Convention Report – ‘London Comic Con Spring 2022’

Hello everyone! 🙂

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

Yes! Last weekend, I attended the ‘London Comic Con Spring’ at the Olympia in London, February 2022. It was a two-day event, although I attended the Saturday only, not the Sunday. It was a pretty full-on day and it was the first Showmasters events I attended in a while since the last one in 2019. 🙂

It was also the second convention I’ve attended since the Covid-19 pandemic happened – and is still happening (please keep safe). The first one was the ‘Bedford Who Charity Con’ in October 2021. There’s still no news of Sarah Sutton attending a convention since then. I hope to see her again soon.

The TARDIS in Earl’s Court, London, February 2022

The TARDIS in Earl’s Court, London, February 2022

Saturday started off me with taking some photos of the blue police box outside Earl’s Court’s tube train station. I’m glad it’s still there. 😀 Inside the Olympia, I looked around the place and took a few photos of some cosplayers. This included someone as the Mandalorian and someone as PS4 Spider-Man. 😀

The Mandalorian at the ‘London Comic Con Spring 2022’, February 2022

PS4 Spider-Man at the ‘London Comic Con Spring 2022’, February 2022

‘Downton Abbey: A New Era’ posters at the ‘London Comic Con Spring 2022’, February 2022

Dinosaur cosplayer at the ‘London Comic Con Spring 2022’, February 2022

‘Jurassic World’ T-Rex at the ‘London Comic Con Spring 2022’, February 2022

Johnny 5 at the ‘London Comic Con Spring 2022’, February 2022

I was amazed to see a screen zone, where film trailers for some upcoming movies distributed by Universal Pictures were shown, at the venue. Posters of ‘Downton Abbey: A New Era’ were on display. There was a T-Rex display for the upcoming ‘Jurrassic World’ film and there was someone dressed in a dinosaur outfit. 🙂

There was also the Johnny-5 robot from ‘Short Circuit’ on display at the venue. One of the things I was put-off by was everything was on the ground floor and not on the ground and first floors of the venue. You’d think the organisers would spread things out due to the current climate we’re living in.

Maybe it’s because there weren’t many guests attending the event for that weekend, but still. I hope it’s not going to be like this when it comes to the summer London event that Showmasters is going to have in July. Then again, they’re bound to have more guests for that event, so it should be alright.

Jodie Whittaker and Tim Bradley at the ‘London Comic Con Spring 2022’, February 2022

Jodie Whittaker, Tim Bradley and Mandip Gill at the ‘London Comic Con Spring 2022’, February 2022

Mandip Gill and Tim Bradley at the ‘London Comic Con Spring 2022’, February 2022

Bhavnisha Parmar and Tim Bradley at the ‘London Comic Con Spring 2022’, February 2022

Colin Baker and Tim Bradley at the ‘London Comic Con Spring 2022’, February 2022

Sylvester McCoy and Tim Bradley at the ‘London Comic Con Spring 2022’, February 2022

Richard E. Grant and Tim Bradley at the ‘London Comic Con Spring 2022’, February 2022

Last Saturday was special since I got to see Jodie Whittaker (the Thirteenth Doctor in ‘Doctor Who’) for the first time at a convention. It was also her first signing event in the UK, I believe. I wish I had the chance to chat to Jodie during the day, but she was very busy herself with seeing lots of her fans.

I’m pleased though that I got to have photos with Jodie as well as having a couple of things signed by her and attending a talk with her and Mandip Gill (Yaz) at the end of day. Even though the Thirteenth Doctor can be divisive among ‘Doctor Who’ fans, she’s proven to be a very popular Doctor over the years.

This is evident in the number of fans who cosplayed as the Thirteenth Doctor at the event – both male and female. I’ve even chatted to a couple of girls who cosplayed the Thirteenth Doctor. One was a Welsh girl working in London and another was in the audience for the Jodie and Mandip panel talk.

One of the lessons learned from attending the previous ‘London Comic Con Spring’ in March 2019 was to purchase a diamond pass for Jodie where I could have my photo shoot and autograph signing with Jodie guaranteed. Something I wasn’t able to get with Tom Baker and Bernard Cribbins in 2019.

Mind you, there was still some waiting involved, despite having the diamond pass. You had to be called by a number to go and see Jodie at a certain time of the day. My diamond pass was number 205. I should have bought a diamond pass sooner than that, but I still got to see Jodie at the event. 🙂

Diamond passes can be pricey, but at least you can get to see the star of your choice. I feel sorry for those who missed out. The diamond passes were sold out quite quickly. Yes, Jodie has become a popular Doctor in the TV series. Hopefully Jodie will do more of these comic cons for fans to see her.

I had professional photos of me taken with Jodie Whittaker, Mandip Gill, and Jodie and Mandip together on that day. I also had photos with Bhavnisha Parmar (Sonya Khan, Yaz’s sister in ‘Doctor Who’), Colin Baker (the Sixth Doctor), Sylvester McCoy (the Seventh Doctor) and Richard E. Grant. 😀

The things I had signed by Jodie and Mandip included my Blu-ray covers of ‘Resolution’ and ‘Flux’. Even though I didn’t get to chat to Jodie at the event, she seemed to like the Wales facemask I was wearing and she said something in Welsh to me. I said ‘thanks’ to her, but I can’t remember what it was she said. 😀

I also had a brief chat with Mandip during my signing session with her, telling her I was looking forward to the next two episodes she was in. It was lovely to see Jodie and Mandip together for their panel talk at the end of the day. They shared some enjoyable anecdotes in working on ‘Doctor Who’. 🙂

‘Praxeus’ photo of the Thirteenth Doctor from the ‘London Comic Con Spring 2022’, February 2022

The diamond pass I got for Jodie also guaranteed a couple of gifts from Showmasters, including a TARDIS badge which I wore at the event and an A3 photo of the Thirteenth Doctor in ‘Praxeus’. Nice gifts, though I wish the A3 photo was an A4 photo in order to fit it in the bag I was carrying that day.

It was nice to catch up with Colin Baker and have a chat with him that day. He signed my Blu-ray booklet for the Season 23 Blu-ray box set (a.k.a. ‘The Trial of a Time Lord’). It was nice to see Sylvester McCoy again and he signed my DVD cover of ‘Paradise Towers’, which is a favourite story of mine.

It’s a shame I didn’t get to meet and chat with Bhavnisha Parmar and Richard E. Grant, despite having photos with them. Sara Powell, Ashley Walters, Guy Henry, Jessica Martin and Harriet Walter were also at the event, but sadly, I didn’t get the chance to meet them with the event being so busy.

At the comic con, I got the chance to purchase a rare edition of the 1960s comic adaptation of ‘Dr. Who and the Daleks’ with Peter Cushing as Dr. Who as well as Roy Castle, Jennie Linden and Robert Tovey. I’ve heard quite a bit about this comic adaptation and I hope to check it out soon in the future. 🙂

2022’s ‘London Comic Con Spring’ was an enjoyable day out for me on the Saturday. It wasn’t the most intimate event I attended and perhaps it was me getting back into the rhythm of these Showmasters events, having not attended one for a while. But I’m glad I got to see Jodie Whittaker there. 🙂

Hopefully the next time I attend a comic con event like this, things will be easier to coordinate and navigate through, perhaps with less anxiety and trepidation concerning the current climate we live in. Also, I hope I’ll see Sarah Sutton again and some more ‘Doctor Who’ stars attending these events.

It’s a shame ‘Collectormania Milton Keynes’ got rescheduled for 2023, as I hoped it would happen this year after so many reschedules and delays. Also, bring back the ‘Cardiff Film and Comic Con’ events! 😀

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂