Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
Last weekend, I had a terrific time seeing my favourite ‘Doctor Who’ stars – Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), Peter Davison (the Fifth Doctor) and Janet Fielding (Tegan) – for two days at the ‘Exeter Comic Con and Gaming Festival Autumn’ from the 12th to the 13th of October. 😀
I couldn’t have asked for a better weekend away. I had some lovely opportunities to reunite with Sarah, Peter and Janet, chatting to them about ‘Doctor Who’ as well as other things, including life in general. This convention weekend came as a surprise treat for me.
It was announced two weeks ago that Sarah, Peter and Janet would be attending the Exeter event. I’d planned to see Sarah and Peter at an event in Bolton twice in May and August, which never occurred. Thankfully, last weekend made up for the disappointment.
The ‘Exeter Comic Con’ took place at the Westpoint Arena in Exeter. I’ve never been to Exeter before, and I decided to stay overnight at the Premier Inn close to the Exeter St. David’s train station. I got taxis to go there and back to the Westpoint Arena on both days.
Let me share with you what the highlights of the convention weekend were like. There weren’t any panel talks and photo shoots throughout the weekend as Sarah, Peter and Janet just did signings throughout the two days, but it was still fantastic to see all three. 🙂
Day 1 (Saturday 12th October 2024)
For the first day of the ‘Exeter Comic Con’, there were plenty of Daleks on display, including classic and new series Daleks like Black Daleks, the white Supreme Dalek from ‘Victory of the Daleks’ and an Imperial Dalek from ‘Remembrance of the Daleks’. A Dalek variety! 😀
There were ‘Star Wars’-related characters on display, including droids like R2-D2 and there was a Darth Vader along with a Cave Trooper and Han Solo frozen in carbonite. 😀 There was a display of two baby dinosaurs – Triceratops – at the event. I found that sweet.
I took photos of a…‘John Wick’ car, I think – there was a standup of Keanu Reeves beside the car, you see – and a ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ van. 😀 Optimus Prime and Bumblebee from the Michael Bay ‘Transformers’ movies were also there at the event. 😀
There was also a display of ‘Pokémon’ characters at the ‘Exeter Comic Con’, including Pikachu and Bulbasaur. There were some cosplayers who dressed up as Spider-Man and Deadpool on the day. Sadly, I didn’t get the chance to take any photos of them. 😦
But of course, it was great to see Peter, Sarah and Janet that day. I had my CD box set cover and CD sleeve notes of ‘The Dream Team’ anthology (containing ‘The Merfolk Murders’ and ‘Dream Team’), which I heard quite recently, signed by the three lovely stars.
Peter and Janet signed the box set cover whilst Sarah signed the sleeve notes. It was lovely to chat to Peter at the comic con, as we chatted about ‘Kiss Me Kate‘, which he’d performed in on stage lately, and is getting a limited cinematic release soon in November.
We also chatted about ‘Great British Car Journeys’. It was intriguing to hear from Peter how a third series was never made due to Covid-19 and because Christopher Timothy is anxious about doing a third season because of that, which is a shame but I do appreciate.
I also shared with Peter how much I love both the original BBC and new Channel 5 TV shows of ‘All Creatures Great and Small’, but the original BBC TV show was the one I grew up with. It was very nice to chat to him on what his insight in the new TV show is like.
I had individual selfies with Peter, Janet and Sarah on Saturday. I also had a selfie with Sarah and Peter where we held up cards forming part of a running gag where Peter Davison says, “David Tennant isn’t special”. I’m glad both took part in my take on the gag.
This went well. 😀 Nyssa and Billy in trouble with the Fifth Doctor.
It was great seeing Janet in Exeter. The last time I saw Janet at a convention was at the ‘Bedford Who Charity Con’ in October 2021. I found myself having some lovely chats with Janet whilst at the comic con. I’m glad we bounced off each other well last weekend.
We chatted about her appearance in ‘The Power of the Doctor’, which I enjoyed seeing her in back in 2022. I asked Janet if she enjoyed doing that more than the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode she did with Peter in 2023. She said “Yes” as it was a longer story for her.
I shared with Janet how much I enjoyed her reading the ‘Kinda’ Target audiobook, which I’ve heard lately. She shared details to me of her latest short story called ‘Little Did She Know’ in ‘The Adventures Before’ anthology. I also gave Janet a copy of Tegan’s timeline.
And it was lovely to see Sarah, my favourite ‘Doctor Who’ companion at the ‘Exeter Comic Con’. It was great on Saturday, especially as I got to do an interview with Sarah about her playing Diana Purwell in ‘The Moon Stallion’, which we conducted outside on a sunny day.
I greatly enjoyed chatting to Sarah about ‘The Dream Team’ box set (including ‘The Merfolk Murders’, which I know she loves since it’s a whodunit murder mystery story similar to ‘Black Orchid’). We also chatted about the latest ‘Timeslip’ audios she has appeared in.
I chatted to Sarah about the upcoming ‘Doctor Who: The Collection Escape Room – Team Fifth Doctor’ she’s done with Peter and Janet. I also gave Sarah an updated copy of ‘The Nyssa Challenge’ and Nyssa’s timeline, to which she danced with joy about on that day. 😀
Day 2 (Sunday 13th October 2024)
Sunday was a less busy day for me compared to Saturday, but I still had a great time seeing Sarah, Peter and Janet again on that day. I also achieved all I wanted with what I wanted to have signed on the day and obtaining a variety of selfies with my favourite stars.
I took some more photos of display items and cosplayers at the event, including a couple of Daleks and Grogu from ‘The Mandalorian’. I also encountered the Cookie Monster from ‘Sesame Street’ that day. I took a couple of photos and I received a hug from him. 😀
I decided to take a photo of some drinking horns on a table that day. To me, they looked like the Horn of Gondor that Boromir used in ‘The Lord of the Rings’. 😀 I also took a photo of Batman – that’s someone dressed up as Batman from ‘The Dark Knight Trilogy’.
Seeing Sarah again for the comic con’s second day was lovely. I had another selfie photo with Sarah that day, and this time with Cuddles, my cuddly toy dog. 😀 We also chatted about the Disney films ‘Alice In Wonderland’ (2010) and ‘Alice Through The Looking Glass’ (2016). 🙂
I pointed out to Sarah how the two films don’t match to what’s in the original Lewis Carroll stories and the original 1951 Disney film and her 1973 ‘Alice Through The Looking Glass’ are far superior. We also talked about ‘Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman’.
Apparently, Sarah saw some of the series when it came out in the 1990s. 🙂 We also chatted about her heroes Amy Johnson and Yvonne Pope Sintes, which she mentioned in the behind-the-scenes interviews for the Big Finish audio story ‘Pursuit of the Nightjar’. 🙂
It was nice to chat to Sarah about her inspirations in life based on two female pilots. I recommended to Sarah about checking out ‘Young Woman and the Sea’, which I saw recently on Disney+. I also shared with Sarah about how much she’s one of my heroes. 🙂
On Sunday, I had my CD box set cover and CD sleeve notes of ‘Goth Opera’ signed by Sarah, Peter and Janet. Sarah and Janet signed the box set cover whilst Peter signed the sleeve notes. I shared with all three that I’ve yet to check out the ‘Goth Opera’ audio adaptation.
But I also told them that I’d read the book and know what to expect when checking out the audio story. They shared how dark and scary the audio story will be once I listen to it. Knowing from them what the story will be like once I hear it, I’m excited and nervous. 🙂
It was lovely to see Janet again at the comic con. Following yesterday, I shared with Janet that I’d read the short story ‘Good Companions’, featuring an older Tegan in the 2030s and meeting an alternative future Doctor. Clearly, Janet wasn’t aware of that story’s existence.
I also had a couple of selfie photos taken of me with Sarah and Janet that day. I also had a selfie photo taken of me with Sarah, Janet and Peter. I’m glad I managed to get my selfies with the three stars that day, especially as Peter left early for that day at around 1 o’clock.
It was good to see Peter again on Sunday. We chatted a bit about the audio adaptation of ‘Goth Opera’ as well as me about to revisit the Season 20 Blu-ray box set sometime. Peter asked if I’d seen the Germany road trip he did with Sarah and Janet, and I said “Yes”. 🙂
On Sunday, I met up with my fan Tom Mitchell and his mother Bev, who have attended several conventions with me and Sarah Sutton over the years. It was nice to see them again and I took part in a photo, which featured me, Janet, Tom and Sarah, taken by Bev. 🙂
I managed to get a photo with Darth Vader and a Stormtrooper at the event too. Sarah was finishing early at around 2 o’clock that afternoon, so I decided to finish early too. I got to wave Sarah goodbye whilst I waited for my taxi, and she waved back as she was leaving.
The ‘Exeter Comic Con and Gaming Festival’ in October 2024 was a great weekend for me as a ‘Doctor Who’ fan. I enjoyed the two days seeing Sarah Sutton, Peter Davison and Janet Fielding and I’m so pleased I managed to achieve everything I wanted that weekend.
It’s a shame there weren’t any panel talks and professional photoshoots that weekend, but I’m glad I saw Sarah, Peter and Janet for signings and selfies. I’m also very pleased that I conducted my interview with Sarah about ‘The Moon Stallion’, which I enjoyed very much.
I’m currently looking forward to attending the ‘London Comic Con Winter’ event in November where I hope to meet Millie Gibson (Ruby Sunday) and Ncuti Gatwa (the Fifteenth Doctor) for the first time. I’m also looking forward to an event in the New Year. 🙂
That’ll be the ‘Happy Who Year’ event in Epsom in January 2025 where I’ll be reunited with not only Sarah Sutton, Peter Davison and Janet Fielding, but also Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Carole Ann Ford, Peter Purves, Frazer Hines, Wendy Padbury, Katy Manning, John Leeson and Nicola Bryant.
I’m so excited. 😀 Hope to share my convention reports on those events soon.
Thanks for reading!
Bye for now!
Tim 🙂
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