Genesis

The Spaceship was written by Paul Barnhill and Neil Warhusrt, who also starred in the show. It was directed by Sally Avens.

Produced exclusively for Radio7's Seventh Dimension daily sci-fi slot.

The five part series has been broadcast on R7 twice, so far, and we hold onto hope that a second series will be given a go ahead.

The Mission

Launched in 2104 The Macklesfield Space Fleet was despatched on its inter-stellar mission to find new alien life forms and make contact. One such ship was The Really Invincible III.

Each ship was fitted with countless microphones and recording devices to collect information about the strains and pressures of space travel on crew members and also record any interesting dirt...on crew members.

With an obvious Nebulous cast connection and the same combination of dry and whacky wit, The Spaceship should be another addition to your comedy favourites list! We loved every minute and the continuing plot thread made missing an episode unthinkable. We're hopeing for more from the crew soon!

Click here for Episode One -Lost  (Right click to save)

The Really Invincible III- Crew Members

Captain Gordon Taylor- prefers to be called Flashdance (has a unique compulsive Cheese & Wine Party Disorder) - James Fleet

Mellisa Paterson - Security Officer (and non-regulation uniform outlaw)- Emily Joyce

Karen Trex - Communications Officer (generic Feng Shui expert and all round nice person) - Rosie Cavaliero

Stuart Jackson - Ships Engineer (newest member of the crew. He has only been aboard one month after the last engineer was accidentally ejected into space)- Paul Barnhill

Clive 55 - Chief Medical Scientist (one of 137 clones all called Clive created in a lab just outside Warrington)- Neil Warhurst

Narrator - Our guide to all the events onboard - Nick Bolton

Other Parts Played By

Jason Chan- Urg Emporer, Captain Ponta, Iron

Stephen Hogan- Princess Urgessey, King of the Duhwop-eye

Rob Hastie - Trevor

Episode Synopsis

3002 - Lost - The crew meets up with the alien race responsible for some of mankinds most advanced technology -The Urg, whilst Captain Gordon Taylor goes into cocktail party overload as he makes numerous arrangements to greet the lifeforms emmisary...only to realise that with no iron on board he can't press his best party shirt.

When the emmisary Princess dissapears whilst aboard, the crew faces the rage of the Urg Emporer if she can't be found in time.

3003 - Indestructable - The Fleet Captains war games are interupted with disaster when the Indestructable III explodes with no apparent reason. Meanwhile Stuart and Karen's forbidden romance refuses to be dampened, when Karen's behaviour takes a reckless shift after her first space-walk with Mellisa to investigate the ruined space hulk. Have they brought more than just a dust-pan and brush back with them from the wreckage?

3004 - Monster - When Captain Taylor learns that Clive 55 faces charges of murder when the last of the 137 Clive Clones dies he has no option but to place him under arrest. But with an open plan spaceship where do you keep a prisoner?

The last resort is The Hold, but it is said to be haunted and anyone who goes in there tends to come out on the wrong side of sanity. To ensure that Clive 55 is incarcerated safely the crew must face the horrors within and discover the dark secret The Hold... holds!

3005 - Dirty - An insane experiment by Clive 55 goes awry, as all good universe ending experiments tend to do, and the crew face a grisly end if the Dark Matter cannot be stopped in time.

Love, honor and a final cheese-and-wine party force the crew to the very limits of their endurance.

3205 - Enemies - With the crew recovering from disaster after Clive 55's last experiment and Captain Taylor still suffering the ill-effects, the crew finally make contact with a brand new race of 'non-earth beings'.

But the 'encounter' friendly Duhwop-eye nearly miss their first contact with humans as the crew of The Really Invincible III do their usual bickering worst trying to uncover onboard conspiracy and the reason for Iron suddenly functioning perfectly.

Click here to hear the Radio7 Trailer  (Right click to save)

Click here for the website exclusive trailer  (Right click to save)

Click here for The Spaceship Floor plan

Series II

Hole -  Having survived the trip through the black hole, but refusing to speak to each other about the event, the crew find themselves in a predicament when all that remains working aboard is the toaster! But an upgrade, a new remit and a fitting assignment soon take the crew into uncharted hilarity as they face talking plants, hostile weeds and the prospect of a new laminated toilet seat each.

Manhood - Clive 55's unwavering talent for poking scientific progress in the wrong direction creates havoc when he gets his hands on the remnents of a space pirate. As for why the episode is called Manhood...we'll leave that for you to find out...

Rude - When the winners of a competition are sent to The Really Invincible .2.8 for their prize of the experience of life aboard a real spaceship, the results are far from what they expected as a dull spell in the crews life, leads Capt Taylor to actually actively seek out adventure...and chaos!

Sick - When a new planet is discovered the new planatery probe (The Bagel) proves to be every bit as inefficient as the rest of the crew and forces a crew member to take a dangerous trip to the planets surface. This is the start of a chain of events that will leave the crew fighting for survival and trying to keep their own teeth and hair in place and breasts aloft and perky (well some of them!). And two of the crew fight to keep a secret of their own.

The End - What happens when you finally reach the end of everything? When you find the answer to what lies at the edge of the universe? You pray The Really Invincible .2.8 doesn't get there first...Oh dear! They have!

Other Details

Crew Patch-

Iron - E3007 Series II Yakamoto -The ships only robot was malfunctioning from day one and only got more eccentric as the journey progressed! The bizarrely behaving droid can now be heard before it is seen as it constantly loops Thirties Swing music and it is impossible to be turned off due to inbuilt security measures.

Urg Emporer - Head of the Urg race, who were the first alien lifeforms to make contact with Earth over twenty years ago. Technically advanced but culturally backwards they supplied Earth with the 2/3 Speed of Light Drive which enabled the Federation to plan its long term mission to seek out other life amongst the stars...and see what gadgets they could cadge off them!

Princess Urgessey - The free-spirited daugter of The Emporer who is currently on a cultural xeno-exchange YTS scheme.

Trevor - Stowaway and a man with a link to the past of one of the crew.

Dark Matter - Created by Clive 55 when he tried to synthisize the dark bits of space. Immensely unstable and with the power to rearrange time and space it was bound to leak out of its 'secure' container...

Duhwop-eye - Alien beings with many, many body parts.

The Ferret - The VR4000 2 Seater Scoutship maintained on The Really Invincible III for space missions, exterior maintainence and very small landing parties.

Indestructable 3 - Captained by Flashdance's mentor Captain Eric Ponta. NOW DESTROYED.

The Endurance - Captained by Captain Dexter.NOW DESTROYED.

The Unbreakable - With the mysterious destruction of this ship it left The Really Invincible III as the last ship in the fleet.