Image Credit: James Ashworth

Image Description: L-R: Simon Danes, Terry Molloy, Gordon Warnecke, Jo Martin, David Banks, Peter Roy, Brian Croucher on the stage

Adam Kendrick reports back from Bedford Who Charity Con

First up – A Fugitive stops running for a brief chat…

Bursting into Bedford Who Charity Con 7, just as her Doctor did in Fugitive of the Judoon, Jo Martin was greeted with a huge round of applause from attendees. Though she had only appeared in two stories when the convention took place (now doubled to four), it was clear she was already a hit with fans. While she could only stay for a short time, she made a memorable impression on what was already a very enjoyable convention.

Jo has been a fan of the show from a very young age, and she used to wrap up her cousins in tin foil to role-play defeating them as the Doctor. She was told that she couldn’t be the Doctor because she was a girl – fast forward to the present day and she had proven the naysayers wrong!

She says that Doctor Who must be treated as a job, first and foremost, but that being a fan made it a special experience for her. However, it would have made things difficult had Jo known in advance that she was auditioning for the Doctor, admitting that the knowledge would have seen her go to pieces. 

Fortunately, it was kept under wraps until the casting was made, allowing her to get the part. It’s a great piece of casting, and Jo embodied the spirit of the Doctor “sorting out fair play across the universe” by describing the need for foodbanks in the 21st century as “disgusting” and calling for change.

As a new person on the show, she said that the at-times chaotic filming sometimes left her out of the loop on script updates. However, Jodie Whittaker stepped in for her and was angry that she’d been left out. She described her fellow Doctor as an inclusive, supportive, and funny personality with time for everyone on set, both cast and crew.

Jo wasn’t averse to causing a little chaos of her own on set, however, as the allure of having her own TARDIS became too much for her. She would often fiddle with the switches on the console at random, which made it a nightmare for continuity when shots from different angles needed to be taken.

While it was a shame she couldn’t stay all day, Jo’s presence at the convention was a delight from start to finish. Even though Chris Chibnall may have moved on, it can only be hoped that Russell T Davies might find an opening for her to return in the eras of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Doctors.

Image Credit: James Ashworth

Image Description: Simon Danes, Terry Molloy and David Banks on stage as they watch Brian Croucher speak

Next – Clothes maketh the man

When compared to the heroes, villains tend to have one crucial advantage. They may lose in the end, see their plans collapse around them, but they generally have one thing on their side – a memorable outfit! Doctor Who and Blake’s 7 are also part of this trend, with a series of baddies displaying an iconic look. Bedford saw three such villains assemble – Terry Molloy (Davros), Brian Croucher (Space Commander Travis) and the “excellent” Cyberleader David Banks.

For some actors, the ability to inhabit their costume can help to inform their performance. In the case of Terry Molloy, it was the limitations of his outfit that helped him bring his interpretation of the Daleks’ creator to life. He had to wear a very restrictive mask with small slits to look through, which he compared to staring through venetian blinds. This restricted his peripheral vision, with the claustrophobia informing the paranoid aspects of his performance. The mask also restricted Terry’s ability to speak, forcing him to speak in a pedantic way to be heard that informed Davros’ voice.

Some actors suffer for their art, and it seems that this is especially true of villains. David recalls having to be physically inserted and released from the mask, which had to be opened by another person. The mask itself was tight, and the fibreglass rubbing against the face led to an issue even superior cyber-technology couldn’t conquer – ‘cyber-nose’. Of course, this may have been preferable to another issue which dogged the Cybermen – ‘cyber-crotch’. The trousers of the costume kept splitting between their legs and required constant patching on set. David admits that it was a great relief to be able to perform without the costume when he returned to the role for Big Finish.

Costume errors also plagued the other villains, with Brian remembering being suspended from wires while filming his death scene in Blake’s 7. While the wires themselves were up to the task, sadly his zip wasn’t, leaving him temporarily trapped in his costume when the cameras stopped rolling. On the plus side, he claims to have mastered the art of the eyepatch, having successfully avoided bumping into anything during his time as Travis.

Terry, meanwhile, faced some costuming challenges of his own. He could barely fit inside Davros’ “goldfish bowl” in Revelation of the Daleks and ended up whacking his legs on the interior struts during his initial performance. As a result, he ended up with a new addition to his costume – namely rope. This was used to tie his legs up under the chair so he couldn’t move them out of place. While all his scenes were concentrated into a 40-minute block by director Graham Harper to account for this, he says the experience helped to inform the character because “there’s no way you’re not going to be grumpy while wearing such a horrible costume”. On the plus side, when his prop hand was blown off during filming, he got some enjoyment from the fingers flying everywhere, including up Colin Baker’s nose.

Colin’s Doctor is, of course, particularly memorable for his outfit. David had a brief opportunity to assemble his own costume when he performed as Jon Pertwee’s understudy in The Ultimate Adventure stage play, allowing him to play the Doctor for two performances. His costume included a Greenpeace T-shirt to reflect the environmental concerns of the play and the era, noting that 30 years later, the warning is just as important as ever, if not more so.

They may have been bad on screen, but the host of villains made an excellent addition to Bedford Who Charity Con. Had their costumes been different, who knows? They might have been much more agreeable!

Image Credit: James Ashworth

Image Description: Colin Baker, Miranda Raison, Sophie Aldred and Mike Tucker on stage

Finally – Colin concludes the convention…

While Jo Martin and others were making their debut at Bedford Who Charity Con, there were also a few familiar faces among the crowd. The Sixth Doctor himself, Colin Baker, was among them, regaling the audience of his journey from fan, to star, to writer of Doctor Who. 

Almost 60 years ago, in 1963, Colin was a law student living in a flat in Lancaster Gate, London. Having been out all day, he returned home to find a couple of fellow students watching a brand new show on television – An Unearthly Child, Doctor Who’s first episode. Casting a glance at the screen, he leaned on the bannister to watch it briefly, and 25 minutes later, he was still there. Thus began Colin’s association with Doctor Who, avidly watching the show as it went out before finally becoming the Doctor himself 21 years later.

Colin describes his time as the Time Lord as ‘great’, an opinion that’s more than a platitude. He said that despite the production issues of his era, he couldn’t wait to go to work every day with a wonderful group of people alongside him. He says that the important thing about being the Doctor is “not to listen to anyone who’s been on the show. Do it your way.”

Of the episodes he appeared in, The Two Doctors was his favourite as it allowed him to work with Patrick Troughton, whose success as the Second Doctor paved the way for all the subsequent incarnations. He remained good friends with the Troughtons, and even acted as the best man at David Troughton’s wedding. 

Colin was also something of a trailblazer during his time on the show, taking part in the recording of ‘Doctor in Distress’, which, much to his indignation, was recently described on QI as “the worst charity song ever.” Although he felt that he shouldn’t have been involved due to his position as the show’s lead, he was persuaded to take part by John Nathan-Turner, for whom he owed a favour for casting him as the Doctor. While admitting that it may indeed be “slightly embarrassing” and “not a masterpiece”, Colin maintained that it was very heartfelt how so many famous musicians of the time, from Phyllis Nelson to Ultravox, wanted to help with saving the show from cancellation. 

Even cancellation couldn’t stop Colin being the Doctor, however, as his three-year role turned into a 40 year career featuring charity specials, cameos and perhaps most importantly, Big Finish. Colin says that he’s indebted to the company for ‘never putting him in a duff audio’, and continually finding new stories to tell. It also has an additional deaging benefit, telling the audience that on audio, he still looks exactly how he did back in the 80s! He added that it was nice to see that Doctor Who inspired its audiences to become the creatives who are now making it. “People need to have their imaginations stirred,” he says, with Doctor Who digging deep into human mythology and our hope for a saviour.

Colin himself is now among the people who have written for Doctor Who, including The Age of Chaos comic and the short story ‘A Wee Deoch an …?’. His love of reading and writing goes back to an early age, which he attributes to his mum being a teacher. His reading age was advanced enough at the age of four that he had the special privilege of being able to borrow two library books per week at school!

Asked how to get over writer’s block, he says that it’s something that everyone gets, and that trying to force creativity doesn’t work. Instead of writing out the entire storyline, he starts from an initial springboard and lets the characters take over, with the narrative developing organically. One pair of companions he’d love to write about are Constance Clarke and Ace, who he thinks would both get along famously.

Following his surprise appearance in The Power of the Doctor, it’s clear that Colin has no intention of giving up Doctor Who just yet. He still cuts an inspirational figure in his Big Finish adventures, and is more than capable of delivering in person too. When asked about the message of Doctor Who, he replied: “There’s always someone out there who can make things better. Let’s hope the Doctor visits us soon.”

Print copies of Tides 49 are, at time of publication, available to buy through this link