1960s (?) Science Fiction Serial

[Dave Andrews]

Discussing old SF stuff (radio, JIS in particular) with an old uni mate he mentioned remembering a serial, on the radio, 1960s he thought, about 'critters' invading Earth from Europa.

Personally I have no memory of anything like it, only Journey Into Space in '58 and Orbiter-X in '60.

He said he'd looked for it, couldn't find it and so reckoned it wasn't on BBC, which makes me wonder what station it could have been - Radio Luxembourg seems the only other possibility. However my memory of R.Lux (in the '60s) is that it was all pop music ... no drama. Possibly something in the late '50s ?

I can't say I remember anything like it on TV either (except we only had BBC, we didn't get ITV until '66, so ...)

Anyone got any ideas what it could have been ?

[Spiny Norman]

Not H.G. Wells related perhaps?

[Dave Andrews]

It's a thought ... I'll pass that on.

[stearn]

Shadow on the Sun.

Broadcast in late 1961 and appears to have lizards (and a virus), and part 7 has this in the listing (on Genome): "how long before the world is cold enough for more of the Europans to land?"

[Dave Andrews]

Ah ha ! Europans would be from Europa, wouldn't they. (Me: Doh !)

That sounds very like it ... I'll pass that on to my friend and see what he thinks.

Thanks.

[Spiny Norman]

Europans at the door? Sounds like it's going to be No Deal then! ;)

[Dave Andrews]

I sent the details above back to my mate (he's in NZ now) and below is his response (which might be be of interest).

"That's it exactly.

"I remember now that it started off like a fairly standard but pretty good apocalypse story, with the Earth's climate starting to cool down, rivers freezing over, semi-permanent winter etc; nobody knew what was going on - then, UFO sightings, one was brought down, inside was a lizardy creature being kept alive by a refrigeration system that kept it at a very low temperature. It cooked as soon as they opened the UFO. That and some trajectory stuff convinced the researchers that the UFOs were coming from Europa, and they were doing a smidgin of climate engineering to cool the Earth down to make it livable for them. Can't remember how they sorted it all, but it was ahead of its time in many ways, particularly life on (or in) Europa.

"At the age of 12, I thought it was pretty good stuff!

"The sudden change from apocalypse to invasion was really quite jarring".

[brigham]

Sounds like Nigel Kneale.

[Dave Andrews]

Sounds like Nigel Kneale.

According to Genome (ie Radio Times) it was written by Gavin Blakeney.

[brigham]

Sounds like Nigel Kneale.

According to Genome (ie Radio Times) it was written by Gavin Blakeney.

Who seemingly wrote 16 episodes of The Sky Larks.
I'll bet that is entirely lost.

[Dave Andrews]

Yeh, so I saw ... 'Sky Larks' is one of my early (9yo) and very dim TV memories; in fact I'd actually forgotten it until Genome threw it up; the title still doesn't ring any bells but the RT synopsis does. I think 'Sky Larks' is where I first heard the term 'chopper' as slang for a helicopter.

Odd 'though, because SL it was the same year as 'Starr & Company' which has always been one of my 'TV memories'.

Both gone, I guess.