Part Two of our exclusive interview with actor Tony Anholt covers his work for Gerry Anderson on "Space: 1999" right up to the stage tour ("Dial M For Murder") he was involved with when he was interviewed in November, 1982. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "S.I.G.": YOU"RE NOT, BY NATURE , A SCIENCE FICTION FAN AS SUCH, THOUGH I THINK YOU DID SOMETHING ON THE RADIO? Tony: You research is quite thorough. I did a play with Honor Blackman in which I played a lone astronaut and all I had for company was a computer, which had Honor Blackman's voice. It was very sophisticated & developed a sort of emotion and I had this platonic love affair, something went wrong with the spaceship and to fix it the computer suggested that I remove part of her electronics and, in so doing, she would cease to be what she'd become and revert to that sort of Dalek-type voice. I had a crack-up scene in floods of tears screaming, "Don't Leave me," and all that. I enjoyed that. It must have been around '74-ish, I suppose. "S.I.G.": SO YOU'RE NOT REALLY INTO THE GENRE AS SUCH ? Tony: No, I mean that may be a failing in me. I suppose one of the things, and I've not give it much tho- ught, that disapoints me somewhat about science fiction is that if you're going to deal with that subject, the possibilities are so enormous and all we seem to devise is more and more 'goodies' versus 'baddies'. I mean "Space: 1999" seemed to me to be a Western in a different set of costumes, not just "Space", most of what I've seen is just 'goodies' vs. 'baddies' and instead of the six-shooter you've got a laser gun.

HOW DID YOU REACT WHEN YOU KNEW YOU WERE JOINING AN ESTA- BLISHED SHOW, ESTABLISHED STARS ? YOU WERE THE NEW GUY, PERHAPS YOU HAD A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF PRESSURE THAT YOU WERE 'THE SAVIOUR' ? Curiously, no. It's only since doing "Space" that one is aware of the immense following that there was of the first year and the kind of comparisons being made witht he sec- ond year. When I signed to do the show I had no knowledge of this at all, so that pressure didn't exist. I was aware certain members of the cast had gone, whether they'd gone of their own volition or because the producers didn't want them, was only something I could guess at. I did feel in a slightly stronger position than I felt in "The Protectors" because I wasn't going back to "We would see how the chem- istry worked...", I was being brought in as THE Number Four, and my character position in terms of Moonbase Alpha looked fairly secure, unless I was going to make a real hash of it I looked like having a strong permanent notch in the show. FREDDIE FREIBERGER HAS A QUOTE, "NICK TATE WAS VERY NERV- OUS WHEN TONY ANHOLT CAME IN AND ALWAYS HAD HIS AGENT ON US." I think Nick suffered a lot in the second show because, again I don't know all the background, but there was a certain amount of personality stuff going on. I don't know the full picture, but it had something to do with Gerry & Sylvia in that Sylvia, who was involved in the first but not the second series, was a fan of Nick as an actor and thought his presence in the show was useful and good, as indeed I did. I don't know to what extent Gerry shared this view, or if he did share it to what extent his view was coloured by what Freddie Freiberger wanted. It may be that something to do with my particular looks, dark, sort of Italianette, appeals in essence to the Americans and, therefore, Freddie saw me as something the Americans could relate to more. I'm just guessing on the basis of lots of gossip that I picked up. Certainly, because I was brought in under contract as THE Number Four, and was being paid equivalently - they could not give me less than Nick, it was into the same thing I had on "The Protectors", we've got Martin, Barbara, Cath- erine Schell, Tony Anholt, guest names, action now what room can we find for Nick Tate ? He would get onto his agent, the more his agent would get onto Freddie, who whatever his virtues are or are not is, I think, quite a stubborn man - he doesn't like the feel- ing people are telling him he's wrong or unfair, I think for a while they were at such loggerheads that there was no way Nick was going to gain anything and there was a point, I think, when he was going to ask to be released. I think things improved slightly for him after that, alb- eit too late from Nick's point of view. FREDDIE FREIBERGER HAS BEEN BLAMED, OR PRAISED, WHICHEVER WAY YOU WANT TO LOOK AT IT - DID YOU FEEL HE WAS GOING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION ? One thing I think Freddie was right about is that he was trying to make the people there more human in the sense that everybody in the cast thought that if you're going to have a bunch of people stuck up on a moon for God knows how long, whatever else they are they are human beings, they would have relationships, recreation, be seen doing human things, and not just staring at a screen and launch- ing into space and fighting the baddies and coming back wondering whether they were ever going to return to earth. I think that attempts like Tony Verdeschi's beer making were to try and give it a human face. I gather from what I'm told that fans fall into at least two camps - those who think that was rubbish and others who think that it was right. As an actor I think that the premise was right. As an actor I think that the premise was right. I don't think it was ever realised anything like

---