Tuesday, April 26th, 2016

An Adventure in UK Space and Linear Time, Part 1

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What have I been up to for the past few months? Quite a bit, actually. In November I went to the UK for the first time, which has been a lifelong ambition. I’ve always wanted to visit New York, Tokyo and London…and now all three can be checked off the list. In fact, I managed to pack New York into my UK trip on the way back…but more of that later.

Going to the UK was possible thanks to the generosity of Patreon donations to my podcast, and as such I felt I had a responsibility to gather up content for Radio Free Skaro, both in the form of interviews (here’s Michael Pickwoad and Steven’s documentary from inside Big Finish) and a video we shot to tie in with our Gallifrey One live show, which you can view below:

 

One of the best parts of going to the UK was meeting up with old friends. Simon Harries was good enough to let me stay on his couch for far longer than was strictly polite, and I also met up with fellow Tachyon TV alum John Williams.

One of my ambitions in life (don’t judge) has been to see a live episode of Doctor Who go out on British television. Thanks to VPN shenanigans, I’ve done that for years from the comfort of my own couch in Vancouver, but there’s a special feeling to finally seeing Doctor Who as it was meant to be seen..on a sofa in London.

Or rather, that would have been cool, if jet lag and a delicious curry hadn’t conspired to fell me. Halfway through the Zygon Invasion, I was fast asleep.

I made up for this abhorrent faux pas next week, when author, ex-policeman and all around gent Andrew Smith had myself, Erika and Steven over for “The Zygon Inverson,” the second part of the Zygon two parter. This time I not only stayed awake but was thoroughly entertained beforehand by first rate sarcasm on the part of Andrew’s young girls as they slagged off anyone and everyone participating on Strictly Come Dancing before we got down to the main event.

Side note: It is surreal to be sitting in the home of the person who wrote Full Circle (and many Big Finish adventures) because he’s a fan. Of your podcast. What?!

Side note 2: We also hung out with Rob Shearman, author and writer of “Dalek” and Peter Harness, the very man whose Zygon two-parter was going out that week on BBC One. Because he’s a Radio Free Skaro fan. Unreal.

We also made time for typical touristy nonsense, like walking through the British Museum and gawking at the many and various treasures of the world under the possession of Her Royal Majesty. I also made a solo trip the the Victoria and Albert Museum and discovered the reason I’d thought medieval clothes and artifacts were shabby and ill-made was because the Brits have been hoarding the good stuff this whole time. Canada just got the leftovers.

Needless to say, I highly recommend hitting both museums if you have any interest in history. And the British Museum is free. You have no excuse.

Alright, that’s enough craven hearted name dropping and museum shaming for now. Next post, the College Arms meet up and our adventures filming the opening video for our Gallifrey One live show!

Warren Frey is a journalist, freelance writer, podcaster, video producer, and all-around media consultant currently based in Vancouver, Canada. His written work has appeared in such publications as Metro Vancouver, the Westender, Mac | Life and the Japan Times.

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