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Audio Series Star Cops

One Of Our Cops Is Missing

Star CopsNathan Spring, commander of the International Space Police Force (known more informally as the Star Cops), is dragged into a new case by his old Earthbound colleague, Brian Lincoln. One of Lincoln’s best undercover cops has infiltrated a presumed drug operation being run by the Collier brothers – and has now gone completely silent, breaking off all contact. The case involves Spring because all signs point toward the Colliers trying to launch the illegal narcotics trade into space, which is a dangerous enough place even with a clear head. Meanwhile, Colin Devis investigates a series of suspicious spacesuit malfunctions on a space station operated by the government of India, but initially blows them off as routine malfunctions…until he himself nearly becomes the next victim. When Spring and Lincoln perform a surprise spot inspection of cargo about to be launched by the company the Colliers are using as a front, they’re run off the road and held hostage. Lincoln is horrified when he is interrogated at gunpoint by Paul Bailey…the undercover agent who broke contact.

written by Andrew Smith
directed by Helen Goldwyn
music by Howard Carter

Cast: David Calder (Nathan Spring), Trevor Cooper (Colin Devis), Linda Newton (Pal Kenzy), Philip Olivier (Paul Bailey), Rakhee Thakrar (Priya Basu), George Asprey (Alby Royle / Steven Moore), Delroy Atkinson (Charles Hardin). Ewan Bailey (Martin Collyer), Nimmy March (Shayla Moss), Andy Secombe (Brian Lincoln)

Notes: This is the first story in a four-story box set continuing the much-lauded but short-lived 1987 BBC2 sci-fi series Star Cops. Original cast members David Calder, Linda Newton, and Trevor Cooper reprise their roles from the original series, as does guest star Andrew Secombe, who played Lincoln in the TV series pilot. (Original TV series regular Erick Ray Evans died in 1999.) The original series’ life was cut short due to an ongoing feud between series creator Chris Boucher and producer Evgeny Gridneff; neither of them is involved with the Big Finish audio series. Also absent is the much-derided original theme song written and sung by Justin Hayward, replaced by an original (and entirely instrumental) composition for the audio series.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Audio Series Star Cops

Tranquility And Other Illusions

Star CopsSpring’s assistance in dealing with the media is not so much requested by new Moonbase administrator Shayla Mass as it is demanded, leaving Priya Basu – the newly promoted Chief Superintendent of the Star Cops – to head up a murder investigation at the moon’s Outpost 19 construction site on her own. A somewhat sketchy property developer, trying to lure small-time investors aboard his scheme to build a hotel near the landing site of Apollo 11, has turned up dead in the Sea of Tranquility, shot in the face with a rivet gun from Outpost 19; the woman who was with him (who is the most likely suspect) has vanished without a trace. Priya sets Devis and Paul to the task of interviewing the construction workers stationed at Outpost 19, primarily to prevent Devis from making an ass of himself in front of Outpost 19’s administrator again. But this “busy work” actually turns up actionable clues, and Devis realizes only too late that a personal connection to the case is about to put his life in jeopardy. And much to Priya’s annoyance, Spring can’t stay away from the investigation…though what he’s really trying to stay away from is the press.

written by Ian Potter
directed by Helen Goldwyn
music by Howard Carter

Cast: David Calder (Nathan Spring), Trevor Cooper (Colin Devis), Linda Newton (Pal Kenzy), Philip Olivier (Paul Bailey), Rakhee Thakrar (Priya Basu), Zora Bishop (Armina Hamid), Nimmy March (Shayla Moss), Tim Scragg (Ashton / Hughes), Mandi Symonds (Caroline)

LogBook entry by Earl Green