If there’s one press release that’s particularly intrigued us this week, it’s the news that Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi in Star Trek: The Next Generation ) is opening a caravan show – Caravan And Motorhome 2013 - in Manchester on Thursday morning. Star Trek and caravans? We were struggling to divine the link. So obviously, we just had to ask her about it…
SFX: So Marina… what’s with the caravans? Are you secretly a caravan enthusiast?
Marina Sirtis: “Well, actually I’ve never been in a caravan, but my trailer, when I was doing Star Trek , was basically a caravan, and it was so luxurious. I mean, I lived in New York for a while and I swear, my trailer was bigger and more luxurious than my New York apartment! So I have had experience of living in a mobile home.
“I do remember that when I was a kid, we never went on a caravan holiday but a lot of my friends did. And I was always so jealous, because it seemed like it would be a brilliant thing to do - it just seemed so different and exciting, and much more fun than just going to a bed and breakfast in Margate, or whatever. And I always wanted to have a caravan holiday but never had one, so I kind of fancy seeing what they’re like now.
“Also, my husband and I have been together for 25 years, and we’ve had this running joke for 25 years that he wants to sell up everything and get an RV and live in it, so we could travel around and just go wherever we want. His thing is, ‘Well, if there’s an earthquake, we’ll be fine because we can just drive away!’ Because we did live through a big one in LA, in the early ‘90s, and there was quite a lot of damage to our house. So this is his dream, to live in an RV.
“I have to be honest, my idea of roughing it is having 24-hour room service, so we’re a bit opposite. But he’s so delighted that I’m here, because he thinks I’m going to go to the show and fall in love with the lifestyle, then come back home and say, 'Oh yes darling, let’s live in an RV!'"
Ian Berriman twitter.com/ianberriman
Caravan And Motorhome 2013 takes place at EventCity, Manchester (next to the Trafford Centre), from Thursday 17 January to Sunday 20 January. Marina will be opening the show at 10.15am on Thursday, then signing autographs at the Caravan Club Lounge (stand 3-15). You can book tickets and find more details at www.caravanshows.com .
Don't worry - we also talked to Marina about, y’know, space and stuff. You’ll be able to read what she had to say about her time on Next Gen in a future issue of SFX.
