Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
I’ve had an incredible weekend in London recently, saying hello to some amazing people. 😀 I attended the ‘London Comic Con Winter’ at the Olympia in Kensington from Saturday the 16th to Sunday the 17th of November, and I saw the two latest ‘Doctor Who’ stars Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson.
Welcome to the ‘London Comic Con Winter 2024’ at the Olympia in Kesington, November 2024
In the past, I’ve attended comic cons in London run by Showmasters before. The previous one was the ‘London Comic Con Winter’ in November 2022, where I saw Jodie Whittaker and David Tennant together. I enjoyed the event. It was an exciting and happy time for me.
It was about two years ago at around that time that Millie Gibson had been announced as the new ‘Doctor Who’ companion on Children in Need night. So, I guess it comes full circle that I should meet Millie and Ncuti in person at the same comic con two years later.
Originally, Millie and Ncuti were going to be attending the Saturday only. But then Millie decided to come on both days about a week beforehand. Therefore, I decided to attend both days instead of just coming on Saturday. I was able to extend my Premier Inn stay. 😀
Plus, there were major engineering works happening on the Sunday from London Paddington to Cardiff Central via train. So, I ended up going home on the Monday, making it a long weekend. Which is fine for me, as it’s best to enjoy these weekends to the fullest.
My weekend in London was from Friday to Monday. 😀 Ncuti had also decided to come on the two days of the event instead of just the Saturday, since there was a change in the technical rehearsals for his upcoming performance in ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’.
This, unfortunately, led to a problem, which I discovered whilst attending the event. I don’t want to go into too much detail on this, but apparently, Ncuti could only do half a day on Saturday before going to a rehearsal. He decided to return on Sunday to make up for that.
But as a result, not everyone got to meet Ncuti or have a photo with him. I sympathise with people’s disgruntlement on this. I’m sure many had planned to just attend the Saturday and weren’t able to attend the Sunday once Ncuti had decided to do both days.
I’m not trying to be insensitive about this, as I hoped everyone would get their autograph and photograph with Ncuti despite the chaos going on. I can only speak from my experience of how the weekend went, since I was able to achieve everything that I wanted to do then. 🙂
I made the wise decision to buy only diamond passes for Millie on both Saturday and Sunday. I didn’t buy diamond passes for Ncuti. Firstly, I knew he was going to be very popular, and I wouldn’t get an immediate look-in and see him like I’d be able to with Millie.
Secondly, the prices for Ncuti’s diamond passes were very expensive compared to Millie’s. Ncuti was like £275 whilst Millie’s was from £145 to £155. I decided to go for one or the other and not both. Millie won in terms of me getting diamond passes to see her. 🙂
I managed to avoid getting too caught up in the madness that was Ncuti’s autograph and photo shoots, but it’s fair to say that Saturday was the busiest and arguably worst day of the London weekend. Sunday was a far better and happier day for me when I attended. 🙂
As I said, I don’t want to get into too much of the issues surrounding how ‘London Comic Con Winter 2024’ was organised and handled. So, let me share with you what the highlights of the weekend were and what I achieved, since I found it exciting and fulfilling.
Day 1 (Saturday 16th November 2024)
On Saturday, the first ‘Doctor Who’ star I saw was Colin Baker (the Sixth Doctor). It was great to see Colin that day and catch up with him. I had my CD cover of ‘The Holy Terror’ signed by him and we had a nice chat about Frobisher, who appears in the audio story. I also mentioned I’d recently co-written ‘Quasar of Sarfenia’ in ‘The Sunfire Chronicles’.
I got to see Millie Gibson (Ruby Sunday) in the morning. She was lovely to meet and she liked the TARDIS badge I wore on my pullover. I told her it was the closest I could get to cosplay the TARDIS. 😀 Millie signed my CD sleeve notes of the ‘Ruby Red’ audiobook she did lately, which I’ll share my thoughts on soon. I also gave her a copy of Ruby’s timeline.
Millie said she’d treasure it, which was very nice of her to say. I hope I can give her an updated version of Ruby’s timeline next time I see her. 😀 I later had a photo shoot with Millie outside the TARDIS. 🙂 I shared how much she was a highlight for me in Series 14. 🙂
She seemed to really appreciate that when I told her. 🙂 Next, I had a photo shoot with Ncuti Gatwa (the Fifteenth Doctor) and Millie together, which was nice. I then had a photo shoot with Ncuti outside the TARDIS, and then I had another photo shoot with dear Millie.
After the excitement of my photo shoots with Millie and Ncuti, I then attended the ‘Doctor Who Comics’ panel talk in the afternoon. I enjoyed the panel talk, as it had three guests: Andrew Cartmel (former TV show script editor), Jessica Martin (who played Mags in ‘The Greatest Show In The Galaxy’) and Jeff Cummins (who’s done Target novelization covers).
I also had a photo shoot with Colin Baker outside the TARDIS, which was nice. Throughout the day, I took photos of a few cosplayers, including Deadpool, Spider-Man and Captain America. I also took a photo of ‘Ghostbusters’ display, which I found pretty amazing to see.
At certain points in the day, I got to meet up with Toby Hadoke, who was helping a friend of his to get and see Ncuti. We had a nice chat about the ‘Horror of the Fang Rock’ Blu-ray making-of documentary he was in. I also saw Cary Woodward, the organiser of the ‘Regenerations’ Swansea conventions. 🙂 Both were there only for Saturday, not Sunday.
Day 2 (Sunday 17th November 2024)
Like I said, Sunday was a happier day. For one thing, it was less busy than Saturday. I was able to manage the photo shoots by having a variety of poses with the ‘Doctor Who’ stars. This was so I could get more variety with the photos that I wanted to have with the stars.
I first had a photo of myself by the TARDIS, which I’m glad I was able to get early in the day. I saw Bonnie Langford (Melanie Bush) on the Sunday and had a lovely time chatting to her. She signed my copy of her latest book ‘Death in the Stars’, which I hope to read soon.
It was great to see Millie Gibson again on Sunday, and I’m pleased she remembered me. 🙂 She asked if I slept well and I told her I was staying overnight at a Premier Inn, which she approved of. 🙂 Millie signed my Blu-ray cover of ‘The Church on Ruby Road’, which is great.
I later had a photo shoot with Millie outside the TARDIS where we did a back-to-back pose, which was fun. 😀 I had another dual photo shoot with Ncuti Gatwa and Millie and we did an action pose together. I’m very pleased Ncuti and Millie were willing to do the pose with me.
I had another photo with Millie where we held Merry Christmas and Happy New Year cards for a Christmas greeting card I’m putting together. I said to Millie she could wear the Santa hat. 😀 After we finished, she thanked me for allowing her to wear the Santa hat. 🙂
I’m pleased she enjoyed doing that photo with her wearing the Santa hat. That must be my favourite photo with Millie. 😀 I later had a dual photo with Bonnie and Millie. After we had the photo, Millie thanked me for supporting her over the weekend, which was nice of her to say. 🙂
I was lucky in getting to meet Ncuti for a signing session on Sunday. I had my Blu-ray cover of ‘The Church on Ruby Road’ signed by him. It was nice to chat to him about how we were enjoying the comic con so far and how ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ was going for him. 🙂
That afternoon, I attended the panel talk with Colin Baker and Bonnie Langford. It was a lovely panel talk, and I got to ask them a question about them doing the ‘Behind the Sofa’ items for the ‘Doctor Who’ Blu-ray box sets and how surreal it was to watch themselves. 🙂
Next, I attended the panel talk with Millie Gibson, which I also enjoyed. I’m disappointed I didn’t get to ask her a question, as it was just the interviewer asking the questions and not the audience. At least I’m looking forward to seeing her in the new ‘Forsythe Saga’ she’s in.
Afterwards, I had photo shoots outside the TARDIS with Bonnie Langford and then with Bonnie Langford and Colin Baker. Bonnie thanked me for asking the question about the ‘Behind the Sofa’ items in their panel talk. I’m very pleased she liked the question I asked.
I was able to get a chance to chat to Andrew Cartmel and Jessica Martin in the comic zone of the convention. I purchased a limited edition updated copy of Andrew’s ‘Script Doctor’ memoirs, containing new picturesque additions compared to the original edition.
I also purchased a piece of artwork by Jessica Martin of her as Mags with Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor and Sophie Aldred as Ace, based on a behind-the-scenes photo, I believe, from ‘The Greatest Show In The Galaxy’. 🙂 I had these items signed by Andrew and Jessica.
Throughout the day, I purchased merchandise from the stalls, including some official ‘Doctor Who’ socks, the ‘Jago & Litefoot & Strax’ audio story ‘The Haunting’ on CD, and the US comic edition of ‘The Tides of Time’, featuring ‘Parts One and Two’ and in colour. 🙂
The ‘London Comic Con Winter’ in November 2024 was a very exciting weekend for me. I didn’t think I would get to meet Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson at a convention so soon, let alone have photos with them. I’m glad I attended the weekend and said hello to them.
Yes, it’s a shame about the chaos that happened on Saturday with attendees being turned away and not being able to have photos with Ncuti. But then, Ncuti and Millie are currently high profile ‘Doctor Who’ stars, so it was inevitable things would be very chaotic.
A part of me is sad that I didn’t get to chat to Millie and Ncuti much, as I would have liked to have formed a stronger friendly camaraderie with them that weekend. I know it wasn’t possible due to many people seeing them and it was their first signing convention then. 😐
Yes, they did the ‘San Diego Comic Con’ earlier this year, but they didn’t do any signings or meet the fans, according to Millie in her panel talk. The ‘London Comic Con Winter 2024’ was their first proper signing event, so it must have been a new experience for them.
I would like to see them again at some point in the future. Whether it’ll be next year or a few years later, I’ve no idea. I know my relationship with them isn’t as friendly as with Sarah Sutton (Nyssa of Traken) and Peter Davison (the Fifth Doctor), who I’ve got to know well at conventions over the years.
But I live in hope that perhaps if they did more conventions, I’d get to see them and be confident in chatting them up compared to my first time meeting them. I’m pleased I made a very good impression on Millie for both days, as she was sweet and lovely to meet.
I’m currently looking forward to attending the ‘Happy New Year’ convention in Epsom, in January 2025 with guests like Sarah Sutton, Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Carole Ann Ford, Peter Purves, Frazer Hines, Wendy Padbury, Katy Manning, John Leeson and Nicola Bryant. It should be a nice convention to start off the year.
I’m also looking forward to attending the ‘Capitol Cutaway’ event in Hammersmith, London in April 2025. So far, Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton and Susan Twist have been announced as guests. I’m hoping they’ll be an exciting set of conventions for me to enjoy.
Thanks for reading!
Bye for now!
Tim 🙂
Bradley's Basement 
Thank you for sharing, Tim. The last Doctor Who Convention I attended was many years ago with my father in Toronto (with DWIN: Doctor Who Information Network) where I met John Levene and Anneke Wills. And John put on a special viewing of Wartime which was my first chance to see it. Someday I’d like to visit another Doctor Who Convention with my nephew who’s also a Whovian.
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Hi scifimike,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts of attending a convention in Toronto. The London weekend was pretty amazing and I’m glad I got to see Ncuti and Millie for two days instead of one. It was an unexpected treat.
Best wishes,
Tim 🙂
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