Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
Happy 62nd Anniversary, ‘Doctor Who’! 🙂
And what better way to celebrate the occasion by sharing my latest convention report on ‘London Comic Con Winter 2025’, which I attended last weekend. The convention ran for two days from Saturday 15th to Sunday 16th of November. I attended the Saturday only. 🙂
The event, as usual, was held at the Olympia on Hammersmith Road in London. Two things were happening at the Olympia that weekend. There was the comic con itself on the ground floor and there was the YALC (Young Adult Literature Convention) on the first floor.
In the past, I’ve attended two ‘London Comic Con Winters’ run by Showmasters Events in November, including the 2022 one and the 2024 one. I enjoyed both the 2022 event with David Tennant (the Tenth and Fourteenth Doctors) and Jodie Whittaker (the Thirteenth Doctor), and the 2024 event with Ncuti Gatwa (the Fifteenth Doctor) and Millie Gibson (Ruby Sunday).
The 2024 ‘London Comic Con Winter’ was arguably disastrous for many attendees, considering Ncuti Gatwa wasn’t present for the two days. For me, I enjoyed the 2024 event, since I got to see Millie Gibson for the first time. I’ve seen her at a few more events since.
Initially, I wasn’t planning on going to the 2025 ‘London Comic Con Winter’ event, as I’ve got the ‘London Comic Con Spring’ event in February 2026 to look forward to. But then, Jenna Coleman (Clara Oswald) was announced as a guest, and I decided to go and meet her for the first time.
After I purchased an entry ticket and a diamond pass for Jenna, it was announced that David Tennant would also be attending ‘London Comic Con Winter’. As soon as that was announced, I purchased a diamond pass for David, knowing it’d be worth seeing him again.
Thankfully, I avoided the worst of Storm Claudia when going up from Cardiff to London via train on the Friday before the weekend. By the time I was going home on Sunday, most of the flooding has eased significantly. I returned to Cardiff safely, which is a huge relief.
Going back to the comic con, I had a nice time attending the event on Saturday 15th November. I found it a better experience compared to last year’s event. Mind you, I can’t say it was an entirely satisfying experience, even though I achieved most of what I wanted.
Arguments have been made about Showmasters’ efforts in running their conventions in recent years, particularly post-Covid events where the number of guests isn’t so big as it used to be. It’s not helped that the comic con was held on the ground floor of the Olympia.
I don’t know what it’s like when it comes to the summer London events, but hopefully, they use both floors of the Olympia for the guests. I recall the 2022 Winter event using the two floors compared to the 2024 and 2025 Winter events utilising just the ground floor. 😐
These are technical aspects of the running of the comic cons, I know, but it’s sad that Showmasters Events tend to be criticised quite a lot lately for how they handle their events. I’ve my own issues with them, but for the most part, I’ve enjoyed their comic cons.
I’m sad that Sarah Sutton (Nyssa in ‘Doctor Who’) doesn’t seem to be invited to the Showmasters Events lately. Why that is, I don’t know. At least I have ‘Happy Who Year 2026’ to look forward to in January next year. No doubt I’ll see her again at a non-Showmasters comic con soon.
I digress, of course. Let’s talk about what the highlights of the ‘London Comic Con Winter 2025’ were for me. I didn’t take many photos of cosplayers at the convention, but I took shots of the 1960s Batmobile as well as of the Batmobile from ‘The Dark Knight Trilogy’.
There were also cardboard cutouts of the TARDIS, the Tenth Doctor and a Dalek on display at the event. I know I was meeting David Tennant in person that Saturday, but I couldn’t resist taking photos of those cutouts, as they represent my favourite era of the new TV show.
Eventually, I got to see David Tennant for a signing session at his autograph table. It was great to see David again for the second time at a convention. I’m not sure if he recalled me from the 2022 event with Jodie Whittaker, but he was incredibly pleasant to chat to. 🙂
David signed my DVD cover of ‘Doctor Who’ – Series 2 – Volume 3, containing ‘Rise of the Cybermen’/’The Age of Steel’ and ‘The Idiot’s Lantern’. I shared how much I enjoyed him in ‘Around the World in 80 Days’ and that I was surprised he didn’t do a second season. 😀
David laughed at that and said, “Never say never”. So, who knows? Maybe there’ll be a second season of ‘Around the World in 80 Days’ at some point. My chat with David was a brief one, but it was a happy experience. I hope I’ll get to see David again for another chat.
After that, I went to see Jenna Coleman for the first time. I had two autographs signed by Jenna. One in the morning and one in the afternoon. For the morning autograph, Jenna signed my CD cover of ‘The Time Machine’ from the ‘Destiny of the Doctor’ audio series.
I should have been careful when I took the CD cover from Jenna, as the signature hadn’t dried. It unfortunately smudged when I put it back in my convention folder. The signature is there on the CD cover, but it’s barely readable, which is a pity, and it saddens me greatly.
Hence, that’s why I saw Jenna for a second time in the afternoon and asked her to sign a photo of her as Clara Oswald from ‘Face the Raven’. It’s a nice photo of Jenna as Clara, and I’m very pleased she signed it for me to make up for that disappointment I had earlier.
Meeting Jenna herself was pleasant enough. Mind you, I didn’t get to have any chats with Jenna when I saw her for the two signing sessions, as it was basically in-and-out both times. 😦 It didn’t match to when I see Sarah Sutton and Millie Gibson for chats at conventions. 😦
Maybe it’s because it was my first time meeting Jenna Coleman at a convention. Perhaps I was nervous since I didn’t know her very well. All the same, it’s sad knowing I’m not seeing Jenna again for another convention anytime soon as I am with seeing Sarah and Millie in future.
With that said, I did give Jenna a small box of Christmas chocolates along with a Christmas card for her to enjoy. She was pleasantly surprised by that, saying that was ‘very sweet’ of me. I’m glad I cheered her up with providing her some chocolates and a card.
I had some photo shoots with David Tennant and Jenna Coleman that day. Two of them involved us holding Merry Christmas and Happy New Year cards for a Christmas greeting card I’m putting together for my blog. I’m glad we got to do the Christmas photos. 🙂
We also had photos by the TARDIS. There were action poses we did by the TARDIS, including me and Jenna doing “Where are we, Doctor?” poses. Speaking personally, Jenna and David did better with their action poses than me. I need to do better action poses. 😀
Later, I had a group photo with David Tennant, Sylvester McCoy (the Seventh Doctor) and Colin Baker (the Sixth Doctor), which was very nice. Sadly, I didn’t get to meet Sylvester and Colin for autograph sessions. Hopefully, I will get to see them for autographs when ‘Happy Who Year 2026’ comes along.
After lunch, I had a photo with Pearl Mackie (Bill Potts) who was with Peter Capaldi’s Twelfth Doctor. I was great to see Pearl again. I didn’t get to see her for an autograph, sadly, but I’m glad I saw her for a second convention after seeing her in Birmingham back in November 2017.
At 15:15, there was a panel talk with Jenna Coleman. I enjoyed Jenna’s panel talk where she shared her memories of being in ‘Doctor Who’ with Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi. It’s interesting that she initially auditioned for the role of Mels in the episode ‘Let’s Kill Hitler’.
Afterwards, I had a photo shoot with Sir Derek Jacobi (the War Master) and David Tennant. I got to meet Derek for a signing session that afternoon. It was great to meet him. He signed my CD box set cover of ‘The War Master’ story ‘Killing Time’. We also chatted about him being in the 2019 film ‘Tolkien’.
The day drew to a close with me having a photo shoot with Sylvester McCoy in his Seventh Doctor outfit, which I enjoyed. At 18:15, there was a two Doctors panel talk where it started off with Sylvester McCoy before he was joined by David Tennant, which was great!
It was nice to end the day with an enjoyable panel talk between two Doctors – one from the classic TV series and one from the new TV series (two if you consider David as the Tenth and Fourteenth Doctors). The banter between Sylvester and David was entertaining. 🙂
It’s fair to say ‘London Comic Con Winter 2025’ was a worthwhile event for me. I know there were more ‘Doctor Who’ guests to see the following day and it would have been nice to have met them, but I wasn’t able afford the time to attend that Sunday, which is a pity.
The main highlights for me with attending ‘London Comic Con Winter 2025’ include seeing David Tennant for a second time and meeting Jenna Coleman for the first time. I didn’t think I’d get to see David for a second time at a convention and I’m so pleased that I did.
It was nice to meet Jenna for the first time, though I wish there was time to have a nice chat with her about her ‘Doctor Who’ work and the other roles she’s had. Maybe over time, I’ll see Jenna again at a future event. At least I can I say I’ve met Jenna at last. 🙂
I know the Showmasters Events tend to get criticised lately in terms of their quality and how they’re organised. But with the ones I’ve attended this year, including Milton Keynes in May, Cardiff in October and London in November, they’ve been worthwhile events for me.
This is especially with meeting some amazing ‘Doctor Who’ stars. I’ve also had nice opportunities to meet up with fellow fans, including ones I’ve become friends with, both over the years and quite recently. Some have also followed my ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog. 🙂
I’m currently looking forward to seeing Sarah Sutton again as well as other ‘Doctor Who’ stars at ‘Happy Who Year 2026’ in Andover in January next year. I’m also looking forward to seeing Millie Gibson again at ‘London Comic Con Spring’ in February 2026. So exciting!
Stay tuned for my convention reports on those events in the New Year!
Thanks for reading!
Bye for now!
Tim 🙂
Bradley's Basement 