Space Precinct

In 2040, Lieutenant Patrick Brogan has left the New York police force for a new life on the planet Altor. At Precinct 88 in Demeter City, human officers work alongside Creons and Tarns to investigate crimes in a crowded, complicated extraterrestrial society.

Brogan’s partner Jack Haldane, Officer Jane Castle and their alien colleagues face recognisable police problems in unfamiliar forms. Family life matters too: Brogan’s wife Sally and their children share the move, so the city is a place to live as well as a place to patrol.

The series developed from Space Police, a pilot filmed in 1986 with Shane Rimmer as a different version of Brogan. Gerry Anderson and Christopher Burr’s original concept combined a police drama with alien characters, giving live actors and creature performers a shared world.

Several financing attempts and a later promotional short, Space Police Reloaded, preceded the 24-episode series. Filming began at Pinewood in 1994, with Ted Shackelford taking the lead as Patrick Brogan. The title, characters and setting developed substantially between those versions.

Follow the full journey from Space Police to Space Precinct.

The Creon and Tarn officers are working members of the team, with individual temperaments and skills. Captain Podly commands the precinct; Officers Orrin and Took bring the Creon presence to its everyday investigations. The characters need to be convincing in conversation as well as in action.

Creature heads, animatronics, costumes and physical performances make those relationships possible. Richard James, who performs Orrin, describes the demands of that process in A Day in the Life of a Creon. The account gives a personal route into the craft behind an apparently effortless screen character.

The series joins live-action interiors and performers to an extensive world of miniature streets, buildings and flying vehicles. Police cruisers make the routine journey to a crime scene into an effects sequence, while the density of the city suggests a life beyond the immediate case.

Steven Begg led the visual effects, with Bill Pearson’s model design contributing to the physical character of the world. Richard Gregory’s Tarn and Creon designs and Neill Gorton’s creature work were equally important to the wider production. Crispin Merrell’s music supplies a strong link between the police action and the science-fiction setting.

Protect and Survive provides an introduction to the team and its city. The series then moves between investigations, action stories and the difficulties of living across cultures, with Brogan’s family giving those themes a domestic perspective.

The production originally made a different opening story, Demeter City, which was extensively reworked into Protect and Survive. The history of the lost first episode explains that distinction; the two titles should not be mistaken for an extra broadcast episode.

Read about the restoration of Demeter City for a further look at how production material can reveal the decisions behind a finished series.

Choose a title to watch the full episode on our official YouTube channel. The sequence below follows the channel’s playlist, from Double Duty to the two-part Deathwatch finale.

1. Double Duty
2. Protect and Survive
3. Enforcer
4. Flash
5. The Snake
6. Body and Soul
7. Time to Kill
8. Deadline
9. The Power
10. Seek and Destroy
11. Illegal
12. Divided We Stand
13. Two Against the Rock
14. Takeover
15. Predator and Prey
16. The Witness
17. Hate Street
18. Friends
19. Smelter Skelter
20. The Fire Within, part one
21. The Fire Within, part two
22. The Forever Beetle
23. Deathwatch
24. Deathwatch: Conclusion

Gerry Anderson Productions / Mentorn Films / GTV. Produced 1994–95; 24 episodes of approximately 45 minutes. First broadcast in 1994.

Executive Producer: Tom Gutteridge
Producer: Gerry Anderson
Co-Executive Producers: Roger Lefkon & John Needham
Line Producer: Tom Sachs
Associate Producers: Richard Grove & Jeffrey Brunner
Directors: Colin Bucksey, John Glen, Sidney Hayers, Alan Birkinshaw,
Jim Goddard, Peter Duffell, & Piers Haggard
Visual Effects Director: Steven Begg
Director of Photography: Alan Hume BSC & Tony Spratling BSC
Special Effects Photography: Harry Oakes BSC & Peter Talbot
Live-Action Design: Tony Curtis & Bill Alexander
Model Design: Bill Pearson
Creature Effects Design: Neill Gorton
Tarn & Creon Design: Richard Gregory
Executive Story Editor: Philip Morrow
Executive Story Consultant: Chris Hubbell
Story Editor: Sam Graham
Production Supervisor: Hugh Harlow
Post-Production Supervisor: Mark Sherwood
Music: Crispin Merrell

Cast:
Ted Shackelford, Megan Olive, Rob Thirtle, Kate Harper, Rob Youngblood, Lou Hirsch, Leigh Tinkler
Will Barton, Simone Bendix, Richard James, Andrew Dawson, Ken Whitfield, Nancy Paul, Mary Woodvine, Alexa Rosewood, Gary Martin, Jerome Willis, David Quilter, Joanna Berns, Kieron Jecchinis, Nic Klein, Joseph Mydell, Wayne Forester, Colette Hiller