Dufus & Shirt…

…Going For A (River) Song

Dufus and Shirt had booked to attend Wales Comic Con, which bizarrely was taking place in the non-Welsh Telford (a stone’s throw from the filming location of Sixth Doctor story, ‘The Mark of the Rani’). Shirt had travelled up the previous night, via several M&B Giveaways, having to catch a bus on arriving at the station due to Dufus being delayed in being able to pick him up. The evening was spent in frequenting the local Chinese restaurant and watching ‘Children in Need’, including the ‘Destination: Skaro’ minisode.

The next morning, they managed to get away on time, stopping briefly for a drive-through breakfast. Shirt was in charge of holding Dufus’ phone with the directions, also playing ‘Who Are We ?: The Classic Years’ through his iPad which would not link up with the outdated stereo in Dufus’ courtesy car. (Don’t ask). On arrival at the Telford International Centre, they initially tried to go in through the wrong entrance, before being shooed away as the car park was full. Deciding to make for the long-stay car park indicated on a road-sign, they were soon parked up, and walking the five minutes back to the venue. Having passed through the main gate, they saw the massively snaking queue for entry. [It was at least three time the length of the one that Shirt had been in the previous week]. Joining the back of the queue, they were pleased that it moved quite quickly, and after around half-an-hour they were in sight of the entrance doors. However, at this point, the queue was split into two columns, with Dufus and Shirt just missing being ushered into what seemed to be the faster queue.

Finally inside, and having had their tickets scanned, Shirt helped Dufus put his event wristband on, having put his own on. Having availed themselves of the facilities, they made their way into the main convention hall which was in three parts. Moving to the far side, they made their way up to where the first guests were signing, getting an idea of who was where. Moving into the next hall, they found some of the bigger guests, with Dufus taking a queuing ticket for both Jenna Coleman and Alex Kingston, who were both away from their desks.

It was now almost time for Shirt’s first photo, with ‘the Doctor’s Wife’, Alex Kingston. Having noticed on the website that you could have up to 2 adults and 2 children in the photo on one ticket, he had offered Dufus the opportunity to be in the photo and meet Alex as well. They therefore made their way to Photo Area 2 where there was still a long queue for the duo shoot with Alex and Jenna. They therefore checked where Photo Area 3 was for Shirt later, and when they returned they were allowed to join a queue for just Alex.

Eventually, Jenna left the Photo Area, and the queue for Alex (which was in several sections) began moving. After around fifteen minutes, Dufus and Shirt’s queue began moving, and they were soon handing over their jackets and bags to be stored outside the photo studio. Alex seemed to be enjoying herself, particularly with attendees dressed as the Eleventh Doctor (whose braces she could pull) or those with Sonic Screwdrivers which she could pose with. Soon it was Dufus and Shirt’s turn, standing either side of Alex, with her pointing at them both with her arms crossed.

Leaving the photo studio, they collected their belongings and crossed to a table where after around two minutes their photo was printed out and given to Shirt, with a QR code stuck on the back to enable the download to be ordered. (Checking later, the download was £7, so they decided just to scan their physical copy in). They also both posed for a photo by a nearby TARDIS (with Shirt concerned that there might be a recurrence of the incident eight years before, almost to the day), and in the case of Dufus, a Kung Fu Panda statue as his girlfriend calls him this (???!!!).

A ‘Doctor Who’ panel was taking place upstairs with Doctors 5-8, but when they got there they were told that it was just about to finish. They therefore made their way back to the signing area where Shirt got Gareth David-Lloyd to sign a photo of himself as Doctor Watson in ‘Sherlock Holmes’ (2010).

It took a while to work out what he had written on it, but ‘lots of love’ was the finally agreed answer. It was time for Shirt’s next photo, with John Noble who plays Sherlock and Mycroft’s father Morland in ‘Elementary’, and was Denethor in ‘The Lord of the Rings’. Dufus decided to just have a sit down in the food court.

Having ascertained that he was in the right queue, Shirt waited, and waited, and waited. Finally, half-an-hour after the advertised start time, Chris Barrie and Danny John Jules, exited the photo studio, their duo shoot having run over. Shirt therefore texted Dufus to state that he was being delayed. After a few minutes, John Noble passed the queue and was taken into the studio. The queue then moved very quickly, despite some attendees having booked for a duo shoot with Bernard Hill [King Théoden of Rohan] (who was not now attending), and around ten minutes later, Shirt was stepping up, and having his hand warmly shaken by Mr. Noble.

‘Nice to meet you, mate!’, said John, in a deep Australian accent that Shirt had forgotten was his real voice, as he is British in ‘Elementary’.

Photo swiftly taken, and Shirt was joining a queue to pick up his photo.

Due to lighting problems, several previous attendees had had to have several photos taken before one that the photographer was happy with. However, there was no way to stop these being sent to the printers, and so there was a delay in photos being printed, which meant that the queue was in danger of impinging on the photo studio itself. His photo having finally been printed, Shirt wandered back out to find Dufus who was wandering around the main hall, following Shirt failing to respond to his text, due to having discarded his coat by the door just before it was sent.

Returning to far end of the hall, they both partook in a free MegaCon ‘Spin to Win’ (being the last to do so prior to a break), where Shirt won a comic book and Dufus a hardback MARVEL graphic novel. (They were both hoping for a DW Figurine Collection – CyberMaster). Returning to the signing area, Dufus took the plunge and got Dan Starkey to sign his Series 7 boxset, completing the Paternoster Gang (having previously met Neve McIntosh and Catrin Stewart).

They then had a look for Neil Edwards, artist of a ‘Torchwood’ graphic novel featuring the return of the Vervoids that they had both brought with them, but there was no sign of him anywhere. A Disney Lorcana artist was also there, but hadn’t drawn any of the ‘Great Mouse Detective’ cards, so Shirt wasn’t interested.

Moving onto the main stalls area, they spent a long time at one stall with lots of DW figures, including M&B figures that they had been unable to get, such as the Sixth Doctor ‘Ultimate Adventure’ TARDIS (for £15 over the RRP). However, both resisted temptation, but Shirt bought some MDWs at another stall.

It was then decided to make their way back to Dufus’ car, for a very late lunch, before paying for their parking, and making their way back to Dufus’ via a M&B Giveaways in Mansfield (which had no DW figures at all), listening to ‘Who Are We ?: The Modern Era’. The evening was spent in eating pizza, watching the Matthew Jacobs documentary, ‘Who Am I ?’, and some of ‘The Crown’ episodes leading up to Diana’s death. Having planned a jaunt to the Derbyshire sites of the Sherlock Holmes story, ‘The Priory School’ (and associated Granada dramatisation) the next day, a reasonably early night was had.

[PL]