Tenth Planet Store
Barking
1/10/05

by Laura

The last time I saw Bruno in the flesh was back in July, at Romeo & Juliet. I've always wanted to meet him, to have a bit of a chat with him and get a glimpse of what he is really like. Although I saw him walking around after the play, I didn't like to approach him, which I must admit is something I slightly regretted later on. I never thought I would get the opportunity again, especially not so soon afterwards! That was until I heard that Bruno was doing a signing at the Doctor Who Tenth Planet store in Barking- thanks to Camille Coduri having to pull out, Bruno was drafted in as a replacement. I couldn't believe it; I knew that it would be the perfect opportunity to meet him, and Barking isn't too far from me, so it would be easy to get to. It was slightly late notice but within minutes after finding out, I had already made plans to go down there! I arranged to meet up with Kelly, and my mum wanted to come along too, so the three of us were really looking forward to it.

In the days leading up to Saturday, everytime I thought about Bruno, I began to feel really nervous and sick. I kept panicking about not knowing what to say to him, and worrying that I wouldn't even be able to say anything to him whatsoever- I worried that I might end up just staring at him and looking like a complete prat!

When Saturday finally arrived, I actually woke up in a sweat at 4am- I was so nervous! I kept drifting in and out of sleep until I finally got up at 7.30am. I didn't know what to wear but in the end I decided to keep it smart casual- I ended up wearing my flowery skirt with a green top, purple crocheted top, and boots. I'd even had my hair slightly cut and highlighted especially for the occasion! In hindsight, I think I would have worn something warmer because when we went outside to wait for the bus to take us to the train station, I was bloody freezing!!!

We ended up getting the 9.17am train to Romford and as we sped away from Colchester, I felt myself beginning to feel sick and nervous. I decided to listen to Will Young's new single on my iPod to try and take my mind off it!

Once we got into Romford, we got the bus to Barking, which took about 40 minutes in all. We arrived at about 11am, and I began to feel myself getting really really nervous and sick again. I kept thinking that I was in the same town as Bruno, and would be meeting him very soon! We went and had a look to see if Kelly had arrived (she said she would meet us outside Barking station), but she hadn't, so we decided to go across the road to the shopping centre and find where 10th Planet is. It was actually easy to find as we spotted a queue of Doctor Who fans straightaway!! They were very noticeable as they were armed with a variety of Doctor Who merchandise, and they all seemed to know each other as well- they were all obviously regulars at the signings every Saturday. I couldn't spot anyone else who might have been a Bruno fan, as opposed to a hardcore Doctor Who fan, and this made me feel even more nervous, so we decided to go back to the station and see if Kelly had arrived.

After a few minutes, we spotted Kelly stood inside the station, and so it was good to see a friendly face and see someone who is as much of a Bruno fan as I am (my mum likes him, but I wouldn't call her a fan!)! I began to feel a lot less nervous with Kelly around, but when we went and queued up behind everyone else, I began to feel very nervous again, as did Kelly! Our hands were shaking as the sudden realisation hit us that Bruno was only around the corner from where we were stood.

We had queued up from 11.30am and, finally, at 12.05pm (I noticed the time as I looked at my watch), we heard the news that they had begun signing. Cue some very nervous looks from Kelly and I as we realised that we would be meeting Bruno himself in a short while! We didn't realise how long the queue would take to move though. It seemed to move so slowly, we were moving a couple of inches every 10 minutes lol!

When we finally moved around the corner, so that we were facing 10th Planet itself, we were disappointed to see that we couldn't actually see Bruno. He appeared to be out of sight- probably hidden by the display in the window, we thought.

We saw the first couple of Doctor Who fans leave the store, armed with green bags. My mum asked whether Bruno was in there, and they confirmed that he was- oh my God! The minutes seemed to go by really slowly- by now, Kelly and I were in a definite state of nervousness as we stood waiting in silence, contemplating what lay ahead for us. We kept seeing various Doctor Who fans leaving the store with Bruno photographs, all of which had been signed by The Man Himself. The fans all seemed to be really excited about meeting "Adam from Doctor Who", and they all sounded very positive about him as well. There were also some kids in the queue who were incredibly excited about meeting him as well.

By now it was 1.15pm and, at last, we were 6th in the queue- so near to meeting him! We began to get even more nervous now as we realised that we were so close to meeting him. Imagine our horror then as the store suddenly closed its door and put up a sign saying "Back in 10 minutes"!! We heard from the last lot of Doctor Who fans to come out that they were having a lunch break (it was said that Bruno was eating a sandwich, if anyone is interested in that little bit of info!!).

10 minutes soon turned into half an hour though, as the door remained firmly shut. By now we were getting really restless and bored. Kelly went up to the door and had a quick peek inside but couldn't see any sign of Bruno. We began to get worried because the signing was due to end at 2pm, and it was 1.45pm now!

And then I saw him. BRUNO. He suddenly appeared in the store, looking around at all the merchandise inside. I hit Kelly on the arm (although I actually pinched her- sorry Kelly!) and whispered, "oh my God, there he is". Kelly turned round and the two of us stood staring at him before he disappeared again.

A few minutes later and there was suddenly some action at the door. It opened, and out stepped BRUNO, flanked by two men (I think they were employees from the store). Myself and Kelly gasped as Bruno walked towards the queue, and then straight past us. The kids from the queue went up to him and were in complete awe of him, staring at him with their mouths wide open, they just couldn't believe that he was there. Bruno swaggered past and said, "alright kids" to them hehehe!

Kelly and I began to panic, wondering where Bruno was off to- we were worrying that he was leaving, never to come back! However, Kelly spotted that he was off on a toilet break, so we breathed a huge sigh of relief. When we saw Bruno and the two men return, we began to go into palpitations at the sight of seeing Bruno again! Once more, he walked past us but, rather than going straight back inside, he stopped to have a look at the display of Daleks in the window of the store. The two guys were talking to him about it (we couldn't hear what was being said though), and Bruno seemed to be really interested in the display and seemed to be asking them lots of questions. I took the opportunity to take this quick photo:



After a couple of minutes, they went back inside the store, and closed the door behind them. Shortly afterwards, Bruno came into view again, as he was looking at the merchandise inside the store which he had been looking at earlier. Kelly went and had a quick peek inside again and reported back that Bruno was now stood at the counter, chatting to a couple of people. A couple of minutes later, she went and had another look and reported back that she now couldn't see Bruno. I made the very stupid comment that maybe he has left- but Kelly pointed out that he can't have left as the only way out is through the front door, so we would have seen him. DOH!!

Finally, at 2pm, the door opened again, and a guy began to motion to people to go in. My mum, Kelly and I were the first lot allowed in. We began to get really nervous again, as we entered the store. I spotted Bruno sat at the end of a table at the bottom of the store, and I started to get even more nervous. The guy who had allowed us to go in asked us whether we had already bought one of the photos to get signed- I was just about to buy one, but Kelly wasn't planning to. She was told, however, that you have to buy one of the photos if you want to meet Bruno, and he showed us where to go and buy the photos. They had two lovely glossy A4 prints on sale- one of Adam, Rose and Bywater, and one of Adam, Bywater and De Maggio. I decided to buy the latter, as it was a more prominent Bruno photo (with Bruno stood at the front). After Kelly had bought the same photo, we went and queued up to speak to Bruno. There were three tables pushed together- there was a guy I didn't recognise sat on the end. Next to him sat Andrew Collins, who played the character Drew in an audio Doctor Who adventure. Next to him was Maggie Stables, who played the character Evelyn in another audio Doctor Who adventure. She was sat next to someone else I didn't recognise. Then sat another guy I didn't recognise (although we think he was something to do with the sound on the audio Doctor Who adventures), and then sat Bruno. He signed something for a fan, and then the fan took a photo of him and left the store. Then Bruno was chatting to the sound guy, and they seemed to be getting on well, laughing and joking. Maggie was laughing and joking with the fan she was signing something for- they seemed to be getting on well, and she seemed like a lovely lady, I have to say! Bruno didn't have anyone stood in front of him and so we didn't know whether to go over to him- we thought that the woman chatting to Maggie might be wanting to speak to Bruno after she'd finished with Maggie so we didn't want to push in. However, the guy who had told us about the photos earlier, told us to go over to Bruno and that there was no need to wait. Oh. My. God.

Slowly we made our way over to Bruno, until we were stood right in front of him. My heart was beating really really fast and I was SO nervous. Bruno was still chatting to the sound guy so we waited until he'd finished his conversation. Then he looked up at us and said hello :D Kelly asked him to sign the photo for her, and he was more than happy to oblige. Whilst he was signing, Kelly asked whether he had received our birthday present, which we had got for him back in March. Kelly described it to him and a dawning realisation spread across his face as he knew what Kelly was talking about. He smiled and said, "oh that was from you?!" And Kelly said that it was from both of us, pointing at me. Bruno then turned and looked at me, flashing a lovely grin. I don't know how I managed to stay upright after that lol! Bruno confirmed that he had received it, and he seemed really pleased about it, and kept thanking us for it. Kelly joked that he's just missed her birthday but he can send her something for next year. He asked when her birthday is and she told him, and he commented how he can never even remember when his brothers and sisters birthdays are! Whilst he was signing, he noticed that Kelly was wearing a "Save Royston Vasey" badge, which she had got when she went to the League of Gentlemen film premiere. He commented on the badge and she told him where she had got it from and he seemed really jealous that she had gone and he hadn't. He said, "I didn't go....now where was I, what was I doing?" as he pondered why he hadn't gone. Then he said, "oh, I know, I was rehearsing for that," and he pointed at the Romeo & Juliet programme, which Kelly was holding. He asked us whether we had gone to see it- Kelly said she hadn't, my mum and I said that we had. He then came out with a very very random comment- he mentioned that one performance was for the schools and there was one school who had an Irish teacher, and she had told him that he was wearing exceptionally big shoes- he asked me whether I'd noticed that too. It was so funny, because that was actually the first thing my mum and I had commented on when he came on stage, so I started to laugh and said that it was the first thing we noticed! At this point, Bruno collapsed into hysterics on the table, it was so funny. He was kind of cringing at the thought of his big shoes lol. He told us again about the Irish teacher, and said how she had come up to him after the show and asked him about his shoes (I can't remember exactly how Bruno phrased it, but it was something like, "Bruno, why on earth are you wearing such big shoes?!"). Bruno did a fantastic impression of the teacher- he put on an Irish female voice and was very good at the accent!! It was really funny and made us all laugh. He then said, "well you know what they say about men with big feet..." Hahahaha! Kelly commented, "yeah...they've got big feet" lol! I mentioned to him that he also fell over the night we saw him. I said that it had been raining and he'd slipped down the grass. Bruno rolled his eyes and said, "oh yeah, something went wrong every night!" He asked me where I'd come from to see the play and I said Colchester. He was like, "Oh my God, wow, that is so cool." He seemed really shocked that we'd come such a long way. I don't think he truly realises what a dedicated fan base he has. He seemed really pleased that we'd come all that way to see him. He kept thanking us for it. And he asked whether we had enjoyed the play and I said that I thought it was fantastic and I really enjoyed it and had a great time. Bruno thanked us again, and added that it was really hard work to do. He asked me whether he had met us after the show, and I said that we'd seen him walking around but didn't like to approach him. He thanked us again for coming to see him in the play. I then asked him whether he could sign my photo to Laura, and he happily obliged, writing, "Laura, lots of love, Bruno Langley", as you can see from the photo below:



Whilst he was signing, we chatted about my site for a bit, with him commenting, "so you do all my work for me then!" We also chatted about the signed photo he sent me last year- I was very impressed that he actually remembered that he'd sent me one! When I commented about how he had sent me a signed photo, he said, "yeah, I remember that!" I then asked him whether I could have my photo taken with him please? Bruno was more than happy to oblige, jumping up straight away and motioning for me to go and stand next to him. I put my arm around his waist and he draped his hand around my shoulder, as we waited for Kelly to take the photo. Kelly, bless her, was shaking from nerves so much that the photo turned out like this:



So, of course, I had to stand there cuddling up to Bruno as she took another photo, which turned out like this:



Third time lucky perhaps? I had to cuddle up to Bruno even longer (not that I was complaining) as she made a third attempt, which was successful:



Bruno said, "has it taken?" Yes, success at last- although it meant that I had to move away from Bruno and allow Kelly to have her turn. My nerves had actually disappeared by now so I managed to take the photo without shaking although, in hindsight, I think I should have pretended it hadn't worked to allow Kelly to cuddle up to Bruno for a while too, but I didn't think of that at the time- sorry Kelly! The first time I tried to take the photo though, it didn't work as it wasn't switched on, so Kelly did get to cuddle up to him for a bit longer :)

After this, it was time to say goodbye to Bruno. There was a chorus of thank you's as he thanked us for everything and for coming, and we thanked him for the photos and everything. We said our goodbye's and walked away, to allow other people to have their turn. I looked at my watch and saw that it was 2.15pm- I realised that we must have been chatting to Bruno for a good ten minutes or so!! We left the store with massive grins on our faces, and saw that there were still quite a few fans queuing up to see him. A passer by stopped us and curiously asked who was in there- so we told him that it was Bruno Langley from Doctor Who, and some other Doctor Who related people, and he seemed to be quite interested in that.

We were on such a high after meeting Bruno, although quite sad to be leaving him behind. We went and got the bus back to Romford, along with Kelly and, after doing a bit of shopping in the town centre, it was time to say goodbye to Kelly and get the train back home to Colchester. We had to wait an hour for the next train though, during which time I almost lost my signed photo when a very fast train sped through the station, nearly taking my photo with it!!! The journey home was a bit of a nightmare as the train kept breaking down, but I had some very happy memories from the day to take home with me :)

Bruno is such a lovely, genuine, nice and down to earth guy, and a lot more outgoing and confident in person than he sometimes appears on TV. He is so incredibly easy to talk to as well- I'm quite shy but I found myself more than able to chat to Bruno as he makes you feel so relaxed and so at ease. And once we'd broken the ice and he realised that he kind of "knew" us (because of his birthday present), we were all chatting like we'd known each other for years. Meeting Bruno has made me even more of a fan- thanks Bruno for being so nice to us and making our day so wonderful, and thanks to 10th Planet for arranging for Bruno to be there in the first place!

I'm really sad that the day is over now, but it is certainly a day that I will cherish forever :)

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