JUPITER MOON

BEFORE STREAMING OR THE internet, a satellite fired into orbit looked set to create a new dawn of space-age television. British Satellite Broadcasting planned to more than double Britain’s mere four TV channels with its subscription service of movies, sport and entertainment. At the heart of BSB’s new Galaxy channel was a thrice-weekly soap opera set aboard an orbiting space station.

Jupiter Moon was created by William Smethurst, former producer of ITV’s Crossroads. After the axe fell on the infamous Midlands motel soap in 1988, Smethurst responded quickly when that same year BSB canvassed production companies for new soap concepts. Alongside domestic effort Bartholomew Square, Smethurst added, as an afterthought, the sketchy outline of sci-fi soap Voyage Of The Ilea.

was essentially sold to BSB’s director of programmes John Gau on one sentence: “The loves, passions, and courage of the students and crew of a space polytechnic as it ventures through