Gerry Anderson's classic Space: 1999 is being rebooted with a new cast
Line of Duty's Mark Bonnar will lead Moonbase Alpha as it hurtles through space in a new audio drama
Don your EVA suits and brace yourself for a micro-gravity nuclear explosion – Gerry Anderson’s Space: 1999 is making a comeback in a new audio story.
42 years after the classic moon drama last exploded onto our screens, Big Finish Productions is rebooting Moonbase Alpha with a new cast led by BAFTA-winning actor Mark Bonnar (Line of Duty). He’ll be playing stern and short-tempered leader John Koenig (a role originally played by Martin Landau) who commands the base as it launches out of Earth orbit due to a freak nuclear accident.
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"Space: 1999 and Martin Landau were two of my favourite things growing up," said Bonnar about his signing. "So my ten-year-old self was jumping up and down when I got the news that I’d been cast!"
Joining Bonnar in the cast is The Alienist’s Maria Teresa Creasey as Dr Helena Russel (originally played by Barbara Bain) and Clive Hayward will voice scientist Professor Victor Bergman (portrayed by Barry Morse in the 1970s show).
The audio story will be penned and directed by Doctor Who’s Nicholas Briggs (AKA voice of the Daleks). "The possibilities for this series are endless,” he said about the revival. “It’s an unplanned odyssey that starts with a catastrophe. Disparate personalities are thrown together, clinging on for dear life, finding themselves flung to the far reaches of a universe full of wonder and danger.
“We’re being absolutely faithful to that central concept, but there is also an element of reinvention in this version. It will feel and sound very much like the original, but with extra dimensions and lots of surprises."
The Space: 1999 revival will launch with the pilot episode Breakaway! on 13th September 2019 (the 20th anniversary of the lunar explosion, according to the in-show timeline) with four episodes expected to follow in early 2020.
The original Space:1999 show was first aired on ITV in 1975, running for two series before it was cancelled. Although there’s been plenty of talk of rebooting the cult classic on TV – including plans for a Space: 2099 show set a century after the initial series – a screen return looks, for the moment, still lost in space.
Space: 1999 Breakaway! – is available now to pre-order from Big Finish
