{"id":35084,"date":"2022-05-22T00:17:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-21T23:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedoctorwhocompanion.com\/?p=35084"},"modified":"2022-05-21T15:18:45","modified_gmt":"2022-05-21T14:18:45","slug":"an-overview-of-the-record-breaking-fundraiser-bedford-who-charity-con-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedoctorwhocompanion.com\/2022\/05\/22\/an-overview-of-the-record-breaking-fundraiser-bedford-who-charity-con-7\/","title":{"rendered":"An Overview of the Record-Breaking Fundraiser, Bedford Who Charity Con 7"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The seventh Bedford Who Charity Con took place in early April, and raised more than \u00a310,000 for Bedford Foodbank. The event featured three incarnations of the Doctor, a world first of two Davroses (if that is the plural; they could not decide), and never-told-before stories from entertaining guests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the world as it is, not only was this a record sum raised for charity by the convention but also its most important fundraiser yet as the foodbank now has close to 1,500 clients and every Friday is handing out 2,000 kilograms of food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The convention itself was split into the usual mix of on-stage talks, comedic performances, and sessions where attendees (many of them in superb cosplay) could get photos with and autographs from the top-bill line-up of guests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the first group of guests to entertain the packed out King\u2019s House venue was \u2018the villains\u2019: Brian Croucher (Borg in The Robots of Death<\/em> and best known for being Travis in Blake\u2019s 7<\/em>), David Banks (more commonly the Cyber-Leader but also Karl and the Doctor themself in stageplay, The Ultimate Adventure<\/em>), and Terry Molloy (the greatest scientist in the universe, Davros).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their time on stage looked at finding the \u2018villain within\u2019 when playing bad guys on television, while also discussing the pain of literally being the villain within when prosthetics and costume come into play. It turns out playing Davros involved being tortured as well as dishing it out, being a Cyberman can rub away your humanity, and there is no such thing as good visibility in such costumes. Which made it all the more impressive that the Daleks and Cybermen welcoming attendees to the convention knew exactly where to look when taking photos and that one Dalek from Remembrance<\/em> could so confidently say \u2018MAKE. SURE. YOU. GET. MY. GOOD. SIDE\u2019 as it \u2018posed\u2019 for a photo with a young fan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Doctor Who Companion<\/em> also got a chance to ask Banks about his time as the Doctor, which you may be able to read at another point in the space-time continuum\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following their mini-panel was the first comedy performance, as the Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker) and Mrs Constance Clarke (Miranda Raison) held auditions to find a new companion. The candidates were a grumpy teenager called Ace (Sophie Aldred), a handsome fellow (David Banks), and a grumpy man who looked a lot like Travis from Blake\u2019s 7<\/em> (Brian Croucher). In a truly laugh-out-loud performance, the qualities of the candidates is checked via how well they can ask questions such as \u2018Doctor, where are we?\u2019, how well they can complement the Doctor, and how well they can scream<\/em>. There\u2019s one standout candidate, but then a twist\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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