REPORTAGE: The VWORP Convention - The Printworks, Manchester.

VWORP: An Independent Celebration of Doctor Who

The past year and a bit has been a something of a turbulent one for Doctor Who fandom with the casting of Jodie Whittaker as the first female to take on the role of the show’s protagonist causing consternation in some quarters and celebration in others. Meanwhile, younger fans have been exposed to the original televised run of the series (1963-1989) via the gaming platform Twitch, streaming the episodes of what has been termed the ‘Classic’ itineration of the show and falling in love with it. Following this and with Whittaker’s first series due to air next month, the timing of the VWORP Convention in Manchester’s Printworks couldn’t have been better: a chance for fans to celebrate the show in both ‘Classic’ and ‘Modern’ incarnations up to this point and looking forward to the upcoming new era.

Like many other conventions, VWORP featured stalls selling art prints, books, DVDs, autographs, and other collectibles as well as opportunities for fans to have photographs taken with the convention guests. Some attendees were ‘cosplaying’ as their favourite incarnation of The Doctor – some even came as Whittaker’s Doctor, with her attire proving to be a hit with both male and female fans before an episode with her in has even aired. There was even someone parading through The Printworks dressed as the villainous Davros, who in the show created the Daleks, in a very impressive costume. There were remote controlled Daleks and several TARDISes for fans to pose for photographs next to. In addition, VWORP boasted three stages (named after the first three actors to play the iconic role of The Doctor: Hartnell, Troughton, Pertwee) where panel discussions took place between hosts and guests in front of the audience of convention attendees. To be able to see all the panels would require attendees to possess their own TARDIS to be able to travel back in time to see the panels they missed! As such, the review will focus on the panels your TARDIS-less reviewer was able to cover.

The first panel attended (and popular it was too) was titled ‘On the 8th Day…’ on the Troughton stage. This was a look at the adventures of Paul McGann’s 8th incarnation of The Doctor – specifically the adventures in books, comics, and audio dramas for McGann’s onscreen appearances consisted of an American made TV-Movie (acting as a ‘backdoor pilot’ for a potential new series after the BBC cancelled the show in 1989) back in 1996, followed by an eight-minute short episode released online ahead of the show’s 50th anniversary special in 2013. There was a delay in the panel starting due to technical problems, something which afflicted many of the panels across the three stages and caused the panel programmes to either run late (as was the case with the ones on the Hartnell stage) or be moved or cancelled outright (as happened with a couple of panels on the other stages). Panel host Rod Tame filled the time in between frantic laptop fixing by treating the audience to a spoken-word piece about how The Doctor had been like a father figure to him and it was such a pleasure to hear his poem delivered with skill. Eventually, the panel opened with Tame introducing novelist and screenwriter Paul Magrs and comic artist Martin Geraghty to discuss their approaches to writing and drawing the 8th Doctor and finding out the limitations and freedoms that incarnation brought due to his limited onscreen appearances. McGann himself made a brief appearance at the panel and spoke enthusiastically of his work in audio dramas with Big Finish productions, as well as admitting that he managed to read a few of the early novels published by BBC books featuring his incarnation after the American TV series never materialised. McGann brought a cheeky Scouse sense of humour to proceedings and did seem mildly upset when he was informed that he would have to leave the panel after ten minutes; he’s become something of a seasoned pro at conventions, despite being initially reluctant, by his own admission.

Following this, over on the Hartnell Stage, was ‘Anti-Matter Melancholy’ presented by Hollyoaks actor Annie Wallace. This panel was a look back at the show’s tenth anniversary story The Three Doctors from 1973 and featured that story’s co-writer Bob Baker, actor Stephen Thorne who played that episode’s villain, Omega, and Katy Manning who played Jo Grant, then companion to Jon Pertwee’s 3rd Doctor. Manning was an absolute revelation: engaging, funny, and bubbling with enthusiasm. Thorne was very polite and amusing, as was Bob Baker, but Manning was clearly enjoying herself and even hosted the panel while Wallace attended to an errant laptop. As host, Wallace was charming and clearly a devotee of that era of the show and sparked well off Manning especially.

Next was a panel discussion entitled ‘Is This Death?’ which featured 5th Doctor actor Peter Davison and director Graeme Harper discussing Davison’s final story, The Caves of Androzani, as well as Davison’s time on the show generally and Harper explaining how British television production has changed from the multi-camera setup of his early directorial career (including his work on Doctor Who) which including lengthy rehearsal periods with the actors, to the current way of filming dramas with a single camera setup and limited rehearsal time. Host Justin Johnson kept the discussion ticking along nicely and it was interesting to discover how filming the show in the 1980s was very controlled by the unionised workforce who could switch the lights off in the BBC studios at the stroke of 10 o’clock at night and cause production to end there, even if a scene was halfway through being shot!

A quick wander over to the third stage, the Pertwee stage, saw magazine publisher Dez Skinn discussing how he came up with the idea for Doctor Who Weekly magazine back in 1978 and how much work he put into launching the magazine which is still published today as the monthly Doctor Who Magazine. Skinn was jovial and often drew upon a made-up magazine title, Oil Riggers Monthly, to discuss how newsagents chose which magazines to stock (if he doesn’t make that title a reality, many of the panel attendees will be upset). The talk was an interesting insight into the production of tie-in merchandise but, again, highlighted how methods and techniques have changed over the years from then to now.

It was back to the Hartnell Stage for ‘Six of the Best,’ a discussion with 6th Doctor Colin Baker about his oft-maligned time on the show (mainly due to his ‘tasteless’ colourful costume) hosted by the incredibly enthusiastic Matt Charlton. Baker was a very engaging raconteur (it was clear to see why 1980s producer John Nathan-Turner cast him after seeing him deliver a best man’s speech at a mutual friend’s wedding) and the discussion covered the changes to Manchester (Baker moved to Rochdale when he was 2 and went to school in Manchester), his love of cats and words, and his work on the show and after (like McGann and Davison, he too has done audio dramas with Big Finish productions). 

The subsequent panel, ‘Women Who Lived’, was an all-female affair and was hosted by the bloggers The Time Ladies, who introduced Katy Manning (again, and just as wickedly funny), 1980s companions Nicola Bryant (who played Peri Brown from 1984-86) and Sophie Aldred (who played Ace, the final companion of the ‘classic’ era from 1988-89), and blogger Christel Dee who had co-written a book from which the panel took its title. Inevitably, much discussion centred around the casting of Whittaker as The Doctor (and, despite much online wailing and gnashing of teeth, the atmosphere in the room was hugely positive) as well as the steps Manning, Bryant, and Aldred had made themselves in their roles to help pave the way to how the show’s female characters are handled today. 

The final panel attended by yours truly, was ‘Physician Heal Thyself’ which was a look back at the short episode The Night of the Doctor and featured Paul McGann again, who discussed how that episode came about and the secrecy around it, along with one of his co-stars in that episode, Emma Campbell-Jones. Hearing McGann describe how the current series is filmed made for an interesting contrast with what Harper and Davison had said at the earlier panel.

The organisers of VWORP hope that this will become an annual event with VWORP 2 being announced before the ‘Physician Heal Thyself’ panel. While this first one was setback by technical glitches and delayed timetables, the convention attendees all seemed to enjoy themselves and the panels were interesting and varied. There was no doubt that this convention was a labour of love for its organisers and, if the numbers for this first convention was anything to go by, future VWORP conventions will pull in hundreds, if not thousands, of Doctor Who fans eager to meet up, cosplay, and hear from those involved with the making of the show in all its forms.

Reportage - Andrew Marsden
on - 9/9/18