Luna

THIS MONTH’S TELETALK CURIO, FAR FROM BEING A LOAD OF OLD CLUNK, PROVED COMPULSIVIEW FOR MANY DIMINIS EACH SATURTOCK

- ALISTAIR MCGOWN

STILL WITH US? IF YOU EVEN VAGUELY understood that introduction, you probably watched Luna, ITV’s early ’80s, post nuclear-family sitcom, remembered for its circumlocutory vocabulary and teenaged ingénue Patsy Kensit’s first title role.

The notion of a girl of the future came from Micky Dolenz, former drummer with 1960s US TV pop act The Monkees, and was inspired by his daughter Ami. Now billed as Michael Dolenz, he was producing LWT’s hit Saturday teatime sitcom Metal Mickey; Luna would soon follow in ITV’s Saturday schedules.

The ex-Monkee engaged actor Colin Bennett to write the series. He had previously directed Dolenz and fellow former Monkee Davy Jones in the 1977 Mermaid Theatre production of Harry Nilsson’s psychedelic musical The Point.

SFX happily caught up with Bennett at the Cotswolds home of his Luna co-writer Colin Prockter. Bennett and Prockter – the pair usually refer to each other by their surnames – had written together since meeting as touring actors and from 1980 developed Luna, with the effusive Dolenz acting as salesman. “We wrote this script but Micky went round and sold it,” Prockter recalls. “We had three goes with the BBC and LWT and it finally ended up at ATV. We’d go in very diffidently and very English-ly and say, ‘We’ve written this little thing you might be interested in.’ Micky would storm in and say how he wanted it shot. It was all very American and up and brilliant.” ATV’s new children’s commissioner Lewis Rudd greenlit Luna just as the company restructured as Central Television.

“I think Michael just liked Luna as the name for the girl,” remembers Bennett of Dolenz’s initial outline. “I think it was set on an orbiting space station.”