Low budget scifi drama Jupiter Moon was created by soap specialist William Smethurst of Crossroads fame. The premise detailed the exploits of a group of teenage students aboard a space platform called The Ilea in the year 2050.
The platform orbited around one of Jupiter’s moons where there is a major liquid hydrogen harvesting program going on. The Ilea is basically a college in space. Main characters included Captain Eliot Creasy (Andy Rashleigh), French physicist Chantal de Grecay (Caroline Evans), Australian Finbow Lewis (Phil Wilmott) and ships doctor Piers Gilpin (Dominic Arnold).
Jupiter Moon was made by ill fated satellite station BSB (British Satellite Broadcasting) and ran for 150 episodes (although only 108 were shown on BSB). It fell victims to the massive rivalry and eventual merger between BSB and Sky. Despite being seen by very people on its BSB debut the series did get a second lease of life airing several times on the Scifi channel from the mid 1990’s onwards.
Cast: Lucy Benjamin (Fiona McBride), Andy Rashleigh (Eliot Creasy), Charlotte Martin (PETRA (Ship’s Computer)), Cheryl Martin (PETRA (Ship’s Computer)), Richard Derrington (Charles Brelan), Andrew Read (Timothy Shaw), Phil Willmott (Finbow Lewis), Richard Lintern (James Bromwich), Suzy Cooper (Melody Shaw), Karen Murden (Sara Robbins), Carolyn Backhouse (Rosie Greenwood), Nicola Wright (Victoria Frobisher), Nikki Brooks (Herlinde Gothard), Ashley Russell (Jean-Francois Baul), Dominic Arnold (Piers Gilpin), Terry Molloy (‘Pegleg’ Johnson), Michael Tudor Barnes (Simon Bromwich), Leon Tanner (‘Dick’ (Medical Officer)), Caroline Evans (Chantal De Grecy), Toby Rolt (‘Cats’ Kitebrook), Nicholas Hutchison (‘Cats’ Kitebrook), Anna Chancellor (Mercedes Page), Daniel Beales (Daniel Wetherby), Anna Pernicci (Anna Begani), Maurice Dee (Bob Horsefall), Les Ross (‘DJ Ross’), Peter Stone (Valencia Pilot), Jason Durr (Alex Hartmann), Harry Bottom (‘Tom’ (Duty Officer)), Kathryn Hurlbutt (Harriet Bulloch), Kim Durham (Gerrard De Grecy), Alan Granton (Wilberforce), Sunny Ormonde (Lili), Graeme Kirk (Enzo Paglicci), Ian Brooker (Henry Carson), Alison Dowling (Rebecca Harvey), Thomas Naumann (Stefan Brinker), Peter Whitman (‘Newscaster’ (Island 5)), Jim Shepley (Jim Hawkins), Cheryl Martin (Jenny Fletcher), Caroline Redl (Vanda Wolff), Peter Polycarpou (Jorge Amado), Mark Jax (Paul Lockwood), Christopher Simon (Christophe Chazalon), Terry Pearson (‘Newsreader’ (Daedalus)), Nicola Duffett (Ruby Kumara), Fay Masterson (Gabriella Tanzi), Jamie Glover (Phillipe Gervais), Constance Wetzel (Sabine Galland), Gerry Hinks (Peter Landesmann), Tony Ricaidi (Cabrini), Richard Hainsworth (Paul Fitzroy Drummond), Sharon Broady (Belinda Skinner), Di Sherlock (Hilary Tanzi), Fiona Sinnott (Natasha Kovitsky), Richard Leaf (Byron Wilkinson), Nick Moran (Zadoc Wilkinson), Pat Gallimore (Niamh O’Doherty), Jared Morgan (Prochnow), Janna Streibeck (Tranquility Neruda)
Creator and Producer: William Smethurst / Executive Producers: Matt McCarthy, Richard Leworthy / Music: Alan Parker
UK / BSB – Primetime – Andromeda / 150×30 minutes / 26 March – 30 November 1990 and then the remaining episodes which were made at the time but went unseen aired on the scifi channel from 22 January – 19 February 1996
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