''Jupiter Moon'' is a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

television series first broadcast by

British Satellite Broadcasting British Satellite Broadcasting (BSB) was a television company, headquartered in London, that provided direct broadcast satellite television services to the United Kingdom. They started broadcasting on 25 March 1990. The company was merged with ...

Galaxy A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System. ...

channel in 1990. 150 episodes were commissioned and made, but only the first 108 were broadcast before the closure of BSB. Episodes 109–150 were first shown in the UK on the

Sci Fi Channel Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...

in 1996.

Premise

The series is set in the year 2050 and concentrates on the space ship ''Ilea'' in semi-permanent

orbit In celestial mechanics, an orbit is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an object or position in space such as a p ...

above the space city on Jupiter's moon

Callisto Callisto most commonly refers to: *Callisto (mythology), a nymph *Callisto (moon), a moon of Jupiter Callisto may also refer to: Art and entertainment *''Callisto series'', a sequence of novels by Lin Carter *''Callisto'', a novel by Torsten Kro ...

. The ''Ilea'' is home to a university and many of the programme's main plot strands revolve around the lives of the students, helping the programme to deal with more mundane issues despite its far-flung setting. A secondary plot deals with an attempt to travel to the stars known as the Daedalus Project.

Cast

The cast included: * Richard Derrington as Charles Brelan (Professor) *

Anna Chancellor Anna Theodora Chancellor (born 27 April 1965) is a British actress who has received nominations for BAFTA and Olivier Awards. Background and early life Chancellor was born in Richmond, England to barrister John Paget Chancellor, eldest son of ...

as Mercedes Page (Post-Grad) * Alison Dowling as Rebecca Harvey (Bursar) * Carolyn Backhouse as Rosie Greenwood (Bursar) * Andy Rashleigh as Eliot Creasy (Captain) *

Phil Willmott Phil Willmott (born 26 January 1968) is a British director, playwright, arts journalist, teacher, and founder of London based theatre production company The Steam Industry. He was the Artistic Director of the Finborough Theatre in London's Ear ...

as Finbow Lewis (First Officer) * Richard Hainsworth as Paul Fitzroy Drummond (Visiting Flight Officer) * Christopher Simon as Christophe Chazalon (Doctor) * Kathryn Hurlbutt as Harriet Bullock (Principal) * Mark Jax as Paul Lockwood (Principal) * Fiona Sinnott as Natasha Kovitsky (Captain) * Charlotte Martin as the voice of Petra (Ship's Computer) * Nicola Wright as Victoria Frobisher (Student) *

Lucy Benjamin Lucy Benjamin (born Lucy Jane Baker; 25 June 1970) is an English actress. After appearing in various television series including '' Close to Home'' (1989–1990), ''Press Gang'' (1989–1993) and ''Jupiter Moon'' (1990, 1996), she was cast in ...

as Fiona McBride (Student) *

Daniel Beales Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength"), ...

as Daniel Wetherby (Student) * Suzy Cooper as Melody Shaw (Student) * Anna Pernicci as Anna Begani (Student) * Karen Murden as Sara Robbins (Student) *

Fay Masterson Fay Masterson (born 15 April 1974) is an English people, English actress and voice actress. She is best known for her roles as Head Girl in ''The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking, List of The Last Ship characters#Andrea Garnett, Andrea Gar ...

as Gabriella Tanzi (Student) * Jamie Glover as Philippe Gervais (Student) * Jim Shepley as Jim Hawkins (Student) * Cheryl Martin as Jenny Fletcher (Student) *

Richard Lintern Richard Charles Lintern (born 8 October 1962) is an English stage, voice and screen actor. Early life Lintern was born in Taunton, Somerset. He studied English Literature at Durham University. He subsequently won a scholarship to the Royal A ...

as James Bromwich (Post-Grad) * Ashley Russell as Jean-Francois Baul (Post-Grad) *

Jason Durr Jason Durr (born 2 December 1967) is an English actor (although he also holds an Irish passport) of theatre, television and film. After trading at LAMDA he began his career with The Royal Shakespeare Company, later making his television debut a ...

as Alex Hartmann (Engineer) *

Nick Moran Nick Moran (born 23 December 1968 or 1969, sources differ) is an English actor and filmmaker, best known for his role as Eddie the card sharp in ''Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels''. He appeared as Scabior in ''Harry Potter and the Deathly H ...

as Zadock Wilkinson (Student) *

Peter Polycarpou Peter Polycarpou is an English-Cypriot actor, best known for playing Chris Theodopolopodous in the television comedy series '' Birds of a Feather'' and Louis Charalambos in ''The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies''. Early life Polycarpou w ...

as Jorge Amado (Captain of the Santa Maria) * Caroline Evans as Chantal de Gracy (Post-Grad) * Dominic Arnold as Piers Gilpin (Doctor) * Andrew Read as Tim Shaw (Student) * Nikki Brooks as Herlinde Gothard (Student) *

Terry Molloy Terry Molloy (born 4 January 1947) is an English actor. He is known predominantly for his work on radio and television, especially his portrayal of Davros, creator of the Dalek, Daleks, in the BBC television science fiction series ''Doctor Who ...

as Pegleg Johnson (Commander)

Production

The series was created and produced by William Smethurst, a former long-standing editor of British radio soap ''

The Archers ''The Archers'' is a BBC radio drama on BBC Radio 4, the corporation's main spoken-word channel. Broadcast since 1951, it was famously billed as "an everyday story of country folk" and is now promoted as "a contemporary drama in a rural settin ...

'', and was recorded at the studios of Central Television in Birmingham. Many of the cast and writers also came from ''The Archers''. The budget was £6m for 150 episodes. Dr Bob Parkinson of British Aerospace designed the spaceship ''Ilea'' using European Space Agency/NASA projections. It was a Primetime-Andromeda Production in association with BSB.

Name derivations

The space station ''Ilea'' was named after the then-recently abolished

Inner London Education Authority The Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) was an ad hoc local education authority for the City of London and the 12 Inner London boroughs from 1965 until its abolition in 1990. The authority was reconstituted as a directly elected body corpor ...

. The character Phillipe Gervais was named after associate producer

Jane Fallon Jane Elizabeth Mary Fallon (born 9 December 1960) is an English author and television producer. Early life and education Born as the youngest of five children in Harrow, northwest London, Fallon's family moved to Buckinghamshire when she was ...

's partner

Ricky Gervais Ricky Dene Gervais ( ; born 25 June 1961) is an English comedian, actor, writer, and director. He co-created, co-wrote, and acted in the British television sitcoms ''The Office'' (2001–2003), '' Extras'' (2005–2007), and '' An Idiot Abroad' ...

Broadcast

Jupiter Moon was commissioned to fulfill the perceived need for a

's line-up and, as such, it was shown three times a week (on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 6.30pm), with an omnibus edition at weekends on BSB's

channel from 26 March until 30 November 1990. 150 episodes were commissioned and made, but only the first 108 were broadcast by BSB. The series was curtailed owing to the merger between BSB and

Sky Television plc The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In the field of astronomy, ...

and the subsequent cessation of the Galaxy channel. Sky was unable to continue the broadcast of the series, as, unlike BSB, Sky's transmission area covered various European territories where Jupiter Moon was already being shown. The later episodes were eventually shown in the UK on the

between 22 January and 19 February 1996, as part of a complete run of the series. The programme was also broadcast by television channels in countries including Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Greece, Jamaica, Zambia, Gibraltar and several of the Gulf States. The soap was screened on GBC TV (Gibraltar television) ahead of its premiere on BSB's own Galaxy channel. The soap was seen in the British Overseas Territory every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday at 7.30 pm, having taken the slot formerly occupied by EastEnders which had become too expensive for GBC TV.

List of episodes

Galaxy (1990)

The first UK broadcast of episodes 1–108 was on BSB's Galaxy channel in 1990.

Sci Fi Channel (1996)

The first UK broadcast of episodes 109–150 was on the Sci Fi Channel in 1996.

DVDs

United Kingdom

Episodes 1 to 60 were released by Oracle Home Entertainment on Region 2 DVD in the UK in 9 volumes.

United States

The entire series was released by Image Entertainment on Region 1 DVD in the US in 4 volumes.

References

External links

*
Jupiter Moon at BBC Cult
{{Soap operas in the United Kingdom 1990 British television series debuts 1996 British television series endings 1990s British science fiction television series 1990s British television soap operas British science fiction television shows Fiction set on Callisto (moon) English-language television shows British television series revived after cancellation Space adventure television series Fiction set in 2050