TV stars from Red Dwarf to Doctor Who at Norfolk TV and film festival

Chris Barrie, 'Rimmer' from Red Dwarf and 'Gordon' from The Brittas Empire, Nigel Planer, 'Neil' from The Young Ones and Paul McGann, the 8th Doctor Who talk about 'The H', 'Crop rotation' and being Doctor Who.

Chris Barrie, Red Dwarf actor said, "It's been great fun for 34 odd years doing those characters and it's great to see they're still in demand."

Speaking about the famous letter 'H' which his character wears on his forehead to show he is a hologram, Mr Barrie said:

"I managed to persuade the makeup department to let me steal home one night with one, I've got the H, it's one of the later ones. "

"I kind of wish I had one of the earlier ones, which was a big lump of latex."

"The later ones were double sided" he added "and they kind of fell off after 3 hours."

Chris Barrie was speaking at the popular Norfolk TV, Film & Comic Con near Norwich.

Hundreds headed out to meet the stars of TV and sci-fi classics such as the eighth Doctor Who, Paul McGann.

Speaking to ITV News Anglia, Mr McGann explained that sometimes there are several past Doctor Who actors on guest panels.

"We've done these shows where we're all here together, sometimes we travel, there'll be three of us, four of us, like some kind of boy band. They're a hoot."

"I've never done this one [NORCON] but the reputation that it has, it's the friendliest one and I've got to say after a couple of hours, it's all true." he added.

On playing the eighth Doctor Who, Mr McGann said: "It has a life of its own, it's bigger than anything, it's continuous and when you're stopped it will probably go on longer than you."

"If you play the Doctor, some of the fans, they're happy to see you, but they don't want to know too much, there's a sort of mystique about it." he added.

"When they turn up you're always wondering if they are slightly disappointed, oh it's only you."

"I'm Paul, just the fella that wore the coat."

Actor Nigel Planer, Neil from The Young Ones, said: "Originally they used to say, was it a wig, to which the answer was yes it was. "

"They were more likely to quote at me..

'Neil, Neil, orange peel'...

or somebody once said 'It was John'

"People would shout stuff like that at me, it was the scene in The Young Ones when I was testing Rik [Mayall] on the exams in the train and it was John who was the crop rotation in 1642, or something like that."

Alongside the panel guests, NORCON is popular with cosplay - where people dress up in costumes to represent a specific character.

Damian Pounds from Norwich has spent around a year making his costume out of bits of scrap he found in his shed.

"It's now empty [the shed] and I've put it all on my back." he said.

"A lot of it is the fun of making it and then today is the day you can put it all together and everyone comes out and wears them and it is just sort of fun to do it."

"Travelling with all the gear is a bit much and finding the free time to do it".

David Gregory, or "Vision" from WandaVision, travelled all the way from Kent to Norwich for NORCON.

"Our favourite events are the ones where people are enjoying themselves, good friendly atmosphere, it's about everybody in cosplay enjoying themselves." he said.

Mr Gregory said: "It takes two hours to put the makeup on and get this dead right and it took nearly two months to build the costume."

"When we are going home from events and we stop at the petrol station, we get a coffee on the way back, it tends to put a smile on people's faces."

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