Bedford basked in sunshine as people began to converge on the Moat House Hotel on Friday, 22nd April,  in readiness for the Star One (II) convention.

 For this weekend at least, it seemed summer had arrived.  It caught many by surprise, including the hotel’s air conditioning system, which at times struggled to cope with the unaccustomed heat. 

Many attendees arrived later than planned as a spate of road accidents played havoc with the heavy weekend traffic and a fire at a London station disrupted rail services.  However, a good number had arrived by the time the Friday evening event started at 9pm.  Far more people than anticipated wanted to test their knowledge of all things B7 by taking part in the excellent fan-run quiz prepared by Andrea, Sarah and Sue, so the venue had to be hastily changed from a side room into the main bar.  Good natured but fierce competition developed between the several teams who took part, and there was great jubilation on the part of the Beer and Blake’s 7 team who finally won.

Tenth Planet had lined up an impressive guest list - Paul Darrow, Michael Keating, Jacqueline Pearce, and Janet Lees Price stayed both days, whilst Steven Pacey and MarkThompson were there just for the Saturday, as was David Jackson.  However, he enjoyed the Saturday so much he decided to stay on until Sunday lunch-time.  Gareth Thomas, Steven Greif and Glyn Owen took part from Saturday evening onwards.  The programme followed much the same format as the previous year, with a hectic schedule of talks/Q&A sessions throughout both days, an auction, autograph opportunities, photo studio sessions and coffee clubs.  The coffee clubs, which were auctioned by Paul Darrow at the commencement of each day, proved very popular.  There were no more than ten people at each club, so it was a good opportunity for
those attending to chat informally with a guest for 45 minutes in a more relaxed atmosphere.  Proceeds from the coffee clubs and the raffle (something in excess of £1,000) were donated to Denville Hall, a retirement home for elderly members of the acting profession. 

Registration took place from 8am on the Saturday, with Paul Jones opening the convention at 9.45am ready for the first 45 minute session at 10am which featured Paul Darrow and Steven Pacey.  Paul Darrow set the tone right from the start by introducing Steven Pacey as ‘Glynis Barber’.  Unfazed, Steven leapt enthusiastically onto the platform, greeting everyone in a falsetto voice, accompanied by a truly dazzling smile.  Subsequent questioning from the audience, proved that his recollection of his role as Tarrant was still somewhat hazy, causing a lot of amusement.  Some time during the weekend, it was suggested it might be a good idea to provide him with a copy of the Programme Guide.  Although the session was conducted in very light vein, with a great deal of banter and laughter, one or two more serious facts emerged.  Steven mentioned he wouldn’t be doing another series of MIT as his character wasn’t going to be developed, but he would shortly be appearing in a play called Old Masters by Simon Gray.  This would be directed by Harold Pinter, something he was particularly looking forward to.  Paul was asked whether he would like to reprise his role as Capt. Vimes and said that he would, but there was little possibility of the play Guards! Guards! being staged again as it was such an expensive show to put on. 


A highlight of the afternoon was the auction, presided over by Paul Darrow and Janet Lees Price.  A number of interesting items were on offer, including a teleport bracelet, an original B7 script, books, rare photos, a DVD of interviews with Paul and Michael and the sunglasses worn by Paul on stage in ‘Are You Lonesome Tonight’.   The latter were snapped up after Paul donned them and launched into an impromptu spirited
rendition of an Elvis number.  Not listed were Paul’s cream shoes, which Janet attempted to auction at the start, but these remained very firmly on Paul’s feet.  The final item was the draw for the raffle.  Jackie won ‘breakfast with Michael’ but, surprisingly, the winner of ‘breakfast with Paul’ declined the prize, as it wasn’t possible to include her partner.  With bated breath, a lot of scrunched up tickets were retrieved, as the draw was held again and this time a delighted Pauline won.  Bright and early the next morning, she and Jackie were taken in style to another hotel where they joined Paul and Michael for a very special breakfast.  Lucky ladies!
The celebrity dinner took place on the Saturday evening in a comfortable room with a bar.  The format this year was slightly different.  There were only 10 people at each table making it easier to chat with everyone, and the guests stayed at their allotted table instead of moving tables in between courses, which made for a very relaxed atmosphere.  The two and a half hours sped by.  Afterwards, everyone drifted into the main bar, with the guests leaving around 11pm.  In an upstairs room, a disco/karaoke had run since 7.30pm,
and continued until the early hours of Sunday morning.

The opening session on Sunday morning featured Gareth Thomas and Glyn Owen, from whom we learned Paul and Janet were not the only ones to have had an early ‘medical career’ courtesy of Emergency Ward 10.  Glyn had also played a doctor early on in the series.  In one scene, he had negotiated his way through a long and particularly difficult speech containing a lot of medical terms and then ‘examined’ his patient with his stethoscope.  Very relieved to have completed the technical speech without stumbling, he had phoned home to ask how he’d done. “The speech was great,” he was told. “But when you examined the patient with your stethoscope, the ear pieces were still round your neck!”
Both were asked about whether they had done any difficult stunts.  Glyn mentioned an incident in ‘Howard’s Way’ when he had been following the yacht ‘Barracuda’ in a smaller craft.  As he neared the yacht, which was moving at quite a rate of knots, he saw one of the filming crew beckon him and, without thinking, he jumped from the small craft and onto the back of the yacht.  It wasn’t in the script and those on the yacht were as surprised as he was at his action.  He clung on in a state of increasing desperation for several minutes before he was hauled aboard.  Instead of a watery situation, Gareth recalled a snowy one.  He was filming a climbing scene in thick snow and had been hanging in the same position for some time when one of the stunt men noticed all was not well with Gareth, although he, himself, hadn’t realised anything was wrong.  He was bundled into a snow hole for shelter and was subsequently successfully treated for ‘frost nip’.  But for the observant stunt man, he could have developed frostbite, which would have been far more serious.  Staying with climbing, he also mentioned another incident.  During filming on the mountain, he had difficulty with his footing at one point; so much so that he’d called out.  Later, he was surprised to discover that his involuntary exclamation, of which he had no recollection at all, was totally in keeping with what the period character he was playing would have said.  He hadn’t realised he was immersed in the character to that extent. 


Paul and Michael shared the final session of the weekend.  Having helped each other up on to the platform in an exaggerated fashion, they settled down to answer questions from the audience; something they’d done many times at conventions in the past.  They mentioned particularly a tour of conventions in the US some years ago, when they’d taken Jon Pertwee’s place who had dropped out due to ill health.  Talk flitted from one subject to another – Vila and Kerril, favourite Dr Who’s, (Paul did his laid-back Peter Davison impression, slouching in a chair), Paul’s autobiography, which he is currently writing, and, most bizarrely, peanuts.  Never eat free peanuts set out in pubs as ‘a lot of men don’t wash their hands’, Paul advised.  As the audience considered this, a lone voice called out ‘Perhaps that’s why they’re called peanuts…’ 
Paul Jones joined them on stage at 5pm to bring the convention to a close.  Well-deserved thanks was given to all those who had contributed to the smooth running of the weekend, particularly Derek and Maureen, and helped to make Star One (II) such a memorable occasion. 

The following morning, as we paid our bill, the hotel receptionist said, “We’ll see you next year.”  Did she know something, we didn’t?