JULY 1987
FLASHBACK
SFX’s time machine hurls us back to a random month once again
WORDS: NICK SETCHFIELD
“Anyone who makes a Pigs In Space joke gets arrested.”
STAR COPS © BBC. SUPERMAN IV © CANNON/KOBAL/SHUTTERSTOCK. IT’S A SIN © THE PET SHOP BOYS/PARLOPHONE.
CSI: Moon
6 JULY 1987 “It was a road to Hell paved with good intentions,” Star Cops star David Calder told SFX in 2018, reflecting on one of sci-fi TV’s greatest missed opportunities. “I was actually very disappointed by the way it was handled by the BBC.” Perhaps all involved Space Police Force. Stationed on the Moon, Spring and his multinational team are tasked with enforcing law and order as humanity edges into the Solar System. It’s only one small step for criminal kind, after all…
Originally pitched as a radio serial in 1981, Star Cops was devised by Chris Boucher. A former Blake’s 7 script editor, he had form when it came to both crime drama and science fiction, having earned writing credits on Doctor Who and Bergerac. But Boucher immediately should have heeded the lyrics to the show’s theme song, a weedy weepie by Justin Hayward that warned, “It Won’t Be Easy”.