Space Force: Series 2

Space Force was a BBC Radio science fiction serial, broadcast from 4 April 1984 to 17 June 1985.

Written by Charles Chilton, it was originally intended to be a sequel to his 1950s Journey into Space series, using the same cast who had made a one-off revival of that series entitled 'The Return From Mars’ in 1981. While this idea was dropped late in the development of the serial, the four characters, played by Barry Foster, Nigel Stock, Nicky Henson, and Tony Osoba, are nevertheless essentially the same as those from the earlier series, albeit with different names.

The first series sees the team travelling to Jupiter, where they encounter a ship crewed entirely by female aliens.

The second series finds the crew tackling aliens posing as ancient Egyptians.

Within both series, Space Force is the name of the team's spaceship, rather than the name of an organisation.
Episode 1: The Return of The Sun God

​Captain Saxon Berry and his crew, flight engineer Lodderick Sincere, radio operator Lemuel ‘Chipper’ Barnet and Professor Magnus Carter are on an astronomical expedition to the Egyptian desert when they spot a fireball in the sky. The authorities search the desert, but can find no trace of the suspected meteor. Saxon and Carter decide to launch their own search, whilst Chipper and Lodderick visit the pyramids. A woman at the tourist office informs Chipper and Lodderick that the tours are fully booked, but they can instead visit a step pyramid, which is not usually open to visitors. Whilst inside the pyramid, Chipper and Lodderick notice a painting on the wall which looks just like the woman at the tourist office. They become separated from their tour group and find themselves in an anteroom to the burial chamber, where they hear a voice claiming to be a servant of the god Ra. The voice instructs them to open a locked door and they pass into the burial chamber, to find their tour guide and the woman from the tourist office, both claiming to be servants of Ra. Lodderick is asked to examine the God’s sun boat, which he is told travels across the sky, as it is no longer working. He finds it is powered by an unknown propulsion system which he cannot repair. Chipper and Lodderick are allowed to leave. They rejoin Saxon and Carter and recount their adventure, speculating that the sun boat was the fireball they had all seen. The crew later blast off on a mission to Mars, where they find the two servants of Ra have stowed away on one of the freighters.

​First broadcast: 13 May 1985.
Original Story by Charles Chilton.
​Cast: Barry Foster, Tony Osoba, Nicky Henson, Nigel Stock.
Episode 2: The Red Planet

​The stowaways are transferred to the Space Force. They claim to be Meriankha and Nofret, inhabitants of Mars, who journeyed to Earth in their sun boat spacecraft to retrieve the bodies of their ancestors from Egypt. They claim their ancestors came to Earth thousands of years ago and posed as Egyptian Pharaohs. They explain that their sun boat was the meteor which the crew saw, and that it has malfunctioned, leading them to stowaway on the freighter as a means to return to Mars. The Space Force lands on Mars, with the freighters continuing on to the asteroid belt. The crew awake to watch the Martian sunrise and discover Meriankha and Nofret are missing. Taking a land vehicle to explore the surrounding area, Saxon spots a large, pyramid-shaped weathered rock. A lightning-like discharge blinds the crew.

First broadcast: 20 May 1985.
Original Story by Charles Chilton.
​Cast: Barry Foster, Tony Osoba, Nicky Henson, Nigel Stock.
Episode 3: The Great Martian Pyramid

Regaining their sight, but losing contact with Saxon and Lodderick, Carter and Chipper set out to search for them. They find the rock where Saxon was last heard from and conclude it is a weathered step pyramid. Discovering an entrance, Carter and Chipper venture inside, but again are blinded by the light, and are trapped when the door locks behind them. With only half an hour of air left, the pair are released by animal-headed humanoids, who lead them further into the pyramid, where they are reunited with Saxon and Lodderick. No longer requiring their spacesuits, as the air is breathable, the crew are prepared by handmaidens to meet the God-King Ra. Following an audience with Ra, where the crew were questioned about their knowledge of the sunstone, which powers the Martian’s sun boat, the crew are visited by Meriankha and Nofret, who inform them they will all become honoured servants of Ra, to serve him until death and beyond.

First broadcast: 27 May 1985.
Original Story by Charles Chilton.
​Cast: Barry Foster, Tony Osoba, Nicky Henson, Nigel Stock.
Episode 4: A Test of Endurance

Lodderick repairs the God-King’s sun boat spacecraft and as a reward the crew are given exalted positions in the king’s court. Lodderick and Saxon speculate that the Martians do not know how the sun boat works, and consider it magic. They conclude it was built by someone else. Nofret explains that the God-King is about to celebrate his jubilee, where he must perform a number of tasks correctly, or be put to death and replaced with a new king. Chipper accidentally blinds himself with a sunstone ankh whilst recharging some solar batteries, and Saxon devises a plan to escape during the jubilee celebrations. The God-King fails one of the tasks and dies, scuppering Saxon’s plan to escape, and the crew realise that, as exalted court officials, they too must be put to death, to serve the king in the afterlife.
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​First broadcast: 3 June 1985.
Original Story by Charles Chilton.
​Cast: Barry Foster, Tony Osoba, Nicky Henson, Nigel Stock.
Episode 5: Living With Death

The crew witness the execution of three servants, who attempted to escape their fate by running away. Later, they attend the burial ceremonies of the king, where they board the sun boat, along with numerous servants, and take off for the underworld. Meriankha fights off a serpent, which Nofret claims is trying to devour the Sun, but the crew can see nothing but Meriankha shadow-fighting. The sun boat heads out into space, and after thirteen days reaches an asteroid known as the House of Gold, which the crew is told is the burial place of all the God-Kings. The crew are told they have a choice of taking poison or waiting for death to come to them, but realising Meriankha and Nofret are returning to Mars, they head for the boat dock, only to find the sun boat gone.

​First broadcast: 10 June 1985.
Original Story by Charles Chilton.
​Cast: Barry Foster, Tony Osoba, Nicky Henson, Nigel Stock.
Episode 6: Unto Death And Beyond

Saxon, Lodderick and Chipper explore the interior of the asteroid, while Professor Carter tries to decipher the hieroglyphs on a wall mural. Freighter 2, returning from the asteroid belt, makes contact with the crew. Carter discovers the hieroglyphs tell the history of the Martians. They explain that the Martians originated on a planet where the asteroid belt now is, but it was destroyed by Jupiter’s gravity, with the House of Gold all that remains. The aliens colonised Mars and visited Earth in the past, where they ruled Egypt. Whenever the House of Gold asteroid would be in a favourable position in its orbit to enable travel to Earth, the Martians would recover the bodies of their dead ancestors for burial on the asteroid — this explains why so many Egyptian tombs are empty. Saxon decides to pursue Meriankha and Nofret to Mars, in order to obtain the sunstone technology. On arrival back at the pyramid on Mars, Saxon is greeted by a crowd of servants, who assume he has returned from the dead. The servants reveal Meriankha and Nofret have left for Earth. Returning to Earth on board the Space Force, the crew lead archaeologists to the boat-grave, inside the step pyramid in Egypt. Unfortunately, the Department of Antiquities will not allow any examination of the sun boats, so the crew return to Mars, where they find the step pyramid in ruins. The crew set off for Ceres, in the asteroid belt, and receive a message from Earth informing them that the bodies of Meriankha and Nofret have been found in the boat-grave. The message also states that the bodies have been determined to be three thousand years old. The crew speculate that they have been affected by some sort of time warp.

​First broadcast: 17 June 1985.
Original Story by Charles Chilton.
​Cast: Barry Foster, Tony Osoba, Nicky Henson, Nigel Stock.