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.