Hundreds of Buffy fans flocked to Heathrow’s plush Radisson Edwardian hotel this weekend to meet their heroes at this year’s spectacular Nocturnal convention.
The event featured appearances from a whole host of Buffy and Angel celebs. Stars Amber Benson (Tara) and James Marsters (Spike) were joined by series creator Joss Whedon, make-up supremo Todd McIntosh plus monster men George Hertzberg (Adam) and Robin Atkins Downes (Machida).
Fans of spin-off series Angel would not have been disappointed either. J. August Richards (Gunn) and Andy Hallett (the Host) shared the stage with make-up artists Dayne Johnson and David DeLeon. Prolific author Christopher Golden was on hand to discuss his work on Buffy and Angel in print as well as the upcoming computer game.
Surprise, Surprise
Special surprise guest turned out to be none other than Nicholas Brendon (Xander) who took time out from his European trip to attend and meet his adoring fans. The sight of Nick on stage performing his famed Snoopy Dance was an absolute delight.
Other highlights of the weekend included a make-up master class which saw three fans transformed into stunning demons and vampires, a charity auction and a fancy dress competition. One inventive entrant came as a one of the scary 'Gentleman' from the episode Hush and shocked fans by suddenly gliding across the floor of the main hall on concealed rollerblades.
Disco Demons
Entertainment came in the form of disco. If dancing with James and Joss was your thing, they were happy to oblige - discretely monitored by security of course. Andy Hallett sang a late night cabaret and J. August Richards DJ’d for a while too.
A running theme was the guests’ attempts to outdo James Marsters (and each other) in their attempts at a definitive English accent.
Star of the weekend had to be the delightful Amber Benson. Sporting cute little demon horns, Amber made sure that nobody in the massive autograph queue left empty-handed.
Due to the huge number of people queueing for autographs and having their photos taken with the stars, things didn't always run exactly to plan but nonetheless, everyone had enormous fun throughout the weekend.
Meet the Stars
Thanks to the co-operation of the the organisers and stewards, we were able to conduct interviews with nearly all the guests and filmed portions of their question and answer sessions in the main hall too. Our chats with Joss, James and Amber are online already, with many more to follow soon.
If you would like to contribute to this part of the site, please send us your pictures of the event. More details can be found on the Gallery page.
We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all the guests as well as Stuart Vandall, Roger Clarke and the rest of the convention team for all their assistance throughout the weekend.
Tickets for this year's event sold out five months ago, so you might wish to consider booking early for the planned 2002 conventions.
For more details about future UK Buffy conventions, check out the .
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