Happy Who Year everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
Yes! I attended the ‘Happy Who Year’ convention run by Who’s at the Playhouse at the Epsom Playhouse theatre in Epsom this year on Sunday the 19th of January 2025. It was an enjoyable day out, as there were so many ‘Doctor Who’ guests from the classic TV series.
Most of my ‘classic’ favourites were there, including Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), Peter Davison (the Fifth Doctor) and Janet Fielding (Tegan). There was also Colin Baker (the Sixth Doctor), Sylvester McCoy (the Seventh Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Terry Molloy (Davros) and Anneke Wills (Polly).
It was amazing to see so many ‘Doctor Who’ guests attending all at once in one convention. This was clearly reflected with so many fans waiting to meet their favourite celebrities. I believe this was the first time an event like this had been done by Who’s at the Playhouse, and this explains the mixed feelings I have about ‘Happy Who Year’.
Now I’m not denying anyone who thoroughly enjoyed the event. Far from it. It was an enjoyable experience for me. It’s just there are aspects about ‘Happy Who Year’ that I wish could have been done differently, especially with featuring so many ‘Doctor Who’ guests.
For one thing, the Epsom Playhouse theatre is a rather small venue. I was hoping for it to be ‘bigger on the inside’ to coin a phrase. But there seemed to be one room upstairs where they did the photo shoots – the Members’ Bar – and there was only one room downstairs for the autographs. 😐
Wendy Padbury (Zoe), Frazer Hines (Jamie) and John Leeson (K-9) were meant to come, but couldn’t in the end. Instead, Louise Jameson (Leela), Derek Martin (David Mitchell from ‘Image of the Fendahl’) and producer Philip Hinchcliffe stepped in to attend the day. Andrew Cartmel, the script editor for the Seventh Doctor era on TV, was also a guest for the day. 🙂
Katy Manning (Jo) was supposed to come to ‘Happy Who Year’ but sadly didn’t make it. I was astonished, as Katy usually does come to these events. I don’t know what happened, but I heard people say she was running late and maybe caught the wrong train. It’s sad that occurred and it would have been nice to have seen Katy again. Although maybe it’s for the best she didn’t turn up with the day being so busy.
Let me share with you how the day began. We were outside the Epsom Playhouse to go in at 09:15. The main theatre stage opened at 10:00 for us to be seated. At 10:30, there was an introduction given by one of the show’s producers: Martin Parsons.
At around 10:35, we had the first panel talk with Peter Davison, Janet Fielding and Sarah Sutton. I greatly enjoyed the panel talk and it was great to see the Fifth Doctor TARDIS trio again. I was very lucky in being able to ask the first question in the Q&A section of the talk.
I asked Peter, Janet and Sarah, “Is there a ‘Doctor Who’ story you did in the TV series that you felt “Oh I wish that could have been done better” and you’d be very happy to do a remake on?” I was teased by the trio on how I asked that question, but I’m happy they answered it in the end. 😀
They talked about ‘Time-Flight’ being a contender to do a remake on and Sarah Sutton shared she would have liked to have done ‘Black Orchid’ again. I helped Peter with recalling the title of the Silurians, Sea Devils and Myrka story he did called ‘Warriors of the Deep’. 😀
After that, there were photo shoots with Peter, Sarah and Janet at 11:30. I had a photo with all three ‘Doctor Who’ stars, a photo with Sarah and Peter, and a photo with Sarah only. I’m very pleased with the photos I had, and it looks like we’re very pleased to be ‘friends reunited’. 🙂
I didn’t do any more photo shoots after that, and I missed out on the panel talks. It took a while for me to see Sarah, Peter, Janet and the rest of the ‘Doctor Who’ stars for autographs in the afternoon from 13:45. This is where I have mixed feelings about the event.
Ideally, with so many ‘Doctor Who’ guests in attendance, it’d be a good idea to have them doing autographs in a larger room or at least in two rooms to provide flexibility and space for people going in and out to see their favourite stars. Sadly, I didn’t find it to be the case.
The room where the autographs took place – the Myers Studio Theatre – was rather small, and it ended up being chaotic in terms of crowd control and queuing. It was a challenge for me to see the guests I wanted to see that day, and it was taking place in one afternoon.
I think it would have been better to start the autograph session sooner in the late morning. Maybe after the first panel talk and, like I said, having the autographs in more than one room. The venue didn’t seem big enough to accommodate so many ‘Doctor Who’ guests.
So, yeah, as you can tell, I found the organisation of the autograph session in the afternoon rather disappointing, and I wish it could have been done differently. But I’m very pleased I got to see some of the stars I wanted to see and having some autographs signed.
I’m so happy I saw Sarah Sutton throughout the autograph session from 13:45 to 17:15, as she’s my favourite ‘Doctor Who’ companion. Sadly, Sarah was suffering from a cough that day. She’d been ill recently and was recovering from a virus she had over Christmas.
I don’t think the busyness, crowd control and queuing would have helped things for Sarah that afternoon, but I’m glad I was able to see her for autographs and general chit-chat. Hopefully, I lifted Sarah’s spirits throughout the day and that she’ll feel better pretty soon.
I cheered her up with a belated box of chocolates I bought her during the Christmas holidays. She said she hoped to enjoy them with a gin and tonic! 😀 I thanked Sarah for the Christmas photo I received from her last year that my Dad purchased via her website.
The items Sarah signed for me included my CD covers of the ‘Doctor Who’ audio story ‘The Great Beyond’ and the ‘Timeslip’ audio story ‘A Life Never Lived’. I had a selfie with Sarah and I took a selfie of Sarah with my cuddly toy dog Cuddles, who she was glad to see. 😀
I later gave Sarah updated copies of ‘The Nyssa Challenge’ and Nyssa’s timeline, containing new covers of stories like ‘Genesis of the Cybermen’ and ‘Hooklight’, which are coming out this year. Sarah said Nyssa’s timelines are getting ‘fatter’, which is amusing. 🙂
I showed Sarah a calendar that my Dad put together for me, which he created via PastBook, containing photos of me with my parents, with my cuddly toy dogs including Cuddles, with Sarah, Janet and Peter from Exeter in October 2024, and with Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson in London in November 2024. 😀
Sarah was impressed with the calendar when I showed it to her and I’m glad it was a good source of conversation. 😀 I also told Sarah a joke about medieval people going to Knight Clubs on New Year’s Eve, which amused her. I’m pleased I cheered her up with a joke before she finished for the day.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see everyone that I hoped to see that day. I guessed that would be inevitable, but I didn’t get to see people like Carole Ann Ford (Susan) and Peter Purves (Steven) on the day. I didn’t get to see Louise, Derek, Philip and Andrew, especially as some guests had to go to do talks and photo shoots whilst everyone else signed autographs.
However, in addition to seeing Sarah Sutton, I did manage to see and talk to other ‘Doctor Who’ celebrities. I saw Janet Fielding at the convention, and have my CD covers of ‘The Great Beyond’ and the Target novelization/audiobook of ‘Kinda’ (read by Janet) signed by her. I also had a lovely selfie photo taken with Janet.
Then there was Peter Davison. Peter signed my CD cover of ‘The Great Beyond’ and the DVD cover of ‘Great British Car Journeys’ for the ‘Bradley’ family. 😀 I had a selfie taken with Peter – Great! I shared with him how much I enjoyed his role and appearance in ‘Kiss Me Kate: The Musical’ at the cinema back in November. 🙂
After that, I saw Colin Baker. It was great to see Colin again. He signed my CD cover of ‘Blood on Santa’s Claw and Other Stories’ and then I had a selfie taken with him. It was amusing to hear from Colin how very busy his Christmas was with all his family. 😀
It was delightful to see Nicola Bryant and to chat with her about her appearance in the two-part finale of ‘Star Trek Continues’, which I checked out last year. Nicola signed my CD cover of ‘Blood on Santa’s Claw and Other Stories’ and again, I managed to get a lovely selfie with her.
Then followed an opportunity to see Sylvester McCoy. I missed seeing him for autographs at two conventions in 2023. Sylvester signed my Season 25 Blu-ray booklet and I had a selfie with him. We chatted about ‘The Hobbit’ film trilogy and his recent Christmas holiday in Holland. 🙂
Seeing Terry Molloy came next. Terry agreed to sign my Season 22 Blu-ray booklet and also to have a selfie with me. We chatted about his portrayal of Davros in ‘Revelation of the Daleks’ and how much he enjoyed playing Davros differently in that story.
Finally, it was great to see Anneke Wills that day, as it had been such a long time since I last saw her at a convention. Anneke signed my Blu-ray cover of ‘The Underwater Menace’ and also had a selfie with me. We had a nice chat where we shared our thoughts on ‘The Underwater Menace’ as a ‘Doctor Who’ story. 🙂
‘Happy Who Year’ is a ‘Doctor Who’ convention that I wouldn’t say was the smoothest in terms of how it ran from beginning to end. It was fine in the morning with the panel talk and photo shoots with Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding and I greatly enjoyed those. 🙂
The autograph session in the afternoon was very chaotic and I didn’t get to achieve everything I wanted to do with meeting the ‘Doctor Who’ stars that attended that day. For a convention at Epsom Playhouse in Epsom, maybe the guest list could have been smaller.
I got to say hello to behind-the-scenes people like Matt Evenden (who helps Sarah Sutton with her website) and Robert Dick (who’s done some ‘Myth Makers’ interviews for Reeltime Pictures) at the event that day. Apparently, according to Matt Evenden, there’s going to be an auction via Sarah Sutton’s website sometime soon. I’ll have to keep an eye out for that. 🙂
Most of all, I’m pleased I got to see Sarah Sutton throughout the autograph session in the afternoon, despite the queues and crowd control. I’m also very pleased I got to see ‘Doctor Who’ stars like Peter Davison and Janet Fielding. Seeing them for photo shoots and autographs is very worthwhile.
The next convention I’m looking forward to is ‘Capitol Cutaway’ in Hammersmith, London in April. Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton are going to be guests there. I’m hoping I’ll see Peter and Sarah again at a comic con similar to the one in Exeter in October 2024 later this year in 2025.
Thanks for reading!
Bye for now!
Tim 🙂
Bradley's Basement 
