Words and pictures

In 1993 I attended a Doctor Who convention in Hammersmith. The most exciting part of that event was having four Doctors on stage together, Messrs Pertwee, Davison, Baker C. and McCoy. “Once in a lifetime opportunity,” I thought.

This weekend, twenty years later, I was lucky enough to see four Doctors on stage together again at Project Motor Mouth. Miraculously we have a new clutch of Doctors these days, so I was particularly looking forward to seeing Paul McGann and David Tennant for the first time. They were joined on stage by Peter Davison and Sylvester McCoy.

The event was organised by Janet Fielding, who played Tegan in the series back in the nineteen-eighties and was in aid of Project Motor House, a charity into which Janet has been pouring her energies whilst battling cancer.

It was a joy to watch the interplay between them, especially the grin on David’s face as he looked along the line of childhood heroes sat next to him. Sylvester was very funny, Paul and Peter quieter and more thoughtful, although both seemed to enjoy arguing with Janet when she joined them on stage.

It was strange attending an event on my own. But the friendliness of Doctor Who fans is legendary, and there were plenty of people to chat to in the queues whilst waiting for autographs. The other guests included Simon Fisher-Becker, Gareth Jenkins and Andrew Smith, writer of Full Circle. Andrew recognised me from my Twitter profile picture and we had a brief but enjoyable chat.

The schedule for the day seemed to be re-written on the fly as the photo session over-ran. The afternoon was one massive signing session. The complex numbering system was abandoned early on and it degenerated rapidly into an endurance feat.

Colin Baker demonstrated his huge commitment to the show by driving from Lincoln to attend a signing session in the afternoon, having been at rehearsals for his new play in the morning.

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