Gallifrey One is the world’s largest and longest-running annual Doctor Who fan convention.
A fully non-profit event founded in 1989 by active fans in local Los Angeles science fiction fandom, Gallifrey One Conventions has run events annually since 1990 (all but the first two occurring in February, and only missing 2021 due to the ongoing worldwide COVID-19 pandemic), and has over time become one of the world’s most popular fan-run themed events devoted to the Doctor Who classic and new television series, and its spinoffs, including Torchwood, Class and The Sarah Jane Adventures.
Click here for a list of our previous events
While very much a modern celebrity-driven convention, Gallifrey One stays extremely close to its roots in “old school” fandom: one admission cost for nearly everything at the event, with no preferred seating or tier packages, where pros and fans alike mix throughout the day. Our convention still boasts a classic-style art show, a supervised children’s program room, hallway fan tables available for free to clubs and conventions, and specialized costuming events, as well as a dealers room and special themed events (such as our Thursday night launch party!) Plus, unlike other celebrity shows, our event goes well into the evening on Friday and Saturday nights with extensive evening programming, dances and karaoke (sometimes going until the very early hours of the morning!), and our two annual stage shows, the Masquerade of Mandragora (a costume & fashion show) and The Idiot’s Lantern (a fully scripted comedy/variety show.)
Gallifrey One’s Annual Bob May Memorial Charity Auction
We are proud to host the Bob May Memorial Charity Auction, our annual charity fundraising event which takes place on the Sunday afternoon of each convention. Named for our late friend and long-time convention guest, the man behind the Robot on Lost in Space, over the years the Bob May Auction has raised over a quarter of a million dollars for a variety of local, national and international charities including the Foundation for the Study of Infant Death, the Downs Syndrome Association, the American Red Cross, the Dyslexia Scholarship Fund, the Hurricane Mitch Disaster Relief Fund, the War Child Charity, the Afghan Women’s Mission, the Pediatric AIDS Foundation, the Juvenile Diabetes Association, the Starlight/Starbright Foundation, the American Heart Association, Actors and Others For Animals, the American Cancer Society, Direct Relief International, Pet Orphans of Southern California, Students Run LA, the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer, the Aimee Hoff Memorial Scholarship Fund, the Wounded Warrior Project, the LUMOS foundation, the Denville Hall retirement home, the Pop Culture Hero Coalition, the LASFS Building Fund, Project MotorHouse, Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, the Down Syndrome Association of Los Angeles, and in 2024, the Trevor Project.
Celebrity Guests
With over 400 guests spanning three decades, Gallifrey One has welcomed nearly every living principal cast member of classic Doctor Who, as well as many behind-the-scenes guests from the classic series and the 1996 TV movie, including Carole Ann Ford, William Russell, Maureen O’Brien, Waris Hussein, Peter Purves, Anneke Wills, Michael Craze, Frazer Hines, Deborah Watling, Wendy Padbury, Derrick Sherwin, Dick Mills, Terrance Dicks, Barry Letts, Jon Pertwee, Caroline John, Nicholas Courtney, John Levene, Richard Franklin, Katy Manning, Elisabeth Sladen, Philip Hinchcliffe, Roger Murray-Leach, Louise Jameson, Mary Tamm, John Leeson, Mat Irvine, Lalla Ward, June Hudson, Stephen Thorne, Julian Glover, Geoffrey Beevers, John Nathan-Turner, Margot Hayhoe, Michael E. Briant, Stephen Gallagher, Colin Spaull, Peter Davison, Matthew Waterhouse, Sarah Sutton, Janet Fielding, Mark Strickson, Graeme Harper, Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant, Terry Molloy, Bonnie Langford, Dominic Glynn, Philip Martin, Michael Jayston, Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred, Andrew Cartmel, Rona Munro, Stephen Wyatt, Patricia Quinn, Jessica Martin, Marcus Gilbert, Lisa Bowerman, Paul McGann, Philip Segal, Daphne Ashbrook, Yee Jee Tso, Matthew Jacobs, and Eric Roberts.
We have also hosted many guests from the 2005 revival of Doctor Who, both from on screen as well as behind the camera, including Jodie Whittaker, Christopher Eccleston, Sir John Hurt, Sir Derek Jacobi, Steven Moffat, Chris Chibnall, Billie Piper, Catherine Tate, Freema Agyeman, Alex Kingston, Mandip Gill, Pearl Mackie, John Barrowman, Tosin Cole, Arthur Darvill, Matt Lucas, Jo Martin, Sacha Dhawan, Michelle Ryan, Michelle Gomez, Matt Strevens, David Bradley, Jemma Redgrave, Murray Gold, Segun Akinola, Ray Holman, Jacqueline King, Camille Coduri, Noel Clarke, Neve McIntosh, Dan Starkey, Catrin Stewart, Jonathan Watson, Ingrid Oliver, Jaye Griffifths, Sophia Myles, Samuel Anderson, Mark Gatiss, Frances Barber, Clare Higgins, Annette Badland, Bhavnisha Parmar, Brian Minchin, Steffan Morris, Tracie Simpson, Joy Wilkinson, Vinay Patel, Pete McTighe, Hayley Nebauer, Ian McNeice, Tony Curran, Yasmin Bannerman, Simon Fisher-Becker, Ellis George, Adjoa Andoh, Shaun Dingwall, Caitlin Blackwood, Georgia Moffatt, Louise Page, Velile Tshabalala, Lachele Carl, Stuart Milligan, Tracey Childs, Sonita Henry, Will Thorp, Jami Reid-Quarrell, Matthew Doman, Clem So, Mickey Lewis, Jon Davey, Richard Price, Simon Carew, Tim Dane Reid, Jimmy Vee, Emma Campbell-Jones, Andy Pryor, Sallie Aprahamian, Arwel Wyn Jones, Claire Pritchard, Lawrence Gough, Wayne Yip, Anna Louise Plowman, Tilly Steele, Mark Dexter, Danny Hargreaves, Paul Cornell, Jamie Mathieson, Sarah Dollard, Peter Harness, Phil Ford, Tom MacRae, Mark Corden, James DeHaviland, Mark McQuoid, Matt Rohman, Howard Burden, Andrew Hayden-Smith, Ryan Carnes, Christine Adams, Robert Shearman, James Moran, Nicholas Briggs, Richard Hope, Paul Kasey, Brian Herring, Robert Strange, Nina Toussaint-White, Ryan Carnes, Nicholas Pegg, Barnaby Edwards, Toby Haynes, Richard Senior, Steve Hughes, Saul Metzstein, Douglas MacKinnon, and Phil Collinson.
We have additionally welcomed guests from the Doctor Who spinoff series Torchwood, Class and The Sarah Jane Adventures, with guests such as Eve Myles, Burn Gorman, Tommy Knight, Anjli Mohindra, Daniel Anthony, Gareth David-Lloyd, Kai Owen, Naoko Mori, Tom Price, Cush Jumbo, Anna Shaffer, Finn Jones, Sam Watts, Paul Marc Davis, Anna Shaffer, Daniele Favilli; guests starring in or creating Big Finish Productions’ range of Doctor Who audio dramas including Jon Culshaw, Maggie Stables, India Fisher, Philip Olivier, Tim Treloar, Stephen Noonan, Jonathon Carley, Daisy Ashford, Lauren Cornelius, Caroline Morris, John Pickard, Ciara Janson, Laura Doddington, Christopher Naylor, Sadie Miller, Lisa Greenwood, Amy Pemberton, Tracey Childs and Jason Haigh-Ellery; esteemed writers, editors and illustrators including Marv Wolfman, Len Wein, David Gerrold, Larry Niven, Barbara Hambly, Dan Slott, Harry Harrison, J. Michael Straczynski, Nancy Holder, Jane Espenson, Ronald D. Moore, Robert Hewitt Wolfe, Rachael Stott, Nick Abadzis, Wendy Pini, Pia Guerra, Stephen R. Donaldson, Dorothy C. Fontana, Christopher Jones, Chris Achilleos, Simon Fraser, George Mann, Jenny Colgan, Tony Lee, Matt Fitton, Emma Reeves, Una McCormack, John Dorney, Cavan Scott, Richard Dinnick, and John Peel; as well as popular guests from a variety of genre television series such as Red Dwarf, Babylon 5, Blake’s 7, Space: 1999, Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, Farscape, Crusade, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Andromeda, Dark Shadows, Lord of the Rings, Land of the Giants, Mystery Science Theater 3000, AlienNation and Lost in Space, including Walter Koenig, Ben Browder, Mark Sheppard, Bruce Boxleitner, Claudia Christian, Mira Furlan, Paul Darrow, Gareth Thomas, Sally Knyvette, Jan Chappell, Brian Croucher, Richard Hatch, Anne Lockhart, Laurette Spang, Virginia Hey, Hattie Hayridge, John de Lancie, Gigi Edgley, Brent Spiner, Robert Picardo, Joel Hodgson, Erin Gray, Andrea Thompson, Connor Trinneer, Nicole de Boer, Jeffrey Combs, Anthony Montgomery, Vaughn Armstrong, Robert O’Reilly, Suzie Plakson, Jeff Conaway, Brad Dourif, Amber Benson, Bill Mumy, Veronica Cartwright, Danny Strong, Daniel Dae Kim, Julie Caitlin Brown, Rekha Sharma, Chris Hardwick, Stephanie Beacham, Alexis Cruz, Herbert Jefferson Jr., Sarah Rush, Alaina Huffman, Joe Flanigan, Tucker Smallwood, Kent McCord, Casey Biggs, Peter Woodward, Gary Graham, Eric Pierpoint, Michelle Scarabelli, Judson Scott, Richard Lynch, Celeste Yarnall, Kathy Garver, Camden Toy, Stuart Pankin, Deanna Lund, Don Marshall, Vaughn Armstrong, Kathryn Leigh Scott and Nichelle Nichols.
About Our Organization
The Gallifrey One organization was originally founded in January 1989 from within the Time Meddlers of Los Angeles, Southern California’s local Doctor Who fan club, by the five current (at the time) members of the Time Meddlers’ governing Council, Robbie Bourget, Shaun Lyon, Deanna Bayless, Allie McGuire and Jim Terry. Original chairman Christian B. McGuire joined the group in establishing the organization by February 1989, with a team that included all six participants as well as Alan E. Hale, Tony Benoun, Bill Watson, Matthew Mitchell, Kory Doyle, David Keller, Michael Troncoso, David McGorray, Sherri Benoun, Bob Null, Korina Johnson, Didi Johnson, Ken Barr, Nicholas Cravotta, Dori van Brocklin, Andrea Spilholtz, Lee Wygand, Gary Louie and Michael Mason. Gallifrey One was split off from the club to become an independent organization in May 1989, our annual convention events began in May 1990, moving to February in 1992.
Since then, Gallifrey One has become an international event, hosting thousands of American fans and hundreds of fans from outside the US, as well as attracting actors, filmmakers, writers of Doctor Who fact and fiction, and many science fiction, fantasy and horror producers, writers and technical wizards, and is:
- the longest-running annual Doctor Who convention in the world, missing only one year (2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic);
- the largest Doctor Who-focused fan-run events around the world since the Spirit of Light events in the early 1980s;
- the only North American Doctor Who fan convention to date to host Jodie Whittaker, Sir John Hurt, Steven Moffat (four times!), Chris Chibnall, composer Murray Gold, costume designers June Hudson and Louise Page, casting director Andy Pryor, producers Steffan Morris and Matt Strevens, and many others;
- the first-ever convention appearances of Paul McGann, Daphne Ashbrook and Yee Jee Tso, and the first North American Doctor Who convention appearances of original Doctor Who producers Philip Hinchcliffe and Derrick Sherwin;
- the first North American Doctor Who convention appearances in 15 years for Janet Fielding (2004), and in over 20 years for Lalla Ward (2017); and,
- the only North American convention appearances in 35 years for Bonnie Langford (in 2001 and 2023).
For many years, Gallifrey One’s popularity was boosted by the Outpost Gallifrey website, created and operated by Shaun Lyon from December 1995 (when it was created as a test webpage promoting the convention, our local fan club The Time Meddlers of Los Angeles, and our local Doctor Who merchandise retailer Ambrosia Comics & Collectibles run by Ken Barr) through the summer of 2009. Outpost Gallifrey was hosted initially on the CompuServe OurWorld web space, then for several years on Concentric.net, and then finally at the gallifreyone.com URL, where it became the Internet’s most popular Doctor Who fan destination and community, highlighted by both the site’s authoritative and respected Doctor Who News Page and its incredibly popular Doctor Who discussion forum. When Shaun retired Outpost Gallifrey, the Gallifrey Base community at gallifreybase.com, run by Steven Warren Hill, succeeded the Outpost Gallifrey Forum. (The current “version” of Outpost Gallifrey online is not related to the original site, and is not run by anyone associated with the original site.) Our very special thanks to everyone who contributed over the years to the website, and who found Gallifrey One through it.
Our very special thanks as well to everyone involved in the Time Meddlers of Los Angeles fan community. Beginning in late 1987 after the BBC’s Doctor Who Traveling Exhibition came to Los Angeles, the desire by its members to found a new convention took form, culminating in the 1989 foundation of Gallifrey One. Although our paths diverged later that year, when Gallifrey One became an independent entity, we will never forget the Meddlers community and its contributions to our history. Likewise, we would also like to acknowledge the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society (LASFS) and the Southern California Institute for Fan Interests (SCIFI), two organizations without whom we would not exist, who also have our deepest thanks for their roles in our beginnings, our longevity, and our continued operation.
We are honored to have partnered with Showmasters Events for many of the major guest appearances at Gallifrey One over the past decade. Showmasters Events runs large-scale conventions in the UK, including the London Film & Comic Con and other events around the country, and have been valued collaborators at our event, helping make many dreams come true. You can find out more about them at their website; our very special thanks to Jason Joiner and Paul Jones at Showmasters, as well as all of the members of their team, for their friendship and support.
In Memoriam
In fond remembrance of our dearly departed Gallifrey One team members, gone but never forgotten: Michael Mason, David “The Brigadier” Keller, Tony Benoun, Jim Terry Jr., Ken Barr, Charlie Hoff, Ed Comstock, Gary Louie, Bob Null, Jennifer Adams Kelley, Matt Dale, Aimee Hoff, Paul Condon, Chuck Shimada, Karl Lembke, Maribeth Tate-Mitchell, Cathy Watson, Zack Lockhart, Michael Pell, Helen Oxford, Ruth Rigel, Bruce Pelz, Jim Cryer, Diane Elliott, and Eric Hoffman.
Special thanks to the honored Gallifrey One guests of the past, who have since left this Earth for that immortal TARDIS in the sky: Jon Pertwee, Sir John Hurt, Nicholas Courtney, William Russell, Deborah Watling, Elisabeth Sladen, Terrance Dicks, Mary Tamm, Derrick Sherwin, John Nathan-Turner, Barry Letts, Caroline John, Richard Franklin, Michael Jayston, Pamela Salem, Craig Hinton, Michael Craze, Maggie Stables, Bob Baker, W. Morgan Sheppard, Gareth Thomas, Paul Darrow, Philip Martin, Nichelle Nichols, Len Wein, David Wise, Frank Kelly Freas, Richard Hatch, Terry Walsh, Jeff Conaway, Deanna Lund, Dorothy C. Fontana, Michael Forrest, Celeste Yarnall, Grant Imahara, Don Matheson, Stephen Thorne, Don Marshall, Tim Choate, Leonard Stone, Richard Arnold, Forrest J. Ackerman, and Bob May.
The Fine Print
Gallifrey One is presented annually by Gallifrey One Conventions, a subsidiary of The Institute for Specialized Interests, Inc. (ISI), a California 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.
The Board of Directors of Gallifrey One Conventions is Robbie Bourget (Logistics & Operations Director), Shaun Lyon (Program Director & Public Relations), Joyce Lloyd (Facilities & Hospitality Director) and Cathy Johnson (Technical & Evening Events Director). Gallifrey One’s Board of Directors is responsible for setting policy and administers each year’s event.
Elayne Pelz is the Executive Secretary of the Institute for Specialized Interests (ISI), Inc., and serves as the Treasurer of Gallifrey One Conventions.
Our special thanks to Dan Sandifer for his many years of leadership and support, as a member of the Gallifrey One Board of Directors. It won’t be the same without you!
Gallifrey One operates annually with the gracious support of the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society (LASFS) and the Southern California Institute for Fan Interests (SCIFI).
The Gallifrey One website is created and edited by Shaun Lyon and hosted by A Small Orange Web Hosting.
The Gallifrey One Conventions logo was created by artist Christopher Jones.
Videos
End of the Line (from Gallifrey One 2013) by Ed Stradling
Gallifrey One on the Late Show with Craig Ferguson (2011)
Gallifrey One 25th Anniversary Retrospective (2013)
