CHARLES CHILTON RADIO PLAYS
Roger Howe of VRPCC recently interviewed Charles Chilton. The resulting article is now online. Mr Chilton is the person who wrote "Journey into Space", the amazingly popular space serial of the 1950s.
In 2008 he wrote a sequel, "Frozen in Time" (see below), and the year after, a further Journey into Space episode was written by Julian Simpson. Both of these were well-received.
BBC BROADCASTS
CHARLES CHILTON
( ) = number of episodes
13.01.49 Riders of the Range-Series 1 (16)
02.10.49 Riders of The Range - Series 2 (12)
21.04.50 Riders of The Range - Series 3 (22)
22.05.51 Riders of the Range - 4th. Series (13)
06.04 52 Riders of the Range - 5th. Series (13)
15.06.63 Riders of the Range - Union Pacific (14)
21.09.53 Journey Into Space - Operation Luna* (18)
06.09.54 Journey Into Space - The Red Planet* (20)
26.09.55 Journey Into Space - The World In Peril* (20)
22.04.57 The Blue and the Gray*
05.05.57 The Texas Cowboy (6)
26.03.58 Journey Into Space - Operation Luna* (13)
19.03.63 Blood On The Prairie (Docudrama) (13)
04.04.84 Space Force* (6)
13.05.85 Space Force 2* (6)
SATURDAY NIGHT THEATRE
07.03.81 The Return From Mars*
SATURDAY PLAY
12.04.08 Frozen in Time*
Asterisked items exist in VRPCC collections.
NOTES
JOURNEY INTO SPACE....1953
By the time you've taken away the starting and end credits
and the recap, these 27 minute programmes are down to about 20
minutes....but in spite of this, they are excellent. Starring
Andrew Fauldes as Jet Morgan. Note the presence of a youthful
David Jacobs in the cast.....
thanks, I am told, to Archbishop Makarios...one of these serials
has been rebroadcast by BBC7 so far.
THE BLUE & THE GRAY....1957
Home service, 22.4.57. One-off play.
THE RETURN FROM MARS....1981
With John Pullen, Anthony Hall, Ed Bishop, Nigel Graham. A welcome sequel, over 25 years later...
FROZEN IN TIME....2008
Astonishingly, another episode of "Journey into Space" has been commissioned from Charles Chilton (aged 91) as a Saturday Play, broadcast date 12 Apr 08. David Jacobs, the only surviving member of the original cast, plays Jet Morgan. The crew of the fifty-year-old spacecraft "Ares" awakes from suspended animation in 2008. But Jet's sleeper pod failed. He's been awake most of that time. Now he's 72 years old. Cast: David Jacobs, Michael Beckley, Alan Marriott, Chris Moran, Emma Fielding, Stephen Hogan, Kate Harbour. Music by David Chilton (son of the author); producer Nicholas Russell-Pavier.
ARCHIVE HOUR....2004
............................"The Archive Hour" programme about Charles Chilton (R4, 21 February, 2004) was most interesting. It confirmed that absolutely no material has been retained from the 90 episodes of "Riders Of The Range" which went out at intervals in 6 series from early January, 1949 until mid-September, 1953......R.B., VRPCC newsletter, Apr. 2004.
THE HOST....2009
Another sequel to Journey into Space, written by Julian Simpson.
- Gillian Reynolds (Daily Telegraph) commented on Charles Chilton's hugely industrious and successful BBC career, encompassing features, Variety, Westerns and science fiction. David Jacobs plays "The Host" in this very effective one-hour play. Toby Stephens played Jet Morgan (better casting, perhaps, than "Frozen in Time") and Charles Chilton himself (93 in Jun 09) read the closing credits. David Chilton, Charles' son, was responsible for sound design and music, and the producer was Nick Russell-Pavier of Goldhawk Productions.
©Nigel Deacon, Diversity website
NOTE
Charles Chilton's autobiography "Auntie's Charlie" is now available through Amazon. (....thanks RH)
