A whopping 4,000 fans flocked to Bolton Arena on Sunday (14 April) for Stars and Cars – an iconic day of TV and movie memorabilia raising money for the children of Derian House.
Fans posed for selfies with Benidorm and League of Gentlemen star Steve Pemberton, chatted to Chewbacca, and enjoyed a single jellybean from Oompa Loompa actor Kirsty Paterson in a recreation of the hilariously-doomed Glasgow Willy’s Chocolate Experience.
In a UK exclusive, all four Batmobiles were in the same room for the first time, and visitors met the Seventh Doctor Sylvester McCoy and his TARDIS – along with Doctor Who’s canary yellow car, Bessie.
There were also appearances from Ted Lasso actress Annette Badland, DC Comics’ Batman, 80s cyborg assassin The Terminator, and CBBC’s outspoken Border Terrier – Hacker T. Dog.
Every penny made at Stars and Cars 2024 will be donated to Derian House Children’s Hospice in Chorley with the total to be announced soon.
Actor Steve Pemberton, 56, said: “I’m from Chorley so this for me is a local gig for local people and I really love coming back here and seeing how people remember those League of Gentlemen characters and they are just as big fans now as they were 25 years ago.
“That is what kicked us all off and it will have a very special part in my heart forever.”
Steve spoke about the response he had from fans at the event.
He said: “I’ve just had so much love, so much love for everything that I have done from League of Gentlemen, Inside No 9, White Chapel, Benidorm and it is just overwhelming really that people are just so excited and still remember stuff that is so old.”
Steve, who was born in Blackburn but grew up in Chorley, has taken to X/Twitter to announce he will be auctioning off some items from Taskmaster in order to raise money for Derian House Children’s Hospice.
Organised by Mick Croskery and Colin Wilby, from Stars and Cars Events, the event has so far raised more than £100,000 for the charity that cares for 400 babies, children and young people with life-limiting conditions from across the North West.
Colin Wilby, Stars & Cars organiser and Ambassador at Derian House Children’s Hospice, said: “We were inspired to set up this event because of our huge love of cars and wanting to achieve something a little different to what is currently out there in the Comic Con world.
“We love cars and we have been characters ourselves with professional costuming and have a lot of friends who also want to do charity work.
“We have done this now at this particular arena for three years, it started in 2019 and has built up the success each year and this year the response has been phenomenal.
“We have had close to 4,000 tickets sold and it attracts an audience of people from aged four up to 90 – everyone loves something in the room.
“We would like to thank everyone for their time and thank all of our volunteers, no one takes any money from this event they are all volunteers, and all the money goes to Derian House.”
Find out more about Stars & Cars.
Derian House, based in Astley Village, Chorley, cares for more than 400 babies, children, young people and their families from across the North West and is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Find out more: www.derianhouse.co.uk
