In Review: Memorabilia NEC 2011

By John Freeman on November 22, 2011

Comics and sci-fi merchandise aplenty were on sale at the Memorabilia event at the NEC Birmingham over the weekend of 19th and 20th November.

An impressive range of guests from sci-fi and other classic programmes and films included Arthur Darvill from Doctor Who, Kai Owen from Torchwood and Bruce Boxleitner from Tron and Babylon 5.

Classic Doctor Who guests included former companions Katy Manning from the third Doctor’s era, Sarah Sutton from the fourth and fifth Doctors’ era and Sophie Aldred from the seventh Doctor’s era plus, for comedy fans, the cast of Hi-de-Hi! was re-united.

A range of interesting panels took place over the weekend which included reunions of the casts of classic movies such as Village of the Damned and Hammer’s Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter.

There was a strong cosplay element with Darth Vader, Stormtroopers, Daleks and Doctors on hand to entertain the crowds.

Sci-fi fans attended in their thousands and there was absolutely no evidence of the fragile economy at this event with everyone out to enjoy themselves and have a great time.

There are more details of the Memorabilia at the NEC,Birmingham on the Memorabilia website.

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.