Parallel 9 was my first TV obsession. Aged 8, I spent the summer of 1992 watching the show religiously - and, from the start of the summer holidays, recording it on video each week. Over the years whenever I revisited those tapes I found myself appreciating different parts of the programme. It ticks a number of my favourite boxes - Saturday morning TV, amazing theme tune, incredible set and a touch of sci-fi. There's also very strong characterisations, funny writing and clever storylining. But the biggest box tick of all is that given the rapid changes on-screen throughout that first series there was clearly a story to tell - and going from discussions on Twitter, it seemed like I wasn't the only one who wanted to hear it. Despite this no one seemed to know anything about the series. Go on, Google it. There are a couple of brief writeups from long ago - mostly negative and innaccurate - and that's about it. Even the image search is mostly composed of YouTube thumbnails. Back in the summer I realised that the 30th anniversary was a great opportunity to finally tell the story of the programme as it developed on-screen. You can read part 1 and part 2 elsewhere on my site, running from the launch of the series and its rapid development to the dramatic conclusion.
The publicity photo sent out to viewers who wrote into the series
As part of this project I uploaded my VHS archive to YouTube. These joined a recent collection of uploads from the first half of the series from Kevin Short, who played the character Skyn in the series, meaning Parallel 9's first series is now perhaps better represented online than any other Saturday morning TV show. With my initial piece based largely around his videos I contacted Kevin to thank him. Upon hearing of this project, he said he was happy to answer whatever questions I had about the show - and he offered to put me in contact with the other members of the cast too. Later in our correspondence, my jaw hit the floor when Kevin said I'd inspired a reunion of the team - and would I like to come along and meet them?
Recreating the publicity photo, 30 years on!
So at the end of September 2022, 30 years after the end of the first series, all five original members of the 1992 cast visited the Bloomsbury Theatre, where Kevin's excellent play Apartness was being performed. It was an honour to meet people whose work I'd admired since my childhood and give them thanks and recognition that in some cases they'd never received first time around, and I'm really grateful for them inviting me along!
L-R Jenny Bolt (wearing one of Steyl's original hairbands), Kevin Short (wearing his Skyn Tours cap) and Helen Schlûter (wearing her waistcoat from the publicity card and a number of episodes)
L-R Dominc McHale, Roddy Maude-Roxby and Kevin Short
What follows is therefore the closest we're going to get to the history of the programme no one knows anything about. Drop a stone in the newspool as we head back to the winter of 1992...
This Roach and Partners briefing document provided to prospective cast members gives some intriguing information as to the nature of the commission they'd received and the plans in those early stages.
The BBC Children's Department has commissioned Roach & Partners to provide 22 weeks of Saturday morning television. The programme will run from 8.15 - 11.00, starting on April 25th and completing the last episode of Series One, after twenty two weeks on the 19th September.
At this point the production was aiming to match its predecessor The 8.15 From Manchester's slot. Note also this is already being described as "series one", and it's definitely the usual 22-week run at this stage despite the Barcelona Olympics being very much scheduled to dominate BBC1 for a fortnight in July.
Out of this World is set in a black hole, suspended in time. The people who live there are prisoners who have never heard the words "Television Presenter". These characters NEVER come out of role, even if they're interviewing John Major (ED. especially if they're interviewing John Major)!
An alien prince called Mercator is banished by the King, his father, for contacting another planet and for daring to ask questions and suggest change. He is sent with three arch criminals from his home planet to Zzoyd 9, the black hole. The criminals are called Blanks due to personality decontamination that occurred before they left. In fact, their names are Wrob, Nyk and Steyl. Every time Mercator wakes (which is luckily every Saturday morning) the Blanks are given personalities from past history or fiction - one week you might meet Joan of Arc, the next Queen Victoria or Cruella De Ville. These characters are total convincing and completely take over the Blanks' natural cunning, self-interested normal persona.
As well as the somewhat dry working title "Out of this World" and the unpronounable planet name "Zzoyk 9", this document also reveals the concept behind the "Blanks" - who would ultimately become Skyn, Thynkso and Steyl. Some elements of this concept made it through to the programme as broadcast. Skyn's camcorder message in show 1 references him not knowing who he is, and the group name "the Blanks" even makes it into one Radio Times billing despite to my knowledge not ever being used on air. The idea of them being "blank" however does mean the regular transformation into other characters makes more sense than perhaps it did on the show itself. Initially the transformations are under Mercator's instruction, with it being explained in show 1 it was a Zarbian game of his. Later, after moving away from the educational angle, the use of a regular cast member to portray an additional character was retained as a necessity of the format but is otherwise simply someone being "summoned" by the Tope.
With them is a young girl called Calendular (Cal to her mates), who was the unfortunate earthling that Mercator had illegally contacted. She loves life on Zzoyd 9 and has no real desire to go back to earth. However Mercator does have a plan to escape. By combining forces with Cal, he can generate the power to bring earthlings up to Zzoyd 9 and collect greater knowledge. This information is stored in an enormous crystal called TOPE. It is this continual search for knowledge to create more power that provides succour to the dreams of escape. It is the people on earth that can break them free. Therefore, Mercator and Cal both relish interviews, film reports and guests in their world as they contrbute to the TOPE crystal and their possible future freedom. Together with the Blanks, the characters carry out many of the traditional operations of Saturday morning television, but with strong character and an extraordinary visual set in which they appear to have awesome powers.
And here we have the crux of the format - it is, essentially, the same content as we'd come to expect from Going Live! and The 8.15 From Manchester in recent years, but hung around the plot of the characters and what was already being called out as the "extraordinary visual set".
The production will be based at Pinewood Film Studios, be transmitted totally "live" but have films, videos and cartoons during the 165 minutes. The working week begins on a Wednesday and finishes in the bar after Saturday's show!
The 90s, there.
You would be working in a big team, many of whom will be concerned about strong factual and feature items, not gags and clever impro! Therefore, new skills may have to be learnt and some stamina/patience is needed for such a mixed bag of talents and a long run.
This last section is crucial for spelling out the ambitious nature of the format and would perhaps have greater significance later in the run, when the programme's format was altered a few weeks in and what was required of the cast changed fairly significantly. One notable absence at this stage is the notion of time on Mercator's home planet Zarb running backwards, which cleverly made the participating children knowledgeable "elders".
First on board what was still to be called Parallel 9 was veteran actor Roddy Maude-Roxby, who in a striking piece of casting would be playing the lead role of Mercator. Roddy recalls the genesis of the programme. "It was Margaret Thatcher’s instruction to include outside producers that gave our first director an opening. He knew me from Theatre Machine, Britain’s first theatre of improvisation, and had wanted me and an established woman Pauline Yates for his project for a series that never got funded. So he thought of me for Mercator who was an alien prisoner among outcasts".
An early publicity shot of Maude-Roxby and Atkins
Alongside him was Helen Atkins (now Schlûter) in the role of Calendular, which was her TV debut. "I was living up North and had bizarrely already had two other auditions that day - one at Yorkshire TV for Emmerdale and then another in South London for a production of ‘Sailor Beware'. I heard about the ‘Outlander’ audition through my agent Peters Fraser & Dunlop the night before at 6 pm." Outlander appears to have been another working title for the programme. "To be completely honest, I'd never auditioned for a TV show and I'd not even done walk on TV so I had no clue what I was doing. My background was theatre and I trained at Bretton Hall in West Yorkshire - where Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton & Rhys Sheersmith were in the year below. The training there was heavily improvisation based.
"I got up that morning in Manchester, made my way to audition in Leeds and then down to London. I honestly thought that my biggest achievement that day would be the travel planning, with no mobile phones to check anything so just me and an old A-Z! I think this made me totally relaxed so I was just genuinely me. They were looking for a girl who the viewers could identify with - someone ordinary and normal. There weren’t many northern accents on TV then, so I was different. I took the whole thing in my stride and never really let myself believe each audition would lead to anything more than experience."The first time I remember meeting Roddy was a whole day workshop. It was one improvisation after another in groups and duos and with time restrictions. The final audition was a screen test. I was down to the last two girls to play Cal and we had to record a piece to camera with a director sitting three inches in front of our faces, and it suddenly struck me that this was real and I really wanted the part. I was the lucky one that day."
Helen's fax from Di Carling Casting is dated 19th February 1992. It begins:
"This recall has been devised...to enable you to show how you work as an actor. Remember, nothing we are looking for is panto or cartoon - despite the format, we seek real character work that survives the analysis of a camera lens...to enable you to show something of your understanding of the "pitch" or "feel" needed for our viewers, who are primarily targeted at 7-13 years old."
The exercises on the day involve an interview where Cal has been left tied up by the Blanks, but is forced to interview a guest whilst escaping. Later a "reflection" monologue is requested between Cal and Mercator at the end of a show, where Mercator is losing momentum to escape as he finds earth life more fascinating but "lonely teenager" Cal is far more interested in the new world she's been transported to. The duration of this moment is just thirty seconds. This gives an idea of quite how much was being asked of the candidates during these sessions.
Steyl and Cal thirty years on!
Kevin Short (then Williams, who was cast as Skyn) concurs these auditions were tough. "I was beckoned by my agent and casting directors, and took part in some quite intensive workshops which, finally, Roddy was present at - he had been cast as the main protagonist. Fortunately, I knew of his reputation as an improviser, so tried to respond Maude-Roxby style, and got the job!" Jenny Bolt (who was cast in the role of Steyl) recalls how the cast came together. "I remember there were two or three rounds over a period of time, and the final audition was to see if we all gelled." She also recalls more about the pre-launch vision given to them: "I remember that the producers wanted some thing that was not childish and where the audience of kids would be treated as intelligent. No silly background music, or games, but characters in a situation where they wanted to learn more about the planet Earth. Its main vision was that it would be educational in a fun non-obvious way!".
Creative Director John Dale (far left) and the cast visit London Zoo
On March 9th three weeks of intensive character workshops began to flesh out their characters. Kevin Short recalls: "Before filming began, we had an extensive preparation period which was headed by John Dale, who himself had quite a prestigious portfolio and went on to do some other ground-breaking programmes." Dale had created and produced TVS's Saturday morning series No. 73 which had used similar improvisation techniques in the more down-to-earth setting of a suburban house. "John trained us in his improvisation techniques and other BBC standard practices, encouraging us to build a strong background for all our characters. What animal we were (I was a snake), where we came from (Thorb) what secrets we kept (what was in my hand?) and a lot more. It was a brilliant creative time, and I remember his final words. Not verbatim but, basically, he said that all our characters were now firmly set, and if anyone in the BBC tried to change them in anyway, we must stick to our guns and be who we had created no matter what. A strong warning of things to come." Maude-Roxby also recalls the comparison to animals. "We each chose animals that were part of us. We went to the zoo and I played Bearman, Wolf and an eagle that as a child had some Native American memories." This trip to London Zoo (and the pub afterwards) was captured on camera by Helen Schlûter.
Creative Director John Dale (far right) and the cast hard at work
A pre-production schedule dated 18th March gives an insight into the way such an ambitious programme came together in the weeks before broadcast. This is also the first document to use the title "Parallel 9". Another takeaway from this is that when this production schedule was circulated just five weeks before going on air the programme was still intended to run an extra 45 minutes with the traditional summer start time of 8.15am.
As the character workshops continued, week commencing 16th March saw "children finding" and "music composition" taking place alongside final costume approvals for the opening title shoot. Week commencing March 23rd saw costume fitings, location finding and an opening titles recce. On Sunday March 29th, K stage at Pinewood was set for the interior sequences in the opening titles.
Week commencing March 30th saw the assembling of a "Mercator press pack" and the all important printing of crew t-shirts. Also in the first week of April those titles went under the camera, with the court sequence on 1st April and Cal & Mercator's earlier sequences on 2nd. Helen Sclûter recalls shooting material running round a maze, though ultimately only the shot of her running up steps in the grounds of Pinewood Studios would be used.
Photo credit: weddingmall.co.uk
The programme's theme was composed during post production of the titles on April 4th. The stunning end result (dated 5th April on the VT clock) is below, from director John Henshall's own Vimeo channel. Note the drop to black at the end, since the main planet set to be featured at the close of the sequence had only just commenced construction in stage J.
'Parallel 9' titles 1992 – Cinematography by John Henshall from John Henshall on Vimeo.
Construction of the set would be completed by 9th April, with the lighting rig following until 14th April. On Monday 6th April the production meeting for the pilot episode took place whilst constructon of the surface of Parallel 9 continued and Carlton Facilities had a 3-day equipment rig from April 9th.
Production schedule for the final week before broadcast
On April 13th the completed set was used for the first time as the cast began to rehearse on it. Kevin Short: "The set was an incredible standing structure which was a revelation and inspiration to us when we first stepped onto it. After weeks of workshopping our character backgrounds, once introduced to the set, it all became an exciting reality. So many different areas, solidly built, to develop our relationships with each other and the alien visitors. Even the bridge that spanned the areas below was inspirational. We created various spots along the bridge which would inexplicably make us laugh or be angry. It truly felt like home every Saturday morning. Bravo to all who designed and built it."
Roddy Maude-Roxby recalls "exploring a wonderful set" and how they came across to those working on the programme: "For the first rehearsals on the set we came on as the part-animals we had developed in the rehearsal room. Technicians told us it was as if we were drugged."
April 15th saw the footage used each week for Mercator's arrival and departure being the first on the set to be committed to tape. Prior to launch another document grandly entitled "Parallel 9 - A Reminder Of What We Are Seeking To Achieve" was circulated, giving a summary of the premise and format at this point of pre-production.
Prince Mercator and his personal quest are at the heart of this series. Mercator is on a knowledge quest. He always has been. In this pursuit he actually got banished by his father the king for asking too many questions. The fact that he is now in a prison in space has not dimmed his desire to know and his believe that knowledge is power.
Extraordinarily his imprisonment turns out to be a gift, a gift in the form of his companion Cal. She is from Earth and tells him of things that were until now hidden from him. By the time we meet them they have discovered that together they can use their energies to "transport" up people from Earth. This means Mercator can use his 2 hours of life to fill himself full and evaulate what he thinks is useful and what not. His passion conveys itself to the audience so that his question becomes ours. From a magical and always princely position Mercator's personal agenda is THE agenda.
This document isn't dated, but the duration has finally become two hours. It can be assumed at some point it had been decided the extra three quarters of an hour was too ambitious either for reasons of cost or concept (plus a prison sentence of "you will only wake for 2 hours and forty-five minutes" doesn't scan as well). In addition, "transport" would on air become "summon".
Cal, the girl from Earth, enjoys her position of power as Earth ambassadress. She also delights in choosing who she will beam up for Saturday morning. She would never have been able to meet these people in her earth existence and although she would never admit to it she has been infected with an enthusiasm to know by Mercator. Because he is a Prince - and not accustomed to treating with people - and also because he is only young she often does the interviewing for him while he presides over the proceedings. Cal is conscious she must be the first Earth person to live with four aliens. She is intrigued by their cultures and ways of behaving. She is in the main having a good time.
A not wholly-convincing format explanation here for Cal taking the bulk of the "TV presenter" roles. Mercator being "only young" is the first reference to time going backwards on Zarb, itself as yet unnamed. The series is also at pains to make clear Cal's permanent residence on Parallel 9 is something she is completely fine about, which given the circumstances is never entirely convincing and is tweaked later in the run to allow her to go home in between Mercator's visits.
The Blanks get between Cal and a smooth ride. They come from Mercator's part of the universe, a job lot of criminals. On Saturday mornings they are all working their own agendas with inevitably involves subverting what Cal and Mercator are trying to do.
Steyl seems to go along with what's going on and indeed even does interviews for Mercator, but for her own reasons. She believes that she too can use the knowledge - to get out. The other two - Skyn and Thynkso - have smaller horizons. They are more concerned with what they can do to improve the next five minutes of life. They are not strategists.
The Blanks do appear like a gang and this relationship is apparent. They frequently fall out among themselves though and this is an ongoing part of the story.
Despite retaining the group name "blanks" this element is already being watered down here with the trio very much having personalities of their own. There is also reference here to Steyl taking on presenting roles - something that would eventually come to Skyn and Thykso too. By the middle of the series, Steyl would be completely independent of "the other two" and have no gang mentalitity whatsoever.
The Elders come up to the planet each week to share with Mercator and to provide feedback on other knowledge he is gathering. They are always treated with respect as Mercator can't really believe they are as young as he is.
The Tope is the ingenious energy centre of Parallel 9. This rock can sustain life in the white hole but now Mercator is using its power to beam up people - strictly not on the Tope's agenda - it has to be topped up. This is done with the knowledge the Earth visitors bring up, keeping the Tope full whilst vital, is not the primary reason knowledge is sought.
"Top up the Tope" is a recurring theme of the early shows, though later in the series this part of the premise would be forgotten entirely as it/he appeared able to "summon" whoever it/he pleased as often as he liked, often without Mercator's involvement. There is of course also no mention of the Tope as a character in its own right - something that would develop a few weeks in to great effect.
Other earth visitors/items provide the material that makes up somewhere over half the show. From the serious to the entertainers they come parading across the landscape of Parallel 9 interacting as they go with the five residents.
Pilot script
On the afternoon of April 16th a not-for-broadcast pilot epsiode was recorded as a dry-run, for which Helen Schlûter has retained the script. The special guest was Andi Peters from Children's BBC and the band booked were Ultraviolet. A blank page of Helen's script has a sketch of the entire planet set with a number of names used off-screen to identify the various areas. The metallic parts of the bridge in the industrial area were called "L wing" and "R wing", with the "cockpit" being used to refer to the small helicopter high up above these. Seperating this area with the "sand pit" was "the arch", with the very high bridge above this area christened the "hi walk". The area named the "Starbridge" on screen is here called the "theatre", with the steps down to the iceberg logically called "dominoes". The bridge over the Stargate was called "ship's bridge" with the watchtower at the end "conning time". Finally the structure that looks like a cave is in fact described as a "tree", with the newspool on top and a little-used rope bridge at the back.
Sketch of the set
There is a major format point called the "Quest", with Mercator summoning the Elders specifically to play a game involving riddles, true-or-false questions and an against-the-clock element. Scores are granted through tokens and the winner gets a "wish granted". There are also another couple of children on the show specifically as "child experts" to demonstrate video games.
Opening of the dry-run pilot episode
A 35 second trailer for the series aired on 18th April. Voiced by Roddy Maude-Roxby as Mercator, who promised an exchange of "knowledge and amusement", this continued to keep all but the smallest of details about the new programme under wraps.
On Tuesday 21st April, four days before the first transmission, a press conference was held at BBC Television Centre. This took place in the Blue Peter garden with Helen Atkins and Roddy Maude-Roxby in full costume, and is likely where these photos originated. Press invited included TV Hits, Big, Fast Forward and Look In. Location unit shoots took place on April 20th and 21st (presumably including the sequences featuring children's wishes coming true). Wednesday 22nd April is marked as "full cast in rehearsal room thrash out" for the entire day, with the cast on set the following day. A full rehearsal of show 1 took place on Friday April 24th with VTR inserts recorded in the afternoon.
"Dr-Who-does-Swapshop" - an amusing billing for episode 1
Script for show 1
Parallel 9 finally went to air on Saturday April 25th. Computer games expert Julian Rignall who appeared in the pilot was booked again, but otherwise a new lineup of guests and children appeared. Two major changes from the pilot are immediately noticeable. The Quest has been dropped entirely, though one riddle used during it survives to introduce the transformation. As a result just one pair of Elders visit the show, and the children's "wishes" is now a result of Mercator seeing viewers' thoughts rather than a prize in the game.
Helen's running order for the opening of show 1. Throughout, the "script" as worked out in improvisation during rehearsals is noted on the right hand side.
On the back of the script, Helen has noted down the live sections of the tx1 - with a fitting title...
During show 1 there was a surprise star guest at the conclusion of the programme which Roddy Maude-Roxby recalls. "Mercator met Frank Bruno and was rude to someone I admired. He gave me a key ring signed boxing glove I still have". There were many more star guests required across the series to immerse themselves in the world of Parallel 9 - some more successfully than others, as Kevin Short recalls. "Oh, yes, some were very thrown by the ad hoc nature of it all, and the bizarre characters. Others like Lesley Joseph and Tia Carrere got it, and could play with us. And play we did."
Helen Schlûter recalls how nerve-wracking the live broadcast was due to dedication to the concept. "We had no ear pieces on the show - all communication when we went live was via the incredible floor manager Julie Sykes who gave hand signals out of shot to maintain the illusion of it not being a TV show but on a real planet." This was to be tested to the limit later in the series when the lift on the Stargate broke down live on air, meaning with no talkback Helen had to quickly improvise bringing the guests onto the set via a side route.
Mercator's long, same-length fingers went largely unnoticed despite a closeup in the original titles
In the format at launch Roddy Maude-Roxby would interview many an unusual guest. "Mercator had a bird eating spider put on one hand and said "I could quite easily squash it" and smacked a hand to my knee. I felt the spider grip and the zoo man said "That was a mistake, the spider might bite if frightened". Other than from a spider, Mercator's unique alien hands didn't get the attention Roddy wanted. "What was so frustrating...I wore those long fingers that weren’t noticed. It stays as my present reaction to Parallel 9."
Jenny Bolt in 2022 wearing a headband made for the series that she retained
Jenny Bolt would eventually take on music and fashion items. "Very early on I had decided that if Steyl ever got to earth she would be a pop star. So I was asked to interview popstars - Kylie, Arrested Development, KD Lang to name but a few, as well as fashion designers."
Lisa's work received a credit at the close of each episode
"Lisa Cavelli-Green, who did my make up came up with brilliant idea that whoever I was interviewing I’d have a headband to match. CDs for pop stars, hats for for Stephen Jones, pens and pads for writers, etc. I still have the hat one!! The kids sent in amazing things, it was such a joy!"
Maude-Roxby recalls making special efforts to welcome the visiting children. "I made illustrated discs I wanted copied and placed for the elders to find, but they were so ill made by Props that they had no appeal. I loved the cast at play and meeting the children."
Spot the disc...
Kevin Short has fond memories of instantly gelling with his on-screen sparring partner as the duo of Skyn and Thynkso became established. "Ah, Dominic. Well, when I met him, being old enough to be his father, I immediately warmed to him. My paternal instincts maybe, but don't tell him. Also, because we are from the same part of the country (Greater Manchester), have the same sense of fun and passion for what we are and what we do, our partnership seemed inevitable. He reminded me of myself twenty years gone by. Almost a mirror image of my youth. We had an instant rapport and friendship that exists 30 years later. Wonderful person, and actor."
Jenny Bolt relished introducing most of the musical acts, but this lead to one notorious moment. "Oh yes! I loved this element of the show. I would talk to producers about what I’d ask, be up to date on any relevant details, but the questions were mine. I suppose the most infamous interview was with Kylie Minogue. She had released ‘What Kind Of Fool’ and sang it. I then interviewed her and set a competition question, and as I did, I gave away the (wrong) answer! Luckily, we covered saying I did it on purpose so I could win, because the answer I gave was wrong." It was a mistake Jenny would come to celebrate though as whenever it was shown on Auntie's Bloomers she would receive a payment in return!
One key part of the format as mentioned at the outset was one of the three "blanks" each week being transformed into another character. Jenny remembers the context: "Often our storylines would be made around the guests. I can remember one episode, I was transformed into Elizabeth I by Mercator because he wanted to know more about her, and we had a historian on the show." Kevin Short recalls how these were achieved: "Generally, the transformations were pre-recorded the day before, but were still improvised. I remember on a couple of occasions a new director would fail to run cameras, regarding it as a camera rehearsal, and a few brilliant improvisations were lost in the process. Take two of an improvisation is never quite as good. More often than not though, the transformation impros were done in one take."
Improvisation was a big part of how the shows were initially put together as Jenny Bolt remembers. "Initially there was a lot of improvisation, which we set, because going out live there had to be a structure." This however brought challanges as Dominic McHale, who was cast as Thynkso, remembers. "I think the overall vision for the show was quite brave and innovative and was going to be largely improvised based but this very quickly changed. I think it was possibly too much to do. I think the producers possibly over reached themselves and I think we, as actors, couldn’t realistically achieve this. Initially we tried to create a lot around improvisation but I think the “devising” process is quite hard to achieve weekly for a live three hour show. I think myself and Kevin tried to hang on to the improvisation stuff but it was difficult to continue with it. A writer was then brought in who wrote lots of scenes and took the pressure off to create."
Kevin Short also recalls this change: "After quite a few weeks of improvising from a basic structure, Paul Alexander came in as writer for some of the items and sequences, plus he wrote some of the dialogue for the transformations. However, certainly Dominic and I continued to improvise around whatever structure or transformation we were assigned, and fought to do so." Roddy Maude-Roxby: "We became players, letting drop the earlier work, also the improvising went back to script." He also remembers a change of emphasis for the visiting elders, introducing "the opinion that kids love slapstick and it is enough that they are coming to a TV show without meeting aliens". This was evidenced on screen by the children's involvement being less in "bringing earth knowledge" and instead taking part in features such as Skyn's Video Review and Bands in the Sand.
This represented quite a major change of direction for show the show as Dominic McHale remembers: "It was a bit of a challenging time because we were booked to create this show a particular way and then a few weeks into going live it changed in format and aims so that was quite tricky to deal with. We also lost the initial creator and director who were on the piece so this derailed us somewhat. Overall there were quite a few staff changes so the whole process was a bit unstable and unpredictable." Director Graham C. Williams departed the programme soon after launch, being briefly replaced by Royston Mayoh before Simon Staffurth took over for the remainder of the series. Roddy Maude-Roxby concurs: "The mix of directors I found very frustrating".
Another change was to move away from the intended semi-educational format with the most obvious impact being the subjects of the "transformations", which had initially been figures from history and literature as Dominic McHale recalls. "The transformation stuff was a great idea but I don’t think it was pushed enough. It was really early on with an education element and that was sort of dropped. I do think it was a bit more exciting with Captain Zarb and Spam Ululux. They were funny characters and a bit more slapstick and improvised. Great to do."
Spam Ululux (top) and Captain Zarb (bottom) - two brilliant alter-egos of Thynkso (Dominic McHale)
McHale also remembers how the ensemble cast also become more involved with presenting items within the show, as opposed to just Mercator and Calendular. "The aliens getting more items to present was just about sharing the workload. I didn’t really want to do it because of what we were initially meant to be doing but after a while I just got on with it."
One of the editorial items which McHale as Thynkso presented
Kevin Short summarises some of the behind-the scenes ructions as the show was hastily reformatted to move in a more mainstream direction: "The BBC executives, and to a certain extent the main producer, I think, were quite shocked by the characters and ideas we came up with, and our determination to stick to our guns when it came to change. There were many behind the scenes confrontations of conflicting ideas, and meetings announcing new beginnings, but through it all, as a cast, and certainly both Dominic and I, continued to come up with new ideas and challenges for the various directors and writers that were brought in. We fought the mainstream items as much as possible but, ultimately, the employer always has the upper hand."
In another format development a new character joined the cast. Stephen Hope-Wynne picks up the story. "A summons came to meet [Producer] Glyn Edwards at J stage, Pinewood Studios to record just a couple of trailer and link voices for a new Saturday morning kids' TV show called Parallel 9 which I had seen glimpses of and knew it was tremendous. Glyn mentioned that the cast were brilliant and that a 'team conversation' had inspired a search for a 'voice' to bring a static glass obelisk [the Tope] to life. At first it was just a day or two of voice booth pre-recordings here and there yet eventually the team wanted me to work in the studio with them (in a hastily fabricated chicken board box-room situated in a far corner of the J stage) which was more practical and collaborative. Glyn cleverly coaxed me into the light by encouraging me to rewrite my own voice scripts to begin with as [Director] Simon Staffurth lobbed in suggestions and between us we coddled together lots of links. I have to thank Kevin, Jenny, Dominic, Helen and the astonishing Roddy for inspiring the Tope voice idea and so warmly welcoming and helping me to be part of their organic creation."
Stephen Hope-Wynne: the face behind the voice
Despite being a faceless computer, the Tope also had his own personality: "To be honest I decided to 'intone' two types of voice to the originally scripted work as someone self-effacing and mildly dejected by superior beings with legs. This was an attempt to counter-balance the officiousness that seemed to emanate when the Voice of Authority commanded. He had a soft silliness to him and an unexpected melancholy a bit like the robot voice in 'Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy' if that makes sense. Hopefully it gave the Tope a hint of human charm and endearment. Apparently there were considerable vanloads of fanmail bags to the Tope piled up at the Parallel 9 office."
"The Tope's Mum" visits, in one of Hope-Wynne's finest moments
The Tope's character helped engineer the storyline to take the live programme off air for two weeks in August for BBC1 to show coverage of the Barcelona Olympics. Dominic McHale welcomed this pause. "When it came to the Olympics I think we were all desperate for a break. I seem to remember there being a rumour that two of us would be doing a gameshow but none of us were keen. Interestingly when we came in to rehearse they showed us the idea and Kevin and myself said can we go and put something together? And they were like yeah great. And we went off for an afternoon, I think, and came up with all the details. That was really good fun and I think was one of the best bits."
Parallel Playback was recorded during the show's fortnight off air and became Parallel 9's in-house gameshow for the visiting "elders" during the final six programmes. A play on the Zarbian reverse laws of time, it was hosted by McHale as Spam Ululux, with Kevin Short playing his glamourous assistant "Skynette". Scores were announced by the Tope, giving rise to the memorable catchphrase "Tope, Tope, How Did They Cope?". Stephen Hope-Wynne recalls of one round: "Backwards Olympics was stunningly fun to voice with Roddy. He would commentate the purpose of ‘Caber-Catching’ or ‘Pole-Upping’ as we watched reverse-playback footage of caber-tossing, high-jumping, javelin or shot-putting."
A certificate - made out to "Cal" but unseen on the programme - for a balloon flight VT also made during the break for the Olympics
Stephen Hope-Wynne gives an insight into how a typical show would come together. "The cast would assemble at J stage offices on a Wednesday morning. It took me a couple of these script reads to understand the system that had emerged: interviewee talent and public information/community strands would be crafted into a wish-list for the series to meet the BBC audience remit. Around these totem poles of factual, music or news content would be wrapped many pages of themed story timeline. "Scene: Mercator, Calendular, Skyn and others will "discuss" a subject matter for several minutes, do some comedy and then link to a live or pre-record music act, clip or interviews that had been pre-booked or awaiting last minute confirmation. Gags to be improvised." Glyn was among those determined to keep things valid, educational as well as entertainingly nutty."
Stephen notes that this format "enforced opportunities to open for the cast to write their own detailed exchanges based on a story theme. Inevitably, it was given-over that the cast’s inventiveness and guile could team-pilot drama and story-lines to elegantly encapsulate the PLACEHOLDER-timecoded A & B Roll segments that would become an interview with Sir Patrick Moore or Gabrielle or Jason Donovan. Whether by plan or spontaneity this evolved to propose the cast pretty much writing the show through Wednesday to the Thursday as they saw fit. I wondered how this worked with the commissioned Writer. In tea breaks I would sneak past [Line Producer] Sally Debonaire's office wall and via the researchers's story/character timeline wall to see what character plans, comedy ideas, drama clues etc could be gleaned or unravelled. It all seemed to be a secret."
"This was rehearsed loosely on the Thursday evening, blocked for camera on Friday morning, rehearse-recorded (if possible) Friday afternoon, live-rehearsed Friday evening with post-rehearse notes into the night." This element is one Roddy Maude-Roxby recalls well. "The overnight stay and early start was new to us". Hope-Wynne continues: "Early on Saturday morning we would be whizzed from the Marriott Hotel in nearby Langley village for a near dawn rehearse-the-guests-and-bands into the framework of the show, 10 minute lighting resets, make-up, costume chargeback, loo, water break, last second guest arrivals then 60 second countdown to live at 08:59 hrs Saturday, BBC1. Somehow it flew! Nuts and bolts sheered off onto the studio floors between complex guest, lighting, camera, costume & make-up changes but it flew, brilliantly, regardless. Dialogue re-writes, between live and pre-record inserts with researchers running in last minute drafted facts and figures to add science education, up-to-date urgent corrections. It seemed an intuitively, self-ordering chaos."
Helen has retained numerous momentos from the series, many of which illustrate this piece. These include a good luck card prior to the first transmission from Michela Strachan, cuttings from TV listings magazine and most striking of all, the letters and pictures received from viewers.
One letter from a 15-year-old from Maidstone inspired by the launch programme began "I have just watched your first show and really enjoyed it. I hope you don't consider me too old to come on your show. I would really enjoy coming to visit your planet" before suggesting an item involving athletes to mark the upcoming Barcelona Olympics.
Another drew a picture of Cal in bed from the opening titles, which is curiously addressed to Helen herself. Others drew pictures of the cast, one simply stating "Cal is ACE!" whilst another pre-empted the actual storyling by providing her with an earth pass. One recurring theme is perhaps understandably the mispelling of the characters' names. The back of one document has Helen's notes for TX4, including the line "lots of Elders have written in to us and by the way, my name is Cal and not Cow!".
Cal's birthday in show 8 was storylined around the day of Helen's actual 25th birthday, and alongside a huge card from the cast and crew ("which way is time running for you?") are numerous sent in by viewers, with one written backwards.
When I wrote the second part of this series of articles I drew attention to a postcard sent in by a viewer boldly asking if Cal was in a relationship with Andi Peters. Amazingly, Helen has retained this - along with a followup asking how they could get in touch with Andi to find out!
The last item in Helen's collection is a flyer for a pantomime in Lincoln she was cast in for Christmas 1992, billing her as "from TV's 'PARALLEL NINE' ".
The series concluded on 19th September 1992, and Helen Schlûter has again retained her script. This is headed TX22, despite being the 20th programme following the suspension of the series during the Olympics. One notable change from the earlier running orders is huge chunks of dialogue for the fictional segments between the characters due to the move away from improvisation.
The script for the opening scene of the final show featuring Cal and Mercator
As mentioned earlier by both Kevin Short and Dominc McHale, the scenes involving Skyn and Thynkso include some clear deviation from what has been written for them. One example is their first scene, where another phone call with Thynko's Granny Grabby is added replacing the scripted gag. Later, when Thynkso protests "that's not fair", another unscripted addition is made where Skyn replies "well, what is fair in life?" prompting Thynkso to add "a young maiden with blonde hair?".
Others changes features jokes being inserted or amended throughout, with "moonpig in labour" becoming the perhaps more relatable "moonpig with a toothache". When Skyn is clearing out his videos one intended tape was "Eldorado The Movie", which on transmission was replaced by "Take Your Pick" instead - a better gag, or to avoid drawing attention to the thrice-weekly embarrassment?
The final scene sees a plug added for the new series of Going Live! the following Saturday, along with a back-reference to Craig Charles's appearance. Mercator's line to the Tope "I have learned many valuable things from you" was amended to the more factually correct "we have discovered a lot of knowledge together". Steyl's folorn "as Thogron said, parting is such sweet sorrow" replaces a rather glib gag about leaving the iron on.
The script was amended by the cast to reference their loved ones - Steyl's friends, Thynkso's Granny and Skyn's Mother - as justification for risking using the grenade, followed by "we want to go home" in unison. Rather than dropped, the grenade is also thrown some considerable distance, perhaps to reinforce the earlier comments about how powerful this device apparently is.
And - in case you were wondering - Mercator's magic dropped the crew off in Slough, conveniently a short drive from Pinewood Studios, where McDonalds is still located to this day.
The final show differed quite considerably from the launch episode some 22 weeks earlier. Kevin Short: "By the end of the first series, I don't think any of us expected to continue into the second series as it was apparent it was going to go in a very different direction, and our characters were never going to fit into the new set of ideas. I think it was a case of change the producers and directors, or change the cast. I, personally, had had enough of the creative struggle and the nerve-jangling two hours to carry on. Throughout though, when that red light went on in the studio, it was two hours of adrenalin-fuelled, exhilarating, sometimes spontaneous, live creativity, like nothing before or since." Jenny Bolt was however keen to continue. "I’ll admit I hoped I would but I think the BBC couldn’t handle the cost of that set, but mostly the genius of the idea, because lets face it, it was ahead of its time!".
"Totally Outageous Party Environment" - the end of series bash, held the day after the finale
Dominic McHale was however relieved it was all over. "I don’t seem to remember there being any expectation we’d be taken on in the next series. I wasn’t really keen to tell you the truth. Overall it was a real mixed experience. It was great and terrifying to do live TV. But I think the concept and initial idea was maybe a bit too ambitious. I’ve watched some of the early stuff and just felt it’s a bit too long and not that interesting. We probably needed a director who knew about this sort of work and was able to drive it and edit it. But we didn’t have that. It wasn’t all plain sailing. Some days were pretty difficult." Helen Schlûter recalls having tentative conversations about series two - and it's not hard to imagine Cal as the "earthbase" caravan presenter - but ultimately she was informed her character's dramatic conclusion was difficult to resolve.
End of series caption competition
The lead role of Mercator had been sidelined somewhat as the series progressed, by the end featuring mostly in the scripted sequences (and barely at all in the penultimate show). Roddy Maude-Roxby recalls a team spirit despite this: "The cast stayed close, but the origins of Parallel 9 were lost and I was OK about our ending. I know I was fired up at the time and now forget my fury." Dominic McHale understands his anger. "I also really think that Roddy got such a rough deal and I want to big him up. Roddy is a brilliant improviser and it was a real joy and an honour to work with him but he got sidelined and overlooked throughout and I think that was criminal. But that’s what happened. You had a show with an original idea with a great concept and you have one of the best improvisers in the business and what happens? You give him big eyebrows and nothing else. Shocking."
The Tope was ultimately the only character carried over to series two - but that's another story. Two other characters did however nearly have a longer life beyond series 1, according to Kevin Short. "At the end of the series, exhausted, but still full of ideas, Dominic and I jetted off to Spain for what turned out to be a holiday of hilarious adventures and amazing creativity. In between nights of dancing 'til the early hours we improvised and wrote down ideas in the sun."
"On returning, I asked a producer friend if he'd put a small crew together to shoot what we'd come up with. The idea was that Skyn and Thynkso had come to Earth, landed in the countryside, and decided that the Queen in London was the only person who could help them get back home. Each episode was to have them visit some historical site (the educational element) on their way to Buckingham Palace. The pilot had them visiting Stonehenge. The conceit, also, was that the earthlings would speak gobbledegook, whilst they were fully understandable as aliens."
"We made it in Wiltshire over a few days, not as the final article but as an example of what we might be able to achieve with a budget and the backing of BBC. I sent it to a BBC producer I knew, who passed it on to the Heads of Children's programmes, and was quick to get a reply that claimed copyright on the characters and, sadly, this couldn't be made. Of course, it was naive not to realize that this would be the case, especially as Parallel 9 was to be continuing without us. Still, it did lead to further work for us both, so all was not lost. Since then, Dominic and I have worked together on countless occasions, even taking a Zombie play to New York for Halloween just before Covid hit." You can now watch the previously unseen pilot for the continuing adventures of Skyn and Thynko thanks to Kevin Short's YouTube channel.
Kevin Short concludes "it was a fantastically creative time, and one which revived my passion for experiment and new concepts. The passion, for what we as a cast were trying to achieve, never wavered throughout, and that in itself was inspiring. The fact that, inspired by your enthusiasm, we are all going to have a 30th year reunion bears testament to our commitment to Parallel 9 and to each other as actors and friends."
Your author meets Steyl, Cal & Skyn and is instantly 8 years old again
I'm indebted to the Parallel 9 cast for showing great generosity in inviting me to their reunion and for allowing me to take their time away to share their memories of series 1: Roddy Maude-Roxby, Jenny Bolt, Dominic McHale, Stephen Hope-Wynne, Helen Schlûter for sharing her archives and Kevin Short for kicking this whole thing off. Thank you all!
Coming in part 4: what happened next? Because I'm nothing if not a completist, the Parallel 9 story continues - in significantly less detail - with series two...
