday I attended one of the Single Zoom Chat sessions for the ‘Spearhead: Day of the Time Lords’ event run by Ian Kubiak of Cygnus Alpha Events. I’m glad I attended the Single Zoom Chat as it was worthwhile. 🙂

‘Spearhead: Day of the Time Lords’ was to celebrate 57 years of ‘Doctor Who’, taking place before the day of the 57th anniversary in November. The event was celebrating all things Gallifreyan. The Single Zoom Chat that I attended had the three guests Sarah Sutton, Paul Jerricho and Adrian Gibbs.

There were other Single Zoom Chats happening on the day, but this was my first go at doing a virtual convention via Zoom. I wanted to see what it was like in baby steps by doing one of the Single Zoom Chat sessions for that day. It’s also no secret that I’m fan of Sarah Sutton/Nyssa and wanted to attend the session.

I was thrilled to see Sarah again via Zoom. I haven’t seen her in a long time and it was nice to chat to her for a bit via the Zoom session before Christmas comes along and the year comes to an end. I was pleased she remembered me ( 😀 ) and I believe she anticipated me attending the Zoom Chat (more later).

Paul Jerricho is well-known for playing the Castellan in ‘Arc of Infinity’ and ‘The Five Doctors’. I had the Castellan appear in my Fifth Doctor story ‘The Prime Factor’. 😀 Adrian Gibbs is well-known for playing the Watcher in ‘Logopolis’ and Rysik in ‘Full Circle’. He also played a dancer in ‘Black Orchid’.

Going back to what I said earlier, the Zoom meeting began with me being recognised by Ian and Sarah, since he knows I’m one of Sarah’s fans. 😀 Sarah showed the Nyssa timeline I gave her from a previous convention at her end. I was so pleased to see that Sarah still had the Nyssa timeline I had given her. 🙂

Sarah also said that I had ‘saved her life’ with giving her Nyssa’s timeline. Those were the words she used during the Zoom Chat. 😀 I was thrilled to bits. I was unmuted during the Zoom Chat and was allowed to explain why I had ‘saved’ Sarah’s life by giving her Nyssa’s timeline at a previous convention.

This allowed me to namedrop that I do ‘Doctor Who Timelines’ on ‘Bradley’s Basement’ which I was pleased about as well as share that I gave a tangible copy of Nyssa’s timeline to Sarah at a convention. Sarah will have to wait a while for me to give her an updated Nyssa timeline at the next convention.

Here’s a snapshot of Sarah Sutton in the Single Zoom Chat session she did with Paul Jerricho and Adrian Gibbs during ‘Spearhead: Day of the Time Lords’. Incidentally, I was wearing my Fifth Doctor cricket pullover and white shirt during the Zoom Chat. It was good to wear them whilst I attended the session.

As the Zoom Chat progressed, it was very nice to hear Sarah, Paul and Adrian share their memories of making ‘Doctor Who’ during the 1980s as well as how things have fared for them during the lockdown periods this year. Paul’s “No, not the mind probe!” line is never going to go away, I don’t think.

I’ve never met Adrian Gibbs at a convention before, so it was nice to see him on Zoom, as he shared his memories of working with Tom Baker and such. Sarah shared her memories of working with Tom Baker, finding it amusing that he kept a toothbrush in his coat pocket, which I’m sure is very amusing.

During the Q&A session, I was able to ask Sarah about the ‘Timeslip’ audios she did and how they compare to doing the ‘Doctor Who’ audios. Sarah commented how the ‘Timeslip’ audios were a different gig compared to doing ‘Doctor Who’ and remarked how Charlotte Trent was such ‘a woman’. 😀

I was pleased towards the end when Sarah was asked about what it was like to work with Sir Derek Jacobi in the latest ‘War Master’ box set she did with him. Sarah said she found Sir Derek a very nice man to work with, which is great news to hear. She also talked about the future audios she’ll be doing.

Apparently, Sarah will be going to record some upcoming Big Finish audios in December time. It won’t be the same as before however, due to Covid restrictions in place and not having everyone back together for the recordings. Peter Davison has also been busy with a new series he’s making. 😐

It was fascinating to hear Sarah, Paul and Adrian share their feelings about how theatre plays are being performed lately and what their memories of doing their first theatre play was. Sarah was able to attend a theatre play close to where she lives before the second lockdown happened in England I believe, though it was different.

I’m very happy I attended the Single Zoom Chat with Sarah Sutton, Paul Jerricho and Adrian Gibbs for the ‘Spearhead: Day of the Time Lords’ virtual convention. It’s certainly made this year a little better for me with seeing Sarah again during a Zoom meeting and getting to chat to her twice in it. 🙂

I don’t know if I’ll attend another one of these virtual conventions in the future. It’s something to consider and it depends on how I handle my weekends. But I don’t mind if I attend another one of these virtual conventions. I hope it won’t be too long before we can attend proper conventions at venues soon.

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim. 🙂

Advertisement