Since becoming a fan of Doctor Who as a kid and later on other TV and film series like Red Dwarf, I’ve been intermittently going to conventions and events for about ten years now. Of course, I had to combat the balance between autographs and kids’ pocket money (which I was terrible at because I never told my dad when he needed to pay me), but I did manage to meet a fair few Doctors and companions in those times. After COVID it was a while before I went to any events but I have slowly been getting back into the groove of going to at least one or two conventions a year. And especially this year, I want to go to as many as my student bank account will allow (because I’ve discovered the joy of what a press pass is).
Comic-Con North East is easily the biggest convention I’ve ever been to. I know those who attend the huge comic-con in London every summer will probably laugh at that statement, but we don’t get many big conventions like this up in the North East, so I do thank Monopoly Events for thinking of us Northerners when deciding where to hold their events. It’s especially convenient when you’re in Newcastle for university anyway, so you can just slide out of your accommodation and take a quick Metro down to the Arena if you’re particularly lazy on a morning (hello there).
With any good comic-con of this size, the guests came from a variety of different franchises. There was a reunion of cast members from Joel Schumacher’s classic film The Lost Boys, Zach Gilligan from Gremlins, and even some guests like Jimmy Vee and Warwick Davis who featured in Star Wars.
I, however, was focused on Doctor Who and Red Dwarf, my two favourite science-fiction shows, and on those grounds I was very well-served. While there were sadly no guests from classic Who, someone like me who has grown up on modern Who and has an immense nostalgia for it felt more than a bit strange seeing Jenna Coleman, Arthur Darvill, Freema Agyeman and John Barrowman just casually sitting there in front of me.
Before this event, my only experience with meeting someone from modern Who was Pearl Mackie in the Utilita Arena – the very same place this convention was being held – and she was very nice indeed, but unless you live down south it’s very rare to see Doctors and companions from the revived show do conventions like this, especially when so many of them (particularly Karen Gillan) are massive names now. It’s why I’m really thankful that these cast members took their time to come up here and give us all a memorable experience, particularly Freema Agyeman who was amazing. She was the last autograph I got on Saturday after a really long day of being in the arena and sitting on my arse for three separate Q&As, and even though her queue was dreadfully long she was still taking time to stop and talk to everyone who was getting her signature. A really nice woman and a great ambassador for the programme.
I’ve always favoured autographs over professional photo shoots as I feel less distant from the celebrity and I get more of a chance to talk to them, but when you’re face-to-face with Craig Charles (the one cast member from Red Dwarf who barely does conventions) it can sometimes be hard to think of something to say. Still, he seemed to be really enjoying himself, and the Red Dwarf panel on Saturday with him, Danny John-Jules and Robert Llewellyn was great fun. They were sharing stories about things that went wrong on set, how many times they’ve flubbed their lines, and also spoke very fondly of their favourite moments from the show. In particular, Robert Llewellyn remembers the iconic swimming shorts gag from the episode Polymorph, where the audience’s laughter completely drowned out the dialogue to the point where the actors couldn’t hear each other.
The other guest I met on Saturday was Arthur Darvill. He’s a bit quiet, bless him, but like everyone else he was clearly having fun and I got a great picture of Rory for him to sign.
Of course, we must talk about the force of nature that is John Barrowman. While I didn’t get his autograph until Sunday, his talk on Saturday was an absolute riot, what with him showing up in a fetching TARDIS outfit and regaling us with stories of his theatre work, time on the set of TV shows, and memories he has of his family and husband Scott. Him and Gareth were also both having a ball at their autograph tables on the Sunday, as I ended up joking with both of them about how I’d brought my DVD cover of Children Of Earth for them to sign, only to remember that Ianto dies in it and likewise Jack has a bit of a traumatic experience too. Therefore, I just got separate pictures of the two of them, and I’m really happy with how the autographs turned out.
And even though I had met Hattie Hayridge before, I thought I might as well complete the Red Dwarf spread at the convention by getting her autograph again. It did annoy me that the Red Dwarf cast didn’t have much choice of photos and prints on their tables, but I’m happy I got their autographs all the same.
I also had an interesting chat at the stall of Big Screen Autographs, who were selling pre-signed autographs from many different celebrities. I’ve slowly realised I’m probably never meeting the legend that is Tom Baker, so when I saw some autographs of his available at the stall, I simply had to get one. From my chat with the company’s owner I found out how much Tom Baker is respected in the village where he lives and, although he’s retired from doing any events like this, while sad that I’ll never get to meet him it’s good to know he’s enjoying the proceeds of his incredible career.
As I said at the start, this is easily the biggest convention I’ve ever been to after a few smaller events, and because of the way the panel schedules lined up I was there basically all day on Saturday. I got in at 9am on the dot and didn’t leave until about half four, so it was a really exhausting day but a good one. It was slightly annoying that there wasn’t more seating for the panel talks, as they only opened up half the seats in the arena which led to many people (particularly in the Barrowman talk) having to sit on steps or stand, which did make it feel a bit crammed. I was also talking to some people who were frustrated at the lack of disability access, and there were a lot of wheelchair users out and about at the convention, so hopefully Monopoly Events can rectify some of these issues when they hold their next Newcastle event in October.
While my bank account might not have necessarily enjoyed it, I did have good fun at this massive event. I’m definitely planning on going to the next Comic-Con North East, and providing they diversify the guest list slightly and get a couple more big names, it’ll be an even bigger and better event.
