18/05: IT'S ALL OVER! PHEW I don't know where to start but we would like to say a huge thank you to all the guests, volunteers and the attendees on what was a truly fantastic weekend...   04/05: HOUSE KEEPING! A full list of confirmed guests and activities have now been posted online. Please download the registration letter for all the details of how to book tickets for backstage passes and details about registration times.   Ticket and Accommodation booking will be open until Wednesday 12th May at 1pm.   21/04: LATEST GUEST NEWS Unfortunately due to last minute changes to filming schedules we have lost Jean Marsh (who's working on Upstairs Downstairs), Ace Bhatti (who's working on the new series of Sarah Jane Adventures) and Michael Goldsmith from our Utopia line up.   Therefore we have a host of new names to reveal:   In 1987, Sophie Aldred was cast as Ace in Doctor Who, joining with the story Dragonfire until the series conclusion in 1989. Both before and since Doctor Who, Sophie has had a varied and busy television career, particularly in children's programming, where she has presented educational programmes such as Corners, Melvin and Maureen's Music-a-grams, long-running BBC series Words and Pictures and also CITV paranormal show It's a Mystery in 1996. She has also reprised her role as Ace in the charity special Dimensions in Time and the Doctor Who audio plays produced by Big Finish Productions. Throughout the 2000s she has worked extensively as a voice-over artist for television advertisements, and has also provided voices for animated series such as Bob the Builder and Dennis & Gnasher.   Tracey Childs has just finished a sell-out run playing Martha to Matthew Kelly’s George in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at London’s Trafalgar Studios.   Tracey is best known for playing Lynne Howard in the popular eighties drama Howards’ Way, and Linda Cosgrove in the long running Born and Bred. In 2010 she starred as Metalla in the Season Four episode The Fires of Pompeii. This year Tracey joined the TARDIS alongside Sylvester McCoy as Nazi sympathizer Klein for Big Finish Productions. She also stars in the new supernatural Victor Pemberton audio drama Dark for Fantom Films.   Other television work includes Prometheus, playing Rose in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, The Devil’s Crown, The Amazing Affair of Adelaide Harris, Strangers, Landseer- Working Out The Beast, playing Marianne in Sense and Sensibility, Bergerac, Jane Eyre, Captain Zep, A Talent for Murder, As Seen on TV and Dempsey and Makepeace.   Christopher Barry is a well-established British television director who was well known for his work on the science fiction series Doctor Who. His contributions to the programme have included: The Daleks – Episodes 1,2,4,5, The Rescue, The Romans, The Savages, The Power of the Daleks, The Dæmons, The Mutants, Robot, The Brain of Morbius and The Creature from the Pit. He also directed the direct-to-video spinoff Downtime. His other television credits include Z Cars, Out of the Unknown, Paul Temple, Poldark, All Creatures Great and Small, Juliet Bravo and the science fiction series, The Tripods.   Nev Fountain has contributed to many radio and television comedy programmes, including Have I Got News for You, 2DTV, The News Quiz, Loose Ends and Big Impression. Their most notable work, however, has been for Dead Ringers in which Fountain occasionally makes cameo appearances. Fountain is a fan of Doctor Who, and has contributed to several audio dramas based on the programme. His first licensed Doctor Who work was as script editor on the webcast Death Comes to Time. He has also written two Doctor Who audio plays for Big Finish Productions, Omega and The Kingmaker.   21/04: AYESHA ANTOINE JOINS UTOPIA 2010 Ayesha Antoine began her television career in the 1990s playing Poppy Silver in Grange Hill. At this time she also made her first appearance in Holby City. Other television credits include the role of Kelly Grogan in sitcom pilot Placebo and a husband-beating shoplifter in The Bill. In 2007 Antoine guest starred as Dee Dee Blasco in the Doctor Who episode Midnight and then joined the regular cast of Holby City in 2008, playing Staff Nurse Rachel Baptiste.   Unfortunately, due to work commitments both Anthony Lewis and James Albrecht are no longer able to attend Utopia 2010 - both sent their apologises and hope to join us at future events.   20/04: NEW GUEST: WILLIAM RUSSELL William Russell played science teacher Ian Chesterton, one of the four original Doctor Who team in 1963, starring opposite William Hartnell as the Doctor, Jacqueline Hill as Barbara Wright and Carole Ann Ford as Susan Foreman.   His involvement in the series lasted a staggering 77 episodes. He eventually departed, alongside Jacqueline, in the penultimate story of the second season, The Chase.   Other credits include Coronation Street, Boon, Robin of Sherwood, The Black Adder, The Professionals, Superman: The Movie, Van der Valk, Crown Court, Father Brown, Dr. Finlay's Casebook, Breaking Point, The Great Escape, Armchair Theatre, Tales from Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby and The Adventures of Sir Lancelot. Four decades on from his first appearance, Russell continues to contribute to the Doctor Who universe, narrating for BBC Target audio books as well as companion chronicles and drama for Big Finish.   18/04: NEW GUEST: WE CALL HER <<MYRA>>! Best known for her recurring role as Anne Tranter in the 1970s television drama series Survivors we welcome Myra Francis, making her convention debut with Utopia 2010. Myra played villainous  Lady Adrasta in the 1979 Doctor Who serial The Creature from the Pit.   Myra also appeared in several comedy films of the 1970s including Don't Just Lie There, Say Something! She also played James Hadleigh's love interest, Stella Clisby, in the fourth series of Hadleigh, as well as playing a barrister, Valerie Scott, in several episodes of Crown Court in 1976.   15/04: NEW GUESTS: JAMES GOSS & KEN BENTLEY Fantom Films is pleased announce the additions of James Goss and Ken Bentley to Utopia 2010.   James Goss was the senior content producer in charge of the official Doctor Who website. Having produced previous Doctor Who web animations (such as Scream of the Shalka), in 2005, Goss developed and produced the animations of two missing episodes of the The Invasion with Cosgrove Hall. In 2006, Goss developed and produced Doctor Who The Infinite Quest, a Doctor Who animation shown on BBC One and CBBC in 2007. He was also producer of the special features for the DVD release.   His first novel, Torchwood: Almost Perfect was released in October, 2008, which was followed by the novel Risk Assessment and radio play Golden Age in 2009. He has also written the BBC Doctor Who audio books Dead Air and The Hounds of Artemis.   He has also written the Being Human novel: Bad Blood and the Dark Shadows audio reading: The Doll House.   Ken Bentley will be joining us courtesy of Big Finish. Ken has directed a number of Big Finish audio plays including: Leviathan, The Death Collectors, Kingdom of Silver, Forty-Five, The Magic Mousetrap, Enemy of the Daleks, The Angel of Scutari and The Darkening Eye. He has just completed directing the four 'Lost' Sylvester McCoy stories for 2011.   14/04: BOOM BANG-A-BANG: DANNY HARGEAVES Fantom Films is pleased to welcome Danny Hargreaves who is the special effects supervisor and has worked extensively on Doctor Who, The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood.         12/04: NEW GUEST: JOSEPH LIDSTER Joseph Lidster first wrote for Doctor Who in 2002 for the audio production company Big Finish, since then he has written a further five full cast dramas, as well as contributions to audio adaptations of Sapphire & Steel, UNIT, Bernice Summerfield, The Tomorrow People and most recently Dark Shadows. In 2008, he made his television writing debut with Torchwood: A Day in the Death, which was soon to be followed with two adventures for The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Mad Woman in the Attic & The Mark of the Berserker.   06/04: NEW GUEST: SIMON GUERRIER Simon Guerrier is a science fiction author and dramatist. His Doctor Who novels include: The Time Travellers, The Pirate Loop and The Slitheen Excursion, he has also edited and contributed to a number of Short Trip anthologies. For Big Finish he has written the full cast audio dramas: The Settling and The Judgement of Isskar, and the Companion Chronicles: Home Truths, The Prisoner's Dilemma and The Drowned World. For Bernice Summerfield audios: The Lost Museum, Summer of Love and The Wake. He has also written for the Primeval (Fire and Water) and Being Human (The Road) novel ranges.

05/04: NEW WORKSHOP: THAT'S LIFE Deborah Watling's autobiography is being launched at Utopia, and to celebrate, this exclusive workshop will look at the processes involved in the creation of the book. Deborah, along with co-author Paul Ballard, will discuss the project from early development, all the way through to the final printing, including unused and alternative sections from "Daddy's Girl".   05/03: NEW GUEST: DAVID ATKINS Fantom Films is pleased to announce a new guest for Utopia 2010 - actor David Atkins.   David will star in the the forthcoming fifth series episodes Time of the Angels and Flesh and Stone, alongside the new Doctor: Matt Smith. His other television credits include regular Jimmy in Shameless, David Blair in The Street and as Daniel Martin in City Lights and Northern Lights.   04/03: NEW GUEST ANNOUNCEMENT Fantom Films is pleased to announce that Chook Sibtain will be joining our Doctor Who celebrations in May.   Chook recently starred as Tarak Ital in the 2009 special The Waters of Mars. he also starred at Mark Grantham in the two part Sarah Jane Adventure - Warriors of Kudlak! Other credits include: Robin Hood - The Enemy of My Enemy, Doctors, Holby City, The Bill, Where the Heart Is, Footballers' Wives, Grease Monkeys, Bad Girls, EastEnders and The Stretch.   19/02: WHO'S THAT GIRL? NICOLA BRYANT Who Girl, Nicola Bryant will be joining us for Utopia 2010. Credits include My Family, Holby City, Doctors, Casualty, Parting Shots, Animal Ark, The 10 Percenters, The Biz and Blackadder's Christmas Carol. Nicola has starred in over twenty Big Finish audio adventures, as well as a new series of 'Lost' stories from the original television series. She also starred in a series of BBV Dramas alongside Colin Baker; The Airzone Solution, The Stranger: In Memory Alone, More Than a Messiah and Summoned by Shadows.   17/02: NEW GUEST: PAUL RICHARD BIGGIN Fantom Films welcome Paul Richard Biggin who will be joining us for this years Utopia. Paul starred in the Tenth Doctor episode: Turn Left.   Next guest announcement tomorrow!       15/02: NEW GUEST: DANIEL KING In the first of five guest announcements this week, we welcome aboard Daniel King in his first convention appearance. Daniel starred as Davenport in the David Tennant episode The Unicorn & The Wasp.   Next guest announcement tomorrow!     29/01: NEW GUEST: DAVID SPENSER David’s credits include: Pretenders, BBC Play of the Month: The Merchant of Venice & The Cherry Orchard, Softly Softly, Carry On... Up the Khyber, The Saint, Adam Adamant Lives, King of the River, A Farewell to Arms, Dixon of Dock Green, The Earth Dies Screaming, Z Cars, No Hiding Place, Studio 4, Armchair Theatre, The Stranglers of Bombay, Overseas Press Club – Exclusive, Anne of Green Gables, Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School and The Bell Family.   29/01: NEW GUEST: VICTOR PEMBERTON Victor Pemberton wrote the 1968 Patrick Troughton story Fury from the Deep (which he subsequently novelised for Target Books). The story, now missing from the BBC archives, was based on an earlier stand-alone radio serial he had written called The Slide, starring future Master actor Roger Delgado. He was also story editor of season five opener The Tomb of the Cybermen. In 1976 Victor wrote the audio drama Doctor Who and the Pescatons for an experiment in Doctor Who on vinyl record and an early spin-off from the programme. The production was aimed at children and is heavily based on ideas Victor had used for Fury from the Deep. He later novelised The Pescatons, which was the final Doctor Who book published under the Target imprint. He had previously appeared as an actor in the series, in a non-speaking role as a scientist in the 1967 story The Moonbase.   28/01: RETURN OF THE LEATHER LUNGS! Born into a great theatrical family, Deborah Watling side stepped early aspirations to become a dentist to join the acting profession, and starred in a number of productions as a child actress, including ITC's Invisible Man series.  In 1967 Deborah joined Doctor Who as the Second Doctor's companion Victoria Waterfield. From The Evil of the Daleks through to Fury from the Deep she battled the likes of Ice Warriors, Yeti, Cybermen and Daleks, with her notorious scream becoming a regular feature, earning her the nickname "leather lungs".  Since leaving the series she has appeared on the silver screen opposite Cliff Richard in Take Me High and David Essex in That'll Be The Day. She has also made guest appearances in series such as Doctor In Charge and Rising Damp, and was the infamous "Naughty" Norma in the ITV classic Danger UXB. Her extensive theatre credits include The Wizard of Oz, There's A Girl In My Soup, Don't Dress For Dinner and Laburnam Grove.  In 1993 Deborah made a brief return as Victoria for the Children In Need special Dimensions In Time, and has since reprised the role for the Big Finish Companion Chronicles range, including the recently released The Emperor of Eternity, which reunited her with former co-star Frazer Hines.  2010 sees the publication of her long awaited autobiography Daddy's Girl, which will be launched at Utopia, alongside some additional exciting exclusives! 26/01: BIG FINISH PRESENTS THE LOST STORIES Big Finish will be presenting a special 'Lost Stories' panel with a number of guests coming together to give us the behind the scenes story of the new series of audio dramas.   Joining us will be series producer David Richardson, director Lisa Bowerman, director and adapter John Ainsworth, actor John Banks (Hern the Hunter, Leviathan and The Caller, Song of Megaptera), cover designer Alex Mallison (who also starred in Point of Entry) and writer Paul Finch (who adapted his fathers script Leviathan).   14/01: NEW GUEST ANNOUNCEMENT: ZIENIA MERTON Fantom Films are proud to announce that Zienia Merton will be reunited with director Waris Hussein.   Ziena starred as Ping-Cho in the 1964 story Marco Polo and recently as the registrar at the SJA story The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith. Her most memorable role is that of Sandra Benes in Space: 1999, the science fiction series produced by Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson.   Other television appearances include: Strange Report, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Jason King, Return of the Saint, Dempsey and Makepeace, Tenko and Crime Traveller. She was a lead actor as Christina in the Dennis Potter television adaptation of Casanova with Frank Finlay, and appeared on The Benny Hill Show in 1972, playing the wife of Hill's Chow Mein character.   11/01: FIRST GUEST ANNOUNCED Fantom Films are proud to announce the first guest for Utopia 2010; Waris Hussein, director of the first ever story, An Unearthly Child.   In 1964 he returned to the series to direct the fourth serial, Marco Polo. He went on to enjoy a successful career directing many productions such as a 1965 BBC television version of A Passage to India; a suffragette movement drama Shoulder to Shoulder; the BBC serial Notorious Woman; and the Thames Television serial Edward and Mrs Simpson. The latter two productions saw him working once more with former Doctor Who producer Verity Lambert. He also directed the theatrical motion picture version of Henry VIII and his Six Wives starring Keith Michell and Donald Pleasance. In 1983 he declined an offer to direct the twentieth anniversary Doctor Who special, The Five Doctors, and went on to direct several television movies in the United States. in the 1980s & 90s.   26/11: UTOPIA WEBSITE LAUNCHED Fantom Films are proud to announce our annual convention has just got bigger! Brought to you over two days, Utopia 2010, will boast a number of exciting features including FREE Backstage Passes, FREE Workshops, Themed nights and entertainment against the historic and beautiful backdrop of Heythorp Park.   Like our intimate events in Chiswick, we are keeping prices to a minimum - a weekend Adult ticket costs only £70 - with no hidden admin or VAT charges. Included in the package are TWO free signatures per guest, with extras only at £5 each!   Take a look at our website - certain sections are rather bare at the moment - but over the coming months - more information will be added.   26/11: LAUNCH INCENTIVE Anyone who purchases a ticket before 31st January 2010 will receive a FREE compilation DVD of all our previous events.