 |
In September 1953 Charles Chilton had finished producing the final series of his popular Western serial Riders of the Range. Chilton was a producer in the light entertainment department of BBC Radio, which was responsible for variety, including comedy, panel games and non-standard drama. His head of department, Michael Standing, told him that there was a great demand for science fiction and that anyone who could produce a western could produce a science fiction serial. The BBC had received lots of science fiction scripts but these weren't really very good, so Chilton decided to write the series himself, just as he had done with Riders of the Range. The series was to last for twelve episodes and was aimed at a family audience. In the beginning the series got off to a shaky start chronicling the attempts of Sir William Morgan to launch a test rocket in New Mexico. Aided by his assistant McKenzie, Sir William faced the problem of perfecting his design alongside obtaining the necessary funding. His own son was to be the test pilot for the rocket, nicknamed Jet because of his expertise in piloting the Morgan stratoship, and Lemmy Barnett was on board as radio operator. After a crash landing Jet and Lemmy were grounded and so it seemed was the story.
After the third episode it was clear that things weren't working. Chilton later said he still had the western in mind and started "a bit like Riders of the Range on the Moon." At this stage it was apparent that the actor playing Sir William was in ill health and would have to be replaced. New characters were brought in for the fourth episode including Doc Matthews and engineer Stephen Mitchell who needed a pilot and radio operator for his project - a rocketship that would take man to the moon. The series picked up again with the journey to the moon. Critics were now praising Chilton saying that Journey Into Space was the most exciting piece of radio drama for years. The ratings too were a success. Episode ten had between five and six million listeners… the last time an evening radio program had a higher audience than that watching television at the same time. Audiences were hooked and the storyline soon extended beyond the planned twelve episodes to eighteen.
For futher information please look at: Note: As I haven't heard this series I can only comment on the background to it. Please look at "Operation Luna" for more a detailed commentary of the actual story.
1 | 2
| 3 | 4
| 5 | 6
| 7 | 8
| 9 | 10
| 11 | 12
| 13 | 14
| 15 | 16
| 17 | 18
|
|
|||||||||||