Mark Gatiss is riding the crest of a Sherlock & Doctor Who tidal wave at the moment, and his fans will be delighted to hear that he will be stepping on to our screens at some point in the very near future in another BBC drama. The corporation have not settled on a transmission date for The First Men In The Moon yet, but we’re told that the one-off special is imminent.
The drama begins in July 1969 as the Apollo 11 astronauts are about to make their historic Moon landing. But somebody has beaten them to it.
Mark Gatiss takes the lead role as Edwardian scientist Professor Cavor in his own adaptation of HG Wells’s science fiction classic, The First Men In The Moon, for BBC4. As the world waits for news of Apollo 11, a young boy meets 90-year-old Julius Bedford (Rory Kinnear) who tells him an extraordinary story.
As a young man back in 1909, Bedford happens across Professor Cavor, who has developed an amazing invention – Cavorite, which makes anything to which it is applied immune to gravity. Recognising a miracle when he sees one, and with a keen eye on the potential profit, Bedford encourages Cavor to think big. The two men set about constructing a copper and cast-iron sphere, in which they intend to fly to the Moon.
