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ACTION
TV ONLINE EPISODE GUIDE
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Script : Jed Mercurio Director : Patrick Lau Notes : Jed Mercurio is perhaps best known for creating and writing the cult medical drama Cardiac Arrest for the BBC under the name John MacUre. In 1997 he created the ITV sitcom The Grimleys and has recently had his first novel, Bodies, published by Cape. Patrick Lau's other directing credits include episodes of The Return of Sherlock Holmes, The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, the 90's revival of Doctor Finlay and The Scarlet Pimpernel. Other series Vincent Regan has appeared in include Between the Lines, Call Red and Rebel Heart. In early 2002 he played Matthew Nash in the BBC comedy drama Rescue Me and will soon be seen as DI David Wilby in Messiah 2: Vengeance is Mine.
Script : Jed Mercurio Director : Patrick Lau Notes : Maggie O'Neill's other credits include appearances in Greek Myths (Ariadne in Theseus and the Minotaur) and Chiller in which she played Emma Holman in Number Six - the final story. More recently she has played Dr Alex Redman in the ITV medical drama Peak Practice. Fred Ward is probably best remembered for appearing in the cult movie Tremors (1990) as Earl Bassett, a role which he reprised five years later in the straight to video sequel Tremors 2: Aftershocks. In the 1970's he made several guest appearances in The Incredible Hulk and in 1987 appeared in Dead Heat, an episode of the HBO series The Hitchhiker.
Script : Jed Mercurio Director : Patrick Lau Notes : Phyllis Logan is probably best known for playing Lady Jane Felsham in Lovejoy, a role she played until the end of Season Four in 1993. Other programmes she has appeared in include Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased), in which she played Harriet Banks-Smith in The Best Years of Your Death, and Fields of Gold in which she played Rachel Greenlaw. In 1995 she played Anna Spalinsky in Here Comes the Mirror Man, an episode of the ITV anthology series Chiller. She has also had regular roles in the medical dramas Holby City and Hope & Glory, and has recently been seen in the BBC drama Dickens as Georgina Hogarth. Jo Dow is probably best remembered for playing PC Barry Stringer in ITV's long-running police series The Bill. In the mid-90's he appeared in all three season's of Jed Mercurio's controversial medical drama Cardiac Arrest as Dr James Mortimer and can currently be seen as Jim Webb in the Channel 5 soap Family Affairs.
Script : Jed Mercurio Director : Richard Laxton * Episode number and title aren't displayed on screen Notes : Over the past twenty years Anton Lesser has appeared in numerous programmes, although his appearances in action/cult series have been limited to playing Patrick Marcel in Pulse, the final episode in the first season of BUGS, and Milburn in The White Knight Stratagem, the final episode of Murder Rooms first complete season. More recently he has been seen as Stephen in Perfect Strangers and portrayed Charles Dickens in the BBC2 series Dickens. Paul J Medford is best known as Kelvin Carpenter, one of the original characters in the BBC1 soap EastEnders.
Script : Jed Mercurio Director : Richard Laxton Notes : Chris Fairbank has appeared in numerous television programmes including Sapphire & Steel (in which he played Johnny Jack in the sixth and final story), The Professionals, Space Precinct and The Scarlet Pimpernel. He is probably best known for playing Moxey in the 1980's drama series Auf Wiedersehen Pet - recently revived by the BBC. Two story consultants were employed on Invasion: Earth. Stephen Baxter is an award-winning science fiction author whose novels include Voyage, Moonseed, Titan and The Time Ships, an authorised sequel to the classic H G Wells novel The Time Machine. In 1998 he wrote Quarantine, the third episode of the Sky One science-fiction series Space Island One. Alex Stewart is a prolific author of short stories, and in 1999 he wrote two episodes for the final season of BUGS - Hell and High Water and Twin Geeks which was co-written with Colin Brake.
Script : Jed Mercurio Director : Richard Laxton Notes : As with many novelisations there are a number of differences from the programme that was seen on television - in this case almost certainly due to the publication date being concurrent with transmission and the book therefore being based on an earlier draft of the script. · Amongst the most noticeable differences is the almost complete absence of Nick Shay from the story - he only appears in the opening section of the book when the alien transmissions are detected. His role in decoding the signals and developing the nD detector is split between Amanda and Terrell who, in the book, is persuaded to co-operate with plans to combat the nDs to a far greater extent than on TV. · On television, after Amanda is abducted by the nDs, Drake travels to see her family and to speak with Nick. He returns to the base with Amanda's daughter Emily after she is returned. The book leaves this out entirely, with Emily only being present in the early scenes when the alien transmissions are first picked up. Amanda's discussion in the pub with Drake is also curtailed with no mention being made of Emily or her father. · Friday's escape from his home after being returned by the nDs is only mentioned due to the fact he shot his guards. The pursuit of Friday across country is also absent. He finally kills himself by wading into the reservoir - on television it was a slightly more spectacular fall. · Drake saves the Echo from drowning by jumping from a helicopter - on television he wades into the water. · The book ends rather unsatisfactorily with Terrell's abduction and death - approximately three-quarters of the way through Chapter 4: The Fall Of Man. |
When RAF pilot Chris Drake shoots down an unidentified craft over the North Sea, he sets in motion a chain of events that leads an alien race, the nDs, to advance their plans for Earth - plans which will ultimately leave the planet completely devoid of life… A co-production between BBC Scotland and the US cable station The Sci-Fi Channel, Invasion: Earth was the most high profile science fiction series to be produced by the BBC since The Tripods in 1984. Written and created by Jed Mercurio, then most famous for the controversial Cardiac Arrest, it reputedly had a budget of £750, 000 per episode - at the time the most expensive drama that the BBC had invested in. Unsurprisingly, it was heavily promoted both on television and in print - the Radio Times made each episode a 'Pick of the Day' and printed several items about the series including a major feature for the first episode. With the US involvement behind the scenes, American actor Fred Ward was cast as the NATO officer Major General Reece, with British actors Maggie O'Neill and Vincent Regan taking the parts of Amanda Tucker, the scientist who picks up transmissions from Charles Terrell's craft, and Chris Drake, the Tornado pilot who is responsible for shooting down Terrell in the first place. Broadcast on Friday nights at 2130, the first episode was watched by over 7 million viewers - two million of whom abandoned the series in the second week. By the third episode, generally considered to be the best of the series, barely 5 million people tuned in. Two books associated with the series were released by Headline on 7th May 1998 - The Last Echo by Peter Cave, which was a novelisation of the first four episodes, and The Invasion: Earth Companion by Peter Haining, which explored the background of the series. All six episodes have been released on video split over two separate tapes, and a CD of Richard G. Mitchell's music was released by BBC Records. In the US the two books were issued by TV Books in 1999 and the series has been released on video as a three tape set. Since
it's original transmission, Invasion: Earth has only been repeated
on the UK Sci-Fi Channel. It's first transmission in the US occurred
between the 8th and 10th of December 1998.
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