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(Author of three Doctor Who books – Un-Conventional: 13 Years of Meeting the Stars of Doctor Who, The Other Side of the Table and The Man Behind the Master: the Biography of Anthony Ainley) Karen Louise Hollis gives a personal account of her time at The Capitol 2023 convention.

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It’s a while since I attended a Doctor Who convention, but I am a bit of a veteran with my first one I went to being back in 1997. It’s twenty-six years since I first met Colin Baker and Wendy Padbury, twenty-five years since I first met Katy Manning – so it was great to catch up with these three, and others, at the DWAS convention The Capitol – Six Decades in Crawley last weekend.

The sold out event boasted a great cast list – one Doctor (Colin), one Showrunner (Steven Moffat) and nine companions (Wendy Padbury, Katy Manning, Matthew Waterhouse, Sarah Sutton, John Leeson, Louise Jameson, Dan Starkey, Nicola Bryant and Frazer Hines) plus assorted other authors, artists, cast and crew.

As I had my eleven-year-old son with me, we didn’t watch many of the panels, though as he’s a big Katy Manning fan, we did watch her being interviewed by Tony Jordan, which was a highlight of the event. She always has a great story to tell and answers which go off topic until she is nudged back on track. Her variety of voices is extraordinary and she is so entertaining, always worth watching and no two Katy interviews are ever the same.

I also enjoyed the Dan Starkey and Stuart Milligan panel. I hadn’t seen Stuart Milligan before, but he was very entertaining and charismatic. I have met Dan once before and love him as Strax. He was also very approachable and happy to exchange a few words when we saw him around the hotel. His panel was hilarious, he kept throwing in Sontaran lines and it was obvious he loves the character as much as the fans do. He described Strax as “psychotic, but well-meaning” which I loved. He said the Paternoster gang all get on really well and he has particularly bonded well with Neve McIntosh, as they both spend literally hours together in prosthetics getting ready for their roles. In fact, Dan said he loves doing the audios because he doesn’t need to wear all the prosthetics!

The only other panel I saw some of was the last one where Louise Jameson presented John Leeson with the DWAS Award for his Outstanding Contribution to Doctor Who. Let’s just say, it wasn’t only John who had tears in his eyes.

Everyone’s convention experience will be unique. You can watch all the panels, get all the guests’s autographs, have your photo taken with the guests or hang out with your mates. My main priorities this year were to hang out with friends (most of whom I hadn’t seen for four years) and get photos with Colin, Wendy, Katy, Dan and Steven Moffat, which we did. I was excited about meeting Steven, I have loved so much of his work over the years, But when I met him, I decided to tell him I’d loved Jekyll from 2007, starring James Nesbitt. Steven quipped “Oh, you were the one!” I later met him to get his autograph and again found him warm and friendly.

It was also great to catch up with Charlie Hayes – daughter of Wendy Padbury and Melvyn Hayes. We signed together at an event years ago and have been Facebook friends since. I asked the photographer Robin Prichard if I could have a photo with both Wendy and Charlie. Charlie and I were chatting in the queue and she was laughing at the fact she was queueing up to have a photograph taken with her own mother!

Louise Jameson was also really lovely and came over to have a chat to my son. She had met him at a Whoovers event in Derby when he was about two years old and I showed her the photo. She was happy to have another photo taken of them together and he was so pleased she took the time to talk to him.

I’d also like to mention Kammy Darweish who played the brilliant and memorable Kumar in Season 13’s Survivors of the Flux. I got his autograph and had a chat with him and he was lovely, very easy to talk to and incredibly handsome.

The Capitol is without doubt the best event I have been to. It is so well organised and really good value for money. They always have a wonderful mix of guests and it feels a very safe place. My son has ADHD and autism, yet was completely accepted and understood by everyone there and several other fans came to tell me they, or their children, had similar diagnoses.

It is also an event where I have met some of my best friends and this year, I again made new ones in queues and hanging around the hotel. Everyone was really friendly and it’s easy to talk to people because you know you have at least one thing in common!

Next year’s event is due to be held in Birmingham and I am really hoping I can go.

With grateful thanks to Karen Louise Hollis

Support #indie #authors and check out my new #novel – https://t.co/IHrW8YDbml
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— Karen Louise Hollis – Author, Blogger & Reviewer (@KarenLNHollis) April 8, 2023