Object Z/Object Z Returns

1 9 6 5 – 1 9 6 6 (UK)
6 x 30 minute episodes
6 x 30 minute episodes

A six-mile-wide meteor is detected heading for a possible head-on collision with Earth.

The Prime Minister announces the grave news and scientists plan to build a large rocket with a 400 megaton atomic warhead which they believe may deflect the meteor. The project requires the cooperation of Britain, America and Russia.

Episodes tracked the impending destruction of the Earth and the construction of the new rocket and warhead but, in the final episode, it was revealed to be a hoax perpetrated by Professor Ramsay (Ralph Nossek) and other world scientists in an attempt to end the Cold War by uniting the world against a common threat.

As the episode drew to a close, a real meteor was discovered on a collision course with Earth.

A six-part sequel, Object Z Returns, followed in February and March 1966.

As the real meteor neared the Earth, the planet began to freeze, with snow and ice spreading across the world. But this ‘meteor’ turned out to be something directed by an alien intelligence.

Scientists around the world desperately attempt to contact the aliens, to alert them to the damage they were causing to our planet. They finally succeed and this ‘Object Z’ headed again out into deep space.

Former Coronation Street director Christopher McMaster originally wrote the series as an adult drama before being convinced by producer Daphne Shadwell to adapt it for the children’s 5.25 pm Tuesday timeslot.

The series was originally recorded on videotape and primarily studio-bound using stock footage film inserts whenever the interior of a bustling tracking station was required.

June Challis
Margaret Neale
Peter Barry
Trevor Bannister
Robert Duncan
Denys Peek
Professor Ramsay
Ralph Nossek
Brian Barclay
Brandon Brady
Sir John Chandos
Julian Somers
Diana Winters
Celia Bannerman
Ian Murray
William Abney
Captain Wade 
Terence Donovan

Episodes

The Meteor | The World In Fear | Flight From Danger | The Aliens | Too Late | The Solution
The Voice from Space | Episode 2 | The Monsters | The Menace from the Depths | The Big Freeze | The Eleventh Hour

Video