UFO is a 1970 British science fiction television series about the covert efforts of an international defence organisation (under the auspices of the United Nations) to prevent an alien invasion of Earth. It was created by Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson with Reg Hill, and produced by the Andersons and Lew Grade's Century 21 for Grade's ITC Entertainment company.
One series of 26 episodes (including the pilot) was filmed over the course of more than a year; a five-month production break was caused by the closure of MGM-British Studios in Borehamwood, where the show was initially made. Production then moved to Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire. UFO was first broadcast in the UK and Canada from 1970, and in the United States from 1972.
The Andersons' live-action science fiction film Doppelgänger (also known as Journey to the Far Side of the Sun) is considered to foreshadow UFO, their first entirely live-action TV series (their previous shows had used marionettes). The series featured actors, costumes, props, locations and music that had appeared in the film and 11 cast members of the film appeared in at least one episode of UFO.
Following syndication in the US and initial favourable ratings, a possible second series was planned; initially entitled UFO 1999, this eventually became Space: 1999, but with a different cast from UFO.
Premise The series' premise is that in 1980, Earth is being visited by aliens from a dying planet, who are abducting humans and harvesting their organs for their bodies. The alien incursions may also be a prelude to an invasion. The series' main cast of characters are the staff of a secret, high-technology international military agency called SHADO (an acronym for Supreme Headquarters Alien Defence Organisation) established by the governments of the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, France, and Germany to defend Earth and humanity against the mysterious aliens and learn more about them, while at the same time keeping the threat of an alien invasion hidden from the public.
Operating under the cover (as well as beneath the premises) of the Harlington-Straker Studios movie studio in England, SHADO is headed by Commander Edward Straker (Ed Bishop), a former United States Air Force colonel and astronaut, whose "cover" is his role as the studio's chief executive.Episode 1, "Identified"
SHADO has a variety of high-tech hardware and vehicles at its disposal for a defence in depth of Earth. Early warnings of alien attack came from SID, the Space Intruder Detector, an unmanned, computerised tracking satellite that scans for UFO incursions. The forward line of defence is Moonbase from which the three lunar Interceptor spacecraft, that fire an explosive warhead, are launched. The second line of defence includes Skydiver, a submarine mated with the submersible, undersea-launched Sky One interceptor aircraft, which attacks UFOs in Earth's atmosphere. The last line of defence is ground units including the armed, IFV-like SHADO Mobiles, fitted with caterpillar tracks.
On Earth, SHADO also uses two SHADAIR aircraft, a Seagull X-ray supersonic jet (e.g., in the episode "Identified") and a transport aircraft (e.g., in "A Question of Priorities"); a transatlantic Lunar Carrier with a separating Lunar Module (e.g., in "Computer Affair"); a helicopter (actually, a small VTOL aeroplane with large rotating propellers (e.g., in the episode "Ordeal"); and a radio-controlled Space Dumper (e.g., in "The Long Sleep"). The Moonbase has hovercraft-like Moon Hoppers–Moonmobiles that can be deployed for transportation or reconnaissance.
The alien race is never given a proper name, either by themselves or by human beings; they are simply referred to as "the aliens". They are humanoid in appearance and the post-mortem of the first alien captured reveals that they are harvesting organs from the bodies of abducted humans to prolong their lives. The later episode "The Cat with Ten Lives" suggests that these "humanoids" are actually beings subject to alien mind control, and one "alien" body recovered was suspected of being completely Homo sapiens, "possessed" by one of the alien minds—a concept central to the Andersons' previous Supermarionation series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. Their faces are stained green by the hue of a green oxygenated liquid, which is believed to cushion their lungs against the extreme acceleration of interstellar flight; this liquid is contained in their helmets. To protect their eyes, the aliens wear opaque sclera contact lenses with small pinholes for vision. (The show's opening titles begin with a shot of one of these contact lenses being removed from an alien's eye.) The personal arms of the aliens resemble shiny metal sub-machine guns; these have a lower rate of fire than those used by SHADO.
The aliens' spacecraft can readily cross the vast distances between their planet and Earth at many times the speed of light (abbreviated and pronounced as "SOL"; e.g., "SOL one decimal seven" is 1.7 times the speed of light), but are too small to carry more than a few crew members. Their time on station is limited: UFOs can only survive for a couple of days in Earth's atmosphere before they deteriorate and finally explode. The UFOs can survive far longer underwater; one episode, "Reflections in the Water", deals with the discovery of a secret undersea alien base and shows one UFO flying straight out of an extinct volcano. A special underwater version of the standard UFO design is seen in "Sub-Smash". In flight, they are surrounded by horizontally spinning vanes and emit a distinctive pulsing electronic whine that sounds like a Shoooe-Wheeeh! (produced by series composer Barry Gray on an ondes Martenot).Distinctive UFO sound can be heard here: The craft is armed with a laser-type weapon, and conventional explosive warheads can destroy it.
Cast and characters UFO had a large ensemble cast; many of its members came and went during the course of the series, with some actors—such as George Sewell and Gabrielle Drake—leaving midway through the series, during the production break necessitated by the change of studio facilities. It is established early on that SHADO personnel rotate between positions, so the occasional disappearance of characters—some of whom later returned in other positions—fits the concept of the series. Also, owing to the scheduling of the series not reflecting the production order, some episodes featuring departed cast members were not broadcast until late in the series, which can give the impression that no major cast changes occurred. Only Ed Bishop appeared in every episode.
Main characters ActorCharacterRoleNo. of episodes Ed Bishop Col. Straker Commander-in-chief of SHADO 26 Michael Billington Col. Foster SHADO operative 21 Gabrielle Drake Lieut. Ellis Moonbase operative 10 George Sewell Col. Alec Freeman Second-in-command of SHADO 17 Grant Taylor Gen. Henderson President of IAC 9 Wanda Ventham Col. Lake SHADO operative Peter Gordeno Capt. Carlin First commander of Skydiver 6 Dolores Mantez Lieut. Barry Moonbase operative 23 Gary Myers Capt. Waterman Second commander of Skydiver 13 Keith Alexander Lieut. Ford Communications officer 16 Ayshea Lieut. Johnson SHADO headquarters officer 17 Vladek Sheybal Dr Jackson SHADO medical officer 14 Antonia Ellis Lieut. Harrington Moonbase operative Norma Ronald Miss Ealand Straker's secretary 11 Harry Baird Lieut. Bradley Interceptor pilot 6 Colonel Edward "Ed" Straker (Ed Bishop), Commander-in-chief of SHADO, is a former American Air Force colonel, pilot and astronaut originally from Boston, Massachusetts, who organised SHADO following a series of UFO attacks in 1970. Straker masquerades as the head of Harlington-Straker Film Studios, SHADO Headquarters being located directly below the studio. Colonel Paul Foster (Michael Billington) is introduced in the second episode "Exposed". A former test pilot, his plane was critically damaged when SHADO's Sky One intercepted and destroyed a UFO flying near Foster's jet. His persistent investigation of the incident threatened to expose SHADO's existence, so Straker offered him a position with SHADO. Lieutenant Gay Ellis (Gabrielle Drake), seen as Moonbase commander during the first half of the series. Ellis is occasionally portrayed as lacking self-confidence, and at other times as a take-charge officer. At one point she was briefly reassigned to SHADO HQ. It is implied that she may be in a romantic relationship with interceptor pilot Mark Bradley ("Computer Affair"). Colonel Alec Freeman (George Sewell), Second-in-command of SHADO, a former pilot and intelligence officer, is SHADO's first officer (and very first operative recruited into SHADO by Straker) for 17 episodes in the series (Sewell left following the change of studios, being later unavailable when series production resumed at Pinewood Studios). Freeman is Straker's closest friend and right-hand man and, occasionally, his muscle. General James Henderson (Grant Taylor), Straker's superior officer, serves as the president of the International Astrophysical Commission, which is a front for SHADO and is responsible for obtaining funds and equipment from various governments to keep SHADO operational. Straker and Henderson clash frequently over the needs of SHADO and economic realities. Ironically Straker had at the start recommended Henderson to head SHADO. Colonel Virginia Lake (Wanda Ventham) first appears in the opening episode ("Identified"), as the chief designer for Westbrook Electronics, the contractor for the SHADO's Utronics faster-than-light tracking system. During the last eight episodes, Lake returned to take over the post of SHADO first officer, replacing Alec Freeman. Captain Peter Carlin (Peter Gordeno), during the first third of the series, Carlin is the commander of the submarine Skydiver and pilot of its interceptor aircraft, Sky One. In 1970, Carlin and his sister found a UFO and were attacked; he was shot and wounded and his sister vanished. He joined SHADO in the hope of finding out what happened to his sister, and eventually learned that her organs had been harvested in "Identified". Gordeno left the show after six episodes because he wanted to avoid typecasting. Lieutenant Nina Barry (Dolores Mantez) is one of Straker's first recruits into SHADO. Barry works as a space tracker at Moonbase and later replaces Lieutenant Ellis as its commanding officer. She also serves aboard Skydiver in "Sub-Smash". Captain Lew Waterman (Gary Myers) is initially an interceptor pilot on the Moon; he is later promoted to captain, and replaces Peter Carlin as commanding officer of Skydiver and pilot of Sky One. Lieutenant Keith Ford (Keith Alexander) is a former television interviewer who became a founding member of SHADO and its main communications officer. Actor Keith Alexander left the series after the production break, so the character disappears at the two-thirds mark of the series. Lieutenant Ayshea Johnson (Ayshea) is a SHADO headquarters officer in 14 episodes, and later becomes SHADO's communications officer following the departure of Lieutenant Ford. Doctor Douglas Jackson (Vladek Sheybal) is the SHADO psychiatrist and science officer. He serves a number of capacities within SHADO, including acting as prosecution officer during the court-martial of Paul Foster. It is implied that "Douglas Jackson" is not the character's birth name, as he speaks with a strong Eastern European accent. Lieutenant Joan Harrington (Antonia Ellis) another Moonbase operative, was one of the organisation's earliest recruits, as seen in "Confetti Check A-O.K."