MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU

31 Mar 2007

RADIO TIMES
31 March-6 April 2007
Benji Wilson

WHAT IS IT?
The Sky at Night
WHO'S IN IT?
Patrick Moore, Brian May, John Culshaw
WHEN'S IT ON?
Sunday BBC1

To many Queen fans, Brian May is a god. Today, he merely looks like one. We're at Teddington Studios, and if we were to tell you that Brian May in a jumpsuit waving a light sabre is one of the less weird sights on offer, you'd get some sense of the interplanetary lunacy going on. But now, prepare to be enlightened...

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Sky at Night, presenter Patrick Moore - who else? - has come up with the idea of a "live link" to the very first show he broadcast.

Time travel being beyond even the modern multi-media BBC, Jon Culshaw has been drafted in to play the young Moore. so, in front of a retro planisphere, and with a copy of Radio Times dated 21 April 1957 on the table, sits a monocled Culshaw. Moore (the real one) is asking him to describe "with the foresight of hindsight" how the universe appears in 1957. In summary: present-day Patrick conducts a conversation about astronomy with himself as if it was the most natural thing imaginable.

Yet it's nothing compared to what's next. Also in he studio is a mock-up Mars-base in 2057. For the second half of the programme, Moore beams himself into the future. And who should he find on Mars to ask about the next 50 years' progress in astronomy but a 109-year-old Brian May? Nobody knows whether extraterrestrial life exists or what it could look like, but if the Martians were to bump into a superannuated May on their home turf, it's hard to imagine who would be more surprised. Or scared.

So what brings Moore, Culshaw and May together on a cold Saturday morning for what, it should be made clear, is a serious look at the history and future of astronomical discovery? It's a shared love of astronomy, born out of childhood obsessions with The Sky at Night.

"I used to beg my parents to let me stay up and watch it," says May. "Luckily, they indulged me. I was absolutely captivated from the moment those strains of Pelléas et Mélisande struck up." He wrote to Moore to ask him what the music was, and finally got to meet his idol as a graduate student. "I was at Imperial College London doing my PhD in zodiacal light, but I was just a research student and Patrick was a very important man, so there wasn't much in the way of conversation." Years later they would meet again, and since then May has appeared on The Sky at Night several times.

As for Culshaw, "I'm completely fascinated by astronomy. I suppose it's the way that the other planets are so out of reach - and you can only imagine what they're like. Patrick Moore is the reason why I became interested in astronomy and also the reason why I became an impersonator. During a day off school, aged seven, I saw a repeat of The Sky at Night on BBC2. And," he continues, moving seamlessly into a skittish pitch -perfect Patrick Moore, "there was this fellow... speaking very quickly indeed, talking about space and the universe... I just instantly copied him. I showed my Mum and Dad and friend and they'd laugh at it. That was really the start."

Links: http://www.bbc.co.uk/skyatnight

Read more about the 50th anniversary in a special edition Sky at Night magazine, on sale now, price £4.25

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