And we arrive, finally, at my story about meeting a Doctor Who actor at a convention (unless one counts seeing John Barrowman signing autographs at a distance at a Supanova event in Australia), and that is none other than the final classic-era co-star, Sophie Aldred, well-known on the show as playing the companion Ace.
(Daily Doctor Who #153)
I saw Sophie Aldred back in 1993, which is when my friend Matt and I attended Visions ’93, an event which was well-attended by stars of Doctor Who, Blake’s 7, Robin of Sherwood and Red Dwarf as it celebrated various anniversaries for each franchise. Sophie Aldred, as one of the closest thing to a “current” cast member on Doctor Who, was definitely a major attractions.
As always, it was nice to get her autograph, both in my book…
…and also on a photograph of her that I’d purchased.
She and Nicola Bryant (who had played Peri a few years earlier) did their photo opp together. They were two of the younger guests and are both obviously attractive, and so my friend and I (as sort of dopey young guys) were particularly looking forward to getting our photograph taken with them.
We decided to get our photos together and to treat it like we might photos for a prom–with us as guys standing on either side of the ladies. For purposes of this photo (and for no other purposes whatsoever, I say with complete understanding and absolutely no illusions) Sophie Aldred was my “date”, and Nicola Bryant was his.
To our great amusement, the actresses were ever-so-slightly…well, not exactly impressed with us, but, well, maybe you could say “noted our confidence”. By this, I mean simply that when it was our turn, we quite smoothly “took charge” of the situation. They reacted first to the fact that we were both having our picture taken together (“Ooh, a double,” said one) and then were obviously surprised when we decided we want to stand on either side of them, rather than the other way around, and allowed themselves to be guided to the configuration we had decided upon.
A small thing, to be sure, but one that we were both pretty pleased about at the time.
Blue Towel Productions 