UT Events are pleased to announce that our second guest for Vortex II is Rakie Ayola

Rakie starred in the Doctor Who episode ” Midnight” where she played a character only known as The Hostess along side David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor. In this companion-lite episode.  Sadly no one had thought to ask what her name was before she sacrificed herself to save all the passengers on the shuttle from the Midnight Entity.

Holby City fans will know Rakie from her role playing Kyla Tyson in over one hundred episodes of the hospital drama. She has also starred in the movie Sahara with Matthew McConauhey and most recently in the childrens musical series, My Almost Famous Family.

This will be Rakie’s first convention appearance and she is excited about meeting all the fans from Northern Ireland.

Tickets are now on sale.  Go get them while they’re still available!

Ok, it might be a bit early to assume we’re going to sell out like last year, but if we do then don’t say we didn’t warn you!  Our least favourite part of organising last year’s event was taking phone calls and answering emails from people looking for tickets after we’d sold out.  We even started to offer refunds (something we’ve never done before) so we could resell those tickets but only a handful of people took us up on the offer.  Our plans for this year’s event are much more ambitious.  Everything will be bigger and better with lots more to see and do and when our promotional efforts kick into high gear we expect ticket sales to increase significantly (remember the Dalek on the mountain last year?).  The only way to guarantee your ticket is to go get one now.

In other news, we’ll be running a Meet & Greet again this year.  Alas, Ianto is no longer with us but his Coffee Club lives on and tickets are currently on sale.  We’ve increased the number of tickets available to 50 and increased the time for the Meet & Greet to 1 hour so we can accommodate more people.  But, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, the coffee club tickets sold out last year too so if you want one then go get it now.

Three bits of news this weekend.

First up, a date for the event. Vortex II will take place on Sunday 2nd May 2010. That’s the same bank holiday weekend as last year so with the Monday off work and school you can all party with us late into the night.

Next, a venue. It’s been on the site for a few days but our venue this year is the same as last year. Belfast’s Europa hotel was perfect for Vortex so we’re returning there for Vortex II.

Finally, the question you’ve all been asking. When do tickets go on sale? Tickets for Vortex II go on sale Monday 25th January at 9am. They will be priced at £10 and available though this website. A ticket will give you entry to the event and include access to the dealers area, the exhibition area, everything that happens on stage throughout the day (guest Q&As, game shows, auction, etc.), the evening party, disco and much more. Please read and follow the instructions on the booking page.  This will make things easier for us to process tickets.

We are working diligently on preparations for Vortex II and have already heard from many people about how glad they are that we have Kai Owen coming as our first guest. Expect more guest announcements in the weeks ahead.

UT Events are proud to announce that our first guest for Vortex II is Kai Owen.

Kai Owen - IMDB

Kai has been a series regular on Torchwood since “Day One” (which, ironically, is the second episode of the first season) and has appeared in 22 episodes of the show.  During that time, his character “Rhys Williams” has gone from strength to strength and in the latest Children Of Earth mini-series he played a pivotal role working along side the remaining members of Torchwood.

Kai has been the highlight of many UK conventions but this will be his first convention appearance in Ireland and he is looking forward to meeting a whole new group of fans.  He will be taking part in all the usual activities during the day (guest Q&A, autographs, photographs, etc.) and may have a few surprises in store for attendees.

More event information and website updates will be coming this week and tickets will go on sale before the end of the month.

Get ready to take another trip through the Time Vortex when the Tardis once again materialises in Belfast for Vortex II in May 2010.  Come and see all the wonders from the hit television series including guest actors from both Doctor Who and Torchwood.  Meet stars from the shows, get autographs and photos, take part in our audience participation segments, enter the fancy dress competition, win prizes in our raffle draws and bid for signed items in the charity auction in aid of the Northern Ireland Children’s Hospice.

All the sets, props and live characters from our previous events will be making a return with the addition of Weavils, Weaping Angels and a host of new live characters to interact with.  2009’s sold out event was a resounding success and we are hoping to match if not beat it with Vortex II.  So come along and join us for an amazing adventure through time and space.

Full event details with dates, venue and our first set of guest announcements will be coming in January.  Stay tuned.

We have taken our trip through the Time Vortex into the world of Doctor Who, Torchwood and the Sarah Jane Adventures and returned with so many wonderful memories and stories to tell!

Vortex was an amazing day and we would like to say thank you to everyone who came along to see the props, displays and most of all our fantastic guest stars Gareth David Lloyd, Paul Mark Davis and Chipo Chung.  You made them feel so welcome during the Q&A, autograph session, photo session and Ianto’s Coffee Club Meet & Greet.  They enjoyed every minute they spent with you, the fans.

It has taken many months to prepare this event and we are delighted that all our hard work paid off.  The Daleks, Tardis, Empty Child, K-9 and Lady Cassandra went down a storm and we saw so many people having their photos taken with them.  Our Ood and Clockwork Droid spent the day walking around the event meeting all the children and families.  We hope you liked having the chance to experience what its like to be at the controls of the Tardis on our stage set and thank you to everyone who came up to take a photo and gave a donation to the Children’s Hospice to do so.

The Weakest Link and Fancy Dress were hilarious and we hope you enjoyed the entries as much as we did and congratulations to the Fancy Dress winners for all the hard work they put in to their costumes.  The Dalek and mini Cyberman where so cute!  And well done to the winners of our Weakest link games.

Post a blog comment to tell us about your memories of the event and email us your photos (or a link to where they’re posted) so we can compile a photo gallery on the website as we rarely get to take pictures of our own.

We look forward to seeing you all again at the next UT Event!

Gareth David Lloyd

Gareth David Lloyd - IMDB

UT Events are pleased to announce that Gareth David Lloyd will be our headline guest at Vortex.  Gareth plays Ianto in the hugely successful spin-off series Torchwood.  From his first appearance in episode one where he was simply the “man on the door”, Gareth’s character has become an integral part of the Torchwood crew.  The loss of his girlfriend in episode four had some touching moments and his relationship with Captain Jack has added a very interesting dynamic to the team.

Gareth has appeared in every episode of Torchwood, including the upcoming 5-parter Children Of Earth (you’re welcome to do your best to get some information out of him about it!), so there will be no end to the stories he will have to tell during the Q&A or the discussions you can have with him in the coffee club (some tickets are still available, but we expect them to go quickly now that Ianto himself will be at Ianto’s Coffee Club!).

Gareth has also played rolls in The Bill, Rosemary & Thyme, Casualty and Absolute Power, as well as many well received stage productions including Twelfth Night, Macbeth, Henry V and Lyre.

We are delighted that Gareth has agreed to join us for the day and we hope you will give him a warm welcome to his first convention appearance in Ireland on May 3rd.

Like the post heading says, we have some bad news to announce.  There’s good news to go with it but let’s get the bad out of the way.

Unfortunately we have to announce that Anna Hope is unable to attend Vortex.  She’s working on a play and the schedule is preventing her from making the trip.  We know this will disappoint a lot of you who have already bought tickets, and we are as disappointed as you are, but we’re delighted that Anna is getting to do what she loves doing, acting.  We’ll get the dates and theatre location (it’s not in Northern Ireland) for you and maybe some of you will get the chance to see her on stage. If you do, let us know!

We’ve never failed to find a suitable replacement guest before and this time is no different.  We are pleased to announce that Chipo Chung has agreed to be a guest at Vortex.

Chipo Chung

Chipo Chung - IMDB

Chipo played Chantho in the third season episode Utopia.  Remember, that’s the same episode that Paul played the Chieftain in so they’re bound to have some great stories to tell about working on the episode with David and Freema, along with guest stars John Barrowman and John Simm.

You may not realise it but you’ve also seen Chipo in the fourth season episode Turn Left.  There she played the Fortune Teller who tried to change Donna’s past.  Perhaps Paul and Chipo can shed some light on the rumour that the Fortune Teller was part of the Trickster’s Brigade.

Chipo has also played roles in TV Shows Dalziel and Pascoe, Holby City and The Last Enemy, as well as the Gwyneth Paltrow movie Proof and the 2007 movie Sunshine where she was the voice of the Icarus.

It’s disappointing that Anna won’t be at Vortex but you will be getting a great replacement guest and Anna will be top of our list to be invited to our next Doctor Who event.  Stay tuned for the announcement of our headline guest soon.   Follow us on Twitter if you want to be the first to know.  Alternatively, you can subscribe for email updates to get it delivered straight to your inbox.  The announcement will also go out on all our social networks so friend us on MySpace or join our Facebook group (you’ll find all the links below).  Or simply just keep checking back here regularly.

Anna Hope

Anna Hope - IMDB

We are delighted to announce Anna Hope as our second guest for Vortex.  After appearing in the webcast Tardisode “New Earth”, Anna played Novice Hame, one of the Sisters of Plenitude, in two Doctor Who episodes with David Tennant.  In the second season opener “New Earth”, she looked after the Face Of Boe on Ward 26 while covering up the Sister’s secret farm of cloned humans.  Anna was perfectly positioned to watch David take on his new roll as The Doctor and should have many interesting stories to tell about that.  In the season three episode “Gridlock”, she helped The Doctor and the Face Of Boe save the Under-City civilians from the Motorway and was with the Face during his final moments.

Anna also performed in two audio plays for Big Finish Productions.  “The Condemned” saw Anna play D.I. Patricia Menzies with Colin Baker as The Doctor.  She proved a difficult adversary for The Doctor when he had to prove his innocence after being accused of murder.  She reprised her roll for “The Raincloud Man” and worked with Colin again on another adventure in Manchester.

Paul Marc Davis

Paul Marc Davis - IMDB

We are delighted to announce Paul Marc Davis as our first guest. Paul joined us for Genesis, our first Doctor Who event in 2007, and fans were blown away by his engaging personality. His episode of Doctor Who hadn’t even been broadcast so he was very restricted in what he could talk about during his Q&A session. However, he still kept the audience captivated with his stories from the set and other projects he had worked on.

Since then, his highly rated season 3 episode “Utopia” has been shown where he plays The Chieftain, he has played a small role in the season 2 finale of Torchwood and brought The Trickster to life in four episodes of The Sarah Jane Adventures. There is no other actor we know who has worked on all three productions in the Doctor Who universe and that alone would have been enough reason for him to be our first choice of guest. But we also know how generous he is with fans of the shows and always goes the extra mile to make the event that bit more special.