SPACE ISLAND ONE

A worthy attempt at home-grown science-fiction came, surprisingly, from Sky One when, in the late 1990s, the BBC had all but abandoned the genre where once it was the core-producer of such programmes. This effort concentrated mainly on the human conflicts that arose amongst the very mixed crew of Space Station Unity, a high-profile research and development centre in orbit above an Earth of AD 2005. As such, special effects and alien encounters were more along the lines of Star Cops than Star Trek, and the series benefited greatly from that realistic approach. Despite an eleven year gap, this was the first serious British science fiction series since Star Cops, a telling verdict on the poor state of UK tv in the 1990s.

The series was filmed entirely on the Isle of Man, for both studio and location scenes, with a cast as disparate as the crew itself, hailing from Britain, Germany, Iran, and Canada. This produced an odd, and sometimes hard to understand, assortment of accents, but generally helped the feel of Unity being an international station. As the programme was a European co-production involving heavy funding from Germany and the government of the Isle of Man.

The single run of thirteen episodes was warmly received but varied in quality and content. With a conclusion that promised better was to come in the proposed second half of the 26-part season, a reappearance of the series was long awaited, and was finally made while no one was looking!

Production details kindly provided by Neil Buchanen.

REGULAR CAST

Commander Kathryn MacTiernan Judy Loe
Walter B Shannon Angus MacInnes
Dusan Kashkavian Bruno Eyron
Paula Hernandez Indra Ové
Lyle Campbell William Oliver
Harriet ‘Harry’ Eschenbach Julia Bremmerman
Doctor Kaveh Homayuni Kourash Asad

Creator: Andrew Maclear
Executive Producer: Andrew Maclear
Producer: Margaret Matheson
Science Consultant: Richard L S Taylor
Music: Richard Blackford and Glenn Keiles

Developed with the support of the European Script Fund, an initiative of the Media Programme of the European Union.

Funded with assistance from the Isle of Man Film Commission.

UK Production & Screenings:
Season One: 14 Episodes
1997/7th January – 7th April 1998
Season Two: 13 Episodes
1997/4th - 16th August 2002 1

A Bard Entertainments Ltd Production with British Sky Broadcasting Ltd and Vox Film und Fernseh Gmbh & Co KG in association with CST Productions
27 colour 50 minute episodes
(Sky One)

Note: This was part of a complete run-through of the series, with an episode screened each day at one o'clock in the morning, and which included the first series. The broadcast started on 22nd July 2002.

Season One

w Andrew Maclear
Newly arrived environmental specialist Paula Hernandez finds slotting into place with the rest of the Unity team is harder than she expected after her over-curiosity triggers a bomb left behind by her mysterious predecessor.

(No guest cast)

All The News That Fits

w Andrew Maclear
A visiting journalist uncovers the background to an aborted space mission, as Paula begins her sexual pursuit of Dusan, and Harry has some startling news.

(Guest cast unknown)

Quarantine

w (Unknown)
A primitive Martian life-form demonstrates lethal characteristics when taken aboard Unity. It manifests itself as an acrylic-eating virus and threatens the very structure of the station.

(Guest cast unknown)

Rogue Satellite

w Andrew Maclear
Harry’s cat seems to have disappeared, and while she is searching for it, she experiences some difficulties surrounding her pregnancy.

(Guest cast unknown)

Dangerous Liaison

w Andrew Maclear
A visitor has a personal agenda, which involves the destruction of Unity when his child prodigy, a member of the crew, appears to have turned against him.

(Guest cast unknown)

Crew Test

w (Unknown)
A group dynamics expert exposes cracks and resentments in the crew by purposely digging into their privacy and provoking arguments and confrontations.

(Guest cast unknown)

Barrier Of Second Attention

w (Unknown)
A wandering space object creates a supernatural environment when it enters the station. The crew are faced with a First Contact situation of the most unorthodox kind as they suffer bizarre dreams which force them to relive elements of their respective pasts.

(Guest cast unknown)

Sarcophagus

w Adrian Rigelsford
A devious entrepreneur utilises Unity as a platform from which to perform somewhat questionable space burials for the benefit of new television audiences.

(Guest cast unknown)

Spring Fever

w Andrew Maclear
Crew discipline slides when Kathryn takes ground leave and Shannon is left in charge. An experiment in pheromones results in Paula attempting the seduction of an increasingly distant Dusan.

(Guest cast unknown)

The Third Man

w Matthew Bardsley
Desperate circumstances aboard a stricken mining vessel result in madness and cannibalism to stay alive after being lost for three years. The survivors are rescued by Unity and attempts must be made to uncover the truth.

Anderson Richard Hawley
(Rest of guest cast unknown)

Edge Of The Night (aka Awakenings)

w (Unknown)
A solar flare results in chaos aboard Unity as Paula’s relationship with Dusan continues unabated, and Shannon’s poor health raises concerns with the commander. While Unity breaks down around them, Harry and Lyle are unable to be awakened from an induced sleep experiment.

(Guest cast unknown)

Star Wars (aka Nemesis)

w (Unknown)
Abandoned stealth armoury is accidentally reactivated by one of Shannon's probes and it identifies the space station as a hostile entity.

Voice Barry Morse

A Child Is Born

w (Unknown)
The various personal problems of Unity’s crew have been driving them apart, but the occasion of the first child to be born in space brings a return to harmony...eventually.

(Guest cast unknown)

Edge of Night

(Not screened)

Season Two

Unfinished Business
Split Allegiances
Winter Kills
A Place In The Sun
Lost Property
Mayfly
Not In My Back Yard
Abandoned
Silver Bullet
Anniversary
Love Lines
Money Makes The World Go Around
Trouble In Paradise

All details are trademarked and copyrighted by their respective producers. All character and location names are also copyright. No infringement of any copyright is intended.
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