Video and pictures: Thousands pour in to Telford to meet the Seventh Doctor at Midlands Comic Con

Sylvestor McCoy was among the special guests who visited Shropshire this weekend for the convention, held at Telford International Centre.

Accompanied by Sophie Aldred, who played his Doctor's baseball bat-wielding companion Ace, McCoy drew in a crowd, with fans queueing for autographs and photos with their sci-fi hero.

The man himself was on good form when he took part in a question and answer session with Sophie in front of a large audience.

And although Sylvester appeared more recently on the big screen as nature-loving wizard Radagast the Brown in the Hobbit trilogy, it was his time on Doctor Who which the fans wanted to hear about.

"The legacy of being in Doctor Who? It's terribly tiring," he dead panned, before breaking into a grin.

"No, it's a completely wonderful experience," he said.

"It's really nice, and I didn't know it was part of the cultural life of Great Britain when I got the job.

"And it was the fans that brought Doctor Who back. Russell T Davies was a fan and the BBC said what would you like to do and he said Doctor Who. So this is a fan thing. We travel the world to meet the fans and we love doing that."

Sophie agreed, happily jumping in to interrupt Sylvester in a manner reminiscent of the way Ace used to speak to The Doctor in the 1980s.

"I think it's wonderful that it continues to be a part of Britain's cultural life, she said.

Other special guests included Simon Fisher-Becker, who played Hogwarts' ghost the Fat Friar in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, and the blue-skinned black marketeer Dorium Maldovar in Doctor Who.

Another guest with a Doctor Who connection was Kai Owen, who was Gwen's partner Rhys in all four seasons of the Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood. The final guest was Andrew Lee Potts, who played Connor Temple in hit ITV show Primeval and is currently appearing in new supernatural series Stan Lee's Lucky Man.

Bryan Cooney, event manager, said: "We're delighted with the all new look show, which was split across halls one, two and three as well as the new theatre.

"We don't have final attendance figures yet but we believe it to be just over 8,000.

"The number of families attending has been amazing and it's been great to see all the kids in their costumes and their superhero capes."

There was plenty for children to do, with an art competition, face painting, and a scavenger hunt to find different characters and items scattered around the exhibition halls.

Maisy Daniels, six, and big brother Dylan, 10, were brought along by dad Harry, from Malinslee.

He said: "They loved the idea of dressing up. Maisy wanted to be Elsa from Frozen and she's loved seeing all the other people dressed up as Elsa and Anna as well. Dylan loves Marvel superheroes so he wanted to be Spiderman. He's going to get his face painted as Iron Man.

"I wasn't brave enough to dress up but I've got my Hulk t-shirt on.

"I like the day out. It's something a bit different, there are lots of things to look at, Dylan had a go at the computer game competition and some of the costumes are amazing."

The event ended with a costume masquerade for the people who had come in costume and wanted to show off their hand made designs.

About 40 people took part in the parade, dressed as characters ranging from Marvel's Deadpool and DC Comics' Batman to the Legend of Zelda videogame character Link and various Jedi knights.

Simon Woodall travelled from Plymouth to show off his recently finished costume of the Transformer Bumblebee.

"It's based on an American football suit with all the pads. I bought the base body suit from the States and then did the rest," he said.

"I've been buying little plastic cars from Toys'R'Us, broken ones, and cutting them up and using them to make different parts of the costume, gluing it all together. It's taken about three or four months. I've worn it half finished in the autumn but this is the first time it's been complete.

"I have to admit it's not very comfortable. It weighs about 25 to 30lbs. I've got fans in the helmet and in the back, but the batteries are starting to go in them so it's a bit hot."