click on each image below to see a larger pic
The scene was so surreal : Nicola Walker was standing just in front of me. I couldn’t stop looking into her beautiful blue eyes. They were just bewitching. I had worn heels this evening so I was just exactly her height. This meant she was looking at me straight in the eye which wasn’t helping me to concentrate. And as I had predicted, I couldn’t think of anything to ask her, about Spooks, about her next project, about anything… My mind was totally blank! But being Nicola Walker, she knew what to do and so she was the one who started the conversation.
She asked where we came from and how long we were staying. I told her I got lucky when I was able to buy tickets for the play and that was a shame that the NT live performance of the play at the beginning of September hadn’t been aired in France. She was surprised and disappointed for me. She told me she’d have to ask why the Curious Incident hadn’t been aired in France. But I told her that it was actually a good thing since it gave us the occasion to come and see her live, which was much better.
Then she asked us where we were staying. So I told her that we wanted to pay tribute to Spooks and we were staying at Claridge’s. She stared at me and started to laugh. She said, “Wow, I’m not sure we’ve ever filmed in that hotel because we didn’t have the budget for that, so we probably took another beautiful hotel and pretended it was Claridge’s!” That was so funny. I told her that I would have to watch the episode again and compare what was shown on screen with what I had seen in real life, just to check if it was the same hotel. Then of course I congratulated her for her performance in the play which was amazing. She told us we were lucky because tonight’s performance had been very good. She told me that the play had been such a great success, the producers wanted to take it to the West End and abroad as well, in France perhaps. But she didn’t have more information about that.
At this point, I asked her if she would sign a picture for me. She asked me what I had brought for her. While I was taking out the picture from my folder, she said, “Oh that’s me! Oh and this jumper… !” I told her that her jumper was more than ok and she laughed. She asked for my name (which is Virginie) when she was ready to write, and for just a second, she stopped and was probably thinking, “ok, how do I spell this?” She looked at me, and while I was saying “like Virginia but with an ‘e’ at the end”, she was saying exactly the same thing at the same time. It was just amazing! So amazing that I forgot to thank her when she told me that I have a very lovely name. Nicola Walker complimented me and I didn’t thank her! The picture I had printed was in black and white and the pen was black as well so she hesitated when she was deciding where was the best place to sign. I told her, “on the jumper” and she laughed again, She started writing my name and she stopped at the end to be sure and I spelt the last 2 letters for her. She wrote such a lovely message for me.
Then I asked her if it was ok for us to take a picture and of course she was pleased to do it. My husband told her he wasn’t a paparazzi even though he carried a big camera. Nicola told him that he looked very professional. She leaned in close to me when we took the first picture. I was so thrilled that I ended up looking very weird in the picture.
Nicola wanted to take another one because she said that she wasn’t ‘smiling’ in that picture. She looked at me and showed me how her lips were closed. She said, “I was like that.” It was so funny! So we took another one (where I still looked completely weird) but this time, Nicola was ‘really’ smiling, with her lips parted!
Then it was the time for her to leave us because her friends/family were still waiting for her. I told her again how glad I was to be here with her and how wonderful she was. She seemed a little embarrassed when I told her that and she thanked us back for being here. And while saying goodbye and thank you, she did an amazing thing which I wasn’t expecting : she hugged me and kissed me on the cheek and did the same with my husband. In France, it’s normal to kiss on the cheek to say hello or goodbye but I know this is not common at all in the UK to do that. And even if we do that in France, it’s only with people we know (friends, relatives, etc.) or when we’re being introduced to someone new. I mean, we were strangers to her. And she did that so naturally. Perhaps because she knew we were French and that we do that in France? What a dream! She smelled so good 🙂 ! After that she waved her hand to say goodbye and we left her. It has been such a great moment. Hard to keep my feet on the ground after that… Nicola is such a lovely person. And those eyes… I’ll never forget.
The rest of our trip was just a nightmare and it started just after we left Nicola. My husband had never taken a ride in a London cab so we took one to go back to the hotel. It took us more than 30 minutes to get there because two or three important roads (such as Westminster Bridge) were closed and therefore we were stuck in the traffic for some time. And we had to pay a much higher fare than what it was supposed to be. On the following day when we arrived at Lille in France after getting out from the Eurostar, we discovered that there was a national rail services strike (again!) so our next train had been cancelled. We had to hire a car and drive 6 hours to finally get back home!
But Nicola was still in my head. I wish I could keep the sound of her voice and her face in my head forever. I wish only one thing now : to see her in another play very soon. What surprised me the most about her is her size : I really thought she was taller but television gives wrong impressions. And she’s much more beautiful in reality than on television or even in photos : the pictures my husband took don’t show her as beautiful as I saw her with my own eyes!
Even if I didn’t tell Nicola all that I wanted to tell her, I appreciated every second of this meeting.
And then I thought about one sentence said in Spooks which totally described what I thought at that moment (and still think) :
Happiness isn’t about getting what we want but appreciating what we have.
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So I’ve watched again this Spooks episod with Lucas and Ros at St Pancras in season 7 (s7.6) and the lift I’ve taken into picture is really the one we can see at the end of the episod!!!
I laughed, I cried, I laughed again! Such a great review/report of your trip to London & Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time! Thank you for sharing with other fans!
I’m soooo glad you liked it! I’m really happy that you felt all these emotions reading the report : it means that I managed to describe all the emotions I felt when I was there so that other fans can feel the same! I was so thrilled when I read other fans’ reports that I wanted to share my experience with others!
What a great write-up! But too bad you don’t look happy at ALL! LOL! I’m so happy for you. And good for you for calling out her name and getting her to come back and meet you! I’m so jealous she kissed you on the cheek! She did the same to my husband but no to me 🙁 You expressed so well exactly the way I felt when I met her. I was floating on air and I was so happy even after meeting her for the third time. So you have a lot to look forward to the next time you meet her! Wow, Claridge’s, can’t top that!
I still don’t know where I found the courage to call her by her name. If I had waited 2 more seconds, she’d been away… When she turned back to me, I was so surprised and I didn’t know what to say for a few seconds! That’s why I talked about the note! To give me time to realise Nicola was there in front of me and I was talking to her! I can’t believe you’ve met her 3 times! You’re so lucky! I can’t wait for the next time. I hope I won’t have to wait too long! If there’s a next time, I’ll make a list of the things I wanna ask/say not to forget as it happened when I met her! The Claridge’s was a great experience! It’s going to be hard to do better! Perhaps a suite next time! I should start saving money right now!
Even if I have 2 pictures and an autograph, it’s still hard for me to really believe I’ve met Nicola Walker! She was sooo fantastic, nice, great,beautiful, gorgeous, etc…!!! Indeed, it’s going to be hard to do better than the Claridge’s! The Savoy? LOL
Brilliant report, Virginie. So pleased you got to meet Nicola. The Claridge’s, eh? How are the rest of us Nicola fans ever going to top that when we go to London next time?!