Pecorama 2011

On Sunday the 10th of July, some friends and I attended a mini convention at Pecorama in Beer, Devon.

Pecorama offers some beautiful gardens and a selection of model railways, but for me, a confirmed Doctor Who nerd, the appeal in going on that particular Sunday was the opportunity to meet sixth Doctor Colin Baker, former companion Sarah Sutton, and visual effects expert Matt Irvine.

Q&A Session with Sarah and Colin

Colin and Sarah offered the assembled fans the opportunity to ask them questions, they were both very charming and eloquent. Colin, when asked "where does the TARDIS go?" instantly came up with a perfectly plausible answer involving particle physics and multiple universes, which earned a round of applause.



In a rather touching moment, Colin spoke of his most enjoyable experience while working on Doctor Who, which was the chance to work with Patrick Troughton in The Two Doctors, he was very complimentary about his predecessor, whom he described as a very generous actor.

He also revealed that Patrick along with current Doctor Matt Smith were the two best actors in his opinion to take on the role.

On the day there were U.N.I.T. firing ranges, a dealer room, full of essential Doctor Who memorabilia, and for the many who arrived in costume, there were competitions to decide who had the best outfit, the winner of the children's section was a child dressed as the TARDIS, complete with the lamp on their head!

Chipper Colin gets signing

After the Q&A session we were given the chance to get autographs, and credit to Colin and Sarah, who must have spent ages signing for everyone, they remained cheerful and friendly throughout.








To round off the experience, we went into a room featuring ephemera from the classic series archives.

The Cyber Controller

Amongst the items on display were an Ice Warrior costume, the sixth Doctor's blue cloak from Revelation Of The Daleks, a mask from The Robots Of Death, original designs for Mr Sin from The Talons Of Weng Chiang, the Cyber Controller's head from The Tomb Of The Cybermen, some spiders from Jon Pertwee's final story Planet Of The Spiders, and the original K9 prop.

On hand to discuss all matters about models and special effects was Matt Irvine, who was very chatty and friendly, and has a great deal of knowledge about the series.

The Doctor's faithful friend

After all the Who related japery was over there was still plenty of time to wander around the gardens, and check out the many model railways on display, yes, I know what you're thinking, nerd heaven!

I never had a train set as a child, but I have to admit, the hard work and level of detail that goes into the sets on display is of a very high standard, and you can understand why someone might want to take it up as a hobby.

I really enjoyed my day out, and if another similar event was organised by the Exe-Wing charity fund raisers, I would certainly go along, and if you like Doctor Who too, I would recommend it.

Doctor Who: Revelation Of The Daleks

This one certainly divides opinion in our household.

I rather like it, but my wife absolutely detests it. The cat, as ever, remains neutral.

The story takes place on the planet Necros, The Doctor (Colin Baker) and Peri (Nicola Bryant) are there to visit a funeral home run by the mysterious "Great Healer" called Tranquil Repose, in order to pay their respects to the recently deceased Arthur Stengos, a friend of The Doctor.

Things, however, are not as they seem. It takes practically the whole of the first part of this story for our heroes to actually get into Tranquil Repose, and while they are wandering around outside there are several other story elements taking shape.

Mr Jobel (Clive Swift) is the man in charge of the funeral home, he is a very vain man (with no real reason to be) who is assisted by an impressionable junior called Tasembeker (Jenny Tomasin) she is devoted to him and is desperate for his affection, but he is not the least bit interested, and he treats her terribly.

Two intruders have broken into the catacombs, one of them is Stengos' daughter. They have been led to believe that he is being kept in suspended animation, upon opening his cryo-chamber they discover his body is missing. When they finally find him, he has been the subject of a gruesome experiment to turn him into a human/Dalek hybrid.

Meanwhile, Kara (Eleanor Bron) is a high flying business woman, who, trying to run her food business, is getting increasingly frustrated by her business partner, The Great Healer, who is revealed to be Davros the creator of the Daleks. She has had enough of Davros' interfering and hires a pair of assassins to put him out of the picture.

The assassins are Orcini (William Gaunt) a knight of the grand order of oberon and his loyal squire Bostock (John Ogwen) they take the job on not for the financial reward on offer, but for the honour of despatching Davros.

By the time The Doctor and Peri finally get inside the facility (after encountering a decidedly naff statue of The Doctor), everything is really kicking off.

The intruders, having destroyed what was left of Stengos, have been captured by security guards. The Doctor lets Jobel escort Peri around the complex, while he seeks out whoever commissioned the staue. Peri ends up with Tranquil Repose's very own resident DJ (Alexei Sayle), who is on hand to keep those in suspended animation in touch with what is going on in the world of the living.

Orcini and Bostock encounter a Dalek and destroy it alerting Davros, who is sure that Kara is out to get him. Davros, growing tired of Jobel, lets Tasembeker watch him flirt with the younger, prettier female members of staff via closed circuit television, making her incredibly jealous, he orders her to kill Jobel and offers her immortality by promising that she will be selected to become a Dalek.

This is a very dark story for what was a teatime kids show on BBC1. The themes covered are rather gruesome. The director of this story, Graeme Harper, deserves a lot of credit as do, by Doctor Who standards, a rather stellar cast. Certainly one of Colin Baker's best TV adventures.

William Gaunt is the stand out guest actor for me, he plays Orcini in a very understated way, and avoids going into the sort of hammy acting that others have done in the past (yes I'm talking about you Graham Crowden!).

If you are familiar with classic series who and you feel like a dark, creepy horror tale, then this is for you.