MVronsky78

Was surprised to see that Pom's autograph on Saturday was £50, not £60 as advertised. Don't know if it was a mistake or marked down on the day due to lack of sales but I'm certainly not complaining. As someone mentioned elsewhere, she didn't seem massively enthused to be there but was perfectly polite.

I had a photoshoot and got an autograph and I don't think he looked at me once it was a proper speed through for everyone that I could see, but I think quite justified given he was there for one day and presumably a lot of diamond passes were sold. Plus, conversation wise, I don't think me and him have a lot in common...

How did your LFCC go this year - if you went at all? This was my 13th summer LFCC and I think this was the briefest of all so far - I was in by 9.15 and out by 12:30pm on Saturday. Queuing was the usual fun and games, with a long queue snaking around the block, all waiting patiently until 4 middle aged guys tried the old "my friend's got a bad knee do you mind if we join in here, it's too far for him to walk etc". Well of course, no problem we all said but a) if he wasn't fit enough to join the back of the queue, how was he going to cope with the 10,000+ steps required to walk around the event for a few hours? and b) if his three mates didn't also have bad knees, why did they have to all push in with him? One of them even came up with a classic "I'm a cousin of Danny from Red Dwarf, let him know you allowed me in the queue and he'll give you a free autograph". That'll definitely work, I thought - I'll try that for sure.... Queueing inside started well too, by my idiotically joining the gold pass collection queue instead of the diamond pass queue - but I wasn't the only one and I did ask a blue shirt who said "yes, this is the diamond queue". Oh well. My only diamond pass was for Mel Gibson, (Diamond Pass batch 9), which I only bought a week before the event, having thought long and hard about getting it - but in the end I caved and thought I'd rather regret meeting him than regret not meeting him! As it turned out, his morning photoshoot was extremely well managed, as was the autograph session - Mel was back very quickly from his photoshoot, and with Jason J on hand to push people through, even people with low VQ tickets were able to meet him around 12pm. The meet and greet was the very much expected rush through, and I did hear the odd "yeah, hi, bye, thanks - where you do you want it signed" - which I imagine were the only words Mel used all day. Another thing I'm glad Showmasters have reintroduced - those of us with Diamond Passes were allowed to buy multiple autographs, following in my opinion the very foolish recent policy of making DP owners buy one auto only and then grab a VQ ticket to get more - a policy that I can only imagine has lost the company money over the post-pandemic years, as who can seriously be bothered to queue up twice unless you're a superfan? Other guests I met were Anthony Higgins, Michael Berryman (managing pleasant little chats with both), Pom Klementieff and Ron Perlman. I had VQ tickets of 115 and 110 for them respectively but was still able to meet them early on. The only guest I might like to have met but couldn't get near was Varada Sethu - they were keeping her queue very short to avoid a crush hence she was still on Diamond Pass Batch 3 by the time I thought I'd call it a day. Apart from Mel all the guests were in a pretty cramped space - hopefully one day Showmasters will be in a position to rent a bigger space again - depending on how the renovation of Olympia is going too. Anyway, hope everyone who went got what they wanted and if you've got anything good to share please do!

enquiries@showmastersevents.com is the email address I have used in the recent past for such a request.

You never know but it's just the one day and he doesn't really seem like a personalising kind of guy. Coupled with long photoshoots and the considerable time required to stay hydrated in the green room would suggest it's unlikely.

My experience seems to echo everyone else's here. Agree with Mae that whatever that generator was, it was most unpleasant to queue alongside on Saturday morning to get your Diamond Pass(es). I only met Michael Sheen and he was great, and May Calamawy who was quiet but nice. As for photoshoot handling, any largeish photo shoot queue needs a volunteer who has at least one of these attributes: a) confidence b) loud c) tall d) decisive. Unfortunately the chap in the hat managing the Michael Sheen photoshoot (AM, area B) appeared to possess none of these qualities, but I wish him the best of luck next time - without volunteers we don't get a show, it's a thankless job like football referee. It's a learning experience for volunteers just like it is for customers visiting such an event for the first time.

This site is a bit out of date because there was a tweet with 2 or 3 'new' guests for the Spring show, including Sean Young.

I met Tony at the May 2014 Collectormania Event. He was polite but quiet and signed his pic "life is a picnic". RIP Tony.

Of the 'big 4' guests today I only met Michael Sheen. Had already met the lovely Natalie Dormer in 2017 and although I have met all the Doctor Who's from Tom Baker to Peter Capaldi, decided against an Ncuti Diamond Pass as I'm not really a mega Dr Who fan oddly enough! Did enjoy Sex Education though - maybe another time. Clearly he was going to be massively popular and I hope all those who had Diamond Passes got to meet him - clearly those who took a chance going without a DP had no chance today. I agree with an earlier comment that implied these big guests were not positioned in a sensible place, but I think this event is now clearly hamstrung by the ongoing renovations at this venue, which look like outlasting all of us, let alone Showmasters.

Great to meet Michael today, what a smashing bloke. Admittedly I was Diamond Batch 1 so saw during the early part of the day, and he was happy to answer the odd question in a considered fashion and was not rushing people and neither were his team.

Hope she makes it this time!

Well that would be most unusual....surely not?

Fantastic guest. I'm going to need a bigger wallet.

Enjoyed meeting Mark Lester, Linda Hayden and Madeline Smith today. Looking forward to the June event.

Wow, well done SM!

Excellent to get a Withnail guest. Worth smoking a celebratory Camberwell carrot.

Sir Derek was very popular today, maybe second only to Karen Gillan. I had a very low VQ ticket but at 2pm was told I wouldn't be able to get in the queue till after his photoshoot finished around 3.45. Unfortunately I needed to get away (and then ended up slap bang in the middle of the protest march around Grosvenor Place!), but I did meet him once before in 2011.

Yeah nice guy, I'm amazed he was open queue by lunchtime, I guess the price put people off - surely people haven't fallen out of love with Game of Thrones already?! He was pretty much the main man and I know the last 2-3 episodes were pretty disappointing but up until then it was 10/10 all the way.

Finally got to meet Karen today who was a guest at the first LFCC I attended in 2011. Super friendly and very, very popular. I can't imagine she got to VQs.

Very nice diamond pass gifts today I thought, a Police Box notebook (good size, handy for work!) and a flask (Karen Gillan and Kit Harington) respectively.

I never saw that publicised anywhere - I guess it was on facebook (which I don't use)? Shame as I brought the programme from the first show I ever saw in the West End, 'Cat On A Hot Tin Roof' for her to sign. She was 'Big Mama' in the Brendan Fraser, Frances O'Connor production. Hopefully she can be persuaded to come next year

Adorable all round! Especially that second pic. Well done.

Great guest

I'm a day tripper - whether I'm a Sunday driver this year will depend on the guest list

Epic for Game of Thrones fans - glad we haven't been forgotten! Well done.