There are some things that writers stick on their authorial bucket lists that you never really think will come to pass; for me, one of those things was “Write a Star Cops story” – so imagine how pleased I am to be able to tick off something I’ve been wanting to do since 1987!
Today is release day for my story A Cage of Sky, episode one of Star Cops: Blood Moon 2, an audio drama miniseries from Big Finish Productions based on a BBC television series that ran for just a single season nearly 40 years ago. The show is set in 2027, in a near-future where space travel has become commonplace, where space stations and lunar outposts mark the first tentative steps to colonise the solar system. Alongside aggressive corporate entities, national rivalries and plain old human frailties, there is the International Space Police Force. Saddled with the derogatory nickname of “Star Cops“, they’re an underfunded, under-respected team of volunteer officers attempting to keep the peace on the High Frontier… Because even in zero-g, where there’s people, there’s crime…
Created by scriptwriter Chris Boucher (Doctor Who, Blake’s 7, Bergerac, Juliet Bravo), Star Cops is a legitimate stab at doing a near-future take on crime fighting, some sharp-edged day-after-tomorrow ‘hard SF’ – and it was catnip for a fan of both thrillers and science-fiction like me. Now, the original 9 TV episodes have been supplemented by an ongoing series of audio dramas (featuring original cast members David Calder, Linda Newton and Trevor Cooper). I’d been lobbying Big Finish’s producers to revive Star Cops for ages, so when they finally brought it back in audio form, I was champing at the bit to write for them.
A Cage of Sky continues the arc set up in the first arc of Blood Moon stories (I Was Killed Yesterday, Daughters of Death and Troubled Waters), as ISPF officer Colin Devis is on the outs in a desperate quest to find his missing estranged daughter Sophie Knox. As Colin finds himself forced into a risky partnership with a notorious criminal hacker, his colleagues Nathan Spring and Pal Kenzy have their suspicious aroused when they discover the inmates at a remote lunar prison are dying under mysterious circumstances – and the connection between both threads will put all of them in harm’s way.
I really had a great time working on this one, for a bunch of reasons. Firstly, the aforementioned bucket list item, getting to write for characters from an overlooked gem of a show that I’ve always loved; I got to come back to writing audio drama after being away for a few years; and I worked with a talented team of scriptwriters to develop the Blood Moon narrative (including my esteemed Star Trek colleague Una McCormack). I hope they’ll have me back to do another one!
Here’s an exclusive clip from the episode…
Starring original cast members David Calder (Commander Nathan Spring), Trevor Cooper (Inspector Colin Devis) and Linda Newton (Chief Superintendent Pal Kenzy), alongside Philip Olivier (Inspector Paul Bailey), Lynsey Murrell (Inspector Alice Okoro), Caroline Loncq (Juno Berg/Susan Jensen) and Alan McKenna (Emerson Fleet), A Cage of Sky was directed by Helen Goldwyn and produced by Emma Haigh, with story editing by Andrew Smith and music by Howard Carter.
Star Cops: Blood Moon – A Cage of Sky is available from Big Finish Productions as a digital download and Collector’s Edition CD; click here to order your copy, and see more about the Star Cops audio series at this link.
