 |
|
|
What is it? Army of Guests is the Glasgow Doctor Who Society’s very own annual Doctor Who convention. 2009 saw our third full scale one day convention, our seventh guest event, and probably our best event yet. Who was there? Featuring guests from throughout the history of Doctor Who, but each with a link to our central theme for the event, which was a celebration of 25 years of Colin Baker and the 6th Doctor, the day was a great day for Doctor Who fans of all ages. Where was it? Due to the closure of the Quality Hotel, Army of Guests 2009 took place in the simply stunning St Andrew’s in the Square. Full details of this amazing venue are on their own website at www.standrewsinthesquare.com/ We really wish we had found this fabulous venue on day one. It took place on Sunday 24 May 2009 and the event started bang on schedule at 10:00am. The event ran all the way through from 10:00am until 7:00pm. Nicola, Wendy and Nev then chose to join us for the evening festivities, which took place at the Ramada Jarvis hotel on Ingram Street until the small hours of the following morning. |
|
 |
Our first confirmed guest for the event was the man himself, Colin Baker. Anyone who has ever met Colin will know what a lovely, warm, entertaining guest he is and I'm delighted he agreed to join us in Glasgow once again. Colin was, as always, friendly, approachable, charming, witty and erudite throughout the event and it was a pleasure to help celebrate his 25th year as THE Doctor. |
 |
And what is the Doctor without his faithful companions? So we were equally delighted to have Nicola Bryant with us for the convention. Nicola played Peri opposite Colin's Doctor throughout most of his time in the role and it was fantastic to be able to bring them together again at AoG 2009. Nicola once again proved why she is such a popular guest at conventions all over the world, taking the time to chat to attendees throughout the day |
 |
We were also tremendously excited to be able to welcome one of the most popular companions from the 1960s to the event, the wonderful Wendy Padbury. Wendy was, of course, Zoe Heriot for the last year of Patrick Troughton's time as the Doctor. It may not be immediately apparent what the link is to Colin but, having made the move to becoming a theatrical agent, Wendy was actually Colin's agent until very recently. Wendy was a complete delight throughout the event and everyone agreed that she’s one of the nicest people one could ever hope to meet. |
 |
We were absolutely over the moon to be able to welcome Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead’s Doctor Moon himself, Colin Salmon, to Glasgow for his Doctor Who convention debut. Colin will be no stranger to fans of the genre, having taken on the mantle of Avon in the audio Blake’s 7 adventures and having appeared in films as diverse as Alien vs Predator, Freeze Frame and Resident Evil, not to mention 3 James Bond films as Charles Robinson, and in TV shows like Hex, Sea of Souls, Secret Diary of a Call Girl (with Billie Piper,) Law and Order UK (with Freema Agyeman) and Party Animals (with Matt Smith.) Colin’s onstage talk was one of the many highlights of the day for our 150 attendees and he was a complete joy throughout. It was particularly amusing to see him spontaneously join the queue to have his photo taken with our other Colin... |
 |
We were also able to present what should be an entertaining and enthralling look at one of the most important parts of Doctor Who’s success through the years - the writers. Hot on the heels of the DVD release of the classic series’ E-Space trilogy, we were thrilled to be able to welcome Andrew Smith, the writer of the opening story, fan favourite Full Circle, for what was his first convention appearance in almost 30 years! And I’m sure it won’t be so long before his next as he was a charming and witty addition to the guestlist. We’re particularly grateful for his generous donation of the full 4th draft scripts for Full Circle, which raised £150.00 for FSiD (with thanks to Marty.) And also stepping out from behind his word processor to make his Doctor Who convention debut was new series writer Stephen Greenhorn, who kept the audience entertained with his experiences of writing series 3 monster spectacular The Lazarus Experiment and one of the highlights of series 4, The Doctor’s Daughter. |
 |
For many people, the Big Finish audio range has now become the 6th Doctor's natural home, with Colin's natural warmth and wit being allowed to shine through even more than in his television incarnation. So no celebration of the 6th Doctor would have been complete without Big Finish and we were glad to be able present a fascinating look behind the scenes with the people who helped keep Doctor Who alive while it was off our screens and who continue to bring innovative and exciting adventures to fans of the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th Doctors every month. Joining us were; Big Finish producer since 2007, David Richardson Nev Fountain, whose writing credits stretch all the way from Bob Monkhouse to Big Finish, Dead Ringers to Doctor Who and Weekending to The News Huddlines. Popular writer Iain McLaughlin, whose debut for Big Finish introduced 5th Doctor audio companion Erimem, and Doctor Who’s very own man for all seasons - actor, writer, executive producer, director, sound designer, musician... and much more besides, Nick Briggs. The Big Finish panel was, for many, one of the highlights of the day. |
|
That sounds great!
Stay Tuned for More information Coming Soon. You can join us though as The Glasgow Doctor Who Society still meet on the first Sunday of every month in the Crystal Palace on Jamaica Street, from around 7:00pm. So fans in and around Glasgow still have somewhere to meet for food, drink, chat and general niceness. |
|
 |
Mary Tamm was sadly unable to join us due to other commitments We were unable to bring the fabulous David Darlington due to a combination of circumstances beyond our control. We would like to take this opportunity to apologise to David and also to Robert. Missed ya. :o( |
