What’s immediately evident from Nicholas Briggs’ thoughtful and cleverly constructed script, is that while Big Finish are keen to retain the signature elements that made the series so effective as an explosive space adventure, there’s a tonal shift in the storytelling. The Andersons always intended that the show would be crafted to appeal to a younger audience and project a family-friendly brand. After being revived from summary cancellation, a second (and heavily reworked) series followed in 1976, which divided opinions still further with its frequently outlandish guest characters and oddly metaphysical plots. Reception for the series was mixed, with critics, viewers (and some of the show’s own backers) seemingly impressed and disappointed in equal numbers.

These unwilling space nomads encountered anomalies and aliens aplenty in the 23-episode flight across the cosmos that followed the memorable pilot. The show took the familiar genre premise of a “wagon train in space”, but replaced the traditional spaceship with the idea that the Earth’s moon could be ripped from its orbit and flung into the far reaches of space complete with its shell-shocked human crew. The second live action series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson (following the success of UFO), Space: 1999 debuted on the ITV network in 1975. The latest 1970s genre property to receive the Big Finish audio makeover treatment is the hugely fondly remembered interstellar epic Space: 1999 – the opening episode of which is retold here infused with a strong contemporary ethos and tone that remains respectful but not reverential to the original source material.

Space 1999 by Nicholas Briggs