Inside Whooverville 16: Friends, Laughter, and Doctor Who Banter

We’re back again! Another year at Whooverville in Derby, one of the most popular Doctor Who conventions in the calendar. And this time it’s bigger and better. The QUAD cinema that hosts the convention is financially secure, there was a superb line-up of guests, and more of the Big Blue Box team joined in on the party.

We’ve got a lot to get through, so strap in. First of all, let’s take a trip in the TARDIS, to the night before…

Whooverville Eve

It is my second time attending Whooverville, the first being last year. I sang the praises so high last year that I convinced our very own Garry, Maria and honorary Big Blue Box member Joe to come along too. So we all met up in Derby on Friday before the Saturday convention. And what I didn’t realise last year was that the festivities also happen beyond the one-day event.

Every year at the QUAD, the organisers of Whooverville always put something on as an appetiser for the convention. A few years back, I believe they screened the Peter Cushing Dalek movies, and I am pretty sure they did a screening last year of Starve Acre starring Matt Smith. This year, we all had a Doctor Who-related hoot of a time in the QUAD cafe/bar…

Were the Doctors Here? It Sounded Like It!

We were in the capable hands of ‘We Sound Familiar’, aka Chris Thompson, Elliot Crossley, Peter Walsh and Jonathon Carley. And what a truly joyous evening this was. The four actors, who are insanely good at impersonations, made us laugh out loud with a few Doctor Who sketches and activities. If you haven’t been to Whooverville yet, you absolutely must try and come if you can, purely in the hope that these four might turn up again.

From kind-hearted jabs at Disney, the current state of the show, and Big Finish (much to the discontent of Jonathon, who is currently employed to play the War Doctor on audio) to a mind-bending Doctor Who quiz, this was a really nice evening for us to eat and drink merrily and socialise. Can every Friday night be like this?

Ready to Ace the Quiz

That quiz, by the way… we sadly did not make the top five. I would say we were gutted, but I think we were just too busy having a laugh. The first round was ‘Fill in the missing word’, where, of course, we had many funny joke answers come up. The second was Season Two – the latest one – which, though it was very recent, we couldn’t quite remember. The third was the other Season Two (2006 and 1964-1965), and the final and fourth round was a general knowledge round.

I felt spectacular about my Doctor Who knowledge when I knew with absolute certainty that in the 2011 Doctor Who Adventure Game, The Gunpowder Plot, as well as the Sontarans and the Rutans, the Silence were also featured in the game as a hidden villain. Being traumatised by turning a corner and seeing one of those horrible things in the 1605 London sewers came in handy all these years later, it seems.

Remembering Siobhan Gallichan

And of course, we must mention Chris Thompson’s heartfelt tribute to Siobhan Gallichan, a friend of many in the Who fandom who sadly passed away in December 2024. I never met Siobhan personally, but it was clear that she was on a lot of people’s minds over this weekend, and her absence was felt at the event. And it added to the kind-hearted nature of the proceedings – it will become clear as I go on that the main highlight of an event like this is the friends we make, bonding over this show we love so much. It seems we share that enthusiasm with one another, make lots of cool memories, and then we move on, and the world is a much happier place.

Dear me. I’m not even on the actual day of the convention yet, and I am already getting teary.

“You were working as a Who fan in a cocktail bar.”

There was more socialising in one of the hotel bars in Derby. I was ecstatic that Garry, Maria and Joe were having a happy time. They had travelled a long way, but it seemed worth it for us all to be in our element, celebrating Doctor Who. Yeah, the show is kind of on a hiatus or something, but we don’t care. We love it that much.

Let me tell you, many years ago, when I was watching Doctor Who for the first time as a four-year-old, I wouldn’t have believed that I’d be in a hotel bar in my mid-twenties that was absolutely packed with Doctor Who fans. There was something so cool about so many of us congregating and hanging out. I am still buzzed by it, if I’m honest. There were many familiar faces, but I must say hello to a friend of the podcast, Mark Donaldson – lovely to see him and fantastic that he got to interview Radiophonic Workshop Legend Brian Hodgson at the event. And to the fellas who came up to us and said hello and that they liked the podcast and the roundtables, it was a joy to meet you.

But time was ticking. Sleep was calling. So we retired to our hotels, slept as much as we could with all the excitement, and then morning rolled around, and it was convention time.

Let the Convention Begin

My long, multicoloured scarf was on, and in my bag was an assortment of sonics. Not to mention, a bunch of prints and items were also on my person, ready to be squiggled on by star guests. If you were not familiar, one of the main selling points of Whooverville is that you pay about £60 for a ticket, but in that you get several autographs included. Upon entry, you acquire a wristband to get in and out of the event, a Radio Times themed program highlighting all the activities happening throughout the day, and an autograph sheet. This is the holy grail of pieces of paper, which grants you one free autograph from each of the guests. There were no sponsored guests this year, so each autograph was included in the ticket price. Aces!

Garry, Maria, Joe and I entered the QUAD and sat down in the main cinema for the welcome talk from Stephen Hatcher, one of the Whoover fan group who are responsible for organising a great event year after year. One of the things he mentioned was a thank you to

Matthew Waterhouse…

Matthew Waterhouse, what a chad! It was with great disappointment that Stephen announced a few days before the event that Maureen O’Brien, for the second year in a row, had to drop out of Whooverville. But Matthew Waterhouse stepped in just a day before to take her place. And if you couldn’t tell, I was super happy about this… Adric is one of the most entertaining companions of Doctor Who, and I had always wanted to meet Matthew and tell him how well he acted that role.

Stephen also paid tribute to Siobhan Gallichan and then to Simon Fisher-Becker, who we also sadly lost in the past year. It was clear Simon was a big part of these events of years gone by – I was very fortunate to meet him at his last Whooverville in 2024. He complimented my scarf, and I complimented his bow tie. Truly one of the nicest convention guests you could meet. It was fitting to hear Stephen pay these respects before we got into the day.

And my, oh my. What a day it was…

It’s a SIGN of the Times…

Ten minutes into the event, when Stephen’s welcome talk had finished, I turned to the gang and said, “Right, folks, I am off.”

Garry, Maria and Joe looked at me, a bit surprised.

“You’re going?” Garry said, with a touch of sadness.

“Only downstairs. I’m off to have a photo with Terry Molloy!”

Meeting Terry Molloy

Ah, Terry Molloy. I had met the actor who played Davros in the 1980s a few years back. Got a signed print and a selfie on my phone where I am pretty sure he strangled me. On brand. Since he was here, I wanted to get a nice photo shoot with him. He was wearing a very stylish outfit, the highlight of which was a hat with a Davros pin on it, and  he was holding some kind of laser screwdriver. I went up to him and we shot this snap…

I missed the author autographs at last year’s event, so I went straight upstairs to fetch those. I was in this queue while Garry, Maria, and Joe were on a panel (I believe with Jeff Rawle, whom you may remember from Frontios or the Sarah Jane Adventures episode “Mona Lisa’s Revenge”). One of the things about an event like Whooverville is that you cannot do everything that is on offer.

With traders, autographs, photos, and multiple talks happening throughout the day at the same time, you have to pick and choose what matters most to you. But this is a nice problem to have, truly. All of our days looked slightly different, and the joy was in splitting up and getting back together several times throughout, and telling each other about our little side quests.

Meeting Mark Morris

The first guest I met was author Mark Morris, best known for his horror and Doctor Who novels. Mark, as well as being a fab author (recently, I loved his creepy novelisation of Wild Blue Yonder for the Target range), is really nice! He signed my copies of his books Ghosts of India (starring the Tenth Doctor and Donna) and WBY; in the latter, he wrote “My arms are too long“. Ten out of ten, good sir.

Meeting Brian Hodgson

Then I met Brian Hodgson, known for providing special sounds for Doctor Who from An Unearthly Child to partway through the Jon Pertwee era, including the iconic TARDIS dematerialisation sound, which is still being used in the show today. Brian is pretty legendary, so I had to get a photo of him at work signed. He liked the photo so much that I was asked to email it to him, to which I happily obliged. A pleasure to meet you, Brian!

Meeting Terry Molloy… again!

Up next was Terry Molloy again to get his autograph. Since I already have a signed print, I got a bit creative and decided to purchase the Davros Collection before the event – the rare occasion where Classic Doctor Who episodes and Big Finish Audio Dramas were packaged together in a box set. I got this limited edition set signed by Terry, and now it sits proudly on my shelf next to my character options TARDIS and Regeneration boxset.

I think at this point, Garry, Maria, and Joe were downstairs taking photos in front of the TARDIS, because when the opportunity arises, needs must! Again, like last year’s Whooverville, everything felt like a bit of a blur because we were floating around all over the place, enjoying whatever took our fancy. I think I managed to catch the last minute of Steph De Whalley (Anita from the latest season – oh, I wish she could be the companion) on stage doing her panel talk, and then Garry and I looked at the plethora of traders selling Doctor Who-related items. Dalek Tat would be proud.

I got to catch Paul Magrs during a quiet moment, and he very kindly signed my copies of The Return of Robin Hood (sequel to one of my favourite Peter Capaldi stories, Robot of Sherwood, featuring the Fourth Doctor) and Sick Building (starring the Tenth Doctor and Martha). Sadly, he wasn’t at liberty to sell any early copies of his then-unreleased Doctor Who / Dracula crossover novel. And then I caught the last few minutes of Matthew Waterhouse on stage. And before we knew it, it was lunchtime. The gang and I got a cheeky Nandos (not a sponsor).

The Squiggle (like The Giggle, by Russell T Davies. Yeah, I’m reaching)

After a chicken-flavoured reprieve, I excused myself from the lunch table.

“I gotta get all of my free autographs, guys, you know how it is,” I said as I breezed off. Like a flash, I got autographs from Jo Martin (I was actually a tiny bit star-struck on this one… she’s blooming Doctor Who!), Steph De Whalley (“You were the highlight of Christmas, and the highlight of the finale!”) and Charlie Condou, who played Gary in the most recent season’s The Interstellar Song Contest. I returned to Nandos after that, and the gang were still at the table.

“Blooming heck, you were quick!”

Ooh! Jo Martin was about to have her photo session. And when one of the Doctors is having pictures with fans, we can never refuse. So all four of us decided we would meet the Fugitive Doctor herself…

And the joy just kept on coming. I managed to get autographs from Matthew Waterhouse (“I absolutely loved your scenes with Tom Baker; you acted them very well”), Jeff Rawle (whose lasting memory of filming The Sarah Jane Adventures was that Surranne Jones, who played Mona Lisa, was hilarious on set), and Jaqcueline King (total opposite to Donna Noble’s abrasive mother, because she was really nice to talk to). Plus, I got some cheeky selfies from Matthew and Jacqueline…

I must say, after the issues that we had at Whooverville 15 with autograph queues being long, intertwined, and confusing, there were no issues of the sort this year. Queues were clearly organised with tape on the floor, and guests were distributed throughout the building so that no queue felt terribly long, and you always knew who you were queuing for. In fact, the whole event was really well organised. Everything ran to time, there was always a friendly volunteer or member of QUAD staff around to help, and it was generally smooth sailing. So no complaints at all around that stuff this year.

And back into the theatre we went to catch the last half an hour or so of Charlie Condou. It was Charlie’s first convention, and he seemed to take it in his stride, being really chatty with fans and interested in talking about his time on the show. It was quite the revelation that he actually can’t stand Eurovision, yet his character in the show was a die-hard fanatic. A testament to his exceptional acting abilities. He was a real highlight of the day, and the last season of Doctor Who, for that matter.

But the grand finale of panels for the day was fittingly the first New-Who Doctor Whooverville has managed to book for the event. After the autograph and the photograph, it was time to have an extended chat with Jo Martin.

“Let me take it from the top. Hello. I’m the Doctor.”

Jo Martin wasn’t just an amazing sport when it came to posing with a classic Sonic screwdriver for the photo op. You could tell from her one-hour panel talk that she just absolutely LOVED being there. She spoke about how she was a fan of the show growing up (without wanting to give away her age, she said her favourite Doctor was ‘one of the Bakers’), how her Whovian son was enthralled when she was revealed to be the Doctor in the show, and her pride and joy at being able to take on this part and be the first black woman as the Doctor.

It was quite clear that she loves the part, she loves the show, and she loves giving back to the fans.

I must admit, during the Chibnall era of Doctor Who, I can’t say I was all that fussed about the Fugitive Doctor. Jo Martin is a great actor, but I didn’t feel she was in it enough for me to really know who the character was. But, you know… I think I’ve realised that is the entire point! The Fugitive Doctor is ambiguous. She is most likely pre-Hartnell, but do we really know? What made her who she is when we see her, and where does she go from that point on?

Doctor WHO, indeed…

Therefore, it is the mystery around this incarnation of the Doctor, her recent appearance in The Story & The Engine, and her burgeoning presence in expanded media that intrigues me, and it just helps that Jo Martin is one of the coolest convention guests I think I’ve ever met. The moment towards the end of the panel where she talked about how much having this role meant to her, to the point of tearing up, just endeared everyone in the room to her. To echo the sentiments of the Sixth Doctor, she is the Doctor – whether you like it or not!

I will be honest, I hope that Billie Piper does at most a Christmas special as the Doctor, and then she regenerates into Jo Martin, so we can have her full-time. But in any case, I can’t wait to see where the Fugitive Doctor goes next. Jo was dropping hints throughout the day that there is more on the horizon, whatever form that may take. So you heard it here, folks – we definitely have not seen the last of her.

Let Zygons be Zygons

So Whooverville ended with the raffle drawn by Matthew Waterhouse and Jacqueline King – I didn’t win anything for the second year in a row! We had the thank yous and closing words from Stephen at the very end. He confirmed Whooverville will be back next year and organised by the same capable hands, so hooray!

And as if that wasn’t enough fun for one day, one of the autograph rooms had a projector screen on which they decided to show Terror of the Zygons, which was streaming on the Doctor Who YouTube Channel. So Garry, Maria, Joe and I turned up and watched it. Nothing like unwinding with a Fourth Doctor Classic after a busy convention day.

It is the end. But the moment has been prepared for.

Again, more than any juicy story from the panel, or autographs or photographs, it is genuinely the social aspect of these events which is the main pull for me. I had a great time hanging with Team Big Blue Box, talking to people whom I have seen at events from years gone by, and interacting with other Who fans for the first time.

After dinner with the Big Blue Box folks and more socialising at the hotel bar with other Who fans late into Saturday, we parted ways to where we were staying in Derby, checked out on Sunday morning, and headed home. I was exhausted, but so very grateful for all the memories. Our fandom felt united and like a family after this weekend, and it made me so happy I cried a timey wimey tear (Thank you to Joe for that excellent turn of phrase, which sums up my emotional state perfectly).

Until the next Whooverville, or the next event, big or small, where we can forget our troubles and geek out about our favourite show – take good care, Who fans.