Who Gets the Golden Ticket? Our Dream Guest Draft for Newcastle Film & Comic Con 2026

Guest announcements are the closest thing this fandom has to transfer deadline day. A name drops on a Thursday morning, the group chats detonate, someone claims they 'heard something months ago', and by lunchtime half the region has worked out whether they can afford a photo op and a train fare in the same month.

So, with the 2026 show on the horizon, we have done the traditional thing and assembled a draft. It is not a leak. Nobody at the convention has signed off on it. It is a wishlist built on the only criteria that matter: who would actually shift tickets, who would make for a genuinely great panel, and who might realistically pick up the phone.

How the draft works

Four tiers. Local legends first, because that is the soul of the thing. Then cult telly, then the blockbuster swing, then the wildcards that will never happen but are fun to argue about. Every pick comes with a note on why it works and how hard it would be to land.

One honest caveat before we start: guest budgets are not infinite, and a single headline name can eat most of the pot. Availability is a nightmare too. People are filming. People have theatre runs. People have done forty conventions in a year and would quite like a weekend off.

Tier one: the North East legends

Brenda Blethyn. Top of the list every single year and it never stops being the right answer. 'Vera' is the most Newcastle thing on television and the audience for a panel would fill a room twice over. The only question is whether the schedule allows it. Worth asking every year regardless.

Kevin Whately. Morse, Lewis and, crucially, 'Auf Wiedersehen, Pet'. A proper Sunday afternoon of a guest: warm, funny, endless stories about shooting in the region.

Timothy Spall and Jimmy Nail. If you could get the pair of them in the same room for an 'Auf Wiedersehen, Pet' retrospective, you would not need anything else on the bill. This is the dream booking. It is also the one most likely to be scuppered by filming commitments, so hold it loosely.

Charlie Hunnam. Born in Newcastle, started out on 'Byker Grove', went off and became a proper Hollywood lead. The crossover appeal is enormous: soap nostalgia for one half of the room, blockbuster fans for the other.

Jill Halfpenny. Gateshead's own, with a CV that runs from 'Byker Grove' to 'EastEnders' to serious stage work. Brilliant panellist, brilliant interviewee, and exactly the sort of guest who makes a smaller stage feel like the main event.

Robson Green. 'Soldier Soldier', 'Wire in the Blood', 'Grantchester', and a bloke who genuinely seems to enjoy talking to people about the North East. Reliable, charming, sells tickets.

Tier two: the cult telly heroes

This is where the convention crowd lives. A 'Byker Grove' reunion panel would be the single most talked-about hour of the weekend, and the alumni list is long enough to fill a stage. Add a 'Doctor Who' companion or two, a 'Red Dwarf' stalwart, and someone off a beloved-but-cancelled fantasy series, and you have a schedule that keeps people in the hall between photo sessions instead of drifting into town.

The rule here is simple: cult names generate better panels than red-carpet names. Someone who has spent years being asked the same six questions about a show that ended in 1993 tends to be excellent company on a stage. Give them an hour and a decent host and it will be the clip everyone shares afterwards.

Tier three: the blockbuster swing

There is always one. A big current name from a streaming juggernaut or a superhero franchise tends to land once every couple of years, and it changes the shape of the whole weekend.

The maths is unforgiving. A headline guest arrives with a fee, flights, accommodation, a handler or two and a photo-op quota that has to be hit. That cost gets spread across ticket tiers, and it is why the pricier packages exist at all. Be realistic about what that means: a big name does not make the show cheaper for anyone. It makes it bigger.

Our picks would lean towards people with a UK base and a genuine affection for regional shows — the ones who treat a Newcastle date as a homecoming rather than a chore. Karen Gillan, if we are dreaming. Any 'Doctor Who' lead, honestly, given the demographic overlap. And if somebody from a certain galaxy-far-far-away franchise fancies a weekend in the North East, we will make them very welcome indeed.

Tier four: the wildcards

Ross Noble. Cramlington's finest, and a genuine nerd. Would do a panel, would take the mickey out of the whole thing, would be brilliant.

Sarah Millican. South Shields, sharp as anything, and would draw an audience that does not normally come near a comic con.

Bob Mortimer. Technically Teesside, but we are claiming him. Has a cult following that would turn up in numbers and a way of telling a story that could fill ninety minutes on its own.

Sam Fender. Not a screen guest, not happening, and yet every year somebody suggests it. Keep suggesting it. It is good for morale.

What a big announcement actually does to your weekend

Here is the bit nobody tells you. Guest news is not just a marketing decision, it is a logistics decision, and it ripples through everything.

Ticket tiers shift. A headline name usually comes with a priority package — early entry, reserved seating, guaranteed autograph slots. That is not greed, it is the only way to cover the fee without pushing the standard day ticket somewhere ridiculous.

Queues get complicated. A popular guest needs a managed line, a cut-off point and staff who can say no politely forty times an hour. If you want a specific autograph, get there early and check the board for signing times rather than assuming they will be at the table all day.

Panels get scheduled around them. Photo sessions tend to happen before or after a panel, never during, which means a big name can quietly determine the shape of an entire afternoon. If you are planning a day around one person, build your plan around their slots and then fill the gaps.

Everything else gets squeezed. Smaller guests get pushed to the edges of the schedule. Be kind to them. A lot of the best conversations of the weekend happen at a quiet table with someone nobody queued for.

Have your say

Right, over to you. Our top three, in order, are Brenda Blethyn, an 'Auf Wiedersehen, Pet' retrospective panel, and Charlie Hunnam — a mix of local heritage, cult appeal and a genuine blockbuster draw.

Tell us yours. Reply to the post or drop it in the comments with your top three, and we will pull the results together before the next wave of announcements. If enough of you shout for the same name, it gets passed on. That is not a promise, but it is not nothing either.

And if any of the above happen to be reading this: the kettle is on, the Metro runs late, and we will save you a seat.