The London Film and Comic Con was held from 29-31 July at the Olympia at Hammersmith. Three Doctors – Colin Baker (Sixth), Sylvester McCoy (Seventh), and Paul McGann (Eighth), held a panel together in front of a standing room only crowd. The crowd was wildly enthusiastic – Paul McGann joked that they’d entered to “a smattering of applause.”
The panel was funny, often hilarious, as the three Doctors were clearly old friends and had many stories to share. The three Doctors have appeared together before, and were clearly happy to be together again, surrounded by fans of all ages.
Telling Tales
Highlights of the panel included a story by McGann, recalling a time when he and McCoy were headed to a convention in Vancouver. The driver dropped them off at the wrong spot, and they waked in to a bar where a man “as big as a doorway” took an instant dislike to them. McGann recalled, “He looked like he was going to batter me. And McCoy played the spoons on him! I was thinking, this could go either way! We could be on the news tonight. And the guy burst out laughing! McCoy saved my life!”
McCoy was asked where he was when President John F. Kennedy was shot in 1963, and his answer was rather prosaic. He was “in a Chinese takeaway on Highgate Road, having fish and chips. I was so poor then that I paid using jam jars.”
Baker’s best story: being at Stonehenge on the night of the first moon landing in 1969. “On the night that Armstrong and Aldrin stepped onto the moon – have we got just a half hour?,” he joked, “I was working as a taxi driver in Vinehead. I had just left drama school, and I was listening on the radio. I was driving past Stonehenge, and then it was ungated. So I walked to the middle of Stonehenge, and listened to ‘one small step for a man’ although I couldn’t see it, as it was cloudy.”
50th Anniversary
All three Doctors wished they had played a bigger role in the 50th Anniversary show, but were full of praise for Peter Davison’s work in bringing them together for the Five(ish) Doctors. When asked if they would want to appear in another special, McCoy and Baker both answered with a resounding yes, and McGann said, “We’d have to, wouldn’t we?’ What other show might they be willing to do? McCoy: “Top Gear!”
A Female Doctor
An audience member asked if there could be a female Doctor, and the panel seemed to agree that Tilda Swinton might be the right choice. How do they feel about the current show? McGann gave special praise to Peter Capaldi, the current Doctor, for his work in Hell Bent: “He was fantastic. He was a mixture of everybody.”
If you hadn’t been the Doctor……
The final question from the audience: what other character would you be?
McGann answered, “A Weeping Angel!”
McCoy: “A Dalek of course, having a sip of tea between exterminating.”
Baker: “A Slitheen!” Lots of laughter, as the audience helped demonstrate the creature’s signature sound.
London Film and Comic Con returns next year.
, Sylvester McCoy (Seventh), and Paul McGann (Eighth), held a panel at the London Film and Comic Con.){kind=link}