Jupiter Moon

"Jupiter Moon" was a science fiction television series first broadcast by BSB's Galaxy Channel from 26 March 1990 until December the same year. 150 episodes were commissioned, but only the first 108 were broadcast by BSB. It was commissioned to fulfill the perceived need for a soap opera in BSB's line-up and, as such, it was shown three times a week (on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays), with an omnibus edition at weekends. The series was curtailed owing to the merger between BSB and Sky Television plc and the subsequent cessation of the Galaxy Channel, although the later episodes were eventually shown in the UK on the Sci Fi Channel between 22 January and 19 February 1996. 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 colony every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday at 730pm, having substituted Eastenders which had become too expensive for GBC TV.

The series was set in the year 2050 and concentrates on the space station "Ilea" in permanent orbit above the space city Callisto. The main story concerned an attempt to travel to the stars, known as the Daedalus Project. The "Ilea" was home to a university and many of the programme's plot strands revolved around the lives of the students, helping the programme to deal with more down-to-earth issues despite its unearthly setting.

The series was created and produced by William Smethurst, a former long standing editor of British Radio Soap "The Archers", and was recorded at the studios of Central Television in Birmingham.

Actors included Lucy Benjamin, Anna Chancellor, Jason Durr and Fay Masterson.

Name derivations

The standard unit of currency in the show was the ECU (pronounced "eck-you"). The ECU was an internal accounting unit for the European Community until it was superseded by the Euro, an actual currency, in 2002.

The space station "Ilea" was named after the then-recently-abolished Inner London Education Authority. [This was discussed by series creator and producer William Smethurst on the DVD release of the first eleven episodes of the programme in 2004.]

The character Phillipe Gervais was named after associate producer Jane Fallon's partner Ricky Gervais. [cite web |url=http://www.videovista.net/articles/jupitermoon.html |title=The Making Of Jupiter Moon |first=William |last=Smethurst |work=VideoVista.net |date=2004]

References

External links

* [http://www.jupitermoondvd.co.uk/ Jupiter Moon unofficial homepage and forum]
*imdb title|id=0098835|title=Jupiter Moon
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/news/cult/2004/07/02/12724.shtml Jupiter Moon at BBC Cult]