60's Girl Power @ Riverside Studios

On Sunday 25th May 2025, Riverside Studios at Hammersmith hosted an event organised by the Doctor Who Appreciation Society. This was the latest of a number of small-scale themed events known as "Projections in Time". A number of episodes from the classic era are shown, and these are interspersed with Q&A panels comprising people who worked on them - be they actors or behind the scenes personnel.

My first event was based around The Moonbase, and the last one I attended covered some UNIT stories of Season 8. They are run for an afternoon only and, as well as the episodes / panels, there are photo opportunities and autograph sessions.

This latest one was themed around the four surviving female companions of the 1960's - Carole Ann Ford, Maureen O'Brien, Anneke Wills, and Wendy Padbury.

Joining them were a couple of guest artists from their episodes - Virginia Wetherell, who played Diyoni in The Daleks, and Felicity Gibson, who played Kando in The Dominators.

Constance Carling - the Auton secretary in Spearhead From Space - was also on hand for photos and autographs only.

The afternoon kicked off with The Daleks (3) and Galaxy Four (3), after which we had the first panel comprising Ford, O'Brien and Wetherell. Naturally, Ford was asked about the circumstances around her return in the current series as well as her days on the show as a regular cast member. With memories of the episodes fading, these panels often cover a lot of experiences beyond the programme.

There then followed a break during which the photograph sessions took place. I had mine taken with the four companions only, but there were all manner of permutations available.

This overran and on returning to the auditorium we had an extra piece of business as Margot Hayhoe - AFM / Production Manager on the series for a number of years - was on hand to raffle an original costume design sketch. This was the first idea for Supervisor Lowe in The Invisible Enemy. Margot had known the late designer Raymond Hughes well and had been offered the item by his widow to be sold for charity. It reached £350.

The second session of the day kicked off with The Faceless Ones (3), followed by The Dominators (2). 

One big drawback of Studio 1 at Riverside is the steepness of the stairs. The guests at these events, by their very nature, are people who are no longer young and fit, and I've seen before how some struggle to get up and down the steep gradient (made worse by high steps).

Anneke Wills suffered a serious fall in her garden a few months ago, and for the final panel could only participate from her seat at the back of the auditorium, whilst Wendy Padbury and Felicity Gibson made it down to the stage. Luckily I was seated near the back, so it was easy enough to turn slightly to see her speak. Wendy had a few funny stories about her co-stars and criticisms of the director of her featured episode - thinking Morris Barry overly patronising towards her. Wills couldn't recall working for him (which she did on The Moonbase).

The day ended with the autograph panels but, as I have never had any interest in collecting these, I took my leave.

Not everyone likes the big conventions but these small scale events are an ideal opportunity to meet stars of the show and get photographs / autographs without massive queues and in a more informal setting. The themed nature of them means that you can pick and choose which ones to go for, and at just the half day they are relatively inexpensive as well.

No idea what the next event will be - the DWAS usually post on their social media a month or so after the last event. Depending on the episodes selected and the guest list, I certainly plan to attend again.

My next DWAS event...

Just booked my next DWAS event - a return to Riverside Studios at the end of May for an afternoon spent in the company of four of the 1960's companions, as you can see from the poster.

I'm very glad I didn't hang about as the event sold out within four hours of tickets going on sale. These events usually take a few weeks to sell out, so I suspect the calibre of the guest list has made all the difference.

The four episodes being shown alongside the Q&A panels are The Daleks (3), Galaxy 4 (3), The Faceless Ones (1) and The Dominators (2).

Capitol Cutaway This Weekend

 

Just a quick reminder that I am away again this weekend, attending the DWAS Capitol Cutaway event at Hammersmith in London. It takes place on Sunday, but I'm making a holiday of it and travelling down Thursday and not returning until Tuesday 8th. I'll have one further quick post this week - either a What's Wrong With... or an Inspirations - on Wednesday night, then it will be a case of reviewing the event after my return.

I don't have anything else planned for the next month or two, so things will finally settle down after the house move and hols. I do plan to visit the big new Doctor Who exhibition at Peterborough Museum in the not too distant future, but unlikely before June.

UNIT, Recalled

I visited Riverside Studios at Hammersmith on Saturday 23rd November - Doctor Who's 61st anniversary - to attend the latest of the DWAS small themed conventions.

This time the subject was UNIT, specifically its peak period during Season 8. Three episodes were to be shown, and the guest list was headed by Katy Manning and John Levene.

The first episode to be shown was Part One of The Mind of Evil. Despite the colourised Blu-ray version existing, they opted to screen the instalment in its B&W form. Having watched only colourised versions of the episode in recent years, it was actually quite nice seeing the monochrome version again.

This was followed immediately by the opening episode of The Claws of Axos. Between them, these episodes had featured Fernanda Marlowe (Corporal Bell), Paul Grist (Bill Filer), Pik-Sen Lim (Capt. Chin Lee), and Derek Martin (UNIT soldier / stuntman).

They comprised the first Q&A panel.

This turned out to be Grist's very first ever fan event. Whilst some of the panel mentioned that they received residuals for their episodes, Marlowe did not, claiming to have been paid a lump sum instead. The money-conscious Martin advised her to look into this. Pik-Sen was accompanied to the event by her daughter, with whom she was pregnant at the time of recording her episodes.

Despite the intervening decades, everyone contributed to the interviews, with Martin particularly happy to talk about his non-Who work as well as his contributions to the programme (having gone from spear-carrying behind William Hartnell to a full speaking role opposite Tom Baker).

As soon as the group panel disbanded, John Levene took to the stage for a solo interview. He did precious little answering of questions, but a whole lot of joking - as anyone who's seen him will know. Derek Martin had elected to remain in the front row just in front of John, and the pair basically became a comedy double-act for a bit. John mentioned that he had just completed an interview regarding Douglas Camfield for the next The Collection Blu-ray set - but did not let on which season this covered (though we pretty much know it's Seven).

His time up, John was then asked to remain on stage whilst a presentation took place. The DWAS presented him with an outstanding achievement award, and he was joined for a time by Katy Manning.

The break then followed, during which the various photograph sessions took place. Pictures with the entire guest group seemed particularly popular. On my last visit, these sessions were held in a separate room off the main foyer, but this time they took place right outside the cinema where the event was taking place - an area that was a little too small and therefore quickly became quite crowded.

After the break came the fifth and final episode of The Daemons, after which Manning returned to the stage to be interviewed alongside John Owens, who played Devil's End villager Thorpe. Like Levene, Manning does like to talk a lot but Owens got to speak about his non-Who comedy work.

Following this Q&A, the guests reconvened in the cramped area upstairs for the autograph signings. There was much discussion amongst attendees about the just-announced colourisation of The War Games.

Not being an autograph collector, and having a rendezvous at a South London pub to see a band, I took my leave at this point.

I'm back in the district for another DWAS event in April - though not at Riverside. The one-day "Capitol Cutaway" event is being held at the Polish Centre elsewhere in Hammersmith and attendees so far include Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton, Jo Martin and Susan Twist.

Riverside III Report

Holiday over, so as promised a quick word about the event at Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, last weekend. This was organised by the DWAS, and was the third such event held at the venue. The first didn't have any sort of theme, whilst the second was based around The Crusade. This one was built around The Moonbase.

As I mentioned on the day, John Levene had to pull out due to a family illness.

Riverside Studios lie right on the Thames, a couple of hundred yards east of Hammersmith Bridge. The event was held in the basement cinema area. 

Present was an original Cyberman costume - refurbished now - as used in both The Moonbase and Tomb of the Cybermen. It had been given the rubber boots from the latter story, rather than the lace-up boots.

The event kicked off with a brief introduction then the surviving Episode 2. Have watched these episodes many times, but it was great to see them on the big screen.

This was followed by the first interview / Q&A panel, comprising behind the scenes personnel - Margot Hayhoe and Dudley Darby. The latter didn't actually work on this particular story, but was a cameraman in stories around it - and well into the 1970's. Hayhoe was an AFM then became a Production Assistant. 

She featured with Barry Letts in that CSO training film which was released on the The Carnival of Monsters DVD, and provided one of the names for Reegan's van in The Ambassadors of Death. She told of how she was at school with Anneke Wills, had once been a child actor, and provided the screaming which destroyed the seaweed monster in Fury from the Deep, after Debbie Watling got a sore throat that day. This was Dudley's very first convention appearance. He seemed perfectly comfortable, so I suspect he'll happily do some more.

There then followed a break, during which the photograph studio sessions took place. The Cyberman was moved upstairs to the bar to provide a backdrop to these. Frazer Hines was certainly the most on-demand for the photos (I got one taken with him). Rather than have people stand, as usually happens at these things, nice comfy chairs were supplied.

After the break / photo sessions it was time for Episode 4 of The Moonbase. 

The following image was not taken by me - because I was sitting in the front row left at the time, watching the episode. It was posted on the DWAS Facebook page:

One thing about the episode being shown in a cinema setting, the talkback on this instalment was far more noticeable than I'd ever spotted watching the DVD on an ordinary TV. On the previous episode, Dudley had heard a particular "clunk" which he identified immediately as a specific camera manoeuvre being carried out.

The second interview / Q&A panel then took place. This one featured Frazer, Derek Chafer and Martin Cort. 

Derek was one of the Cybermen, and went on to play a large number of background / extra roles in the series, including one of Salamanders' guards, UNIT soldiers and a Primitive in Colony in Space. He spoke about the discomfort of wearing the Cyberman costume, and told a story about an incident on location - which I was able to work out took place during the location filming for Death to the Daleks (2), as it involved a director asking a lot of aliens to line up on a ridge above a sandpit so they could feature in silhouette. (The incident was that they - the Exxilon extras - were unable to see due to their masks and one fell over - taking the rest of the line down with him like dominoes).

Martin stepped in as a very last minute replacement for John Levene (at only an hour or so's notice). He only ever worked on The Keys of Marinus (three different roles), but could speak of working on TV in the era, and of working with Patrick Troughton on other productions. A very witty man, who could give Frazer a run for his money in the joke department, I'd like to see a longer session with him. 

Frazer is - well, Frazer. Just a very funny bloke, with loads of stories.

These are mini-conventions. Doors opened at 1:30pm for a 2pm kick-off, and the scheduled close was 6.30pm. After the second Q&A that was us finished in the cinema. The autograph panels then set up. If you weren't going to wait and buy one of these, you could head off home - or make use of the Riverside's other facilities.

Overall, I had a very pleasant afternoon. A couple of episodes, a couple of interview panels, optional pictures and autographs - a convention in miniature. 

There is a fourth one already scheduled - October 14th - with another two Troughton episodes (The Underwater Menace (2) and The Wheel in Space (6)). Wendy Padbury and Michael Troughton are amongst the planned guests. I'm now having to get serious about job-hunting (have been unemployed since my health issues) - so can't commit to the next one at this stage. 

If you're going to be in London in mid-October, I'd recommend booking for Riverside IV. Even if you're a convention regular, these are nice, small scale events that have a cosier, more personal feel.

I'm a Friday Cyberman!

After missing out on the 50th Anniversary celebration event at the same venue (on holiday when tickets went on sale) I was determined not to miss this. The Festival is organised much more like the BBC Convention which took place in Cardiff back in March 2012, in that there is an identical programme of events on each of the three days (Cardiff was only on the Saturday & Sunday).
Again, there are two streams of visitors, so that you attend the theatre events at different times - in this case Daleks and Cybermen. (I was a Sunday Silurian back in 2012). There is a third ticket choice - or at least there was. The TARDIS ticket gives you the souvenir programme / T-shirt and preferential seating, but I noticed that 10 minutes after the tickets went on sale these had all sold out, for all three days. (Souvenir programme and T-shirt can be bought along with the basic tickets separately - £10 and £25 respectively).
Bookings for photo opportunities and autographs are not available immediately - details will be e-mailed to attendees later.
I'll be attending on the very first day. Cannae wait.

Inside the Spaceship

My TARDIS tour, on Monday 26th March 2012. After the costs of the Convention ticket, photos, hotel and travel, it was nice to see that this was free. I was booked on the 10.15am tour. A coach collected us from outside the Millennium Centre, and we were escorted by enthusiastic BBC staff. Unfortunately it was a school coach, so the leg room was minimal to say the least. The journey to Upper Boat was mercifully brief (about half an hour or so). The TARDIS set is still here, shortly to be moved to the new studio complex in Cardiff Bay - a stone's throw from where the permanent Doctor Who Experience is being put together. There were about 55 of us so we were split into 2 groups. The first group went into the studio first, whilst the rest of us waited in the Blue Box Cafe and had a cuppa and a chat. We then swapped over. Time on set was just about half an hour.
It's one thing to visit a reconstruction of the TARDIS such as at the Experience, but this was the real thing, where Matt, Karen and Arthur - and many great guest starts - have worked for the last 2 years.

You climb up a wooden staircase and in through the familiar blue Police Box doors. The first thing you notice is how relatively small it is. Just shows what a great Director of Photography can achieve. The opening where the cameras normally have access has been replaced with the "New Wall" - which we were told about at the Convention. It is a coral-y, spider web design, totally different to the familiar coppery surfaces. You can just see it on the left in the photo below. We were allowed free rein, including manhandling the ship's controls. I particularly loved the pinball mechanism.

The amount of detail on the control console is incredible - see my Blog Title background image above. I even spotted a component made by Magpie Electricals.

Everyone got their photograph taken standing at the doorway. The crew certainly were "Here To Help" as it said on their T-shirts.

The time flew by, and suddenly it was time to go. The next coachload was arriving. A brilliant end to a fantastic weekend. I'm sure that, with the 50th Anniversary coming up, there will be a similar event next year. I shall be first in the queue if there is.

And there was the Third Doctor, having a fag...

My Convention experience. I've said before that this was my first one. I can't say quite why I've never been interested in others before. Possibly all the forced socialising that goes on afterwards. Or the rather tired stories from the guests - eye patch jokes and Debbie Watling's knickers. The cosplay (God preserve us from cosplayers).
This was going to be different. A one day event focussing on the current series and with participation from all the key cast and crew, so a lot more professional and focussed than the usual events.
I elected to go for the Sunday, purely as it fitted my work pattern. I knew both days had near identical line-ups.
As the event was quite pricey, and entailed hotel accommodation as well, I travelled to Cardiff on the Saturday by coach (£10 return and only 3 and a bit hours). I had picked a hotel very close to the venue, so had the Bay and all its cafes and bars close at hand. If you've never visited, I would heartily recommend for a weekend break. The weather was fortunately sunny and warm. After booking in to the hotel I went for a walk past the Millennium Centre towards the bay front. I saw a few people with Convention tote bags leaving the building - as well as thatThird Doctor having that fag. Murray Gold's music was blaring across the Plas from speakers placed outside the venue doors.

 At a table opposite me, when I was having a bite to eat, there was a couple with a young son. He was dressed as the Eleventh and wielding a noisy sonic screwdriver throughout the meal. Still spotting the tote bags being carried everywhere I rounded off the evening with a couple of pints outside a bar close to the Bosphorous Restaurant (which featured prominently in Boomtown). Couldn't get too drunk. Big day ahead and we were losing an hour due to the clocks going forward that night.
On leaving the hotel Sunday morning I followed a River Song and an Amy Pond out the door. Didn't have to queue long to enter the Millennium Centre and be given my own tote bag. Included were a lanyard, booklet, ticket, and a copy of the Series 5 Volume 1 DVD. This latter seemed a little pointless as I don't think there would be many people paying £99 per head who didn't already own this or the Series box set.
There were 2 streams - Silurian and Ood - which dictated what order you accessed the formal panels in the main hall. I was a Silurian.
My first port of call was the costume and prop display. Props were various incarnations of sonics and a few weapons. I was glad to see some older costumes - Varga the Ice Warrior and some Deadly Assassin Time Lords. Others were: Slitheen, Sycorax leader, Pig Slave, Scarecrow, Cyberman, Cybercontroller, Weeping Angels, Peg Doll and Peg Soldier, Silents, Davros, Astronaut and Information Node from Silence in the Library story, Heavenly Host, Smiler, Wooden King and Queen and a Silurian. Bizarrely, there were no Daleks. Maybe they couldn't get them up the stairs... Non monster costumes included the 3 recent Doctors, all the recent companions and characters such as Liz 10 and Senora Calvierri. K9 was sitting beside the Matt Smith TARDIS, and an earlier version was also on view next to the Time Lords.

My first panel was the cast one - Matt, Arthur and Karen alongside Steven Moffat. They were interviewed by  BBC Wales' Jason Mohammed who has played himself in several stories. Questions were thrown open to the audience. These were mostly attempts to gain spoilers about the upcoming episodes or the 50th anniversary. Moffat kept schtum - "Ask me something I can answer" he pleaded. He has a fine line in sarcasm, does Mr Moffat, which he demonstrated when someone asked why the programme couldn't be filmed in Scotland. (It kind of looks a bit like Wales if you don't know...). A Judoon came on stage to signal the panel was coming to an end.
After this we stayed in our seats for the next panel - Gary Russell interviewing the team responsible for The Girl Who Waited. This was to show what went into the making of a single story and I found it fascinating. Amongst those present were writer Tom Mcrae, prosthetics man Neil Gorton,and  Exec Producer Caroline Skinner - the latter sporting a fetching knitted  TARDIS bobble hat. We also had a Handbot come on stage and Neil explained how its design had come about.
Throughout the day I popped outside for a fag of my own. Cardiff's Sport Relief event was also going on in the bay at the time, and I snapped a Dalek competitor who had trundled over to see what was going on at the Centre.

After lunch it was another look at costumes - this time with a Peg Doll roaming around. I attended one of the prosthetics workshops, where they were demonstrating how to make casts of faces and hands. I would have liked to see more of these as they varied through the day - showing different stages - but it would have meant missing the panels. Gary Russell got turned into a Silurian apparently at the end of it (again). The prosthetics demos were interspersed with talks from the Restoration Team who produce the "classic" series DVDs - so it was nice to see the old programmes represented.
Next up was a Danny Hargreaves Blowing Things Up workshop. You'll know him from Confidential where he would show you how to go about Blowing Things Up each week. He is a very good speaker, with an obvious passion for his work and he really engaged the audience. After a huge explosion which made all of us jump a Yellow Dalek trundled on stage. A member of the audience got to shoot a Cyberman. And he made it snow. Indoors. Excellent stuff.
The last panel of the day was the production one, who discussed the series as a whole. Again, questions were mostly spoiler seeking. The new trailer was shown (twice - just so everyone got a chance to record it and stick it on YouTube I assume).
The final part of my day was the photo opportunities. Pictures with Matt had been advertised as soon as the booking opened for the Convention, so I went ahead and booked one with my ticket by way of a nice souvenir. Arthur Darvill and Karen Gillan were added much later. I didn't want to pay out on both so went for Arthur (sorry Karen) as I love Rory and he is a fine actor and musician, who I saw last year in Dr Faustus at the Globe. Luckily as I had more than one photo to be taken I got in the fast lane for Matt. He has a great rapport with everyone, including the little boy I had seen at dinner the night before. Naturally these things are, quite literally, over in a flash so you don't exactly get to connect. I did manage to tell Arthur how much I had enjoyed Faustus though.
Once I'd collected my photos downstairs that was it. I headed off into the evening sunshine - and the bars of Mermaid Quay. A very enjoyable day. But my weekend was not quite over. Next morning, there was the (not) small matter of a tour of the TARDIS...