Journey Into Space is a BBC Radio science fiction programme written by BBC producer Charles Chilton. It was the last UK radio programme to attract a bigger evening audience than television. Originally, four series were produced (the fourth was a remake of the first), which were translated into 17 languages (including Hindi, Turkish and Dutch) and broadcast in countries worldwide (including Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand and The United States). Chilton later wrote three best-selling novels and several comic strip stories based upon the radio series.

The first series was created in 1953, soon after Riders of the Range (a popular Western, also written by Chilton) ended its six series on the BBC Light Programme. Michael Standing, then Head of the BBC Variety Department, asked Chilton if he could write a sci-fi programme, and Journey to the Moon (later known as Operation Luna) was the result. Each half-hour episode would usually end with a dramatic cliffhanger, to increase the audience's incentive to tune into the next episode.

The original magnetic recordings of the show were erased shortly after broadcast, and for several decades it was believed that no recordings of the show had survived, although some were broadcast by the American Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS, formerly AFN) in Europe during the late 1970s. In 1986, a set of misfiled Transcription Service discs (produced for sale to overseas radio stations) was discovered, containing complete copies of the three original series (more accurately, the surviving version of the first series is a cut-down remake of the original, produced for the Transcription Service during the 1950s). This discovery enabled the BBC to begin re-broadcasting the show in the late 1980s, and release copies of the show, first on audio cassette, and more recently on CD and internet download.

Fans of Journey Into Space included Colin Pillinger, Kenny Everett, John Major, Stephen Hawking, Miriam Margolyes, and former Doctor Who producer Philip Hinchcliffe.Voice-over commentary on the BBC DVD The Robots of Death (1977, 2000)

The main characters

The four main characters appear in all the original series, as well as the later special episodes:

Captain Andrew"Jet" MorganDoctorDaniel "Doc" MatthewsStephen "Mitch" MitchellLemuel"Lemmy" BarnetJourney to the MoonAndrew FauldsGuy Kingsley PoynterBruce Beeby (episodes 2 to 6)David KossoffDon Sharp (episodes 7 to 18)The Red PlanetBruce BeebyThe World in PerilDon SharpAlfie BassOperation LunaDavid WilliamsThe Return from MarsJohn PullenEd BishopNigel GrahamAnthony HallFrozen in TimeDavid JacobsAlan MarriottMichael BeckleyChris MoranThe HostToby StephensJot DaviesChris Pavlo

Guy Kingsley Poynter (who played Doc) had worked with Charles Chilton before Journey Into Space, and Chilton once commented that Poynter "was a very good poetry reader". Chilton also observed that Bruce Beeby was like his character Mitch, and was "always blowing his top".

David Kossoff asked Chilton if his character (the ship's radio operator) could be called Lemuel (a name he loved), and Chilton shortened the name to Lemmy. Chilton based Lemmy's character on himself, since he had been a radio operator in the RAF. Originally, Chilton had chosen John Glen to play Jet, but later decided to use Andrew Faulds instead, because Chilton's secretary fancied him.

David Jacobs's ability to play a wide variety of characters, each with their own distinctive voice, resulted in him playing 22 different characters during the course of Journey Into Space. He used to mark up his script using different colour pencils, to help him remember what each character was supposed to sound like. In episode 1 of The Red Planet, Jet is interviewed by a group of newspaper reporters, all of whom were played by Jacobs.

Light-hearted pranks were often played on David Jacobs just before a recording session was about to begin. On one occasion, Andrew Faulds poured a jug of water inside his trousers, totally soaking him, and he "did the rest of the programme in a raincoat!" On another occasion, some of the actors smeared mustard on his lip microphone, causing him some difficulties during the recording session.

Don Sharp later became a noted director.

Original three series

Journey to the Moon/Operation Luna Initially, the first series was simply known as Journey Into Space, with the subtitle A Tale of the Future added by the Radio Times, but within the BBC it became known as Journey to the Moon. The series was set in 1965 (the year in which Chilton believed humans would first walk on the Moon), and was first broadcast in 1953–1954 on the BBC Light Programme. The series was originally intended to have 12 episodes (one source claims 8 episodes), and 5.1 million people tuned into the first episode, but the first four episodes (which took place on Earth) did not prove very popular, and the audience soon shrank to fewer than 4 million. But once the rocket set off for the Moon in episode 5, the audience reaction was much more favourable. The series was extended to 18 episodes, and by the time the final episode was broadcast, 8 million people were tuning in.

In 1958, Journey to the Moon was re-recorded for the BBC Transcription Services (retitled as Operation Luna), because the original recordings had been erased. The first four episodes of the original series were omitted, and episodes 12 and 13 were merged into a single episode. Today, the only surviving recording from the original 1953 series Journey to the Moon is a 5-minute excerpt from the final episode.

Faulds, Kingsley Poynter, and Deryck Guyler were the only actors from Journey to the Moon to reprise their roles in Operation Luna.

In addition to the main characters, other characters in Journey to the Moon included:

ActorCharacterWilfred WalterSir William MorganRobert PercevalMackenzieDeryck GuylerThe Time-Traveller ("The Voice")David JacobsMiscellaneous charactersJohn CazabonEarth ControlAlan Keith (*)London correspondentDuncan McIntyreJet's great uncle, HectorMark BakerErrol McKinnonJessica DunningWyndham Milligan (*) Alan Keith (born Alec Kossoff) was the brother of David Kossoff, who played Lemmy.

Chilton wrote episode 8 of Journey to the Moon in response to a challenge from a TV producer, who considered the success of the series to be "a fluke". The producer challenged Chilton to write an episode "that could not be played equally well on television", and Chilton succeeded – a large proportion of the episode takes place in total darkness. During the episode, Jet reads to the rest of the crew by torchlight from The First Men in the Moon by H. G. Wells, the only work of fiction carried on board the ship.

Andrew Faulds's adopted uncle, Hector MacPherson, was an astronomer, and wrote a book called Practical Astronomy. Chilton bought a copy of the book, which first sparked his interest in astronomy, and later led him to write Journey Into Space. In episode 7 of Journey to the Moon, Jet's childhood flashback features his great uncle Hector, who was based on Hector MacPherson.

In November 1957, Chilton wrote an episode of the BBC School Radio science series Our Own and Other Worlds, titled "A Trip to the Moon", which featured edited material from episodes 5 and 6 of Journey to the Moon.

The table below indicates the correspondence between the episodes of Journey to the Moon and Operation Luna.