Drawing a crowd: The British Embassy goes to Comic Con

Have you ever been watching an award show or an interview and seen an actor or actress speak out of character and… hold on a moment… they’re British?  This most recently happened to me while watching the Emmy’s last year when I (unfortunately) hadn’t yet watched ‘Homeland’ and didn’t realise that Damian Lewis, who won Outstanding Lead Actor for his role as US Marine Sergeant Brody, hails from London.  What a pleasant surprise!

This fortunately goes both ways. While Brits are watching our beloved Homeland, we Americans are waiting (patiently) for the next installment of ‘Downton Abbey.’ Since coming to our screens in 2010, Downton has become the most watched drama in the UK, with about 120 million viewers in 200 countries around the world.

Britain is home to less than 1 percent of the world’s population but has one of the largest and most flourishing creative industries in the world. And it’s not only television. Writers, directors and actors, authors, musicians, designers, as well as technicians, crews and producers from across the globe can flourish in the UK.

The success of the UK creative sector in the US has brought the British Embassy in Washington to the annual Baltimore Comic Convention for the second year running. This year, ‘British Invasion’ is a theme for part of the weekend. The event will be highlighting British contributions to comics, sci-fi and the creative sector, featuring British artists and writers involved in the comic world. Last year we attended Comic Con not knowing what to expect. The weekend turned out to be a huge success; the team attended a British Invasion panel and heard a number of British writers and artists discuss the “British Invasion” of American comics that was the 1980s. The crowds were excited to see us as well – especially those dressed up as their favourite Doctor Who characters, including a Dalek that we met and later invited back to the Embassy for EU Day this year.

A large aspect of Comic Con is video games. The UK is home to the largest video game industry in Europe, and many top UK films and television shows have been turned into video games; including Doctor Who, which turns 50 years old this year! The UK has more than 33.6 million active gamers, making it Europe’s largest digital games market.

This year the Convention will offer a British Invasion panel with three different artists, for a fresh new look at the sector. Our team is looking forward to checking out the costumes (or lack thereof), as well as the lively enthusiasts, many of which travel far and wide, to come appreciate the creative sector.

The UK has an appetite for creativity – whether it’s the latest in film, comics or television that we are enjoying stateside.

Check out the Embassy’s post on BuzzFeed ›