Today we are delighted to begin announcing the first of our confirmed guests for the upcoming Gallifrey One in 35 Millimetre in February 2025.
This year, instead of holding back guests for large block announcements as we’ve done in the past (which diminishes the amount of publicity we can do with guest announcements in general!) we’re kicking things off early with a smaller group of our very first confirmations, with many additional announcements in the months to come… including the many guests we’re working on from the recent years of Doctor Who as well as new and returning guests from the classic era, Big Finish audio adventures, and much more. (As always, all guest appearances are subject to professional commitments.)
Colin Baker
Colin Baker is widely known throughout the world as the Sixth Doctor on Doctor Who. Originally guest starring as a Gallifreyan commander during the 20th season, he took over the lead role in the season 21 finale, playing the role on television from 1984 through 1986 – one of the most tumultuous eras of the show’s long history. He later returned to the role for both the 1993 special Dimensions in Time and then in Big Finish’s continuing series of audio adventures, where he became a fan favorite – a role he continues to this day. In recent years Colin has led a very busy career on the stage and in appearances on television, appeared in Peter Davison’s film “The Five(ish) Doctors,” the series “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here” as well as participating in the Jodie Whittaker special “The Power of the Doctor” as one of the Guardians of the Edge. A long-time ambassador for the series and a delightful convention guest the world over, we are happy to welcome Colin back for his tenth Gallifrey One appearance, courtesy Showmasters Events.
Sylvester McCoy
Sylvester McCoy has been known for nearly three decades as the Seventh Doctor in Doctor Who. Appearing in the program from 1987-1989 opposite Bonnie Langford and later Sophie Aldred, McCoy later reprised the role in the 1996 FOX Television/BBC Doctor Who TV movie co-production, where he successfully handed off the reigns to Paul McGann after a regeneration sequence. McCoy also returned to the Doctor Who fold in 1993 for the charity special “Dimensions in Time” and later reprised his role for Big Finish Productions’ series of Doctor Who audios, alongside Langford and Aldred as well as additional companions including Lisa Bowerman and Philip Olivier; he also appeared in the final Jodie Whittaker story “The Power of the Doctor.” McCoy achieved worldwide fame as Radagast the Brown in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit series, and in recent years has maintained a busy career, including appearing in the Netflix series Sense8, Zapped, Thunderbirds are Go, Holby City, The Owners, Conjuring: The Book of the Dead and Lost at Christmas. Always one of our favorite convention guests (whose panels are an absolute riot), we are thrilled to welcome him back to Gallifrey One for his eighth appearance, courtesy Showmasters Events.
Katy Manning
Katy Manning is best known to fans as Josephine “Jo” Grant, the beloved companion to Jon Pertwee’s Third Doctor in Doctor Who during the early 1970s for three seasons, in which she faced such nemeses as the Master, the Axons, the Daemons, Omega and the Daleks. She later returned to the role (as the married Jo Jones) in the Sarah Jane Adventures episode “Death of the Doctor” and brought the role to life on audio adventures from Big Finish Productions, where she also portrays the popular spinoff character Iris Wildthyme. She also made a cameo appearance in Jodie Whittaker’s final story, “The Power of the Doctor”. Manning has also appeared in Casualty, All Saints, Target, Whodunnit and Man at the Top and her one-woman show Me and Jezebel about Bette Davis. Always a delightful convention guest across the world, Manning makes her seventh visit to Gallifrey One this year.
Frazer Hines
Frazer Hines – aka Jamie McCrimmon opposite Patrick Troughton’s second Doctor – is not only as synonymous with Doctor Who as the Doctor himself, but returns for his unprecedented seventeenth appearance at Gallifrey One, where he’s become an annual tradition (every year since 2009!) Known for his work on Doctor Who as well as his long-running twenty-two-year role as Joe Sugden on the British soap Emmerdale (originally Emmerdale Farm), and his more recent appearances as Sir Fletcher Gordon on Outlander and in annual pantomimes and theatrical runs in the West End and all over Europe, Frazer has also been reprising his Jamie role for Big Finish on their many audio releases. More he’s had a cameo in the film Blood Coral and stars in the award-winning Sundown with Caitlin Blackwood, and Lost at Christmas with Sylvester McCoy. Beloved by fans and beloved by us, it just wouldn’t be Gallifrey One without him!
David Gooderson
David Gooderson is best known to Doctor Who fans in the role of Davros, which he took over from Michael Wisher for the Tom Baker serial “Destiny of the Daleks”. Gooderson’s over-40 year career in stage, film and television has seen him appear in Terry and June and The Les Dawson Show and numerous other programmes and series including Tenko, Mapp and Lucia, Bergerac, Rumpole of the Bailey, Lovejoy, Footballers’ Wives, Huddwinks, Doctors and Talk to Me. Gooderson has also written several books, including a few plays such as The Killing of Mr. Toad and So Great a Crime, based on the true story of Major-General Hector MacDonald. He also played a recurring role in the Big Finish Sarah Jane Smith audio series. This is his second visit to Gallifrey One (the first time, ten years ago), and he is sponsored by Showmasters Events.
Lizzie Hopley
Lizzie Hopley is an actress and writer who has worked extensively with Big Finish Productions. First appearing as a potential new companion in the Paul McGann story Terror Firma, Hopley has appeared in multiple series for Big Finish including Doctor Who, Iris Wildthyme, I Davros and Bernice Summerfield and the animated story The Infinite Quest. She has also written extensively for many of their lines, including for no less than six classic and new Doctors, as well as multiple series including Stranded, Time Lord Victorious, Dalek Universe, Sontarans vs. Rutans, Unbound, The Diary of River Song, The War Master, Rani Takes on the World, The Eighth of March and Peladon. Her sitcom pilot, “Green”, won Pozzitive Television’s Funny Dot Comp 2021, and she won the Scribe Award for the Big Finish audio play The Curse of Lady Macbeth with Christopher Eccleston. Her film & TV acting work includes The Crown, The Devil’s Hour, Brassic, Luther, The Day of the Triffids, Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased); she’s also done extensive work on the London stage. This is her first appearance at Gallifrey One and we’re thrilled to welcome her.
Paul Magrs
Paul Magrs was born in 1969 and grew up in the North-East of England. He brought out his first novel in 1995 and has published many books since in all kinds of genres. In the world of Doctor Who he has written novels such as ‘The Scarlet Empress’ for BBC Books and audio dramas such as ‘The Horror of Glam Rock’ and ‘The Peterloo Massacre’ for Big Finish Productions. He is the creator of Iris Wildthyme and it was his scripts for BBC Audio’s Nest Cottage Chronicles that at last persuaded Tom Baker to return to the role of the Doctor. In recent years he has written a number of original novels for Puffin books, in which Doctor Who is mashed up with classic children’s literature, including ‘Josephine and the Argonauts.’ In 2024 he began a bookish channel on YouTube where he talks about all the books on his shelves and in his life. He lives and writes in Manchester with Jeremy and Bernard Socks. This is Paul’s first visit to Gallifrey One.
Jonathan Morris
Jonathan Morris has been working on Doctor Who spin-off fact and fiction for 25 years. He’s written five original novels, including “Festival of Death” and “Touched by an Angel.” He’s written about a hundred audios for Big Finish and BBC Audio, originating the characters of Vienna, Thomas Brewster and Flip Jackson, and adapting Russell T Davies’ ‘Damaged Goods’. He’s also written numerous comic strips for Doctor Who Magazine, mostly for the eleventh Doctor. In terms of factual work, he’s one of the longest-standing and most prolific contributors to Doctor Who Magazine, including three regular columns. Recently, he co-wrote “The Monster Vault” and “Whotopia: The Ultimate Guide for BBC Books.” Outside Doctor Who, he’s written for radio and television and has his own audio production company and serves as a city councillor. He is currently writing and producing a new SF project for Big Finish. He has never been to a USA convention before and is absolutely delighted to be invited to Gallifrey One.
Gary Russell
Gary Russell was once the editor of Doctor Who Magazine for Marvel UK/Panini. Gary was once the co-creator and executive producer of Big Finish. Gary was once an author of many books, factual and fiction, about Doctor Who and others. Gary was once part of the script editing team on Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures. Gary was once a TV producer and script writer who ran his own animation show in Australia for the ABC. Gary was once a useful, well-adjusted member of society and a danger to absolutely no one (unless they keep the company of onions, spiders or cows.) Gary is currently a writer and editor for Cutaway Comics/Roundel Books, having written their forthcoming Inferno prestige comic book, as well as editing “The DNA of Doctor Who: The Philip Hinchcliffe Years” and “Go Figure: The Guide to Character Options Doctor Who Action Figures.” Gary considers that he has had a very lucky and frankly happy life getting paid to do his hobbies. Gary is making his 26th appearance at Gallifrey One. Gary admires your patience, fortitude and especially tolerance at letting him back in year after year. Gary is also the servant of Sutekh who, by the way, needs no others…
Lisa McMullin
Lisa McMullin is a Doctor Who obsessive and screenwriter who also writes audio drama for Big Finish Productions. She has written across various Doctor Whoniverses including Gallifrey: Time War, UNIT, Torchwood, Rose Tyler: The Dimension Cannon, The Fourth Doctor Adventures, Eighth Doctor: Time War, Missy, Tenth Doctor: Out of Time, The War Master, Eighth of March, The Paternoster Gang, The Robots, and Stranded. Outside of the world of Big Finish, Lisa writes on a variety of BBC television shows (Death In Paradise, Casualty, Moving On, EastEnders, Doctors) and also has original dramas in development in the UK and US. She also writes for the theatre. You can follow Lisa on Twitter: @lisamcmullin
Tony Lee
New York Times #1 Bestseller Tony Lee has written for Doctor Who in both comics and audio productions, and over the years has written for publishers and broadcasters including Marvel, DC Comics, Heavy Metal Magazine, BBC One, ITV, Amazon / Audible, Big Finish and Titan Comics on licenses such as Spider-Man, Star Trek, Superboy, Robin of Sherwood, Bernice Summerfield , Sherlock Holmes, Dorian Grey, Doctors and Battlestar Galactica among others. Now writing books with rockstars, he’s just started a series of graphic novels with Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson and writes procedural crime and thriller novels under the pen name Jack Gatland. A long-time Gallifrey One guest, we’re always happy to welcome him back.
Alfie Shaw
Alfie Shaw is a writer, script editor and producer for Big Finish Productions. He’s written for numerous ranges including The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles, The Seventh Doctor Adventures, The War Master, Class, Torchwood, and UNIT: Brave New World as well as currently producing the various Doctor Chronicles ranges. He has also written various articles and quizzes for the official Doctor Who website in addition to scripting videos for the Doctor Who YouTube channel. This will be his third visit to Gallifrey One and we’re delighted to welcome him back in 2025.
Jason Haigh-Ellery
Long-time Gallifrey One guest and friend Jason Haigh-Ellery is the Managing Director of Big Finish Productions, which recently won a Guinness Book record for “longest running science fiction audio play series.” Jason founded Big Finish in 1998, producing over 3,500 hours of award-winning audio drama, including winning two prestigious BBC Audio Drama Awards for Best Drama for Doctor Who. In theatre, Jaosn has produced 16 West End shows and 26 touring shows including “Footloose”, “Fame”, “An Officer and a Gentleman” and the recent massively successful revival of “Bonnie and Clyde”. He is also a recipient of an Olivier Award for Best Comedy for “Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense”. He is a director of fashion brand Marfa Stance and actors agency Intertalent. He has produced two reality shows, seven serials of animated “Doctor Who”, “Prisoner Zero” for ABC, teen drama series “More Than This” for Paramount+ and feature films “Mrs Lowry and Son” and “The Time of Their Lives” with Universal Pictures.
More news soon!
