Star Cops - Episode Guide

Episode Guide

Star Cops comprised nine episodes and was first broadcast on Monday nights on BBC2 between 6 July 1987 and 31 August 1987. A tenth episode "Death on the Moon" was planned but abandoned following industrial action at the BBC.

Ep. No. Title Writer Director Airdate Airtime Duration Audience
(millions)
1 "An Instinct for Murder" Chris Boucher Christopher Baker 6 July 1987 8.30pm 51'26 2.8m
Plot: Reluctantly reassigned from a case involving a mysterious drowning, Chief Inspector Nathan Spring, shortlisted for the post of Commander of the International Space Police Force, the "Star Cops", becomes embroiled in the investigation of a series of unexplained spacesuit failures on the space station Charles de Gaulle.

Notes: This episode introduces Nathan Spring, David Theroux, Pal Kenzy and Box.

Guest Stars: Moray Watson (as The Commander), Keith Varneier (as Stephenson, Controller), Gennie Nevinson (as Lee Jones), Andy Secombe (as Brian Lincoln).
2 "Conversations with the Dead" Chris Boucher Christopher Baker 13 July 1987 8.35pm 51'26 3.2m
Plot: Spring's life is thrown into turmoil when his girlfriend, Lee Jones, is brutally murdered. Warned off the case by investigating officer Colin Devis, Spring becomes entangled in the murky world of international espionage. Elsewhere, charged with setting up the Star Cops headquarters on the Moon, Theroux investigates an explosion on a distant space freighter that has knocked the craft off course and condemned its two pilots to death.

Notes: This episode introduces Colin Devis.

Guest Stars: Gennie Nevinson (as Lee Jones), Sian Webber (as Corman), Alan Downer (as Paton), Sean Scanlan (as Fox), Carmen Gómez (as Gina Succini), Deborah Manship (as Traffic Controller), Richard Ireson (as voice of Mike).
3 "Intelligent Listening for Beginners" Chris Boucher Christopher Baker 20 July 1987 8.30pm 48'19 2.6m
Plot: Spring fires two Star Cops, Pal Kenzy and Kirk Hubble, for corruption. A terrorist organisation, the Black Hand Gang, has attacked a chemical plant and the Channel Tunnel using a computer worm. The Star Cops are warned of further attacks by a communications expert engaged in secret research on an outpost on the Moon.

Guest Stars: Trevor Butler (as Leo), David John Pope (as Michael Chandri), Tara Ward (as Shuttle Hostess).
4 "Trivial Games and Paranoid Pursuits" Chris Boucher Graeme Harper 27 July 1987 8.30pm 51'45 2.5m
Plot: As Spring attempts to persuade the sceptical Americans to allow him to open a Star Cops office on their space station, the Ronald Reagan, he is asked to investigate the disappearance of a scientist Dr Harvey Goodman from the Ronald Reagan station. The station personnel deny that Goodman or the section of the station he worked in – OMZ13 – ever existed. Out near the Sun, a salvage ship finds an abandoned capsule, designated OMZ13, floating in space...

Notes: This episode introduces Alexander Krivenko.

Guest Stars: Daniel Benzali (as Commander Griffin), Marlena Mackey (as Dilly Goodman), Robert Jezek (as Pete Lennox), Morgan Deare (as Harvey Goodman).
5 "This Case to be Opened in a Million Years" Philip Martin Graeme Harper 3 August 1987 9.55pm 51'19 1.4m
Plot: While Theroux is left to investigate the crash of a rocket carrying nuclear waste, Spring, on an enforced vacation, is lured to Rome where he is framed for drug-trafficking.

Notes: Philip Martin's original script envisaged that Spring would visit a sunken Venice by submarine for his holiday. Budgetary limitations meant that this was changed to Rome. However, the script retains a brief reference to Venice as having sunk beneath the waves.

Guest Stars: Vikki Chambers (as Lina Margello), Andre Winterton (as Pordenne), Carl Forgione (as Tour Guide).
6 "In Warm Blood" John Collee Graeme Harper 10 August 1987 8.35pm 51'46 2.2m
Plot: The returning crew of the survey ship Pluto 5 are discovered dead, appearing almost freeze-dried. All with a connection to a large Japanese corporation and the suicide of a scientist close to the Moonbase commander.

Notes: This episode introduces Anna Shoun to the team. The working title for the story was "Trial by Murder".

Guest Stars: Dawn Keeler (as Christina Janssen), Richard Rees (as Richard Ho), Susan Tan (as Receptionist).
7 "A Double Life" John Collee Christopher Baker 17 August 1987 8.35pm 51'41 2.1m
Plot: Mystery surrounds a world-famous pianist accused of kidnapping and ransoming embryos from Moonbase. Anna Shoun and Colin Devis investigate and ultimately confront what turns out to be the clone of the accused pianist.

Guest Stars: Brian Gwaspari (as James Bannerman / Albi), Nitza Saul (as Chamsya Assadi).
8 "Other People's Secrets" John Collee Christopher Baker 24 August 1987 8.35pm 51'43 1.8m
Plot: Ever increasing glitches and equipment failures around the Moonbase coincide with a safety inspection and lead eventually to a decompression emergency for the base. During the emergency Nathan Spring and Pal Kenzy are forced to spend time together, as does Colin Devis with his psychologist ex-wife.

Guest Stars: Geoffrey Bayldon (as Ernest Wolfhartt), Leigh Funnell (as Beverley Anderson), Maggie Ollerenshaw (as Dr. Angela Parr), Barrie Rutter (as Hooper).
9 "Little Green Men and Other Martians" Chris Boucher Graeme Harper 31 August 1987 8.35pm 51'11 1.2m
Plot: Rumours swell of alien artefacts discovered on Mars. An attempt is made to kill Nathan Spring as he investigates drug smuggling and the deaths of two pilots. The episode and the series ends with the question "Anyone for Mars?".

Notes: The working title for this story was "Information Received". Due to illness, Erick Ray Evans was unable to appear as David Theroux.

Guest Stars: Lachele Carl (as Susan Caxton), Roy Holder (as Daniel Larwood), Bridget Lynch-Blosse (as Co-pilot).
Unmade Episode
Ep. No. Title Writer Director Airdate Airtime Duration Audience
(millions)
n/a "Death on the Moon" Philip Martin Graeme Harper n/a n/a n/a n/a
Plot: This episode would have been a country house murder mystery – of the sort popularised by the fiction of Agatha Christie and the board game Cluedo – set on the Moon. It would have centred around a plan by a Chinese corporation – Chinex – to launch raw materials from the Moon to the Lagrangian point between the Moon and the Earth where they would be used to construct a space city. The Star Cops are called in to investigate when one of the engineers is found dead during the opening of the project. Spring assigns one Star Cop to each of the five possible suspects. As each suspect is killed off, Spring realises that the project is a con and exposes the killer – a flamboyant Swiss industrialist – via a satellite link during a shareholder's meeting.

Notes: Cancelled due to industrial action at the BBC, this episode was intended as the penultimate Star Cops story set between Other People's Secrets and Little Green Men and Other Martians. Although it had reached rehearsal stage by the time it was cancelled, the cast list for this episode remains unknown.

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