Geeson in Outer Space!

This Sunday, on ITV4 at 7pm, and repeated in the early hours of the following morning, there is an opportunity to see one of the best episodes of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's "Space: 1999", "Another Time, Another Place". Originally shown sixteenth, on Thursday, 18 December, 1975, as part of the first-season run of twenty-four, the episode guest stars one of my favourite actresses of the Seventies, Judy Geeson. She plays Regina Kesslann who suffers an emotional breakdown, after the moon passes through a rift in space, believing Eagle pilot Alan Carter to be her husband! In need of medical attention, she is pictured above with series regular Barbara Bain as Doctor Helena Russell.

Judy has had a long and varied career dating from a 1961 episode of "Dixon of Dock Green" through episodes of "Star Trek: Voyager" and an appearance in "Charmed". Her roles have shown much diversity. She held her own as John Hurt's wife, Beryl Evans, opposite Richard Attenborough's extremely unnerving portrayal of serial killer John Reginald Christie in "10 Rillington Place", in 1971. A decade later she was Sandy in the notoriously grisly science fiction horror film "Inseminoid". On TV, in 1976, she portrayed Fulvia in the recently-released-on-DVD feminist science fiction series "Star Maidens" and, perhaps more notably, played Susan Mount, alongside Anthony Andrews, in the 1979 war drama "Danger UXB".

In "Another Time, Another Place", the crew of Moonbase Alpha finally return home only to discover an identical moon already orbiting the Earth. They have travelled through time and caught up with their future selves. Not only that, Regina is discovered to have two brains!! The episode is the first of many written by series' script editor Johnny Byrne who went on to write for "All Creatures Great and Small", "Doctor Who" and, most recently, ITV family drama "Heartbeat" which he also devised. Australian actor Nick Tate, who played Captain Carter in both seasons of the show, has often said "Another Time, Another Place" is his favourite episode of "Space: 1999".

Marvellous Marple!

I half expected "Agatha Christie's Marple" to be a little on the stodgy side but "The Moving Finger" turned out to be great fun. This was partly due to the all-star cast but also the knowing screenplay by Kevin Elyot which contained many laugh-out-loud moments at the numerous in-jokes. Best of these sprung from Ken Russell's character, the Reverend Caleb Dane Calthrop, speaking out against fornication, in the knowledge that the director-turned-actor himself has built a career making movies on that selfsame subject, from "Women in Love" to "Mahler", "Lisztomania" to "Tommy"!

The preview I read called the casting of Ken, together with comedian Harry Enfield as the dastardly uptight solicitor Richard Symmington, dodgy thus missing the point that this production intended itself as self-mocking. From the opening shots of playboy and World War II veteran Jerry Burton, played by James D'Arcy, first on his motorcycle and then in a red sports car with sister Joanna, a red-headed Emilia Fox, so blatantly filmed as period parody in the style of the time against a back projection, the story always managed to entertain.

I missed Paul McGann in last week's opening episode but "Doctor Who" Jon Pertwee's son Sean was on hand this week as the rather nervous Dr. Owen Griffith and I believe "Doctor Who" companion Bonnie Langford appears in the next yarn as a pushy mother! The poison-pen letters in "The Moving Finger" turn out to be one enormous red herring which distract Inspector Graves, a superb turn from Keith Allen, into hilariously staking out the women's institute's typewriter! Credit must also be given to John Session's Cardew Pye, as gay as the name sounds, reminding me of Nickolas Grace's performance as stuttering Anthony Blanche in "Brideshead Revisited"!

Another interesting piece of casting was that of ex-"Big Breakfast" presenter Kelly Brook as governess Elsie Holland who gains a place in the affections of our hero Jerry before he realises he is in love with Megan Hunter, played to perfection by Talulah Riley (pictured) fresh from her success as Mary Bennet in the recent movie version of "Pride and Prejudice". The ye-olde-worlde scenes of Lymstock, a typically idyllic-seeming English country village, were picture-postcard perfect and made me think I was still watching "The Avengers"!!! Highly recommended.

Friend or Foe?

I suppose this contradicts what I was saying in my last post, to a certain extent, but we are all full of contradictions! "Friend or Foe" is the new single by t.A.T.u. out this week, taken from their second album "Dangerous and Moving". Reviews have been poor, asking what happened to the t.A.T.u. that gave us "All the Things She Said", but all the trademark sonorities are still in place... high vocal line, synthesiser solo etc.

The song is by Dave Stewart, Annie Lennox's sparring partner firstly in The Tourists, who I saw support Roxy Music in Leicester before they became famous, and more recently in Eurythmics. A few years back Stewart worked with Bryan Ferry on his solo album "Frantic". The sleeve of the new t.A.T.u. CD single was taken by Bryan Adams and the track itself features ex-Police frontman Sting on bass! One reviewer described Stewart/Adams/Sting as the unholy trinity. I don't quite know what religion has to do with it?!!

Pictured at the piano is Lena Katina, one half of the duo t.A.T.u., during the shooting of the video for "Friend or Foe". It is unlikely to be number one this Sunday. That dubious honour will no doubt fall to Leo Sayer for only the second time in his career.

Setting the World on Fire?

Sometimes, I wonder why I like pop music? There is so much rubbish about, people with no talent earning millions, and it isn't just a modern phenomenon. It has always been the case. Boybands with their supposed good looks appealing to teenage girls, boybands with guitars (as if the mere act of holding an instrument gives them some kind of credibility), youngish females - with precious little clothing - selling the fantasy of sex... all have absolutely nothing to do with music. The irony is that these folk are convinced they have talent. They are arrogant. Real musicians know there is always room for improvement and always doubt their own ability!

When listening to a piece of "classical" music that takes a theme and develops it, as opposed to repeating it over and over ad nauseam, it makes me wonder why I like any pop music. But I try to keep an open mind and seek out the good in things. Recently, I discovered a band from Montreal, Canada called Arcade Fire. I'd seen and heard them on "Later with Jools", towards the end of last year, and their sound caught my attention but I thought no more of it until recently when, flicking through the channels, I landed on E4 and the video of "Rebellion (Lies)" was playing. I'm a sucker for rock bands that use orchestral instruments, especially strings!

It's probably George Martin we have to thank for the addition of strings on pop records not to mention the piccolo trumpet! As can be seen in the photo, Arcade Fire use a range of instruments adding a couple of violins, a doublebass and accordion to those of a traditional rock band. That already makes them intriguing. Coupled with the plaintive cry of the lead singer, I've started to ask myself whether or not this group could be the new Roxy Music? I've asked myself that many times, over the past thirty years, about groups ranging from Sparks to The Stranglers, Magazine to Portishead, to name but four! Arcade Fire's "Rebellion (Lies)", from the album "Funeral", is an uplifting pop song, far removed from the bland mainstream, and thus worth consideration.

Who Watches the Watchers?

"The Ghost Squad" is a gritty new police drama series that seemed to pass most people by as last year drew to a close. Broadcast in November and December by Channel 4, it concerned the undercover operations of Detective Constable Amy Harris portrayed by superb Irish actress Elaine Cassidy, pictured here in the series finale. Each episode, armed with elaborate cover stories, Amy's job is to infiltrate the lives of potentially corrupt policemen and women to weed out the bent officers. The title refers to a real-life police unit, now thought to have been disbanded, which was set up in the Nineties to investigate malpractice in the Met. Amy plays a dangerous game working with coppers who take her into their confidence, where any hint that her real intention might be to expose them could threaten her life...

Elaine Cassidy first came to my attention playing opposite Bob Hoskins in Atom Egoyan's very dark film thriller "Felicia's Journey". She has continued to impress since, again with Hoskins, in a BBC television adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Lost World" and, more recently, in "Fingersmith" for which she was voted ninth equal best actress, in the BBC's online end-of-year poll, with Sally Hawkins, her co-star in that production.

The principal writer of "The Ghost Squad" is Tom Grieves and the series is produced by Chris Clough. Both have previous cop-show experience working on "The Bill" together although this new series is shot more in the style of "The Cops". Chris was also Producer of seasons four and five of "Ballykissangel" before which he directed several "Doctor Who" adventures in the late Eighties.

"The Ghost Squad" was initially intended to be broadcast in eight one-hour episodes but, for some reason, Channel 4 decided to broadcast the last two as a feature-length finale featuring "Hustle" actor Adrian Lester as the policeman under investigation. Whether they did this to make it seem like a Christmas special or to get the series over and done to make way for "Shameless" in the New Year, possibly because of poor viewing figures, is anybody's guess but it was good to see the police format being tested once again even if some critics didn't find it entirely successful! I, for one, would certainly welcome a second season.

"Revelation" Revisited!

I was quite taken with the above photo when I saw it on the "Doctor Who" restoration team's website. It occured to me that, at the time it was taken, three of the four people pictured had worked, in one capacity or another, with both Daleks and Cybermen! One of them had worked only with the Daleks. Almost a year later, it's with great optimism I mention that that fact has just changed. All four have now worked with both. Let me explain...

The picture was taken when the four of them were recording a commentary for last year's DVD release of "Revelation of the Daleks" called "Revelation Exhumed". It reunited them twenty years on from the original recording, "Revelation of the Daleks" being the only "Doctor Who" title with 1985 at the end of the closing credits.

On the left is actor Terry Molloy, best known to radio listeners as Mike Tucker in Radio 4's farming soap "The Archers". To "Doctor Who" fans, he's best known for his portrayal of Dalek creator Davros and the only actor to have played the role more than once! He inherited the part from Michael Wisher's original characterisation in 1975's "Genesis of the Daleks" and David Gooderson's 1979 interpretation in "Destiny of the Daleks". Terry has put on the mask of Davros on no less than three occasions during the Eighties, firstly in "Resurrection" ('84), then in "Revelation" ('85), and finally in "Remembrance of the Daleks" ('88). To keep his reappearance in the latter a surprise, the Emperor Dalek was credited to Roy Tromelly (anag.)! In 1985, he also played a character called Russell in "Attack of the Cybermen"...

Sitting next to Terry is writer and script editor Eric Saward. He was responsible, in his capacity as author, for returning the Cybermen to our screens in 1982, in a story called "Earthshock", after an absence of seven years. As well as writing "The Visitation", for the same season, he also wrote "Attack of the Cybermen" three years later, in 1985, despite the credit going to Paula Moore, his girlfriend at the time! That year also saw him write two stories for a season as he was also responsible for "Revelation of the Daleks". It was a sequel to his previous year's "Resurrection of the Daleks".

Next to Eric is actress Nicola Bryant. She played companion Perpugilliam 'Peri' Brown from 1984 to 1986. She joined the TARDIS crew as the fifth Doctor's era was coming to an end in "Planet of Fire" and stayed until partway through sixth Doctor epic "The Trial of a Time Lord". Since "Doctor Who", she has appeared in "Blackadder's Christmas Carol" (1988) as Millicent, children's serial "The Biz" (1994) as dance instructor Martine alongside Geoffrey Bayldon and had guest roles in medical dramas "Casualty" and "Doctors", both in 2000. During her time in "Doctor Who", however, she battled the programme's two most popular villains in "Attack of the Cybermen" and "Revelation of the Daleks".

On the right of the picture is "Star Cops" (1987) director Graeme Harper. He directed Nicola Bryant in both of his "Doctor Who" stories of the Eighties, "The Caves of Androzani" and "Revelation of the Daleks" but was the only one in the photograph to have never worked with the Cybermen... until now! He has just completed the filming of four episodes to feature them, for the second season of the new series, most likely beginning its run on 15 April. As the new episodes are almost twice the length of the regular length of classic episodes, this is quite some feat, and must have taken quite some organising, putting them on a par, in that respect, with the Douglas Camfield-directed eight-part Sixties' Cybermen story "The Invasion"!

Where Eric Saward brought the Cybermen back in "Earthshock" twenty-four years ago, Graeme Harper, beginning with "The Rise of the Cybermen", is doing the same eighteen years since their last proper appearance in the 1988 story "Silver Nemesis". The Cybermen's revival falls on the monsters from Mondas's fortieth anniversary, having first appeared in the 1966 final William Hartnell story "The Tenth Planet". The beauty of the "Revelation Exhumed" photo, and this accompanying story of connections, is that it firmly links classic "Doctor Who" (1963-89) to the new series (2005-?)!

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.

Enterprising New Role!

Patrick Stewart returns to our television screens on Thursday 19 January at 9pm in a new ITV1 drama series called "Eleventh Hour". The production consists of four, weekly, ninety-minute thrillers played out against the world of contemporary science. He plays Professor Ian Hood, emeritus Professor of Physics now serving as Special Advisor to the government's Joint Sciences Committee. At his side is Rachel Young, his Special Branch bodyguard played by Ashley Jensen.

Hood's a roving troubleshooter. His remit is to seek out or respond to any human crisis arising out of, or offering a threat to, current scientific endeavour. Hood and Rachel are perpetually on the road, living in hotels and out of suitcases, travelling from one challenge to another in an unassuming hand-me-down official pool car.

Patrick Stewart has never really had a primetime show on British television as "Star Trek: The Next Generation" was sidelined into a weekday teatime slot on BBC TWO. I've sometimes wondered what the ratings would've been like had it been transmitted early Saturday evenings on BBC ONE in the slot allocated to "The New Adventures of Superman". Patrick was already a highly regarded character actor, in films such as "Lady Jane", "Excalibur" and "Lifeforce", before getting the "Star Trek" job and that success has continued post "Trek" with the "X-Men" trilogy.

Ashley Jensen is perhaps best known to British audiences for roles in "May to December" and, more recently, acting alongside Ricky Gervais in "Extras". Interestingly, Patrick Stewart guest starred in an episode of "Extras".

"Eleventh Hour" was devised by Stephen Gallagher whose credits include "Bugs", "Chimera" and "Oktober". He also wrote the scripts for the "Doctor Who" stories "Warriors' Gate" and "Terminus". Gallagher has taken inspiration from "Quatermass" in the creation of the Professor and Emma Peel of "The Avengers" when writing the character of Rachel. The show sounds a little like early Seventies science fiction series "Doomwatch". So, all things considered, the prospects look good for a cracking new science fiction series!

Getting the better of Bond!

I have grown to love the James Bond Films. When I started exploring fantasy television and films in a more academic fashion, I decided to look into this series and began by simply sorting out in my mind which set pieces belong to which film et cetera, instead of seeing them as a homogeneous mass!

Most people prefer Sean Connery's portrayal of James Bond but my favourite actor in the role is the underrated Roger Moore who went straight from playing Lord Brett Sinclair, in the ITC television series "The Persuaders!", onto the set of "Live and Let Die", the first of his seven consecutive appearances as the secret agent.

Receiving its third terrestrial screening tonight on ITV1 is the twentieth and most recent entry in the James Bond adventure series, "Die Another Day". This has turned out to be Pierce Brosnan's fourth and final outing as James Bond, 007, with Daniel Craig having recently been named as his successor. My personal favourite of the Brosnan quartet, it features Halle Berry recreating original Bond girl Ursula Andress's unforgettable first appearance from 1962's "Dr. No", forty years on, rising bikini-clad from the surf.

Out of this World!

The New Year brings a new season of drama and, for fans of cult television, two shows begin next week. Saturday sees the return of the supernatural series "Sea of Souls" for a third season. It stars excellent Scottish actor Bill Paterson as Doctor Douglas Monaghan with former "Monarch of the Glen" actress Dawn Steele (pictured) and Iain Robertson as his associates Justine McManus and Craig Stevenson. This year, instead of three two-part stories where each pair of episodes ran on consecutive evenings over three weeks, the season consists of six single-episode tales to be broadcast one a week.

On the BBC's website, Bill Paterson, explaining the success of "Sea of Souls", says, "People are fascinated with the paranormal and issues of reality. We are living in a non religious age but people are still trying to find extra terrestrial reasons for why things happen. Formal religion is the greatest psychic superstition of all and in the absence of that people often look for alternatives about lives continuing and messages coming from beyond the grave."

The second episode of the new series of "Sea of Souls" was shot in an old disused ironworks at night which Dawn Steele found horrible and spooky. She says, "When you're filming the kinds of scenes where the subject matter is quite disturbing and you're somewhere as vast and eerie as that, you can't help but get a shiver down your spine. There were a few times at the ironworks when I felt really spooked out, you know weird noises and tricks of the light - I was like: 'I want my mum - now!' "

The other show of interest, from the makers of "Spooks" and "Hustle", concerns a time-travelling cop who is transported back from the present day to 1973. "Life On Mars" stars John Simm as Sam Tyler (interesting surname!) who has to come to terms with an unfamiliar environment and an archaic CID unit. His new boss, DCI Gene Hunt, is played by Philip Glenister who sounds like a hard-nosed cop of the Regan variety. Sensitivity comes in the shape of WPC Annie Cartright, an educated and open minded woman played by Liz White.

The title "Life On Mars" comes from my favourite song by David Bowie, which can be found on his 1971 album "Hunky Dory". The eight-part series promises plenty of action and humour and, also like Seventies' cop show "The Sweeney", the cars play an important part! It also sounds as though there's a touch of "Crime Traveller" about this new series. I'm looking forward to watching both "Life On Mars" and "Sea of Souls".