Summary:British Science Fiction series (1953 - 58)
Charles Chilton's classic science fiction trilogy stormed the airwaves during the 1950s. Its gripping storylines, extra-terrestrial sound effects and atmospheric music engaged the listener as never before. Between 1953 and 1958, a devoted audience of adults and children attentively followed Jet Morgan and his crew from cliff-hanger to another as, together, they faced the unknown perils of space.The first of the three stories, OPERATION LUNA, was set in the far flung future of 1965 and told of Man's conquest of the Moon. (The fact that the English never got into space makes the date of 1965 all the more poignant.) This is the version that was broadcast weekly from 26th March to 18th June 1958, being a shortened re-recording of the original 1953 show.
The second serial, THE RED PLANET, was slightly longer at 20 episodes and was broadcast from 6th September 1954 to 17th June 1955. Set in the early 70s, this charts Jet Morgan, in his bright blue flagship Discovery, heading the fleet on a 35 million mile round trip to Mars.The final part of the series, THE WORLD IN PERIL, ran to another 20 episodes, and was broadcast between 26th September 1955 and 6th February 1956. The cast for most of the shows remained the same, and featured Andrew Faulds playing Captain 'Jet' Morgan, Guy Kingsley Poynter played Doc, with David Kossoff or Alfie Bass as Lemmy, and Bruce Beeby or Don Sharp as Mitch.THE RETURN FROM MARS is the very final adventure in the series, where Captain Jet Morgan and the crew of the spaceship Discovery return to Earth after being missing more than thirty years, and presumed dead. Another British science fiction show is Orbit Zero-One and Orbiter X. For American old time radio science fiction shows, see Dimension X, X Minus One, 2000+, Beyond Tomorrow and Exploring Tomorrow, as well as the classic old time juvenile serials, Buck Rogers.On ORTCat: http://www.otrcat.com/journey-into-space-p-1469.html
