asked could we perhaps talk for a little
while about who our characters are, what
our relationships are, a few things like
that? They looked quite baffled, and then
told us who was going to make the boots.
   "From that moment on Martin and I re-
alized that we were going up the down
staircase. I can't tell you the number of
times that Martin and Barbara would come
back to my place, or I'd go to their's after
a day's shooting, and we'd sit around with
the upcoming script and ask ourselves how
we could make it work?
   "We used to send the scripts up terribly.
On one famous occasion when we had a
particularly preposterous scene to play,
knowing Gerry and Sylvia's connection
with puppets, Martin and I decided to play
a wicked trick. On take one we acted like
The main team of the first series, Victor Bergman, Helena Russell and John Koenig
puppets." Barry illustrates his point with
an excellent impression of Brains from
Thunderbirds: 'But-there-are-men-dy-
ing-out-there-John'.
   "You have to be concerned about the
people, not just the special effects. I was
the kind of 'Space Uncle', and I was for-
ever being called upon to kind of stand by
dreadful diagrams and maps and say 'we
are now pointing towards planet Pluto' or
some such boring rubbish, which would
lead into special effects. I remember writ-
ing a memo one night that said, 'Dear
Gerry, Dear Sylvia, please remember that
geography is about maps, but drama is
about chaps.'"
   It was that unhappiness with the series
that led Barry to abandon Moonbase Al-
pha at the end of the first season. "Thank
God, the option was on my side. I've al-
ways said to my wife, the best of all luxu-
ries for an artist is freedom of choice.
When they talked about this second series
coming and the changes they were pro-
posing to make, bringing in Freddy
Freiberger as producer and so on, I went
to Gerry and Sylvia and said 'look, my
dears, I've had a lovely time, but if it's all
the same to you I think I'd like to go away
and play with the grown ups'."

Tek World

   WIth Space: 1999 a long way behind
him, Barry is returning to Science Fiction
television to work with that young actor
he employed all those years ago in Canada.
"We always talk about him in our family
as young Billy Shatner. When we were
first in Canada, we ran a theatre in Mon-
treal, and William Shatner's first acting job
was working for us.
   "We've kept in touch, and of course he
has now written the Tek World books. One
of the, Tek War, is being made into a se-
ries in which I'm playing a recurring role.
It's another space uncle, a character called
Professor Kitteridge, who is the father of
the heroine. Bill himself is playing in it,
and there is a group of younger actors who
are playing the more substantial parts.
They're doing about ten hours to start with,
and we've filmed some and there's more to do."
   As well as movie and tv appearances,
Barry continues to tour in his one man
show about the history of acting, the pro-
ceeds from which support retirement
homes for actors in Canada. "The first
Performing Arts Lodges, or PAL as the
charity is called, recently opened in To-
ronto and another is planned for Vancou-
ver. I tour with the show, called Merely
Players, in the USA and Canada, and hope
Space: 1999 - Victor gives friend John some advice in The Last Sunset
to bring it to London one of these days."
   Does Barry enjoy watching his past per-
formances? "Spending my whole life in-
volved in it, as you can imagine I don't go
to the movies to relax, or watch much so-
called entertainment television. Once in a
while, something will come on that I
haven't seen in a very long time. The other
day they were showing an old Will Hay
comedy made at Ealing before the war, in
which Peter Ustinov and I both played stu-
dents. I like to let my children, or more
usually now my grandchildren, know
when my old appearances are going to be
on, but quite frankly you get sick of the
sight of your own face after a while."
   Fortunately, the rest of us will be only
too happy to watch any Barry Morse ap-
pearances, past, present and if young Billy
Shatner has any say in the matter, future.
                  John Porter
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