Moonbase 3

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1973 British science fiction TV series

title: "Moonbase 3" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["bbc-television-dramas", "1970s-british-science-fiction-television-series", "1970s-british-drama-television-series", "television-series-about-the-moon", "1973-british-television-series-debuts", "1973-british-television-series-endings", "space-adventure-television-series", "television-series-by-bbc-studios", "television-series-by-20th-century-fox-television"] description: "1973 British science fiction TV series" topic_path: "arts/film" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonbase_3" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary 1973 British science fiction TV series ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox television"]

Field	Value
image	Moonbase3.jpg
camera	Multi-camera (studio)
runtime	c. 50 minute episodes
company	20th Century Fox Television
BBC
creator	Barry Letts
Terrance Dicks
producer	Barry Letts
starring	Donald Houston
Ralph Bates
Barry Lowe
Fiona Gaunt
theme_music_composer	Dudley Simpson
country	United Kingdom
language	English
network	BBC One (United Kingdom)
ABC (United States)
first_aired
last_aired
num_series	1
num_episodes	6
::

It starred Donald Houston as Director David Caulder, who is appointed to the position after the previous director was killed while returning to Earth. Ralph Bates was Michel Lebrun, the deputy director, who was concerned about keeping to the rules. Fiona Gaunt played Doctor Helen Smith, the base's psychiatrist, and Barry Lowe played Tom Hill, the head of the base technical section.

The programme was notable for its combination of realistic spaceflight procedures, ensured by hiring BBC technical adviser James Burke, and its strong character-based writing.

Concept and setting

Moonbase 3 was set in the year 2003 – some 30 years into the future at time of broadcast – and dramatised life in the enclosed environment of the titular moonbase. Five world powers have colonised the Moon: America (Moonbase 1, commanded by Bill Jackson), Russia (Moonbase 2), Europe (Moonbase 3), China (Moonbase 4, commanded by General Cheng) and Brazil (Moonbase 5). The European Moonbase 3 has been in existence for 8 years at the time the series starts. With oversight provided by the European Space Assembly and the European Aeronautics and Space Administration, Moonbase 3 is a shoestring operation when compared with the Russian and American efforts and much of base director David Caulder's job is to stave off budget cuts or a complete shutdown in the face of sceptical bureaucrats.

Alongside technical problems such as stranded astronauts, explosive decompressions and failed experiments, the inhabitants of the moonbase must also deal with psychological problems arising from the cramped, dangerous environment they live in. In "Departure and Arrival", a mental breakdown suffered by a shuttle pilot has tragic consequences. "Achilles Heel" and "Outsiders" deal with the fallout from crew members' difficulty with living up to the standards they have set for themselves. "Behemoth" and "View of a Dead Planet" deal with forms of mass hysteria.

Principal characters

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Moonbase3Cast.jpg" caption="The Cast of ''Moonbase 3'': Barry Lowe, Donald Houston, Ralph Bates and Fiona Gaunt}}"] ::

;Dr David Caulder (Donald Houston) :Appointed Director of Moonbase 3 following the death of his predecessor, David Caulder is a scientist, academic and administrator. A lecturer at the University of Oxford, he rose to prominence when he was appointed Chancellor of the University during a period of student unrest and managed to calm the situation down, earning him a reputation as a "Welsh wizard". The Director-General of the European space effort describes Caulder as a "militant liberal, passionately committed to the middle of the road". Caulder sees himself as a buffer, who deals with the political aspects of running the moonbase, giving the others the room to perform the vital tasks of keeping Moonbase 3 operations going.

;Dr Michel Lebrun (Ralph Bates) :Deputy Director Michel Lebrun is noted for his rigid adherence to the rules and procedures, making him a somewhat inflexible individual who has difficulty understanding the human dimension involved when dealing with other base personnel. The Frenchman is slightly resentful of Caulder's appointment to the position of Director, feeling that he has been overlooked for the job though Helen Smith reminds him that he is, perhaps, too young to take up the position at this time. However, when he is ordered to relieve Caulder of command during the attempted rescue of Tom Hill in the episode "Castor and Pollux", he remains loyal to Caulder and carries out the rescue as planned despite his misgivings about the risks.

;Dr Helen Smith (Fiona Gaunt) :Helen Smith is the base psychologist responsible for preparing regular psychological record reports (or PSIs), assessing the mental state of all personnel. An expert in behavioural studies in an alien environment – her thesis was titled "Human beings adjust" – she acts as a sounding board, enabling individual crew members to adapt to the situation of life on the Moon. However, she develops a trend of engaging in romantic relationships with her most troubled patients as seen in "Achilles Heel" and "Outsiders".

;Tom Hill (Barry Lowe) :Forty-two-year-old Tom Hill is director of operations on the moonbase responsible for flight control and base maintenance. An experienced astronaut, he became a minor celebrity six years before the events of the series take place when he rescued an escaped cat from a spacelab. A down-to-earth no-nonsense type, who dislikes having his work interfered with by management, he generally tries to maintain an informal, casual air, calling all female staff as "love" and calling Lebrun "Mickey boy", a moniker Lebrun hates. However, unhappy about the way Caulder conducted the investigation of his predecessor's death in "Departure and Arrival", Hill initially maintains a strictly businesslike relationship with Caulder before their relationship thaws in later episodes.

Production

Origins

Terrance Dicks and Barry Letts had been working together, as script editor and producer respectively, on Doctor Who since 1970. Dicks had begun his television writing career on The Avengers and Crossroads before joining Doctor Who as its script editor in 1968. | last1 = Howe | first1 = David J. | author-link1 = David J. Howe | last2 = Stammers | first2 = Mark | author-link2 = Mark Stammers | last3 = Walker | first3 = Stephen James | author-link3 = Stephen James Walker | title = Doctor Who: The Sixties | year = 1993 | publisher = Virgin | location = London | isbn = 0-86369-707-0 }} Former actor Barry Letts had changed career into television direction in 1967 and had worked on series such as Z-Cars and The Newcomers before being asked to take over as producer of Doctor Who in 1970, where he first met Dicks. | last1 = Howe | first1 = David J. | author-link1 = David J. Howe | last2 = Stammers | first2 = Mark | author-link2 = Mark Stammers | last3 = Walker | first3 = Stephen James | author-link3 = Stephen James Walker | title = Doctor Who: The Seventies | year = 1994 | publisher = Virgin | location = London | isbn = 1-85227-444-1 }} In 1972, looking to move on from Doctor Who, the pair started considering a number of ideas for other shows they could collaborate on. | last = Pixley | first = Andrew |date=September 2002 | title = Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting |magazine=Doctor Who Magazine Special Edition #2: the Complete Third Doctor | pages =47–49 }} Their first idea arose from the successful collaboration they had with the Royal Navy on the Doctor Who serial The Sea Devils which led to them considering pitching a serial set on a frigate only to find they were too late – the BBC had just commissioned a series, Warship, with that very premise. | last = Hillman | first = Jo |author2=Wood, Graeme |date=May 1990 | title = Barry Letts Interview |magazine=Doctor Who Magazine | issue = 160 | pages =13–15 }} In late 1972, they developed the concept of Moonbase 3, as an anthology series set on a lunar colony that would "provide intelligent, realistic drama rather than Science Fantasy", | last = Unknown |date=July 1991 | title = Fantasy Flashback. Moonbase 3: Behemoth |magazine= TV Zone | issue = 20 | pages =28–30 }} and submitted a pilot script, titled "Departure and Arrival", to Shaun Sutton, the Head of Drama at the BBC. | last = Pixley | first = Andrew | date = 18 December 1996 | title = The DWM Archive: The Time Warrior |magazine=Doctor Who Magazine | issue = 246 | pages =23–30 }} The series was formally commissioned in December 1972 and would be made, as a co-production between the BBC and 20th Century Fox and the ABC network in America, during the break in production between Seasons 10 and 11 of Doctor Who.

Production

The first Moonbase 3 script to be formally commissioned was "View of a Dead Planet" on 15 December 1972. This was written by Arden Winch, a respected writer who had written for The Wednesday Play. Two scripts, "Behemoth" and "Outsiders", were commissioned from John Brason, who had written for Colditz and Special Branch. |id=0105426 |name=John Brason |id=0524058 |name=John Lucarotti

In order to achieve a high level of realism, Letts and Dicks hired a technical advisor, James Burke, a science correspondent who was well known to television viewers thanks to his work as anchorman on the television coverage of the Apollo Moon landings and for presenting science series such as Tomorrow's World and The Burke Special. | url = http://www.palmersguide.com/jamesburke/burke_biography.html | title = James Burke – Biography | access-date = 2006-10-15 | work = Palmer's James Burke Fan Companion |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060818022141/http://www.palmersguide.com/jamesburke/burke_biography.html |archive-date = 18 August 2006}} Burke decided that 2003 would be a realistic date for bases to have been established on the Moon, telling the Radio Times that "Men won't go back to the Moon until the 1990s. Neither the Russians nor the Americans have any plans at present and no-one else can afford it. [...] As for the base itself – it should look exactly as it would if they built one tomorrow. [...] They'd be small, supporting 30 or 40 men and running on a shoestring. [...] It'll be like life on a nuclear submarine".{{cite magazine |last=Bygrave |first=Mike |date=September 1973 |title=The Facts of Life on the Moon |magazine=Radio Times |issue=3–9 September 1973 |url=http://www.the-mausoleum-club.org.uk/Index/Compendium/Moonbase%203.pdf |access-date=2010-07-17 |archive-date=27 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927004255/http://www.the-mausoleum-club.org.uk/Index/Compendium/Moonbase%203.pdf |url-status=dead

Cast as David Caulder was Donald Houston, an experienced character actor, who had appeared in 633 Squadron and The Longest Day, and was known for playing authority figures. Ralph Bates, who was cast as Michel Lebrun, had first made a name for himself playing the Emperor Caligula in the Granada Television series The Caesars but was best known as a regular actor in the Hammer horror stable. |id=0061012 |name=Ralph Bates |id=0310142 |name=Fiona Gaunt |id=0522887 |name=Barry Lowe

Two directors were assigned to the series – Ken Hannam and Christopher Barry. Hannam had previously directed such series as Colditz and Paul Temple |id=0360324 |name=Ken Hannam | last = Howe | first = David J. | author-link = David J. Howe |author2=Walker, Stephen James |author-link2=Stephen James Walker | title = The Television Companion. The Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to Doctor Who | orig-year = 1998 | edition = 2nd | year = 2003 | publisher = Telos | location = Tolworth, Surrey, England | isbn = 1-903889-52-9 |id=0057959 |name=Christopher Barry | url = http://www.the-mausoleum-club.org.uk/Index/Compendium/Moonbase%203.pdf | title = The Pictorial Compendium – Moonbase 3 | access-date = 2006-10-12 | last = Rogers | first = Steve | year = 2004 | work = The Mausoleum Club | archive-date = 27 September 2007 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070927004255/http://www.the-mausoleum-club.org.uk/Index/Compendium/Moonbase%203.pdf | url-status = dead | last = Locke | first = Alistair |author2=Stevens, Alan |date=November 1991 | title = Peter Miles. Moon Suits and Aftershave.. |magazine= TV Zone | issue = 24 | pages =19–21 }} Filming continued at Ealing until 30 May 1973 before production moved to BBC Television Centre for the remaining scenes, mostly those set inside the moonbase, which would be recorded on videotape beginning on 18 June 1973. The episodes were recorded in a different order than that in which they were broadcast with "Departure and Arrival" recorded first followed by "Castor and Pollux", "Behemoth", "View of a Dead Planet", "Outsiders" and, lastly, "Achilles Heel" with recording wrapping on 15 August 1973. Music was provided by Dudley Simpson who, at this time, was the regular composer on Doctor Who. |id=0800981 |name=Dudley Simpson}} Simpson composed the main title theme that accompanied the opening and closing credits as well as approximately 60 minutes of incidental music.

Transmission and audience reaction

Moonbase 3 was promoted by the Radio Times on the week of broadcast with a two-page article by Mike Bygrave, titled "The Facts of Life on the Moon", that interviewed James Burke about his ideas of life on the Moon and also spoke to star Donald Houston, dresser Leslie Hallam and costume designer Dee Kelly about their experiences making the show. Broadcast on Sunday nights at 7:25pm on BBC One, audience reaction to the series was disappointing with the debut episode garnering under 6 million viewers and ratings slipping as low as 2 million in subsequent weeks before stabilising at 4 million. A BBC Audience Research report slated the series as "banal, predictable and slow". Reviewing "Departure and Arrival" in The Observer, Clive James described the plot as "the Yangtze Incident plus liquid oxygen". | last = James | first = Clive | author-link = Clive James | editor = Lewis, John E. | title = The Mammoth Book of Journalism. An Anthology of the 100 Greatest Newspaper Articles |date=June 2003 | publisher = Carroll and Graf | location = London | isbn = 0-7867-1169-8 | pages = 439–441 | chapter = Drained Crystals. The Observer 16 September 1973. }}

Archive status

As was normal procedure at the BBC at the time, | last = Fiddy | first = Dick | title = Missing Believed Wiped. Searching for the lost treasures of British Television | year = 2001 | publisher = British Film Institute | location = London | isbn = 0-85170-866-8 | pages = 5–10 | chapter = Background }} the original PAL master tapes of the series were wiped some time after broadcast and, for many years, Moonbase 3 was believed to be lost forever. However, in 1993, NTSC copies of all six episodes were found in co-producer Fox's archives and returned to the BBC. The series was subsequently released on VHS videotape over three volumes in 1994 by BBC Video and on DVD in 2002 by Second Sight.

Legacy

Terrance Dicks has felt that Moonbase 3 was ultimately a failure: "The trouble was we built a too restrictive format for ourselves" | url = http://www.action-tv.org.uk/guides/moonbasethree.htm | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061008111520/http://www.action-tv.org.uk/guides/moonbasethree.htm | archive-date = 2006-10-08 | title = Moonbase 3 | access-date = 2006-10-15 | work = Action TV Online }} and that the series "lacked a sense of wonder and outrageousness". | last = Phillips | first = James |date=October 1992 | title = Fantasy Flashback. Moonbase 3: View of a Dead Planet |magazine= TV Zone | issue = 35 | pages =24–27 }} Academic Peter Wright has said about Moonbase 3 that its "appeal to realism resulted in a disquieting sense of claustrophobia and isolation that undermined the optimism of its premise and captured the general mood of insularity felt (and often desired) in Britain in the early 1970s". | last = Wright | first = Peter | editor = Seed, David | title = A Companion to Science Fiction | year = 2005 | publisher = Blackwell | location = London | isbn = 1-4051-1218-2 | pages = 289–306 | chapter = British Science Fiction }} Moonbase 3, although not directly influential, can be seen as an antecedent of similar realistic, near-future, British space series such as Space: 1999, Star Cops |last=Topping |first=Keith |author-link=Keith Topping |date=August 1997 |title=Extraordinary Coppers |journal=Dreamwatch |issue=36 |pages=45–47}} and Space Island One. |last=McGinn |first=Diane |date=February 1998 |title=TV Reviews: Space Island One |journal=SFX |issue=35 |page=82 }}

Episode guide

Six episodes of Moonbase 3 were made and broadcast on BBC One on Sunday nights at 7:25pm beginning on 9 September 1973.

::data[format=table]

Ep. No.	Title	Writer(s)	Director	Airdate	Airtime	Duration
1	"Departure and Arrival"	Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks	Ken Hannam	9 September 1973	7:25pm	51’42'’
Astronaut Harry Sanders (Michael Wisher) suffers a mental breakdown while piloting a shuttle from the Moon back to Earth, causing an accident that kills him and his passenger, Moonbase 3 director Tony Ransome (Michael Lees). Under political pressure to close the Moonbase following the deaths, the Director-General of the European space programme appoints David Caulder to take over as Director of Moonbase 3 and investigate the accident.
2	"Behemoth"	John Brason	Ken Hannam	16 September 1973	7:26pm	51’09'’
When two seismologists mysteriously vanish in the Mare Frigoris region, Caulder bans all travel into the area, a decision that upsets Dr Heinz Laubenthal (Peter Miles) who is conducting research in the area but won't reveal what he is working on. Some time later, Laubenthal is killed in an explosion in his laboratory. Investigations reveal that the lab walls were breached from the outside and strange tracks are found leading from the lab in the direction of the Mare Frigoris. As rumours of space monsters begin to disrupt life on the moonbases, Caulder leads a team into Mare Frigoris in search of the truth.
3	"Achilles Heel"	John Lucarotti	Christopher Barry	23 September 1973	7:25pm	51’45'’
While Caulder is pressured to deliver results from Moonbase 3's research programme under threat of budget cuts, the CORA radio astronomy project is thrown into disarray by a series of accidents. As the situation develops it becomes apparent that one of the three CORA scientists – Adam Blaney (Edward Brayshaw), Bill Knight (Malcolm Reynolds) and Kate Weyman (Anne Ridler) – is suffering from a mental breakdown and is sabotaging the project.
4	"Outsiders"	John Brason	Ken Hannam	30 September 1973	7:24pm	52’02'’
Faced with an inspection ahead of potential budget cuts, Caulder's hopes of demonstrating that the Moonbase 3 research programme is worthwhile lie with two brilliant, but erratic, researchers, Stephen Partness (Tom Kempinkski) and Peter Conway (John Hallam), both of whom are showing evidence of cracking under the strain.
5	"Castor and Pollux"	John Lucarotti	Christopher Barry	7 October 1973	7:24pm	51’33'’
While Caulder explores the possibility of participating in a joint expedition to Jupiter with the Russians, an accident during a routine docking manoeuvre with a satellite leaves a shuttle with Tom Hill on board tumbling out into deep space. Caulder mounts a rescue mission but must convince the Russians to help him.
6	"View of a Dead Planet"	Arden Winch	Christopher Barry	14 October 1973	7:24pm	51’44'’
Controversy surrounds the Arctic Sun Project, a plan to detonate a hydrogen bomb above the Arctic Circle to melt the icecaps and open up new land for development. When the project is initiated, all contact with Earth is lost as it becomes enveloped in a strange mist. The inhabitants of the Moon colonies struggle to come to terms with the possibility that Earth has been destroyed and they are all that's left of humanity.
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References

Brason, John (Writer) & Hannam, Ken (Director). (1973). "Behemoth" (Television series episode). In Barry Letts (Producer), ''Moonbase 3''. London: BBC One 1973-09-16 19:25
Letts, Barry; Dicks, Terrance (Writers) & Hannam, Ken (Director). (1973). "Departure and Arrival" (Television series episode). In Barry Letts (Producer), ''Moonbase 3''. London: BBC One 1973-09-09 19:25
Lucarotti, John (Writer) & Barry, Christopher (Director). (1973). "Castor and Pollux" (Television series episode). In Barry Letts (Producer), ''Moonbase 3''. London: BBC One 1973-10-07 19:25
Lucarotti, John (Writer) & Barry, Christopher (Director). (1973). "Achilles Heel" (Television series episode). In Barry Letts (Producer), ''Moonbase 3''. London: BBC One 1973-09-23 19:25
Brason, John (Writer) & Hannam, Ken (Director). (1973). "Outsiders" (Television series episode). In Barry Letts (Producer), ''Moonbase 3''. London: BBC One 1973-09-30 19:25
Winch, Arden (Writer) & Barry, Christopher (Director). (1973). "View of a Dead Planet" (Television series episode). In Barry Letts (Producer), ''Moonbase 3''. London: BBC One 1973-10-14 19:25

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