Guests – CONsole Room

SOPHIE ALDRED (REMOTE - SUNDAY ONLY)

SOPHIE ALDRED played the role of Ace, companion to the Seventh Doctor, from 1987-1989. Even after the original series was cancelled, the character of Ace lived on through books and comics and, when Big Finish launched their line of Doctor Who audios in 1999, Sophie returned to play the character once again. She is thrilled at being called back to play Ace in Jodie Whitaker’s 13th Doctor’s final story.

She has also written a variety of Doctor Who books; Ace the Inside Story of the End of an Era, At Childhood’s End (13th and 7th Dr and Ace) and a short story called Chemistry for Origins stories.

Born in Greenwich, London and raised in Blackheath, Sophie studied drama at the University of Manchester and worked in children’s theatre, working mens’ clubs and musicals before being cast in Doctor Who. Since the cancellation of the original series, Sophie has continued to stay busy with work on programmes like Words and Pictures, Corners, Tiny and Crew, ZZZap! It’s a Mystery, WOW and many others.

Her extensive voice work, includes animated programs such as Dennis and Gnasher, Bananas in Pyjamas, Peter Rabbit, and Tree Fu Tom. In fact, in Tree Fu Tom, someone called David Tennant played her sidekick! She also records many audio books and dramas for a variety of publishing companies including Audible and Penguin Random House.

LISA BOWERMAN (IN PERSON)

LISA BOWERMAN trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and has worked extensively in many major theatres throughout the UK including Leicester, Bristol Old Vic, Leatherhead, Plymouth, Salisbury, Harrogate, Windsor, Manchester, York and many more – in plays including: The Rivals, La Ronde, The Constant Wife, Ghosts, I Have Been Here Before, Relatively Speaking, Moll Flanders (title role), The Comedy Of Errors, An Ideal Husband and Blithe Spirit. West End includes Rick’s Bar Casablanca and Cavalcade. Tours have included Hay Fever, Blood Brothers and The Circle for Oxford Stage Company. Also All Our Hellos and Goodbyes (a play commissioned to celebrate the re-opening of St Pancras Station), The Bear (Maltings Farnham), and more recently a lost J.B. Priestley play The Roundabout at The Park Theatre, London – which also had a run as part of the Brits off Broadway season in New York. Further recent work includes a successful run of a new political play An Honourable Man, at The White Bear Kennington and Maggie & Ted which premiered at The White Bear and went onto have a short run at the Garrick Theatre, London and Yvonne Arnaud in Guildford.

Television includes: Casualty (first two series as paramedic Sandra Mute), Doctor Who (playing Karra in Survival), The Vision Thing, The Count of Solar, McCallum, Bad Girls, Night & Day, also, Doctors, Spooks, Hollyoaks and Coronation Street and has recently finished filming two episodes of a new series for Disney+ Playdate, which is due for release in 2024.

Lisa has recorded many plays for BBC Radios 3 & 4 and Independent Radio Drama Productions and has for the last 25 years played the title role in the Doctor Who spin-off audio series Professor Bernice Summerfield for Big Finish Productions, as well regular characters in their series of Sapphire & Steel and Jago & Litefoot, and many other guesting roles. Aside from Big Finish, she recently played a regular character in BBC Radio 4’s long running series The Archers.

She is also a prolific audio drama director, having directed many series for Big Finish Productions, including Doctor Who: The Early Adventures, The Companion Chronicles, Graceless, Sapphire & Steel, Torchwood and 13 series of Jago & Litefoot, as well as for other companies – most recently of which was an adaptation of H G Wells’ War of the Worlds: The Coming of the Martians, starring Colin Morgan (for Sherwood Sound Studios) and Dickens’ The Chimes, starring Toby Jones (for Average Romp Productions) and recently re-released through Big Finish.

We are thrilled to welcome Lisa to CONsole Room for the first time in 2024!

JON DAVEY (IN PERSON)

JON DAVEY has been featured in 50 episodes of Doctor Who over the past 18 years so far as various monsters, including: Dalek, Cyberman, Ood, Judoon, Whisperman, and Unit Soldier. He has also performed and assisted with choreography in Doctor Who Live in 2010, Doctor Who Proms 2013 and The Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular in Australia 2014/2015 and the UK in 2015. He has also been featured in Rogue One, Torchwood, Sarah Jane Adventures, Merlin, Wizard v Aliens, Casualty, and Atlantis in various roles.

His other work includes being a DOP, camera operator, and still photographer. He has worked on projects for Big Brother, X-Factor, Robbie Williams, Samsung, and MTV. Jon has also worked on over 50 music video for bands such as: Radiohead, Scissor Sisters, Seasick Steve, Run The Jewels, Mc Fly, Offspring, and Kula Shaker. In 2011, he worked as a lighting Cameraman on an animated sequence for the Simon Pegg movie A Fantastic Fear of

We are thrilled to welcome Jon to CONsole Room for the first time in 2024!

SYLVESTER MCCOY (IN PERSON)

SYLVESTER MCCOY is best known for his role as the 7^th Doctor in Doctor Who.

Sylvester regenerated into the Doctor in 1987 with the story “Time and the Rani.” He portrayed the role until the original series ended in 1989, last seen walking into the distance with his companion Ace, played by former CONsole Room Guest of Honour, Sophie Aldred. He returned to the role in the television movie in 1997, passing on the keys to the TARDIS to Paul McGann. Sylvester has reprised the role many times since, including in numerous Big Finish audio plays, the comedy homage The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot, and, most recently, in the 2022 special “The Power of the Doctor.”

Outside of Doctor Who, Sylvester has worked extensively in theater, film, and television. Born in Dunoon, Scotland, McCoy first gained recognition as a physical comedian and actor through the Ken Campbell Roadshow, a small, experimental theatre group that performed a range of different plays. Throughout his career, some of his notable roles include one-man stage shows portraying comedians Stan Laurel and Buster Keaton, the Fool opposite Ian McKellen’s Lear in King Lear with the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2007, and Radagast in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit film trilogy, among many, many others.

We are thrilled to welcome Sylvester McCoy to CONsole Room for the first time in 2024!

MATT EVERKOUL

(IN PERSON)

MATT EVERKOUL is the co-host of “The All-New Adventures of the Doctor Who Book Club” podcast, where he, and his co-host Chris Hawton in South London, read and review a different Doctor Who book each month. Matt has been an active member of the Twin Cities Geek community for 25+ years, serving as a board member of MiSFiTS, the Minnesota Society for the Interest in Science Fiction and Fantasy (now Geek Partnership Society), as a previous head of programming for CONvergence, and co-ran OmegaCon for a number of years. In addition to Doctor Who, Matt enjoys Star Trek in all its forms, is a 3D-film enthusiast, and even has a complete set of Choose-Your-Own-Adventure novels!

CHRIS HAWTON

(IN PERSON)

CHRIS HAWTON has co-hosted The All-New Adventures Of The Doctor Who Book club podcast with Matt since 2017.

He’s been a fan of the show since discovering it on American Forces Broadcasting while living in the Middle East in the 80s and so was brought up on a diet of Tom Baker and then random selections of Doctors.

Being somewhat partial to the books, his favourite Doctor is quite probably the NA-era 7th Doctor.

This is his first American convention and so he’s very much looking forward to it.

JODY HOUSER

(REMOTE)

JODY HOUSER decided she wanted to be a writer at eight years old and never looked back. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing at Emerson College, where she completed her master's thesis in screenwriting and was a winner of the Rod Parker Fellowship for Playwriting.

In 2006, Jody began experimenting with webcomics. Her first professional comics writing was published in 2012. She became a full-time freelance writer in 2016.

Now a New York Times bestselling and Eisner-nominated writer, Jody has penned stories for DC Comics (Mother Panic, Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy), Marvel Comics (Star Wars, Web of Black Widow), Dark Horse Comics (Stranger Things, Critical Role), Titan Comics (Doctor Who), IDW Publishing (Orphan Black, Star Trek), and Valiant Entertainment (Faith), among others.

You can also find Jody in the online TTRPG space. Jody has been a cast member in several games, including Eric's TBD RPG and VAST on Geek & Sundry, and The Claw Firm on Demiplane.

CHRISTOPHER JONES

(IN PERSON)

CHRISTOPHER JONES is a Minnesota native comic book artist and illustrator who has drawn comic books for many major publishers and was active in local fandom for many years before moving to Los Angeles to work as a storyboard artist and character designer for Warner Brothers Animation.

Christopher's comics work includes Young Justice, Justice League Unlimited, The Batman Strikes, and Batman '66 for DC Comics, and Spider-man Adventures and Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes for Marvel. He has drawn multiple Doctor Who projects for Titan Comics including contributions to Once Upon a Time Lord, the Doctor Who special written by Dan Slott.

His animation work includes work on Young Justice Phantoms, Seasons 3 and 4 of Harley Quinn, and the upcoming spin-off series Kite Man, Hell Yeah!

Christopher was one of the original founders of CONvergence and created their robot mascot character Connie.

VICTORIAN LADY DOCTORS

(IN PERSON)

The Victorian Lady Doctors are a group of friends and costumers from the Twin Cities area who had an idea. In 2012, they took the (current) 11 Doctors, the TARDIS, a Dalek, and a variety of other characters, and reimagined them into Victorian, gender-swapped cosplays. This group won “Best in Show” at the CONvergence 2012 Masquerade, where they also hosted their first Doctor Who-themed Tea Party.

T. AARON CISCO

(IN PERSON)

T. AARON CISCO is a lifelong, diehard Whovian, and huge fan of CONsole Room! T. Aaron is also an Amazon Bestselling author, a multi-award-winning TV producer, touring musician, and unrepentant Blerd with a capital B. His works have frequently adorned Amazon's bestseller lists, with "The Unbanished," "Rod String Nail Cloth: An Afrofuturist Mixtape," and "Black Nerd Blue Box: The Wibbly Wobbly Memoirs of a Lonely Whovian" clinching the number one spot. His work has been showcased on various networks and outlets including NBC, ABC, KSTP, TPT, Insight News, and Twin Cities Geeks. Accolades include local Emmy awards, international speaking engagements, the MN Society of Professional Journalists Page One Award, and a distinguished spot on Hennepin County Libraries' Minnesota Black Authors list.