Shirt…

...Eve of the Daleks.

Having made a number of previous treks to Milton Keynes for Collectormania (see CDS…The Doctor Will See You Now, CDS…Visits A Vila & CDS…Burn, Baby, Burn), Shirt decided to do so again to meet some NuWho and Sarah Jane Adventures guest stars. Managing not to get as lost as he had the previous year, Shirt made his way from the temporary coach station (which was still in the same place a year later – not so temporary) to the Centre:MK shopping centre to catch the free bus to the MK Dons Stadium where the event was happening again (despite the organisers making clear the previous year that this was a temporary location whilst a conference centre was being built). Missing one of the half-hourly buses by five minutes, Shirt waited patiently at the bus stop, soon being joined by a variety of other fans.

The free bus finally arrived, everyone piled on, and less than ten minutes later the bus was pulling into the Stadium car-park. This time it was Alex Drake’s car (from the finale) which was parked outside. Entering the Stadium, Shirt strode off looking for the guests that he was interested in. Having passed several long queues for the photo studios and the most popular guests (Linda Hamilton, Patrick Stewart & Kate Mulgrew), Shirt found the first two guests that he was interested in.

First up was Eleanor Tomlinson, who appeared as Eve the Orange-skinned alien in Sarah Jane Adventures’ story “The Mad Woman in the Attic” (she also has a minor part in the Johnny Depp/Tim Burton “Alice”, and was in the film of teenage girls’ favourite “Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging” as the main character’s best friend). Stepping forward, there being no queue, Shirt paid for an autograph, and picked up a 10x8 still of Eleanor as Eve, which she signed “To Shirt”. Next, he got a steward to take a photograph of him with Eleanor, before thanking her and moving away to where several people were discussing whether she actually plays Alice. Next to Eleanor was Joseph Long, most famous as Luigi in “Ashes to Ashes”, but who also appeared in the Doctor-lite Series 4 episode “Turn Left” as Rocco Colasanto, the Nobles’ new neighbour. Two minutes later, and Shirt had yet another signature on his Series 4 poster.

Moving on a bit further, he came across a row of actors who had played Stormtroopers in “Star Wars”. However, several had also appeared in Classic Who. Ignoring the Cyberman (as he was from the Black-and-White era), Shirt got the signature of Mike Murgavan on his “Destiny of the Daleks” DVD cover, in which Mike plays a Dalek (other WHO parts include a Tetrap and a Vervoid).

“I play a Dalek in that one”, said Mike helpfully, adding this information to his signature.

Shirt nodded in a ‘that’s why I’m asking you to sign it’ way.

Continuing on round the Stadium, Shirt found that both Chris Barrie and Danny John Jules were absent from their tables, and as these were the final two guests that he wanted to meet, continued round again until he reached the merchandise area again. Due to an R2-D2 building group being at the event, every two minutes a different radio-controlled full size R2-D2 came trundling past.

Having scanned the other stalls without finding anything he wanted, Shirt found himself at the Disney Collector Pins stall. Having moved most of the trays, the stallholder asked him:

“Are you looking for any character in particular ?”

“Basil the Great Mouse Detective”

“Ooh they’re really rare !”

‘Tell me something I don’t know’ thought Shirt.

Moving about the only tray, Shirt had looked at, the stallholder did succeed in finding a lenticular Ratigan pin, but Shirt already had that one.

“Have you seen the Basil & Dawson statues on the ‘Castle China’ stall ?”, asked the woman.

“Yes”, I’ve already got them”, Shirt declared proudly.

Returning to the main stadium, Shirt was pleased to find that Chris Barrie was back at his table. Joining his first (albeit very short) queue of the day, Shirt was soon getting Rimmer on his “Back to Earth” DVD. Moving on, Danny John Jules was also back from his break, and so added his signature to “Back to Earth”, as well as the “RD: Series VII” DVD. Stowing all his items back into his bag, Shirt returned to the merchandise area to purchase four stills from the Guy Richie “Sherlock Holmes” film, including one of the rarely seen Mary Morstan (Kelly Reilly).

Exiting the Stadium, Shirt was pleased that the free bus was just pulling in. The existing passengers having disembarked, Shirt got on, and proceeded to wait for a full half-an-hour before the bus pulled away again. Having made a detour to the railway station, Shirt finally got off at Centre:MK again. A quick look round the shops, including the purchase of a cheap non-fiction book about the history of WHO and Shirt was making his way back to the temporary coach-station.

Arriving ten minutes before his coach was due, Shirt was preparing to wait, when the driver of a coach recently arrived, asked:

“Victoria Coach Station ?”

“Yes, but I’m booked on the next one”, said Shirt.

“Doesn’t matter”, said the driver, “and I go a quicker way”.

There seemed no need for argument, and so Shirt got onto the coach, settled back in his seat, wending his way back to London to the audio delights of Lost WHO story “The Hollows of Time”, with its anagrammatic enigmatic villain.

[PL]