Catacombs Reference LibraryUK Press
Daily Record
Catacombs Reference LibraryThe Daily Record is a tabloid newspaper in Scotland, and was the first UK newspaper to be fully colour from 1971 (all these examples are black and white photocopies, thanks to Angus).
Daily Record, Friday 4 July 1975 p23
WE ARE going to see a lot more of Linda Hooks, which is a delightful thought.
She appears in the new space fiction TV series "Space 1999," and in another new series called "Rough With The Smooth," with John Junkin and Tim Brooke- Taylor.
Lovely Linda, 23, from Liverpool, has already shown her talent in films.
Before turning to acting and modelling. Linda trained as a chiropodist. "I had to give that up because of ticklish foot."
In 1972 she became Miss Britain, and in Japan won the title of Miss International.
Also in 1972, she became Miss Cinema in Tunisia. For that she won a car, but couldn't drive. Despite that Linda's on the road to success.
Daily Record, Saturday 30 August 1975 p14-15
Series With A Formula For Success
As Mr Spock might say, it would be illogical to assume "Space 1999" is destined to become another TV soap opera like "Startrek."
This latest piece of telly science fiction-due for lift-off on ITV channels on Thursday--promises to be much more of a spectacular.
Certainly, the standard of female crew members aboard Moon Base Alpha is extremely high as you will realise from Miss Valerie Leon, who decorates this page.
ATV have made 24 episodes, and the sets are being stored at Pinewood Studios in preparation for a further series.
The company's chief executive, Sir Lew Grade, said at a conference in London this week that the series was his "biggest gamble."
MASTERS
Sir Lew, however, is a gentleman with a splendid track-record when it comes to gambling. And though his stake in "Space 1999 was £3.2 million, the series has already been sold to 120 countries...
The stars are Martin Landau and Barbara Bain, the husband-and-wife team who survived 80 episodes of "Mission Impossible."
Martin plays the role of Commander Koenig, and Barbara is Dr Helena Russell.
The producers of the series are also a husband-and-wife team of great fame... Gerry and Sylvia Anderson.
Masters of futuristic TV productions involving both puppets and live actors. Gerry and Sylvia began this part of their career with "Supercar."
"Fireball XL-5" and "Stingray" followed, and then the most successful of them all, "Thunderbirds". More recently, they have been involved in productions including "The Protectors" and "U.F.O."
ALIENS
The guest star list is endless and impressive. People who will take off for the Moon Base Alpha include Richard Johnson, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing. Joan Collins, Anthony Valentine, Brian Blessed, Margaret Leighton and Catherine Schell.
The story-lines would appear to have everything necessary for capturing viewers.
The scientists meet up with aliens and all sorts of dramatic situations in space -and there will also be a story involving the birth of the first baby to be born in space.
Sir Lew Grade's money looks pretty safe to me...
GORDON BLAIR
Caption: Valerie Leon, one of the many beautiful crew members of Moon Base Alpha, scene of a new sci-fi series which blasts off on ITV screens on Thursday. And it looks like being a winner for Sir Lew Grade who has staked more than £3 million in the programme.
Daily Record, Thursday 4 September 1975 p19
ACTOR Martin Landau and his actress wife, Barbara Bain, have been seeing a lot of each other recently. They co-starred for 80 episodes of the internationally popular "Mission Impossible."
And now they are together again in a 24-part futuristic Sci- Fi spectacular, "Space 1999" which goes into orbit tonight (ITV 7 p.m.).
A co-production by ATV and RAI, the Italian State Broadcasting Organisation, it took more than two years to make and cost a staggering £2m. But it has already been sold to 120 countries.
RIPPED
The producers are another husband and wife team-Gerry and Sylvia Anderson-who were responsible for Thunderbirds and many other children's cartoons.
In "Space 1999" they again use elaborate models and electronic gadgets to create effects which, it is claimed, have never been seen before on telly.
The setting for the story is Moon Base Alpha, with a colony of scientists stranded on a part of the Moon which has been ripped apart by violent nuclear explosion.
In the unknown world of deep space Martin Landau is commander John Koenig. an American astro-physicist whose Garth-like heroics are marred only by occasional moodiness.
Barbara plays Dr Helena Russell, a space medic who predictably becomes moonstruck on Koenig.
Lots of lovely girls decorate the scene and big-name guest stars keep turning up, starting tonight in "Breakaway" with Roy Dotrice as a Commissioner.
Daily Record, Friday 5 September 1975 p24
IT was fated to happen, of course, as Gerry and Sylvia Anderson gained reputation, that the TV companies would one day stick their necks out and try to emulate "Star Trek."
The result was "SPACE 1999", a lavishly expensive stage set where Stanley Kubrick met Joe 90 and both tried a giant step for sci-fi telly.
A giant step for the wallet, a mediocre step for viewing, I'm afraid to say.
The photography was brilliant and the special effects do for the small screen what "2001" did for the big one.
The plot, however, is less than technically adequate and ludicrous in the extreme, while the Andersons don't seem to have got over the days when their actors were puppets on a string.
It was much as I'd expected from Man About The House."-great stuff from all promising more agonising choices for me in weeks to come.
BOB LOW
Daily Record, Thursday 11 September 1975 p18
AFTER last week's opening bid for fame with "Space 1999", Gerry and Sylvia Anderson,, creators of the event, attempt to follow up with what is really quite a chiller of an episode - at least for Ian McShane.
The 33-year-old actor, who restricts his TV appearances to about two a year, portrays technician Anton in the latest tale from the sci-fi series tonight (ITV, 7.0).
When a terrifying force from a seemingly unmanned planet attacks Moonbase Alpha and its drifting crew, the result leaves Mr McShane cold.
So cold, in fact, that he draws heat from the nearest person he can find everything he touches freezes instantly.
As usual, no expense or effort has been spared on the set to bring you realism and special effects. You've got to admit at least that Gerry and Sylvia are triers.
Daily Record, Thursday 25 September 1975, p18
SCOTS actress Isla Blair, a lovely red-head, is completely unrecognisable in her latest role tonight. She appears as an egg-head.
Isla, who was born in Blairgowrie and is married to actor Julian Glover, was delighted when she landed a role in the sci-fi Spectacular "Space 1999."
But what a shock when she learned she had to go bald for her portrayal of a female alien.
One consolation was that actor Anthony Valentine of "Callan" and "Colditz" fame had also to submit to the egg-head treatment.
Isla says: "At first we looked like a couple of hard-boiled eggs. We must have raked up every joke in the book.
"But things weren't quite so bad by the time the make-up people had finished ...my head was covered with jewels,"
In "War Games" viewers will see some of the spectacular special effects that are feature of the series.
As Moonbase Alpha is attacked by the aliens, violent explosions bring sets crashing to the ground- at no little risk to the cast. (ITV, 7.0)
Daily Record, Thursday 23 October 1975 p19; Best on the Box by Avril Martin
What a way to break into showbiz- ignoring that old monster's maxim, never star with kids or humans!
The strolling weed figures strongly in tonight's Space 1999 episode. Dragon's Domain, where it rolls in from a plot redolent with macabre monsters and graveyards of lost spaceships (ITV 7.0)
Daily Record, Friday 24 October 1975 p26; Last Night's View by Bob Low
DESPITE the hullabaloo about how much it cost to make and how great the special effects are, "Space 1999" has been revealing its true colours over the weeks.
Last night it unveiled the final truth -it's really a mixture of the old "Thunderbirds" and "Fireball XL5" series without strings and at peak viewing time. "Space 1999" should never have escaped from the kiddies' afternoon telly slot.
I mean, how can you take a large rubber octopus, fitted with a car head- light for an eye, as any kind of series attempt at drama?
Daily Record, Thursday 30 October 1975 p25. Kara is renamed "Tara" here.
THIS is Tara and she is 900 years old. To what does she attribute her longevity? That's easy- to the scriptwriters who dreamed up "Mission of the Darians" the latest episode of SPACE 1999 on ITV at 7.0 (except Border). But, of course, you'd already twigged that it was the glamorous Joan Collins (right) dressed up for the part.
Daily Record, Friday 9 January 1976 p24, by Ruth Wishart
PITY
Last night was the first time I've caught "Space 1999," and it may well be the last. It embodies the worst faults of "Star Trek" and "Dr Who," which is a great pity given the wealth of good sci fi writing there is to tap.
Daily Record, Friday 19 March 1976 p27, by Avril Martin
LOVELY German-born actress Suzanne Roquette has been trying to lose her foreign accent since she started working in Britain about 10 years ago.
It is still one of her greatest assets, however, and has helped to win her many TV roles. Tonight. Suzanne, who now lives in Croydon with her English husband and two bloodhounds, plays a guest role in "Hadleigh" (ITV, 9.0).
She appears as Elfreda von Hermsdorff, a frauline who becomes James Hadleigh's interpreter when he visits Germany- but offers more than professional services.
In "Bloodline" Suzanne, who had a regular role as Tanya in Space 1999", is the first of several dolly birds who will be entering the life of the Squire of Melford Park whose wife has left him.
He goes to Germany to search for relatives after discovering a 200-year-old share certificate that could be worth a million pounds and seems to be the answer to his financial problems.
His host at the stud farm where he is staying is Elfreda's brother Verner, played by Gary Waldhorn.
Daily Record, Saturday 4 September 1976 p13
Space is not the final frontier as far as some sci-fi series on telly are concerned-which the kids will be pleased to hear "Dr Who." in the mop-head shape of Tom Baker (above), returns with a new four-part story. "Masque Of Mandragora," in which our hero finds the Tardis whisked off to 15th-century Italy. Its a rotten trick-a. Less pleasing is "Space 1999" and its imminent return to telly space. Only a few channels have picked up the first episode from ATV but there are uncomfortably strong rumours. For those interested, the hairy-faced freak in the picture is actually actor and playwright of note, Brian Blessed
Daily Record, Wednesday 2 February 1977 p3
Glenda Allen's acting roles have included parts in HORROR films. Strange, because there's nothing horrible about 24-year old Glenda.
She does, however, have the kinds of looks that send the nerve-ends tingling - and not from fear.
Glenda had a role in Space 1999. And that's bound to send her on her way to a starry future.
Daily Record, Saturday 13 January 1979, p13, TV Special by John Millar
SAARAH DOUGLAS must rank as our loveliest sci-fi girl For the gorgeous actress has made her name in science fantasy movies. She made her film debut in The Final Programme."
And her latest screen role is as Ursa, one of the villains from the planet Krypton in the movie blockbuster "Superman"
Sarah reckons that she was picked for the role because she was in a bad mood when she met the producers to discuss the film.
The meeting was postponed several times and when I finally met the producers and the director, Richard Donner, I was in a foul mood.
"I was petulant, nasty, eyes blazing- which. it turned out, was just right for Ursa" said Sarah
Sarah also admitted that even after she started filming "Superman" she couldn't believe her good luck
"I'd ask. What if they suddenly decide to recast the picture" said Sarah
Tomorrow, you can see Sarah in another science fiction role when she appears as a space creature in the latest adventure of Space 1999" (Tomorrow, STV, 2.30 p.m.)
Daily Record, Saturday 23 June 1979 p13
WHETHER he likes it or not, Gerry Sundquist is about to be labelled as our answer to John Travolta. For the young actor is soon to be seen in a British-made film which is very similar to Travolta's first big hit. Saturday Night Fever.
Its The Music Machine. and Gerry plays a young dancer who sets out to win a disco competition. And naturally the action calls for some Travolta style dancing when he partners swinging co-star Patti Boulaye. But Gerry— who can be seen in Space 1999 tomorrow— told me that he doesn't want to be tagged as a Travolta initiation.
"I realise that some people will think of me as Britain's John Travolta before they see the film.
"But I hope that afterwards they will see that I'm not at all like him. The character I play is just one of the lads whom you'd see down at any of our discos. And like the normal disco-goer Gerry isn't a professional dancer
"I'd never danced before so the dancing scenes were quite difficult" said Gerry "And the film was made very quickly— in Just three weeks— so on the whole it was a pretty tough schedule
"But because time was so tight I think that it meant we succeeded in achieving a high energy level in the film."
To ensure that he isn't only thought of as a pop actor, Gerry would like to try something completely different for his next film.
Tomorrow in Space 1099. Gerry certainly has a very different role. In the episode entitled The Dorcons he plays a spaceman on Moonbase Alpha (Tomorrow, ITV. 2 p m)
Daily Record, Saturday 11 May 1985 p17
By JOHN MILLAR TV Editor
CATHERINE SCHELL plays a leggy femme fatale in her latest television role.
She wears sexy suspenders, black stockings and stiletto heels as the dishy Danish head of a mental asylum who is having a steamy affair with the asylum's millionaire owner.
But the Hungarian-born star plays the vamp strictly for laughs in Mog, a new 13-week comedy series coming soon to ITV.
Catherine wouldn't dream of taking off her clothes for her sexy performance.
She once went topless for a television programme and she still regrets stripping off.
Catherine's only "nude" role was in the BBC series, The Search For The Nile, in which she appeared as a Victorian explorer's wife. She was filmed stripping to the waist and washing her long hair in the Nile.
Catherine said: "I hated doing it. There were rows beforehand and I insisted that there should be no stills photographed.
"I've been asked many times since to take off my clothes, but I've always turned down these film offers.
"I suppose it's because I'm a convent school girl. I'm shy really and just don't like the idea of being naked in a studio with a lot of strange people."
In the cinema, Catherine has invariably been cast in glamorous roles.
She was one of the "Angels of Death" in the Bond movie, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and she appeared with Peter Sellers in The Return Of The Pink Panther and The Prisoner of Zenda
Catherine is very enthusiastic about Mog, a comedy with One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest overtones. "It's a very off- beat series, and great fun to do," she said.
Catherine is equally happy that another long- running TV series in which she starred, Space 1999, is still getting repeat screenings.
"That series has been sold all over the world," she said.