A Summer Of Tours

Thank heavens June is over!
It’s been the busiest month since I left full time employment, and my most productive by far.
I work very hard as a tailor and set myself a target of dispatching one garment a week, wether that be a Utah Shirt or a more complex Tennant Coat or or Greatcoat.
Well this month I hit nine items, over half of which were in the upper end category - a personal best to date!

But as well as chaining myself to the trusty treadle-mounted Singer, I’ve also been out and about doing the BritTours guided tours of London Doctor Who locations - and that’s been the busiest ever too! I’ve done almost a dozen tours this year - peaking this month at a little over one a week.

Although the route and content is the same, each tour turns out slightly different to the previous depending on the memeber of the tour party and the conversation we have between stops.

A little while back I did a tour where we arrived at John Adam Street, only to discover it was dressed as Downing Street, just the same way it had been for Aliens Of London back in 2005. That was the highlight of the tour that day.
As a group it was funny how excited they all got over seeing the man-hole cover seen in The Invasion! We also had a protracted discussion about how The Doctor’s Daughter (Georgina Moffat - both I screen character and real life) was now The Doctor’s Wife (as in married to David Tennant - not to be confused with Idris).

Here’s a look at my diary of the summer, with the highlights of the tours I have done.

21st March

This time I took a private tour for a family who’s son was a big Who fan. We had discussed many thing on our way around, and Mark Gatiss’s name came up a few times - only to then bump into him in person at Forbidden Planet at the end of the tour!

15th June

My next tour was a private walking tour for a father and his two daughters.
They had done the Harry Potter tour a few days prior, so were now enjoying a tour of Doctor Who locations as well.
A highlight of this tour was having crossed Tower Bridge, we looked back from Butlers Wharf to see the bridge rising. Awesome sight.

Against my better judgement I also had a tour the following day - but at least the next would be a bus tour instead.

16th June

I was then asked to do a private tour which was a birthday present for someone who was a huge Doctor Who fan.
We all met up at the designated spot and I was looking out for a boy of 8 or 12, with the intention of making it his special day. The birthday boy ended up to be a bit over 40 - and he had a very fun time seeing the classic series locations, many of which he recognised from first viewing all those years go.

24th June

Then, after weeks of doing these tours, I had my first public tour with not one but two people in cosplay! FINALLY I didn’t feel alone being the only one in costume. We had an English guy dressed as Matt Smith, and an American girl with a Forth Doctor scarf in a pastel colour scheme.

30th June

Next up was another nice family from the US, doing the European tour, stopping off in the UK for a few days, and taking in a tour of London while here.
This was one of the nice tours in a mini bus.

8th July

Then it was back to the public walking tours. This time the day after I attended the London Film And Comic Convention at Olympia. I had planned to go on to the second day of the convention on the Sunday following the tour, but having been on my feet all of Saturday then walking for three hours the next day - I decided to give it a miss! Can you blame me?

16th July

My final tour of the main season was a private tour for a family of three from Canada. Another walking tour, it was a pleasant end to my summer of Doctor Who Tours.

Due to the Olympics, we aren’t doing any tours during mid-July or August, so that’s me now until September.

Yes, Prime Minister

I was out today doing my job as tour guide for the Unofficial Doctor Who London Locations Tour for Brit Tours.

I had a bus-load of fourteen eager Doctor Who fans to show around London, and we took in the usual sights from episodes of the classic series.

Butlers Wharf (see left) and Windmill Walk were the highlights, since they were used in popular Dalek stories, Resurrection Of The Daleks and Remembrance Of The Daleks, and we also saw St Peter’s Steps near St Pauls (as seen in Invasion) as well as The Globe Theatre (from The Shakespeare Code).

Since the new series is based in Cardiff, not much gets filmed in London these days, so it gives us the Brandon Estate near Kennington (which was where Rose Tyler lived); and John Adam Street around the back of The Strand (which doubled for Downing Street in Aliens Of London).

When we get to John Adam Street I usually have to show the episode clip on my iPad to show how it looked redressed as Downing Street as it a bit of a stretch.

However, today was a bit of an unexpected surprise. As we rounded the corner I could see a film crew with lights and camera tracks littering the street right where we needed to go. They weren’t actually shooting, but to our collective surprise they had dressed the door to look like Number Ten Downing Street – just like in Aliens Of London!!

As a reminder, this is what the street normally looks like, taken when I did  guided tour for Mark Ferris in 2010

I had a word with one of the crew and found they were filming Coup, a four-part tv series for Channel 4 based on A Very British Coup by Chris Mullin.

A new job - and a familiar face

Well today I stated a new job!

Don't worry, I'm still a tailor and don't plan to change that any time soon, but what I have done is add a new feather to my cap.

If you are a regular reader of my blogs you may have seen a couple of years ago I went on a guided tour of the Cardiff Doctor Who locations. I went with Brit Tours, who as well as their Doctor Who tours, organise tours based on other popular film and tv franchises such as Harry Potter, James Bond and Notting Hill.

I enjoyed the tour, but felt it could have been a bit better and the tour guide a bit ore knowledgable (we walked straight past a Torchwood location in Cardiff Bay which I had to point out).

Not wanting to detract from what they were doing, I drop them an email - not complaining, just suggesting it could be better, and I could be the one to help out!
I didn't get a reply, but over a year later I did receive an email following up on my offer.
To cut a long story short, I met the organiser of Brit Tours and explained my situation. He realised I would be perfect to handle the London based tours they run, as well as being available for private tours that are arranged for small groups.

This week I got a call that a family of five were in town for a few days and wanted to see the sights of London through a Doctor Who lens.
Usually the tours are on a mini bus, but this would need to be awaking tour, something I had done often for friends and fans in the past. Bob Mitsch, Ian Cummings and Mark Ferris all enjoyed the chance to walk in The Doctor's footsteps.

Being on foot the locations we could visit were a bit limited, but we got in a decent number in the afternoon.

The family who were in London from Ohio, was made up of Jennifer and Bob, and their children, Sam, Jessica and Michael. Sam was the big Doctor Who fan, so the tour was. Any for his benefit. I chatted to him the most and I think he appreciated a willing ear for his outpouring of Doctor Who fandom.
I was more than happy to recount my favourite episodes, Doctors, assistants and locations.