By Owen Quinn author
It was a bloody cold Saturday morning on 18th January 2024 when I next met Sophie
Aldred. Sophie played the 7th Doctor’s companion, Ace in the final days of the classic series. She has done many Big Finish audio plays and special appearances as Ace. She finally returned in Jodie Whittaker’s final story, The Power of the Doctor. This time however I had my son with me who, as a kid, loved the 7th Doctor era and
now he was getting to meet Ace. He had already met Sylvester McCoy a few years ago as a kid and was totally starstruck but now as a 20 year old man, he had plenty to chat about with Sophie.
I first met her at a Nebula con in the Aldelphi Hotel in Liverpool for a ‘Curse of Fenric’
event and we have met several times over the years, including Belfast. The only
photo I ever got with her was over a table so this was my chance to get a proper
photo done.
Sophie was as nice as ever. She has a genuine interest in her fans and spent ages
talking to my son about her era, especially Remembrance of the Daleks. He got a
photo of her and Sylvester from that story signed. She told us it was one she had
only recently discovered and got printed for conventions for signing. We talked about
her return to the show for Power of the Doctor and if ever there was a great spin off
just waiting to be done, it was her working alongside UNIT.
We talked about how generational Doctor Who was and just how strong the 7th
Doctor stories were to the point we are still talking about them and buying the action
figures, e.g the Emperor Davros was released before Christmas and I bought it
because a) it’s a great figure and b) it evokes great memories of that story.
So we had our photoshoots and again had the opportunity to chat. It was a day of
bucket list moments because my son and I got what we wanted and more because
Sophie took the time to chat and more so listen to us. Meeting celebrities can be hit or miss but Sophie Aldred is a total hit.
The Time Warriors and Beyond 