Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
Today, I’m sharing my ‘convention memories’ of ‘Big Finish Day 6’ at the Copthorne Hotel Slough-Windsor in Slough on Sunday the 17th of January 2015, run by 10th Planet Events. I’ve attended a couple of 10th Planet Events conventions before, including ‘Project Motor Mouth 2’ and ‘Dimensions 2013’.
I’ve been to a 10th Planet Events convention at the Copthorne Hotel Slough-Windsor before when it was ‘Project Motor Mouth 2’, run by Janet Fielding. It was also one of the filming locations used for Peter Davison’s brilliant 50th anniversary ‘Doctor Who’ special called ‘The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot’.
So, I knew the territory. I was looking forward to seeing Sarah Sutton (Nyssa) again after the Christmas break from 2014 to 2015 as well as Matthew Waterhouse (Adric) and Janet Fielding (Tegan). There were plenty of other ‘Doctor Who’/Big Finish stars in attendance at the event as well.
There was also Sylvester McCoy (the Seventh Doctor), Ellis George, who played Courtney in four episodes of Series 8 with Peter Capaldi’s Doctor, and Siobhán Redmond who played the Rani in a couple of Big Finish audios. Louise Jameson (Leela) and Lalla Ward (Romana) were also at the event.
Jan Chappell (who’s been in ‘Blake’s 7’) was also there as well as Lisa Bowerman (Bernice Summerfield), Seán Carlsen (Narvin from the ‘Gallifrey’ series), Alex Macqueen (who has played the Master in some ‘Doctor Who’ audios) and David Sibley (who was in ‘The Pirate Planet’ and has played the Eminence in some audio stories).
There was also producer David Richardson, John Banks, who’s played a number of characters in many Big Finish audios, music/sound designer Jamie Robertson, actor/writer Phil Mulryne, producer/writer Scott Handcock, writer Andrew Smith, writer Robert Shearman, writer/actor John Dorney and director Ken Bentley. Jamie Anderson, the son of Gerry Anderson, was there. So was writer/script editor Matt Fitton as well as Dalek voice artist/writer/director/producer Nicholas Briggs, Third Doctor actor Tim Treloar, sound designer Martin Montague, writer Joseph Lidster, writer/actor Nigel Fairs, the producer’s assistant Joseph Smith, sound designer Neil Gardner and executive producer Jason Haigh Ellery. Apparently, Virginia Hey was a sponsored guest attending ‘Big Finish Day 6’ too. Hmm.
David Warner was meant to be one of the guests in attendance at ‘Big Finish Day 6’, but I can’t recall ever seeing him on that day and I’m not sure if he turned up. In fact, there were so many people at ‘Big Finish Day 6’, it was a challenge to try and see everyone and I had prioritise which guests to see.
Of course, the highlight guest for me was seeing Sarah Sutton. It was lovely to see her in the first month of 2015 and we wished each other a “Happy New Year”. 🙂 Sarah signed my CD covers of ‘Creatures of Beauty’, ‘The Game’ and ‘The Five Companions’, which I’m glad that she did, as I like those stories. 🙂
Sarah also signed my copy of the ‘Black Orchid’ Target novelization book, which was nice and sweet of her. We chatted about the upcoming 2015 audio trilogy with the Fifth Doctor, Tegan, Turlough and the older Nyssa, which was I was looking forward to. Sarah was careful in not sharing spoilers. 😀
I had a photo with Sarah using my digital camera as well as a photo with her taken by a professional photographer. I also had a photo with Sarah, Matthew and Janet during the day. This was the third time I had my photo taken with these three Fifth Doctor companions of Season 19 at a convention. 🙂
The first couple of times were at ‘Project Motor Mouth 2’ and ‘Dimensions 2013’. All times have been at 10th Planet Events conventions. 🙂 I later saw Sarah, Janet and Matthew for a panel talk, conducted by Simon Guerrier. I enjoyed the panel talk. Sarah, Janet and Matthew’s energy was pretty electrifying.
I recall them debating about the structure of the CD casings in ‘The Fifth Doctor Box Set’ with ‘Psychodrome’ put into two CD cases and ‘Iterations of I’ put into two CD cases. Thankfully, that hasn’t happened with later CD releases containing Fifth Doctor stories with Nyssa, Tegan and Adric. 🙂
Incidentally, Janet and Matthew signed my CD box set of ‘The Fifth Doctor Box Set’ for me, which I’m pleased they did. I also had ‘The Fifth Doctor Box Set’ signed by director Ken Bentley and writer John Dorney, although on the back cover. I had signatures from Sarah, Janet and Matthew on the front cover. 🙂
I didn’t chat to many guests at the event. It was mostly brief hellos/chats and having things signed by them. I had my deluxe edition of ‘The Light At The End’ signed by Sylvester McCoy, Tim Treloar and John Dorney. I had my covers for the ‘Phillip Hinchclife Presents’ box set and ‘Night of the Stormcrow’ signed by Louise Jameson. 🙂
I had ‘Shada’ (2003) and the Fourth Doctor novel adaptations box set containing ‘The Romance of Crime’ and ‘The English Way of Death’ signed by Lalla Ward. The producer David Richardson and writer/script editor John Dorney also signed the box set. John Dorney also spoke Ogron to me once. 😀 David Richardson also signed ‘The Auntie Matter’ CD cover for me.
I had my CD cover of ‘The Highest Science’ signed by Louise Jameson and director Scott Handcock. Alex Macqueen signed my CD box set cover of ‘U.N.I.T.: Dominion’ for me. I had a nice chat with David Sibley who signed my CD box set cover of ‘Dark Eyes 3’. Matt Fitton signed the CD box set too.
I had a nice chat with John Banks and he signed my ‘Heroes of Sontar’ CD cover for me. I purchased ‘Domain of the Voord’ at ‘Big Finish Day 6’ and I had the CD cover signed by Andrew Smith, which was pretty amazing. I got to meet Rob Shearman again for a second time at a ‘Doctor Who’ convention (the first one being ‘Regenerations 2011’). He signed my CD cover of ‘The Chimes of Midnight’.
I saw Nicholas Briggs at the convention, and he signed quite a few CD covers for me that day. 🙂 He signed my CD covers of ‘The Dalek Contract’/’The Final Phase’, ‘The Mutant Phase’ and ‘The Time Machine’ from the ‘Destiny of the Doctor’ series, which is nice. He also signed a photo of himself with a 1960s Dalek and Telosian Cyberman from ‘The Moonbase’ or ‘The Tomb of the Cybermen’. 😀
I saw Joe Lidster and he signed my CD cover for ‘The Reaping’. I saw Cavan Scott and he signed my CD cover for ‘Night of the Whisper’, also from the ‘Destiny of the Doctor‘ series. And I saw Simon Guerrier and he signed my CD cover for ‘The Second Doctor Box Set’. It was a very full-on day in terms of signings.
I didn’t get to see all of the panel talks during the day, though I did slip in to see a bit of Lalla Ward and Louise Jameson’s panel talk with Seán Carlsen and Scott Handcock before the end of the day. I was feeling pretty tired by then and I needed a rest in my hotel room after all the excitement of the day. 😀
I also attended the writers’ club session, which had John Dorney, Nigel Fairs, Andrew Smith and Phil Mulryne there. The writers’ club session was interesting, especially when the Big Finish writers shared how they handled writing a ‘Doctor Who’ story This is in contrast to how I would pen a story.
The session was informative and very refreshing. ‘Big Finish Day 6’ became a full-on and enjoyable convention day. It was lovely to see Sarah Sutton again and I’m glad I got to chat to her as well as have things signed by her. It was also nice to have photos with Sarah, Matthew and Janet that day. 🙂
When saying goodbye to Sarah, she assured me she would be at the ‘Valiant 2015’ convention in Sheffield in March 2015, run by Fantom Films. I was looking forward to seeing her at that event. I’m very pleased my convention experiences in 2015 began in an exciting manner with ‘Big Finish Day 6’.
Incidentally, I’ve kept the souvenir programme for ‘Big Finish Day 6’ after all these years. Check out the pages for the ‘Big Finish Day 6’ souvenir programme to see what it’s like. Incidentally, I don’t recall James Goss and Jonathan Morris being at the convention.
By the way, I forgot to add the souvenir programme for ‘Timey-Wimey 1’ in Brighton, November 2014 when I shared my ‘convention memories’ of it last year. I’ve added the souvenir programme to the blog post, so please check out the pages for the ‘Timey-Wimey 1’ souvenir programme to see what it’s like.
Stay tuned for my ‘convention memories’ blog post on ‘Valiant 2015’ in Sheffield, March 2015.
Thanks for reading!
Bye for now!
Tim 🙂
Bradley's Basement 