The Day of the Doctor.....and I was there!

If you didn’t already know, the greatest TV series ever celebrates its 50th Birthday today! Yes Doctor Who, our little show, for so many years in the 80s the butt of jokes about wobbly sets etc but now filmed in Wales and loved by everyone, celebrates in style with a special 50th birthday episode and a mega convention in London’s ExCel centre over the weekend.

Today I made the journey to the ExCel, it was a very early start up at 4am to catch the train to London, but boy was it worth it! I remember the big 25th anniversary celebration at Longleat, but this was so much better. It was like Christmas all in one day, the Doctors, loads of companions and most of the bad guys, Davros, Daleks, Cybermen etc etc. There were loads of Fez hats, 4th Doctor Scarves, David Tennant and Matt Smith clones around the place, as well as a weeping angel and these two guys who must surely win the Best Dressed prize! Just check out the K9 handbag as well, cool. The highlights for me were the two special shows in the main area, Regenerations and the Eleventh Hour and having my photo taken with the Tardis and in the console room.

Regenerations saw the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th Doctors all on one stage, so if you’re not sure that’s Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy, with the questions being asked by the voice of the Daleks, Cybermen etc Nicholas Briggs. The standard types of questions were asked, intermingled with clips from each Doctor’s era and the crowed just lapping it up. One thing that was pretty clear from the chat was that Tom Baker is as mad as a box of frogs, but he’s one funny guy!

The Eleventh Hour was all about the 11th Doctor’s era with Matt Smith, Steven Moffatt, Jenna Coleman (Clara Oswald) and Marcus Wilson (producer) on stage with the questions asked by Radio 2’s Jo Whiley. The thing that comes home listening to all of them was that it really is one big family, and if you’re working on the show it’s just one big blast! At the end questions were allowed to be asked from the audience, with one little lad a bit of a star, and then right at the very end one little lad got to go on stage with Matt, then took the mickey out of fez hats. Lol!

And so to the special episode, I won’t go into too much detail just in case someone hasn’t watched it yet, but oh what a blast! As Steven Moffatt said everyone likes surprises much better than spoilers, so to have a WOAH moment watching the show is pretty special!

Well done to all involved on making today the Day of the Doctor!