| I'd almost forgotten about the ITV comedy series called Astronauts, that featured Hull actor Barrie Rutter. The series was written by comedians and ex-Goodies Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie. The show told the story of the first three British astronauts in space, who had been sent on a six month mission to a "sky lab". They all lived in the cramped two room little space station, with a dog they took up with them called Bimbo. The comedy of the show predominately (as it would) revolved around the claustrophobic conditions under which they lived. |
The astronauts' were Commander Malcolm Mattocks (Christopher Godwin), Dr. Gentian Foster (Carmen Du Sautoy) and Technical Officer David Ackroyd (Barrie Rutter), whilst their contact at Mission Control was Colonel Lloyd Beadle (Bruce Boa). The mission may have ran for six months, but the show ran for two seasons, first shown in 1981 and 1983 respectively.
| What has been called The Goodies in space, simply didn't work. How it even made it through the six month mission and into a second series is a mystery. The three actors involved are all Shakespearean actors, what possessed them to do this show is another mystery. All of them have somewhat of an exemplary list of acting credentials, apart from this weird little blip, that I'm sure they Tiptex out of their CV's. Bruce Boa, continued to play the token American in British comedies and TV shows, despite being Canadian. The whereabouts of Bimbo are unknown. |  |
