Entertainment Media Show: An Overview

This article can also be found on Step2Inspire.

On the 1st and 2nd of October, London's Earls Court played host to a wide array of guests from film and television at this year's Entertainment Media Show. Much like London Film and Comic Con earlier in the year, the event's range of talks, Q&As and photo sessions with the stars draws thousands of visitors annually. Armed with press pass in one hand and a dictaphone in the other, I took to EMS to attend the talks and chat with a few of the guests...

First and foremost, it was hot. Ludicrously so. Being crammed onto the second floor of the conference hall in the ridiculously unwelcome return of summer heat was not a situation I would describe as pleasant. Even I, who vainly and stubbornly always wears a jacket no matter the weather, was forced to sling my fashionable attire over my shoulder due to the unprecedented heat... Christ knows how some of the Cosplayers survived in their elaborate attire!

Saturday was primarily Q&A day, featuring guests from Bill and Ted, Star Wars and Doctor Who. Starting the day were Dan Shor and Jane Wiedlin (Billy the Kid and Joan of Arc in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure) talking about their experiences on Bill and Ted, and their own excellent adventures since the film. Shor is currently president of ShodaVision, a production company which started when Shor went on a sojourn to the South Pacific in 2003 – since then, he has gone on to produce documentaries, television series, music videos and video streams. Wiedlin has recently acted in Doggie Boogie, The Casserole Club and I Want To Get Married, has released the third issue of her comic book series, Lady Robotika, has just finished a tour with The Go-Go's, the band that she and Belinda Carlisle started in '78, and has also written a couple of musicals. Alex Winter had also been Bill-ed (see what I did there?!) for the event, but unfortunately he was unable to attend due to other commitments.

Next up was a Q&A with Ian McNeice and Albert Welling, both of whom recently appeared in Doctor Who as Winston Churchill and Adolf Hitler respectively. McNeice had had previous experience performing as Churchill in Howard Brenton's Never So Good at the National Theatre, but was absolutely thrilled to be portraying the renowned Prime Minster on Doctor Who. Welling had previously played Erwin Rommel in D-Day, and upon being cast as Hitler in Let's Kill Hitler, his first thought was simply “this is the highest ranking Nazi I could ever get!” At the age of 14, Welling had been visiting some relatives in Germany when, for the first time since the war, one of Adolf Hitler's speeches was broadcast. Watching the speech from beginning to end, unable to understand a word of what was being said, Welling witnessed the power of Hitler's oratory, and drew on his feelings from that experience to portray the role in Doctor Who.

Later on, Eve Myles (known for playing Gwen Cooper in Torchwood) spoke about her experiences on the show, it's move to the States in Miracle Day, and how she finds it a constant fear and a joy to portray Gwen. “Every time I put those leathers on and those guns come out of my arse pocket, I am nervous as hell. And as soon as that stops, it's time for me to do another period drama! I will do it as long as people want to see me do it. And I love Gwen Cooper, she is the most extraordinary, complex, flawed beautiful character I have ever had the privilege of playing.”

On both Saturday and Sunday, a small panel of Doctor Who guests held Q&As on the series just passed, Saturday's line-up being Nina Toussaint-White (Mels, Let's Kill Hitler) and Arthur Darvill (Rory), and Sunday featuring Frances Barber (Madame Kovarian) and Georgia Moffet (Jenny, The Doctor's Daughter), with Caitlin Blackwood (Young Amelia Pond) in attendance for both days. Highlights from these Q&As included: Toussaint-White would love to return as Mels if the opportunity presented itself; Darvill has started collecting taxidermy, and really wants a stuffed owl; Moffet has a deathly phobia of fish, and as the daughter of Peter Davison and being engaged to David Tennant, she's the first person to be both the wife and daughter of the Doctor, albeit in different incarnations; Blackwood has never tried fish fingers and custard, and is rather adamant she never will; and Frances Barber can silence a room just by uttering “an impossible astronaut will rise from the deep, and strike the Time Lord dead.”

On the Sunday, I was joined by my friend and colleague Josh Harris and his flat mates. Having recorded the previous day's talks, Sunday was to be more focussed on brief one-to-one interviews with the guests. Unfortunately, some of the guests (not least David Tennant) were consistently inundated with autographing and photo shoot sessions, so getting a chance to speak with them was near-on impossible. We were able to chat with Dan Shor, Jane Wiedlin, Ian McNeice, Joe Flanigan (Lt. Colonel Sheppard, Stargate Atlantis), and Paul McGann ('I' in Withnail & I, and the Doctor in the 1996 Doctor Who TV-film). I had also fervently attempted to talk with Arthur Darvill regarding his potential return to Doctor Who, and his recent work in the Globe theatre's production of Doctor Faustus, but due to his popularity I sadly was unable to grab a few minutes with him.

Overall, the weekend was mad, packed, and thoroughly enjoyable! There was far too much there to cover in just a single article, and more will be coming soon. With approximately eight hours of audio recorded, run-downs of a number of the Q&As and transcriptions of some of the interviews will be online sometime soon, so keep an eye out for them!