Psycho Sci-fi!

This Saturday, on ITV4 at 7pm, there is an opportunity to see what is, in my opinion, the finest episode of perhaps the most consistently excellent SF series ever made... the series is Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's "UFO" and the episode... "The Psychobombs". Originally shown twelfth, on 30 December 1970, in a run of twenty-six, the story pits the operatives of SHADO against three human agents of the aliens, bent on destroying first a SHADO tracking station then a Skydiver submarine and finally SHADO HQ itself unless they cease operations immediately!

The episode boasts an excellent guest cast in the roles of "The Psychobombs". Deborah Grant plays Linda Simmonds, pictured with series regular Michael Billington as Colonel Paul Foster. He is sent to investigate her after she strangles a policeman with superhuman strength given to her by the UFO which has landed in England. She is perhaps best known to television viewers as the former wife of Eighties cop "Bergerac".

David Collings plays Daniel Clark, the man who, under alien influence, attacks Commander Straker (Ed Bishop) in his car and presents him with the written ultimatum. David is well known to "Doctor Who" fans for three guest appearances, as Vorus in "Revenge of the Cybermen", Poul in "The Robots of Death" and Mawdryn in "Mawdryn Undead". He also guested as Deva in "Blake", the last-ever episode of "Blakes 7" due out on DVD shortly. He is familiar to fans of "Sapphire and Steel" as Silver in eight episodes of that series.

The remaining human bomb, Clem Mason, is played by Mike Pratt, best known to viewers as Jeff Randall in cult late-Sixties paranormal comedy drama "Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)", currently also reshowing on ITV4, on Mondays at 7pm. Watch out for Christopher Timothy in this episode of "UFO", as the navigator of Skydiver 3, who can currently be seen in "Doctors", weekday afternoons on BBC ONE, but is best known as James Herriot opposite fifth Doctor Peter Davison and Robert Hardy in "All Creatures Great and Small"!

The episode may have modern resonances in the light of suicide bombings but was produced in perhaps more innocent times. It is stylishly made with some great explosion sequences but "UFO" was an attempt to populate a science fiction drama with real people with real emotions. "The Psychobombs" is one of two episodes that does not begin with the regular opening title sequence and the terrific Barry Gray theme tune.

In Remembrance

I was saddened to hear that Ed Bishop (seen on the right of the picture) and Michael Billington (on the left), both principle cast members in Gerry Anderson's "UFO" (1970-1971), died at the beginning of June within five days of each other. Bishop, who died in hospital on the morning of Wednesday, 8th June, just three days shy of his 73rd birthday, played SHADO Commander Ed Straker in all 26 episodes of "UFO", and voiced Captain Blue in all 32 episodes of the Supermarionation series "Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons" (1967), while Billington, who passed away on Friday, 3rd June, aged 63, played Colonel Paul Foster in "UFO".

Both actors appeared in the James Bond film series, Ed Bishop as a space tracker in "You Only Live Twice" (1967) as well as the uncredited role of Klaus Hergersheimer in "Diamonds Are Forever" (1971) and Michael Billington featured in a small but important role as Barbara Bach's Russian lover Sergei Barsov in the pre-credits sequence of "The Spy Who Loved Me" (1977). Bishop also had a small non-speaking role as the Aries 1B Lunar shuttle captain in Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968). More recently, he appeared as a journalist in the third season of the CBBC SF serial "The Demon Headmaster" (1996-1998).

From the days before VCRs, I have vivid memories of switching between Jon Pertwee's first year as "Doctor Who" and "UFO", broadcast at the same time, desperately wanting to watch both!