Oh I say

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 20:17:00 +0000

Well where to start. It's been a tough few months. Oh the glamorous world of Television and voiceovers.
Much like acting, a lot of it is waiting for that phone call/email and recently they've been a bit thin on the ground but that is the nature of the business Im afraid.

On the positive side my lovely friend Jane Farnham suggested me for a gig and I now regularly work with her again ( we were at Channel 5 togehter) providing voiceovers while she does the presenting. This world of ours is really quite small you know.

Had a fantastic weekend though. It was a friends 23rd birthday (Oh I remember those days well) and a good time was had by all. I made him a little mock video of him dancing with TV's Jane McDonald much to his amusement.
One or two glasses of plonk may have been consumed which resulted in us singing along to the Home & Away theme tune..don't ask!

This month I have several little bits and pieces to do and of course my regular gig on MGM HD, showcasing one of Hollywoods finest film studios movies (Sky 313) but I'd be lying if I said I didn't need more work rather urgently.

As a sideline I will be narrating a brand new documentary on the phenomenum that is Crossroads. It will be the definitive documentary on the soap going right back to the origins od the series and coming right up to date with the Noughtie's revivial.

Check out more on this at www.returntocrossroads.co.uk

ACT III Convention/Louise Jameson's Birthday

Mon, 02 May 2011 20:10:00 +0000

FRIDAY 22nd April
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Friday afternoon I met my friend Philip in London and first we headed off to Forbidden Planet. The new "7th Doctor costume" T-shirt was on the menu. Sadly although we arrived there, the T-shirts had not. So off we went again, this time bound for The Doctor Who Experience (fab by the way if you've not tried it yet)
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Despite some worrying transport problems we got to Latimer Place, where the ACT III convention is taking place. The views and grounds were very impressive. We checked in easily and were pointed in the direction of the main event location.
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We had been told that registration started at 5 (We arrived at 6) and so after a quick shower and change dashed off to the main area, having no idea what was happening and worried we might be missing something. We needn't have worried.
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At the welcome desk we were given our packs and told that due to some guests having not arrived, the welcome drinks & informal meeting would be happening tomorrow. A little dissapointing but in the main stage would be a short tribute to Lis Sladen and then a quiz.
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I gave my DVD (Louise Jameson's birthday compilation & Lis's tribute) to the organiser, Derek who came back to me later with high praise indeed (Thank you Derek) and he said they would be showing it tomorrow when a lot more people would be able to enjoy it.
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Having been a little dissapointed that not much was happening that night we wandered off to the hotel bar. BIG MISTAKE.
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1 double vodka & coke, and 1 single vodka and cranberry cost....wait for it...£11.10 !! WHAT!!?
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We sat outside as the sun began to set and a car pulls up. Who's that climbing out of the seat? Why it's Doctor Who's "Dead Adric". The first word we hear uttered by a Doctor Who star is the F word. ha
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He too had had train problems and had seemingly gone round and round the tube line about 300 times.
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A most amusing start though. "Dead Adric" swears
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Price wise, a lot of these places grab you by the wotsits as there is simply nowhere else around. So that one drink was that and back to the room we went.
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Thinking about food, we remembered the receptionist had told us that that evening's meals would be purchased via reception for £15 in advance. Reasonable, until we saw the menu. Basically if you didnt want some kind of pasta dish or vegetarian food there wasn't much else.
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Then we're told there were no starters, so £15 for some "cheap" main meal and a dessert. No thanks
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Strangely, the room service menu (usually more expensive) had fish & chips, pizzas, burgers, baguettes etc and averaged between £6-10 so we did that!
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Anyway back to the convention.
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SATURDAY
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The alarm goes off. I dont think Ive ever (certainly in recent times) practically bounced out of bed. We dash around showering, changing and heading over to the main area. Who's around? Well not many famous faces yet so we head into the merchanidising area.
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Pics galore, thousands of big Finish CD's, signed books, magazines et al.
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"Oh look there's a signed Lalla Ward picture going for £30" Philip smiles as he thinks about the free one included in the Gold pack goodie bag.
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Outside there's Wendy Padbury having a ciggie. I go for one too!
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The talks begin.
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Louise Jameson & John Nettles are up first. Except he's not here. "Don't worry" she tells us "he is on his way". So when he does arrive there's a big hug and a kiss and Louise tells the audience "He was always keeping us waiting on Bergerac so i dont know why Im surprised" Cue lots of banter. John's hilarious and his tales a bit saucy. This is great. Theyre not acting like stars at all. Very informal and friendly.
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So the talk wraps up as John & Louise head to the photo room. Theyre doing seperate shoots and one together, except if you want them together you have to pay another tenner. I make do with seperate ones. I tell Louise "I've got a surprise for you later" Oh no what have I done. I sound like a sad anorak wearing fan now. "Oh really?" she asks. "Don't worry , it's nothing sad" I blurt as Im whisked out of the room to make way for the next person. Oh dear, this isnt starting well.
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The problem we found is that once youd been to a talk, that person went to the photo room, but the next guest was straight on stage so if you wanted a pic with them, you had to walk back into the main hall as the next guest had already started. Perhaps a 10 minute buffer might help in future? Just a thought.
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Most were fine with people walking in mid chat though so it wasn't a huge problem just alittle invconvenient.
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Matthew Waterhouse is on now and tells us that he had been reunited with Adric's costume in the past but now pieces were owned by 3 different people so they all had to be together to get the whole thing in one place !
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Wendy Padbury next and she's joined by Lisa Bowerman. Both lovely and lively, and let slip a few titbits about their appearances in BIG FINISH audios. Lisa is clearly LOVING directing the "Jago & Litefoot" audios, reuniting a classic double act first appearing in the Tom Baker story "The Talons of Weng Chiang".
If only I could (as a voice artist) make an appearance with these two it would be fantastic!
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And then comes Colin Baker who looks around the audience on his entrance and counts everyone in the room. "Thats about 20 people by my reckoning. Don't you like me?" Course we do and more arrive (after their photo shoots are done)
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One poor guy though, went to leave as Colin was talking..Uh Oh!
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Colin spots him, "Am I boring you? I've got better stories"
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"No I just err. I need to..."
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"Well you can't. Just sit down and wait until I finish"
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The guy does just that.
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"Actually" says Colin "I've changed my mind I dont think I want you here now. Off you go"
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Of course the whole room is in stitches, and when we caught up with the guy later that night ( I was telling the story to Matthew Waterhouse & Katy Manning at the drinks reception) he said he was really REALLY desperate to go to the loo!!
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Anyway Im going to be here all day if I continue writing like this so we'll jump to the Saturday evening. 5.15 and Doctor Who is being shown at 6...but Im not paying bar prices like that again so I'll order a cab, dash to the nearest supermarket and stock up with booze and nibbles.
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As Im waiting over comes Philip & his new friend Mel..and who's this walking between them. Surely it's....yes it's The Manning!
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Oh God, Philip's kidnapped The Manning, now we're in trouble...but no she was lost (Typical Jo Grant!) and needed help to find her room, so off they go, blackmailing her with a photo op first.

Oh no. Its 5.55 and Im in the cab on my way back. Im going to m iss the beginning of Doctor Who...and I did. I decided to wait till the end and then head over to the main stage.
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Everyones leaving! The TV broke and everyone is dashing into the smaller bar to see CBBC's Lis Sladen tribute on the smaller TV which is a least fully functional. I join them and realise Im stood next to Dead Adric. I dont think I'll chat to him right now. This is serious.
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Lots of people wiping their eyes, pretending theyre not crying.
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So now its the drinks reception. Im walking alongside Dead Adric and I tell him about the tribute that will be shown later and briefly chat about working at Uk Gold with Lis. I let him get his drink first. White wine BTW. I go for Rose (Very "in" right now but some people thought it was chavvy. Imbeciles)
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I nip out for a fag and when I come back in Philip is sitting with Dead Adric so I take my seat hoping he's not going to ask questions like *adopts sad anorak voice* "What's yer favourite colour?". Then a whirlwind enters the room. The Manning has targeted Matthew apparently and she's on her way over.
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Oh no its not Matthew she's spotted at all, it's Philip. "Oh my darling saviour. Thank you for helping me" Big hugs and a kiss and she too joins us. We'll be trapped, we'll miss the nights entertainment. She never stops chatting nor seemingly pauses for breath. This is good. This is what it's all about.

If the rest of the Con is crap we dont care, we've had our moment. Dead Adric & The Manning chatting away. Hoorah, this is great..But then they leave. Awww ...........but it's ok they just went to get more drinks and theyre coming back. Woohoo.
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The auction starts and lovely Lauren Wilson ( Doctor Who episodes :Family of Blood/Human Nature) joins us ( We're not moving from this table until we have to) She's only gone and won a genuine bottle of Bubbleshock from SJA pilot. Im impressed and she clearly is. I ask her to pose for a pic with it, and for a laugh pretend to hold her balloon (from the aforementioned Family of Blood/Human Nature) which Ill put in later. she giggles and does it. Fab pic!

Now Louise Jameson has joined us. Oh my God we're drinking and chatting with four Doctor Who stars. Someone asks Dead Adric about royalties. He ducks the question slightly.
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I mention to Louise about working for UK Gold and the fact that Jon Pertwee said he only got around 50p for his Doctor Who repeats on UK Gold (as it was back then) She nods, "yes practically nothing" . (Nobody thought a channel just showing repeats would ever work) Dead Adric says he got a cheque once for about 17p which amuses everyone.
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Louise is trying to get a word with Katy..since her show is supposed to start in about 10 minutes. "Oh dont worry darling" states The Manning "I'll wing it"
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And she does. She is on stage with pages and pages of script, doing many varied and silly voices and its going down a storm. there are pages being thrown everywhere. "Oh I cant do that bit its too rude"...and she's off on another tangent .
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As she leaves the stage everyone applauds
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Now it's Louises turn. Wow. All I can say is wow. As she tackles the subject of plastic surgery and is playing various characters this is something quite different to what The Manning gave us. It's channelled, focussed and if you get chance to see the show "Pulling Faces" then do. Big Finish have done the audio version. Wish id bought it now.

As she leaves the stage comedian Charlie Ross stands up and announces that theres something special lined up for Lou and we should all watch the screen.
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This is it, its my moment. I hope she (and the audience) like it. A compilation of clips of Louise in various TV guises begins set to the tune of Tom Jones' She's a Lady. Quite amusing when Leela is throwing knives at robots and Blache Simmons is spitting in peoples faces.
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The spoof documentary starts and I (probably rudely- sorry Louise) dive on the floor with my iphone to record Louises reaction. She clearly loved it, and from the audience reaction so did they. Phew got away with it.

My Lis tribute is next. The music starts. First shot is Katy & Lis from SJA. The sad musics too much. Katy gets up, sniffles and walks out the side door. Its one hell of an emotional rollercoaster this weekend, but I know things brighten up towards the end so I hope she comes back in.
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The audience love when they see Lis in the Uk Gold studio, recording, fluffing lines and seemingly having fun.
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It was fun and I've been honoured to know and work with her.

Louise comes up to me and thanks me for her birthday video. She even asks for a copy. Of course I already have one for her, (perhaps stupidly) presented in a case as if its from the Doctor Who range of DVD's, but I'll give her that tomorrow. Now it's time to relax and everyone departs to the bar.
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Later, Im outside having another ciggy and uh oh here comes The Manning. "Oh darling my emotions are all over the place. Isnt it a strange weekend. What do you do? Have you come far?..."
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It's going to be a long night..and it was, but I wouldnt have missed it for the world...and we've got tomorrow to go yet!

Glen Allen

Oh I say

ACT III Convention/Louise Jameson's Birthday