Thursday, May 21, 2009

Sunday

Originally posted by Nabu San:

Most people consider Sunday a day of rest. A day to sit back, put their feet up, forget their woes and have a nice cuppa! In the world of SJA, however, last Sunday happened to be one of the busiest days of the year! That was the case for me, anyway, when I had the privilege of heading up to Cardiff last weekend to meet fellow SARAH-JANE.tv writer, Peter Pan, and attend the prestigious BAFTA Cymru Awards Ceremony at the Wales Millennium Centre!

Peter Pan and his partner were my wonderful hosts for the weekend, and were kind enough to take me sightseeing places I've wanted go since SJA first aired!



The most famous house in Wales, 13 Bannerman Road! *faint*



Luke, Clyde and Rani's school, Park Vale!



The swing set where Clyde finds Luke in 'Warriors of Kudlak'



Spellman's Magical Museum of the Circus!



The pier where Maria runs into the young Sarah Jane!



Not strictly SJA, but how could I miss out on seeing Torchwood HQ?!

We even went over to Upper Boat, mere yards away from Sarah Jane's attic set! There was a wall and a fence between us, mind you - but still, yards away! Once our time exploring Cardiff was over, I got dropped off at the Wales Millennium Centre to attend the Welsh BAFTA's:



I'd arrived pretty early, but this was the scene at the red carpet two hours before the ceremony had even begun(!)



I had to head in at this point, so wasn't able to catch the stars as they made their way through the entrance. Fortunately, photographer alun.vega was able to catch a snap of Lis Sladen and Russell T. Davies as they arrived!



In the lobby of the Millennium Centre, my fellow BAFTA attendees and I were being entertained courtesy of a male singer and his piano accompanist. We were even served our choice of champagne or juice! This kept us occupied whilst star after Welsh star filed into the building and were escorted to their seats in the main theatre. Eventually at 6pm, we were called in, too.



It wasn't until 7.40pm that the Children's Programme nominations were finally announced. What the public didn't know before tonight was which SJA episode had been nominated for a BAFTA. Turned out to be The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith! A sure win, right?! Wrong... Sadly, The Sarah Jane Adventures lost out on an award for a fourth time...this time in favour of a Welsh pre-school puppet show called Holi Hana...which had talking Welsh ducks! Yeah...

Okay, a teeny bit bitter - as were most of the audience, if the audible groans I heard when the winner was announced is any indication. But it's not the end of the world. There's still the main BAFTA's this Autumn, and the RTS Awards next year! SJA may have missed out on an award this time around, but that only means finally getting one down the line will be all the more sweeter!

The remainder of the BAFTA Cymru ceremony was still quite entertaining though, especially when Russell T. Davies came on-stage to accept an award and claimed to have got it on with Gethin Jones' sister [a running joke that evening!]. Our very own Lis discarded her pink coat and also went on-stage to call out the nominations for the Best Actor award.



All in all, a rather hectic Sunday! An SJA location pilgrimage around Cardiff, attending the Welsh BAFTA's - and I even squeezed in a trip to the local Doctor Who Exhibition! Who'd want a day of rest when you can do all that?

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