David and Freema signing!

[SiHart]

David Tennant and Freema Aygeman are apparently going to be signing the season 3 boxset in HMV Oxford Street on Monday 5th November...

I don't know all the details yet, but apparently it's a lunchtime signing.

Anyone feel like coming along? I'm tempted by this one...

Si xx

[SiHart]

Quick update:

David Tennant (The Doctor) and Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones) will be signing copies of 'Doctor Who Complete Series 3 DVD boxset' at:

Monday 5th November - 1:30pm - HMV 150 Oxford Street, London

*Event will be a signing only. Fans can pick up free wristbands at HMV which allow entry to the signing. Wristbands will be available only from HMV 150 Oxford street from 9.00am on Monday 5th November onwards. One wristbands per customer maximum, no reservations, while stocks last, subject to availability, at participating store only.

Si xx

[Dave Tudor]

Ooh, that's VERY tempting! Don't know if I'd be able to make it, though...

[Pip Madeley]

Shame it's not Manchester, I would've wagged work for that.

[Paul Monk]

Well I'm up for going along (as long as you don't HAVE to buy the boxset!)

[P-Bal]

D&F are only signing the boxed set!

[Paul Monk]

Might wander over to see whats going on. I'm buggered if I'm buying the boxset though!

[Si Hunt]

Does "one wristband per customer maximum" mean that if, for example, Simon & I went, we'd both have to buy the box set?

Si.

[Paul Monk]

I guess if you get a wristband you probably don't need to buy the boxset but just won't get anything signed. The wristband idea has been added to control crowds I would think.

[P-Bal]

I think the jist is that you buy the boxed set and they give you a wristband. I know Mariah's signing was like that, in that you had to buy the album. The website now specifies that they will only be signing the boxed set.

You don't get such regulations with Sarah Sutton.

[Rob McCow]

The wristband, however, is clearly listed as being 'free' on the HMV site, which implies you don't need to buy the box set. But as it's all D&F will sign, you'd feel a bit silly when you got to the front of the queue.

[Rob McCow]

We got there in good time this morning, at around 8:30am, well before the advertised opening time of 9am. It was a bit of a struggle getting in, I'd been exhausted all of Sunday and had a rubbish night's sleep, with dry tongue and snotty nose so I was a bit narked in the morning. Still, we got there OK with no major disasters.

Then we were told that the queue for HMV was round the corner in a dingy side alley and that all the wristbands were gone already.

Bloody Doctor Who fans had been queueing since midnight!

I'm quite put out and at this, although I'm not too bothered about getting stuff signed, it's such a pain in the ar$£ that we were pushed out by the obsessive zealot types (and normal people who arrived just a bit earlier). I think I heard the bouncer singing songs taking the piss out of the crowd too.

It's a shame, after having a lovely time getting stuff signed by Sladen, the big Tennant signing has left a sour taste in the mouth.

[Paul Monk]

Thats a shame isn't it? I'm sure that having wristbands has probably created this false urgency and ensures that only the truly fanatical or nutters will get to the signing which is such a shame as there are probably loads of young kids that wouldn't liked to have met them that won't get the chance.
I don't really know of a fairer way to organise something like this though.

[Rob McCow]

Thanks Paul.

They could easily do a couple of days and sign for 3-4 hours rather than 2? There's certainly the demand and they'd probably sell more box sets.

It's not the end of the world, but it's quite disappointing. Also, being knackered doesn't help! Ah well, I'm meeting up with Si for lunch in half an hour. On the plus side, the box sets were £55, which might not be the cheapest, but certainly is well short of the £70 target I was expecting. Also, Ali and her chums got in, so at least someone from PS (more or less! ) will be there.

[WhiteCrow]

Thats a shame isn't it? I'm sure that having wristbands has probably created this false urgency and ensures that only the truly fanatical or nutters will get to the signing which is such a shame as there are probably loads of young kids that wouldn't liked to have met them that won't get the chance.

And having met the more fanatical aspects of fandom, they'll all no doubt not be so keen to do such events in the future.

Sorry to hear everyone's had a bit of a shitsy crapsy time with this. I'm glad I've not tried to go on the back of this. I hope you make the best of a bad day.

[Dave Tudor]

It's a shame this has happened, as these sorts of occurences tend to reflect badly on the stars themselves, even if it's not their fault in the slightest. It doesn't help if the staff are taking the piss, either.

You don't tend to get DVD signing tours, but it's a pity they couldn't have done just that, rather like Billie with her book signings last year: at least then, more people up- and down the country would have stood a better chance of meeting them.

[SiHart]

It was a real shame that we couldn't go in, as the actual event looked lovely- DT and Freema were on ther big screen at the back fot he store and looked they were having a wonderful time meeting the fans. I'd have loved to have been one of them, but the effort required to actually be in there really wasn't worth it- I should have stayed in bed.

I tagged along with some friends and went to the Stam Centre to meet three bored and unintersted stars of Doctor Who instead. That wasn't a treat either. Now I'm just tired and grumpy and remembering why life was better when we gave up going to signings. The Sladen signing at Borders was a lovely experience, but it looks like things haven't actually moved on at all, sadly.

And then I come home and some miseries have voted out Graham Williams in last producer standing. That just topped things off!

Si xx

[Milky Tears]

Newsround were there:



http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/ne...00/7079415.stm

[P-Bal]

Is that Dame Allie's hair in the foreground or am I imagining things?!

[SiHart]

I wondered that too! It looks like it, doesn't it?

Si xx

[Captain Tancredi]

The cynic in me suggests it was as much a publicity stunt to get exposure for the box set as an actual signing. The current vogue for wristbands as a means of controlling queues suggests to me that people who do signings are contracted to do, say, 500 or 1000 autographs and no more, and it's a means of cutting the line off without putting staff or the signers in an awkward situation. Then again, my experience of Billie Piper's book signing in Leeds last year was fairly horrendous, and to be honest I'm not sure what I'd get out of meeting people from the current series- I think getting Michelle Trachtenberg's autograph about five years ago made me ask a few pertinent questions.

One other thing occurred to me- from reading his autobiography and various other things, at the height of his popularity Tom Baker went all over the place signing things (most probably Target books and Doctor Who Monster books). Indeed I think in one of his interviews Tennant has spoken of going to see him in Glasgow. You have to ask what's changed about television, about fandom and about the role of the Doctor that Tom could be packed off anywhere at the weekend when the series was in constant production, and everything's so tightly controlled now.

Oh, what the heck- I'm off to the Terrance Dicks retrospective and I'll probably have a whale of a time with like-minded people.

[Simon R]

You have to ask what's changed about television, about fandom and about the role of the Doctor that Tom could be packed off anywhere at the weekend when the series was in constant production, and everything's so tightly controlled now

We live in a celebrity obsessed culture now and I expect some of the people at today's signing weren't there because there fans but just for the sake of it and to get something signed to put on ebay.

Why was this signing not more child friendly? It's not half term week and what kids are gonna be able to go to it on a monday morning?

[P-Bal]

I suspect Freema will be the new Sophie Aldred.

[Rob McCow]

Why was this signing not more child friendly? It's not half term week and what kids are gonna be able to go to it on a monday morning?

[cynic]So that the BBC News can have some nice pictures of freaky looking unemployable weirdos for their report.[/cynic]

[Pip Madeley]

Don't worry. In thirty years time, they'll be at the Stamp Centre, or whatever futuristic equivalent they'll have then. The series is so popular at the moment, it's impossible to meet them properly. When it's all died down, we'll be there.