Hot on the heels of SFW 13 the news is now coming along of the latest information from Mission Control on SFW 14, which is teleporting to Great Yarmouth the 16-18 March 2023 at the only Geek Camp worth going to …
Those awesome commanders at SFW have given us the list of some of the CONFIRMED GUESTS for the event, which is of course subject to change but so far it’s looking like it’s going to be another amazing Weekender.
MEDIA GUESTS AT SFW 14
So without further ado let’s kick off with the list of guests for 2023…
NINA WADIA OBE! An award-winning actress renowned for her timeless sketch show Goodness Gracious Me, as well as her role as Zainab Masood in BBC One’s Eastenders for which she won ‘Best Comedy Performance’ and ‘Best Onscreen Partnership’ at the British Soap Awards.
Recent television credits include the Netflix series Sandman, based on Neil Gaiman’s graphic novels, as well as series 2 of The Hitmen and Stephen Merchant’s BBC One/Amazon Prime series, The Outlaws. Nina also starred in Too Close for ITV, Death In Paradise, the Channel 4/Hulu series MAXXX, Still Open All Hours with David Jason for BBC One, the YouTube Original series Origin, Newark Newark, Murder On The Blackpool Express and the BBC’s Holby City.
Nina began her career in theatre, and has starred in a variety of productions including the Tony award-winning The Vagina Monologues, Macbeth alongside Mark Rylance, and Michael Frayn’s Matchbox Theatre at Hampstead Theatre.
On the big screen, Nina’s credits include Code 46 with Tim Robbins, Sixth Happiness, Bend It Like Beckham, I Can’t Think Straight, the Bollywood hit Namaste London, Strangeways Here We Come and Four, currently on Netflix, which she also exec produced.
More recently Nina starred opposite Will Smith in the Disney favourite Aladdin, A Streetcat Named Bob with Luke Treadaway, and the sequel, A Gift From Bob. She can also currently be seen in the movies, Repeat, The Stranger In Our Bed and Followers.
The awesome CHASE MASTERTON makes a return to SFW 14. Among roles spanning a 30-year TV and film career, Chase Masterson is best known to fans worldwide as Leeta on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek Online, as well as the title role in the Doctor Who Big Finish audio spinoff, VIENNA. She currently stars in the film, The Baby Pact, and stars opposite Eric Roberts in Big Finish’s Master! series of audios.
TV and film roles include The Flash, guest star in the Emmy-winning episode of ER, Robotech, Pandora, General Hospital, Sliders, Presidio Med, Co-Host of Sunday Night at the Movies with Ryan Seacrest, a cameo in Mel Brooks’ Robin Hood: Men in Tights, and leads in over a dozen features, including the award-winning sci-fi noir Yesterday Was a Lie, Skipping Stones and Manipulated.
In 2013, with a mission to end bullying in all its forms through mental health, Chase founded the Pop Culture Hero Coalition with award-winning author Carrie Goldman. Chase serves as the CEO and has spoken about the Coalition’s work at the United Nations, Google HQ, UNESCO HQ, TedxVienna, the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science, the World Anti-Bullying Forum, and in Partnership with Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence.
Chase cannot wait to see her UK friends and fans again at SFW 14!!
Celebrating 60 years of the BBC’s top time-travelling Doctor, SFW 14 welcomes back to Sci-Fi Weekender, the longest-running companion FRAZER HINES!
Frazer came to prominence as a child actor, appearing in several films, including Hammer’s X The Unknown (1956) and Charlie Chaplin’s A King in New York (1957). In 1957 he played Napoleon in the six-part BBC serial Huntingtower and followed this with the role of Jan in the seven-part BBC serial The Silver Sword (1957-8). Other television roles in the sixties include the characters of Tim Birch in Emergency Ward 10 (1963-4), and Roger Wain in Coronation Street (1965). He was in the early time travel series The Young Jacobites (1960) with Francesca Annis and Jeremy Bulloch. His film roles include The Weapon (1957) with Lizabeth Scott, Witness in the Dark (1959) with Richard O’Sullivan, Go Cart Go (1964) with Dennis Waterman, The Last Valley (1971) with Michael Caine and Omar Sharif, and Zeppelin (1971) with Michael York and Elke Sommer.
His big break came when he was cast to play the part of Jamie McCrimmon in Doctor Who, a companion of the second Doctor, played by Patrick Troughton. Frazer appeared in the series regularly from 1966 to 1969, earning himself a place in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest-running companion of the Doctor. He returned to the show twice, as a cameo in the 30th-anniversary show ‘The Five Doctors’ (1983), and alongside Patrick Troughton (second Doctor) and Colin Baker (sixth Doctor) in ‘The Two Doctors’ (1985).
Other television work includes Duty Free, Dalziel and Pascoe, Expert Witness and Outlander. In 1972, Frazer was cast in the soap opera Emmerdale Farm as Joe Sugden, a role he played regularly until 1994.
Since leaving the show he has concentrated on a career in the theatre, appearing in many plays. Recent plays include Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None (2015), and Seriously Dead with Chrissy Rock (2016).
For the first time at SFW, WENDY PADBURY!
Wendy was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, on 7 December 1947. At the age of eleven, she won a scholarship to the Royal Ballet School and after dance classes and elocution lessons she attended drama classes at a local school on Saturday mornings.
At the age of fifteen she wrote to countless drama schools and was taken on by Ada Foster. She left school early, without any qualifications, and headed to London. Within a week of starting at the Ada Foster school she landed three jobs, including Little Nell, her first television work.
By the time she was seventeen she was appearing as Stevie Harris in 44 episodes of Crossroads in 1964, but her big break came in 1968 when she landed the part of Zoe Heriot in Doctor Who, alongside Patrick Troughton and Frazer Hines. She stayed with the show for a year, leaving in 1969’s ‘The War Games’. She appeared in a ‘Doctor Who’ stage play, Seven Keys to Doomsday in 1974, and briefly returned to the show for its twentieth anniversary story ‘The Five Doctors’, in 1983.
After leaving Doctor Who, she appeared in the 1971 horror film Blood on Satan’s Claw, and in a BBC series Seasons of the Year, which also featured Frazer Hines. She starred as Sue Craig in the children’s adventure serial Freewheelers for three years, the third year whilst she was pregnant. Throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s she juggled her acting career and being a mother (at the time she was married to It ‘Ain’t Half Hot Mum star Melvyn Hayes). In 1978 she enjoyed a stint in Emmerdale as Rosemary Roberts, again appearing alongside Frazer Hines. By the early 1990’s she had become somewhat disillusioned with acting and quit the profession to become an actors’ agent.
She has reprised her role as Zoe in many Doctor Who audio adventures produced by Big Finish, and currently lives in France.
Continuing the Doctor Who theme, we present two of the actors who bring the monsters to life!
JON DAVEY has portrayed more monsters in Doctor Who than any other supporting artist. His first appearance was as a Cyberman, and he has gone on to play Daleks, a Whisperman, a Mire, a UNIT Soldier, and a Sea Devil amongst many others. He appears as no less than four different characters in the Centenary episode, and he has appeared with the tenth, eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth Doctors.
Jon is also a film maker, photographer, and award-winning animator. His body of work includes supporting artist roles in many films and TV shows including Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, War of the Worlds, and one of the Gobblers in His Dark Materials. You can also find Jon in other Doctor Who spin-offs: Torchwood, Sarah Jane Adventures and the Who Symphonic Spectaculars as well as Wizards vs Aliens, Merlin, and Atlantis.
MICKEY LEWIS appears in the new Game of Thrones prequel, House of the Dragon, as a Knight of Tarly. He has also had prominent roles in 21 episodes of Doctor Who, mostly portraying those iconic monsters we all love to hate, Daleks, Cybermen, and a Sea Devil in the Easter special, as well as plenty of other monsters and aliens on the show, including transforming into Jon Pertwee’s Doctor for the 50th Anniversary show.
Away from Doctor Who, Mickey has been in three Star Wars movies, (The Force Awakens, Rogue One and The Last Jedi, where he shared scenes with the late, great Carrie Fisher.) He played a Fleet Trooper, First Order General and Resistance Officer. He has also been one of the sinister senior Magisterium in two series of His Dark Materials as well as two series of Britannia as a Roman soldier, a copper zapped by Martians in the BBC War of the Worlds and most recently appeared in the new Batman movie in a dual role as a SWAT policeman. He’s also appeared in Dumbo, Overlord, The Girl with all the Gifts, Legend of Tarzan, The Huntsman: Winter War, Fantastic Beasts and Wonder Woman.
Mickey has also written two BBC Doctor Who novels, Rags and Combat Rock as well as three horror novels under the pseudonym Leo Darke and a crime novel, Walking Shadow, under his own name
From Wednesday, the current hit Netflix series directed by Tim Burton, Thing itself, the awesome VICTOR DOROBANTU.
Victor was born on March 5, 1997, in Ploiesti, Romania and started his career as a magician performing at private and public events and TV shows within Romania. He is known for being an actor, hand actor and creature performer.
Thing is played by Victor’s real hand, and we’re delighted to welcome him and his hand to the SFW family in March! He will be signing and chatting and getting involved in all the SFW shenanigans.
Along with Victor, SFW welcome AYSHEA BROUGH to SFW. Ayshea hosted an afternoon pop show Lift Off With Ayshea in the seventies, and she also appeared in UFO as one of the SHADO base lieutenants, as well as roles in Jason King, Demolition Man and many others. Ayshea has a wicked sense of humour and is looking forward to meeting you all and sharing her stories!
We also have RICHARD ASHTON joining us. Richard was under scales as an Ice Warrior in the modern series of Doctor Who, and has also appeared in many other television shows and films, including as the dastardly butler in The Christmas Prince film series.
We have GEORGE COPPEN making his debut at SFW. George is an actor who has recently appeared in the Netflix film The School For Good And Evil playing Cupid, and also in the new Willow television series. He’s a regular in Pantomime, and will be sharing stories with us of his work on those shows.
Also appearing are UFOLOGISTS … The truth is out there! Well, in Cornwall anyway! Following the lives of a Cornish UFO investigation team, as they explore the beautiful, rugged and unseen Cornish countryside, in an unalienable desire to seek out extra-terrestrial activity. A more dedicated group you couldn’t expect to meet, Ufologists will be in attendance for an expert insight into the UFO phenomenon, and an exclusive special reveal of their fascinating film.
As well as the Media Guests, we’re proud to again bring you a top selection of WRITER GUESTS …
SARAH PINBOROUGH is a New York Times bestselling and Sunday Times number one and internationally bestselling author and screenwriter who is published in over 30 territories worldwide.
Having published more than 25 novels across various genres, her recent books include Behind Her Eyes, now a smash hit Netflix limited series, Dead To Her, now in development with Amazon Studios, and The Death House in development with Compelling Pictures.
Sarah lives with her dog Ted and is currently adapting her most recent novel Insomnia for Left Bank Pictures amongst other film and television projects.
DACRE STOKER makes a welcome return to SFW! Dacreis the great grand-nephew of Bram Stoker and the international best-selling co-author of Dracula the Un-Dead (Dutton, 2009), the official Stoker family endorsed sequel to Dracula. Dacre is also the co-editor (with Elizabeth Miller) of The Lost Journal of Bram Stoker: The Dublin Years (Robson Press, 2012). Released in October of 2018, Dracul, a prequel to Dracula, co-authored with J D Barker, was the UK’s # 1 Bestselling Hardcover Novel in Horror and Supernatural in 2018, and a top 5 finalist for the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Novel. Film rights for Dracul have beenoptioned by Paramount Studios.
Dacre’s recent work includes Dracula, Annotated for the 125th Anniversary with Robert Eighteen-Bisang, (2022) Dracula’s Bedlam (2021) with Chris McAuley and John Peel and The Virgins Embrace (2021) with Chris McAuley, a graphic novel adaptation of Bram Stoker’s short story The Squaw (1893). Additionally, short stories with Leverett Butts, Last Days, appeared in Weird Tales Magazine January 2021, The Tired Captain, featured in FX Sherlock Holmes Anthology, and Enter the Dragon in Classic Monsters Unleashed Anthology January 2022 and upcoming The Lost Warrior,in Dracula UnFanged Anthology coming out in the summer of 2022.
A native of Montreal, Canada, Dacre taught Physical Education and Sciences for twenty-two years, in both Canada and the US. He has participated in the sport of Modern Pentathlon as an athlete and a coach at the international and Olympic levels for Canada for 12 years. He is also an avid player and coach of the unique game of Real Tennis. In September of 2022 an athlete he had been coaching for the past 8 years, Camden Riviere, won the World Championships of Court Tennis. Dacre and his wife Jenne have lived in Aiken SC for the past 30 years, together they help manage the Bram Stoker Estate.
Dacre has consulted and appeared in recent film documentaries about vampires in literature and popular culture. The Real Vampire Files (2010 History Channel), The Tillinghast Nightmare, (2014 Historical Haunts), Secrets of the Dead (2015 PBS), Mysteries at the Museum, (2017 Travel Channel) Legend Hunter (2019 Travel Channel) He currently hosts tours to Dublin Ireland, Whitby England, and Cruden Bay Scotland, to visit places where Bram Stoker lived, was educated, worked, researched, and wrote Dracula. He also leads groups to Transylvania to explore both the life and times of the historic Vlad Dracula lll and also the locations where Bram Stoker set his famous novel.
STEPHEN COX is the author of the acclaimed Our Child of the Stars and Our Child of Two Worlds. He has other books in progress.
Set in 1960s small town USA, a childless couple adopt a wounded alien orphan … a threatened family whose future will affect the whole world.
Stephen’s writing is deeply interested in people, families, and relationships of all kinds, but the stories also challenge us about how we treat each other and how we treat the planet. Life can be dark and difficult but Stephen believes at the end, his work offers hope.
Stephen Cox has worked for several well-known organisations such as Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children. He returned to writing ten years ago and lives in London.
SIMON KURT UNSWORTH was born in the north of England in 1972 (there were power cuts that night in the area – make of this what you will) and is the author of two novels set in Hell, The Devil’s Detective and The Devil’s Evidence, which have been optioned by Hollywood but that are currently stuck in development hell. He has also written 4 collections of stories set in places that might be close to Hell, a mini-collection set in a version of the town where he grew up and, with his son, a mini-collection set all over the place. His story ‘The Church on the Island’ was nominated for a World Fantasy Award and his collection Quiet Houses was long-listed for the Edge Hill Prize. He now lives in the Lake District with his wife, some fish, some children sometimes, a tortoise, a brace of dogs and cats and too many books and movies. When not working (as a bookseller) he writes a bit, swims in the lakes and rivers and dreams about sharks.
BENJAMIN KURT UNSWORTH was born in Lancaster in 2005 and is at the beginning of his writing career. He has co-written a short story collection with his father, and has appeared in a horror drabble collection by Black Hare Press, 666 – Dark Drabbles and is the youngest (at the time) author to be published on the Horrified website.
Outside of tackling Philosophy, English Literature, and Theatre Studies at A-Level, he can almost certainly be found watching Doctor Who as though it were his religion, and writing in-depth theses on it. He challenges you to find an essay he’s written where he hasn’t used a Doctor Who quote – he pities his teachers. Ben also enjoys knitting with his school knitting club, volunteering in an Oxfam bookshop, and being a certifiable nerd at every given moment.
Also joining us on the Writing front we have SFW regulars RAVEN DANE and BRYONY PEARCE with new books and new adventures … and we are welcoming ANNA STEPHENS to launch her new fantasy novel The Jaguar Path.
Setting up in THE STRIP CLUB, we welcome a host of artists. Alongside SFW regulars SIMON BISLEY, GLENN FABRY, BOO COOK and SIMON DAVIS we have ADRIAN SALMON and MARTIN GERAGHTY, both of whom have been working on Doctor Who Magazine’s comic strips for many years, and who are also involved in the recent Doctor Who Animated releases.
Joining them we have Publishing Legend DEZ SKINN, and also GARETH KAVANAGH, MD of Cutaway Comics, an independent comic company specialising in Doctor Who spinoffery, and also artist to the stars JEFF CUMMINS … all of whom will be spilling more beans on the history of comics, illustrating record covers as well as novels, art and everything in between.
We also welcome the incredible horror artist GRAHAM HUMPHREYS. Graham cut his teeth with the original film posters for The Evil Dead and A Nightmare On Elm Street and has gone on to create poster art and covers for a wide variety of books, events and DVD/Blu-Ray releases. He’ll have original prints and posters for sale at the event, and will be talking horror and art at every opportunity …
KEITH BARNFATHER from independent production house Reeltime Pictures returns with more tales of independent filmmaking, and another opportunity to stock up on his wares …
For the evening Entertainment, we welcome some new faces to the stages:
PAUL ECCENTRIC AND THE ANTIPOET are a Steampunk duo with raps and tales aplenty … They have played at hundreds of festivals including Glastonbury, The Edinburgh Fringe, Bestival and others … and they’ll be performing a set over the weekend.
We also have some award-winning stand-up comedy from DONNA SCOTT! Donna is a multi-talented yet somewhat geeky stand-up comedian, and a veteran of the Sci-Fi convention scene having performed at various Newcons, Eastercons and Fantasycons as well as SFX Weekender and a Festival of the Occult. Donna was a finalist of Old Comedian of the Year (despite being pretty youthful, thank you!) and a top ten finalist for BBC New Voices in 2019. Her quirky absurdism is noted and she is a Director of the British Science Fiction Association and has edited lots of genre books, including the Best of British Science Fiction series for Newcon Press. ‘The woman is brilliant,’ says Alan Moore … and we’re not going to argue with that!
Also performing some of his stand-up we have GEORGE COPPEN … actor and performer and comedian …
And hot of their massive success at SFW13, we welcome back the following: MADAM MISFIT, LEVEL UP LEROY, GALINA RIN, EXPERIMENTAL SONIC MACHINES and GRAHAM GRAHAM BECK!
Finally the magnificent JOLLYBOAT return for more pirate shanties, music, mayhem and shenanigans. plus the return of the much loved Pop Up Puppet Cinema.
So get your thrusters charged, cosplay on point and jetpacks aimed at Great Yarmouth for the FOURTEENTH extravaganza that can only be … SFW!
Here at Blazing Minds, we can’t wait to be heading back to SFW in March, so hopefully, we will see some of you there. Grab your tickets from the official website.
Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds. She is also a Cinema reviewer and works with RealD 3D reviewing the latest 3D releases and IMAX, she has also had several articles published in various publications including the first edition of SFW Magazine. In 2015 she became an Award Winning Blogger and also has her website listed as one of the UK’s Top 10 Film Blogs.
