Chalky & Shirt...

...Make A Day of It.

Having been supporting Large Endings since “The Sirens of Time”, which they had rushed to buy at Seventh Galaxy with Dufus in tow, Chalky and Shirt were more than interested when they announced their first convention, ironically being run in conjunction with Seventh Galaxy Events. The announcement of Colin Baker headlining, along with LE Doctor Watson, Richard Earl, and three audio companions that he had not previously met (one of whom was to be a surprise) meant that Shirt was a definite, and the low entry price and promise of free autographs from a multitude of LE authors and technical staff, meant that Chalky was able to return to the world of conventions, if only for one day.

Making their way to the infamous school by public transport, Chalky and Shirt arrived in good time for the start of the day. Shirt was disappointed that one of the new companions, the lovely Ciara Janson, would not now be attending (he had been hoping to get close to her on the pretence of a photo), and that nor would Alan Barnes, author of “Sherlock Holmes On Screen”.

Having identified the ‘lie of the land’, that panels were in the gym and signing actors in the main hall, with authors in classrooms, they spent too much money at the LE stall in the main hall before taking their seats for the first panel of the day – Colin Baker, and his mystery new companion. Shirt had noticed a photograph of a girl that he did not recognise on the photo stall, and so was unsurprised when said girl followed Mr. Baker into the gym. However, he had not made the connection that she was Flip Jackson from previous Sixth Doctor audio, “The Crimes of Thomas Brewster”, who was to be Old Sixy’s companion in a new trilogy of stories. Lisa Greenwood was a pixie-like girl, and Colin seemed to have taken on the role of father-protector towards her on this her first experience of fandom. The panel also featured Jonathan Morris who created the character for the earlier audio, and would be writing the opening story of the new trilogy.

Panel completed, and Chalky and Shirt made their way into the main hall to get their first signatures of the day. Shirt considered buying the photo of Lisa, but decided to do so just before meeting her (It’s not like they’d sell out!!). The longest queue was for Colin and Lisa Greenwood, so the pair started with new audio Seventh Doctor companion, Beth Chalmers. Beth happily signed the first three stories of the Seventh Doctor Lost Stories – Season 27, the latter two featuring her as new companion Raine Creevy, and the first as Raine’s mother (with Russian accent). Both got her to sign their respective “Companions” books, and Shirt also got her on “Holmes and the Ripper”, in which she appears as Mrs. Hudson. Beth was then forced to have her photo taken with both friends, managing to act pleased to do so.

Next to Beth was Richard Earl, Watson to Nicholas Briggs’ Holmes in “Holmes and the Ripper”. Shirt chatted away to him about playing the literary Doctor, before ensuring that he got a photo with Richard as well.

Getting “man of many voices”, John Banks, on several covers, they moved to the other end of the signing table, and Bernice Summerfield stars, Miles Richardson and Lisa Bowerman. Miles was sporting a luxurious moustache (which it later transpired was for the forthcoming “Titanic” mini-series), and was happily signing any cover put in front of him. Lisa greeted the two as old friends, as she signed cover after cover of Benny audios for them, as Shirt shamelessly flirted with her.

Moving along, they approached Andrew Smith, writer of classic who story “Full Circle”, who had also written Large Endings’ release “The Invasion of E-Space”. CD, DVD and video covers were signed, and Chalky was surprised to learn that Andrew lives round the corner from him.

Next were actors, Toby Longworth and Duncan Wisbey, who between them had managed to be in most of the recent LE releases, and so both signed a stack of covers for the friends. The final two guests along the wall were Rob Shearman and Nev Fountain, who signed Shirt’s “100” and Chalky’s “Peri and the Piscon Paradox” covers respectively.

Bypassing the guests that required payment of £10 per autograph (including to Chalky’s chagrin – the lovely Sarah Sutton), they joined the queue for Colin and Lisa Greenwood, but not before Shirt had discovered that all of Lisa’s publicity photos had been sold. The queue moved surprisingly swiftly, and soon Shirt was in front of his favourite Doctor again getting a cornucopia of covers signed, before getting Lisa in his “Companions” book and on his “The Crimes of Thomas Brewster” cover (which luckily he had brought for Colin). Chalky followed, getting his “Companions” book signed also. Next it was time for photos with the startled Ms. Greenwood, who was nearly blinded by the flash on Shirt’s camera.

Next it was time to roam the classrooms where they managed to get fourteen authors to sign their respective works, before making their way to another classroom where a “live LE podcast” took place, featuring Nick Briggs, Paul Spragg, Ken Bentley, and Jason Haigh-Ellery. This completed and it was out into the fresh air, where a quick trip was made to a local small supermarket to purchase lunch. This was eaten on a nearby bench, before they made their way back to the panel room in time for a ‘Bernice Summerfield’ panel, followed by a ‘Sherlock Holmes’ one. In the gap between panels, they managed to get three more authors on their covers. After the penultimate panel, Shirt managed to get author/actor John Dorney on several covers, before waylaying Nicholas Briggs to sign a few covers and pose for a photo to add to his album of ‘Shirt with actors who have played Holmes’.

The final panel of the day completed, and the two made their way slowly back to Barking Station, considering the hundreds of autographs that they had obtained, the money that they had spent, and the young ladies that they had had their photos taken with. Chalky agreed as they wended their way to their respective homes that it had been “just like old times”.

[PL]