Journey Into Space 1954 (Ep17) The Red Planet

This is a 20-episode serial. Begin with Episode 1 or you’ll be confused as the story progresses.

The second series, The Red Planet, followed the adventures of the crew in their first attempt to reach and explore Mars. Several new characters were introduced, the most notable of which were Frank Rogers and James Edward Whitaker, the two original crewmen of freighter #2. Chilton took the name Whitaker from a copy of Whitaker's Almanack which was sitting on his desk.

In addition to the main characters, other characters in The Red Planet included:

Actor Character(s)
David Jacobs Frank Rogers and miscellaneous characters
Anthony Marriott James Edward Whitaker
Miriam Karlin Mrs Barnet (Lemmy's mother)
John Cazabon Australian control voice, dingo hunter, flying doctor, John Bodie (sheep farmer), Bill Webster
Madi Hedd (*) Martha Bodie (sheep farmer's wife)
Don Sharp Sam (factory controller)
(*) Married to Bruce Beeby, who played Mitch.

The most memorable catchphrase from this series was "Orders must be obeyed without question at all times", which was often repeated by many of the 'conditioned' characters, especially Whitaker. Episode 19 of the series rated a 17% audience share, whereas the newsreel broadcast simultaneously on BBC TV had an audience share of 16%. This was the last time that a radio show achieved a higher rating than its TV opponent.

During the first broadcast of this series, the Radio Times featured Journey into Space on its cover, showing Andrew Faulds as Captain "Jet" Morgan. His spacesuit (which was used by several of the cast members for publicity photos) was a prototype being developed in Britain at the time.

During the recording of The Red Planet, Guy Kingsley Poynter was also starring in The Teahouse of the August Moon at Her Majesty's Theatre.

The British Empire Exhibition was referred to throughout the episodes.