Return To The Lost Planet (1955)
| Production company/ies | Broadcast station(s) | Broadcast date(s) |
|---|---|---|
| BBC | BBC Television Service | January 8 - March 19, 1955 |
Production credits
| Producer(s) | Director(s) | Writer(s) | Other notable credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kevin Sheldon | Unknown | Angus MacVicar | Designer: John Cooper |
Acting credits
- "Jeremy Grant": Peter Kerr
- "Janet Campbell": Greta Wilson
- "Dr Lachlan McKinnon": John Stuart
- "Prof Lars Bergman": Derek Benfield
- "Spike Stranahan": Michael Alexander (Eps 2-6)
- "Madge Smith": Joan Allen (Eps 1-3 & 6)
- "Hermanoff": Van Boolen (Eps 2-6)
- "Andrieff": Wolfe Morris (Eps 1 & 2)
- "Solveg": Peter Newington (Eps 4-6); Peter Alexander (TBC)
- "Asa": JULIE WEBB (Eps 4-6)
- "Dorman": MICHAEL SEGAL (Eps 4-6)
- Other roles (Ep 1): CHRISTOPHER HODGE, Ronald Marriott, EUGENE LEAHY, C B Poultney, Donald Masters
Episodes
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Synopsis
| Hermanoff and Stranahan return to the lost planet to rescue Dr McKinnon but they end up marooned on Hesikos with only enough food to last four months. Assisted by Andrieff, Hermanoff's former engineer, Jeremy and his friends decide to build a new rescue ship. After taking off there is trouble with the air-pressure system and they reach the lost planet safely after a journey of 60 hours. Jeremy and his friends find Dr McKinnon, Hermanoff, and Spike alive and well. They make the startling discovery that human life may exist on Hesikos and make their way towards the equatorial regions where they come upon various small rodents, all tame and all oddly short-sighted. Near the foot of a mountain they find the mouth of an underground cavern. Inside they hear a throbbing sound, like a huge engine running in the bowels of the earth. |  IN CHILDREN'S TELEVISION'Return to the Lost Planet' The surface of Hesikos where Dr McKinnon is marooned, facing almost certain death in the icy winter of the lost planet. An expedition has set out to rescue him and is due to return within a few days. |
They meet Solveg, ruler and chief historian of Hesikos, and his daughter Asa, plus Dorman. Their method of thought transference - using a machine called the Electronome - is so advanced that their speech sounds to each explorer like his own native tongue. Dr McKinnon and his friends discover that thousands of years ago Solveg's people invented the atom bomb, but all explosives were eventually outlawed, and for many centuries the Hesikians have lived in charity and goodwill.
Just before Jeremy and his friends are due to return to Earth, disaster occurs. An underground river is blocked by the fall of a huge boulder, the supply of electricity is cut off, and as bitter winter approaches, the Hesikians are faced with a famine of light and heat.
Notes
Return to the Lost Planet is the sequel to the earlier series The Lost Planet. As with the first series, this serial was based on a novel by Angus MacVicar, published in 1954, which itself was based on his own radio serial broadcast in 1953. The story continues from where The Lost Planet left off. It is believed that the series is now lost, with no known surviving copies.
Because there were no details in the TV listings for this serial, the synopsis is drawn from those for the radio play and a summary of the novelisation. There may have been variations in the story when adapted for television. In the novelisation, Jeremy and Spike use explosives they saved from the flood to clear the blockage — and Hesikos is saved. The visitors then return to their spaceship which the Hesikans have repaired, and return to Earth accompanied by Asa, who hopes to spread her philosophy of peace.
