Doctor Who Convention 2012, Cardiff

 Hello everyone, hope you’ve had a lovely weekend, sorry I haven’t posted in a week, I’ve been so busy, can’t wait for all these assignments to be over and done with! I've got one week left of lectures for my second year though so I suppose that's exciting, but kind of daunting!

 So like over a thousand other people, I headed down to Cardiff this weekend to attend the first ever Doctor Who Convention. It was an amazing day with so much to do; there was never a dull moment. It was held at the Millennium Centre in Cardiff, from 9-6pm on the 24^th and 25^th of March.  

 First stop of the day was the Creators and Directors panel with a writer of many episodes including ‘The Girl Who Waited’ Tom MacRae and producer Marcus Wilson. There was also a cameo from a Handbot ;)

 From here, we noticed it was incredibly busy getting into the special effects studio, so we opted for the props and costumes room instead, which I thought was awesome. The Weeping Angels were one of my favourites, along with the outfits of the doctors and his companions.

Donna Noble, River Song, Amy Pond and Rory Williams

Silence

Don't Blink.

9th, 10th and 11th Doctors Costumes

Once we had finished here, we wondered down to the main registration desk in order to meet some of the other actors from Doctor Who. Here we met Mark Sheppard who played Canton and Simon Fisher-Becker who played Dorium, both from Series 6. They were both happy to chat, pose for photos and sign things for us; they seemed like such lovely people, it was a joy to meet them. 

Mark Sheppard and myself

Simon Fisher-Becker and myself

Next, we had a little wonder but then decided on waiting for our photo opportunity with the main man himself, Matt Smith. I was shaking with nerves as I saw him walking towards the door and straight past us in the queue, waving and greeting his fans. He then took his spot and began having pictures with us lucky lot. He welcomed every person enthusiastically and he even noted the smartness of my boyfriends clothes (yes, the boyfriend wore a bowtie)!

 Next, it was my turn. He welcomed me with a huge smile, so I went in for the hand-shake. He said it was ‘lovely to meet me’ and we posed for the photo. He did his signature ‘peace-sign’ pose so I joined in, noticing how much my hand was shaking as I raised it up, and how I couldn’t stop grinning from ear to ear as he put his arm round me and the camera flashed a few times. He then looked down at me as I said how lovely it was to have met him (at this point I didn’t want to let go of him haha) he thanked me for coming and rubbed my back (?!- I think he could tell I was so nervous and shaky!) I then whisked away to grab my bag! 

After phoning my mum and calming down, myself and the boyfriend headed back to the main registration desk to meet Raquel Cassidy. She played Cleaves in Series 6 ‘The Almost People’ and ‘The Rebel Flesh’. She was so lovely, and happily climbed onto the desk to have a photo with everyone! We chatted about Matt Smith, and some of her previous work. 

Next, it was the ‘Meet The Stars’ Panel, with Caroline Skinner, Steven Moffat, Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill. Here, we learnt a lot about the actors and their relationships, watched clips of them in action and heard them answer the audiences questions. My photos aren't great from this section, but I have uploaded a clip to YouTube clip here:- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OA7rA-T0q_0 

Straight from here, we were told to remain in our seats for a special treat during the ‘Doctor Who Uncut’ session. Here we learnt interesting facts about the behind-the-scenes making of the programme. Nearing the end of the discussion, Barnaby Edwards, the conductor of the session, announced how there were some special guests in the audience. And, sure enough, Matt, Karen and Arthur had secretly joined the tier above for what was to be an exclusive sneak preview of Series 7. It looks amazing, and even more amazing was that we got to watch it twice because Matt Smith wanted to see it again! And it also looks like the Daleks are making a grand return… It was posted on the official BBC website earlier today, so here it is, let me know what you think!

Our next venture was the autograph session with Karen Gillan. She greeted me cheerfully as I said how lovely it was to meet her and how much I was going to miss her when she leaves. She let me take a beautiful photo of her as well, I wish I looked like her! Matt Smith was sat next to her, it was amazing being in front of them both! See below for a pic of me getting Karen's autograph.

My final part to the day was the Tardis Tour. It was incredible, I felt like I was in another world. I didn’t think we would be able to stand on the platform let along touch anything, but the workers were happy enough for us to have a good play around with everything, and offered to take lots of photos. I’ve included some of mine below, along with a Youtube video from inside the Tardis, here:- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlTH5E2MaKI

 

And to top of the day, we headed to the Blue Box Café at the base unit and the boyfriend bought me a customised Doctor Who muffin! 

I had a fantastic weekend, and I do hope the BBC plan other Doctor Who Conventions in the future, as I believe this one was a huge success, and rightly so. I’m currently feeling down that my Doctor Who day I have been looking forward to for months is over, but I know that I have the pictures and memories to keep forever. Here's a few items I picked up throughout the day:- 

Thanks for reading and I’ll blog to you all soon x

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