When you have elliminated all which is impossible then whatevere remains, however improbable must be the truth. ā Sherlock Holmes, The Sign of Four (Sir Aruthur Conan Doyle 1890)
Firstly I would like to appologise just for how late this post is going up. I was meant to post it during November but was swamped with University work and work in general.
It is that time of year again for another convention! Just over a year ago, I attended the 2nd Sherlocked Convention in London at the ExCel centre. Last yearās success and enjoyment was truly incredable! Safe to say I loved every single minute of it! So when the convention was announced earlier this year I was eager to go again! However there was a slight difference this time. For Sherlocked Convention 2017, we were heading to Birmingham and the Hilton Metropole Hotel.
Yes! that is right I would be travelling just over 3 hours to get to Birmingham to stay in a hotel that was totally out of my league! But I was not alone. I was joined by Heather once again!
So our journey began on Friday 27th October just after 2pm when our train departed from Southampton Central. I would like to give my first shoutout to Nicky, the lovely girl we saw at Southampton trains tation whoās chair was Tardis and Sherlock themed. COOLEST. CHAIR. EVER!!! We actually bumped into her a few times throughout the convention and who I conntacted on Tumblr when we got back!
But nevertheles, it would be a long 2.5 hours to Brimingham, most of which was me and Heather watching our Halloween videos which we had filmed earlier that week for her Youtube channel.
*TIME SKIP TO WHERE WE HAD ARRIVED, CHECKED IN AND HEADED DOWN TO RECEPTION DRINKS*
As part of our package we got the chance to have evening recpetion drinks with some of the guests who were attending. A lot of the guests, such as Louise Brealey and Jonathan Aris, didnāt arrive until late Friday Night, so therefore didnāt attend. But those who did attend where such good sports! All questions that were asked where answered with detail and all the guests were lovely! For my first reception drinks I had the lovely pleasure of chatting with Sian Brooke, Una Stubbs, Gordon Kennedy and Lisa McAllister.
Sian Brooke was wonderful! Not only did we speak about her role as Eurus in Sherlock but I also mentioned that I saw her in Hamlet back in 2015 when she played Ophelia. She said thank you to my comment about it being amazing before saying that she hasnāt actually seen it yet! *GASPS* I know I was just as shocked as you are.
Una Stubbs was adorable! She is like a lovely grandma who you want to wrap in bubblewrap and protect at all costs and take home for a cup of tea and watch Pointless with. But in all seriousness she was lovely! I said about how she knew Ben when he was little and what he was like. Una said that he was always nagging his mother to go when Wanda and Una would chat in a small meet up in a park. IMAGINE BABYBATCH NAGGING HER! THE MERE THOUGHT IS JUST ADORABLE!!
Next up was Gordon Kennedy. Although he may only be a small character in the show he is great! He spoke highly of the inn which he filmed at for Hounds of Baskerville episode and actually recommened it to us.
Finally Lisa McAllister joined us, and since we were her last table, she enjoyed a glass of red wine with us. If you do not know, Lisa plays Mycrofts assistance Anthea who we see little of in the show. But Lisa was lovely! we spoke about the convention to come and touched on her character too.
For my second lot of recptions drinks on the Saturday night I was able to chat with Claire Pritchard Jones, Arwel Jones, Sue Vertue, Louis Moffat and Steven Moffat.
Claire Pritchard Jones was so lovely! She spoked mainly about Benedict hair and how much of a pain it could be! I asked about Mollyās hair in one scene in The Lying Detective and she told me that wasnāt actually Louise Brealey which utterly shocked me!
Arwel Jones was hilarious! Telling us about the little things of the set and how the whole elephant thing wasnāt intentional! It just happened. Apparently he went to multiple small and weird shops and looked for things which he believed would fit in the flat!
Sue Vertue was wonderful to talk to as well, answering lots of questions about her husband and Markās work together.
Louis Moffat briefly came over before inviting his dad, Steven Moffat, over. Steven was great! answering the obvious question of whether the series would be back and truthly saying that he didnāt know. Steven was kind enough to give me some information which I can include in my dissertation about Holmeās treatment of women.
After the drinks we headed into the first party of the evening, The Culverton Smith Ward Party. Initially nervous, our lack of costume did not hold us back. Highlight of the night had to be doing the time warp on a bouncy castle, NOT. EASY. AT ALL!! I should probably quickly mention the extremely garlicy cheesy garlic bread me and Heather ordered with our pizza when we got back to the room that nightā¦ Interesting experienceā¦ unlikely to purchase again though.
Now as a platinum pass holder, I was entitled to all photos and autographs, only paying extra if I wanted more than one which I thought was fair enough. Nevertheless the day was non stop! From the moment we had finished breakfast to just before the reception drinks that evening we were constantly on the go, only taking a small 30 minute break for food around 1pm. But because we were so nonstop, it does mean that this post will be different to the 2016 post.
Everyone we saw for our autographs were ever so lovely! Although there was a queue behind us at each person, the guest took time to talk to us, asking if we were enjoying our selves and what we had planned for the day ahead. Of course all of those were answered with ālots more photographs and autographs sessions.ā Below is a collection of all the autographs I was luck enough to get during my stay at the Hilton. Part of my package also came with a presigned Benedict Cumberbatch autograph which I thought was a nice touch, even if it wasnāt personalised.
The same canāt be quite said about the photographs. While I agree that all the guests are on a very tight schedual and that the staff do everything they can to make sure everyone is done, it did feel all a bit too rushed. A quick hello, have you photo, a thanks and then gone. But I did love all my photoās that I had done this year! Much better than my 2016 ones.
The ultimate highlight would have to be my question being asked at the Louise Brealey and Sian Brooke talk. I asked whether she believed that her and Sherlock sorted everything out after the events of The Final Problem. She asnwered that it was up to the viewers interpretation, so clearly keeping the Sherlolly ship alive and sailing fine.
Oh! I should mention quickly before I end, the drunken selfie I had with Steven Moffat on the Saturday night party!Ā
While the weekend was nothing but hectic, it was extremely enjoyable with lots of laughs! It was safe to say that we were absolutely knackered by the time we got back home on the Monday! I think I spent a good portion of my night asleep after explaining to my parents how much fun it was and showing them all my photographs.
So that concludes another convention post! I am sorry itās not as detailed as I would like, but this post has been sat in my drafts since November so I must get this up! Please check out heather blog post of Sherlocked 2017 here and our her Youtube video here. Ā Feel free to leave comments of your time at Sherlocked if you went and share any photos with me too!
Welcome to London: A Sherlocked Convention Rundown 2017 (sorry itās late) When you have elliminated all which is impossible then whatevere remains, however improbable must be the truth.
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