Parallel 9 Information & Parallel 9 Links at HealthHaven.com

Parallel 9
	; Series 1 title card
Genre	Children's; Entertainment
Starring	Roddy Maude-Roxby; Richard Waites; Lucinda Cowden; Paul Hendy
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	3
Production
Camera setup	Multiple-camera setup
Running time	120 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC One
Picture format	4:3
Original run	1992 – 17th September 1994

Parallel 9 was a British children's television show that broadcast from 1992 to 1994. It aired on BBC1 on Saturday mornings, thereby occupying the time slot that was at other times held by programmes such as Going Live!.

[edit] Premise

[edit] First series

The premise of the show focused on Mercator, an old alien prince with very long eyebrows (played by Roddy Maude-Roxby) who had been banished to Parallel 9 as a result of his thirst for knowledge - a criminal offence on his home planet.

As part of his punishment, he was allowed to awake for only 2 hours a week; from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Saturdays, and had the ability to ‘beam up’ guests from Earth to Parallel 9.

Amongst the other characters that made regular appearances in the first series were Calendular – an earth girl who had become a permanent resident on Parallel 9 – and three other criminals who had been banished from their home planet: Steyl, Skyn and Thynkso. The latter three spent the entirety of the show plotting ways to escape Parallel 9.

[edit] Second series

Parallel 9 in its original form was poorly received, and so extensive changes were made. Most of the first series' characters were dropped, and the setting changed from a prison dimension to a space station. The new show was more vibrant than its predecessor, with jauntier opening titles, a brighter set and a new lead character; though this character retained the name Mercator, the character changed to a younger, more manic man with spiky hair, played by Christopher Wild. New characters including Zee, Dr. Kovan, and Brian the Dinosaur were introduced. The only connnections between this show and the previous run were the P9 name, the Mercator name, and the Tope, which switched from being a dimensional prison to become the space station's power source. During this run, a 'base station' (static caravan) was used to provide a 'link' by which guests could be 'transported' from Earth to P9, the earth based presenter was Lucinda Cowden.

[edit] Third series

This series continued in much the same form as the more successful second series, though there were some changes. Mercator was recast again, and was this time a buttoned-down commander type, played by Richard Waites of ITV's Zzzap! and No. 73; Zee also left, replaced by Flynn (who was played by Kate Lonergan, formerly of Maid Marian and her Merry Men). Dr. Kovan and Brian remained, and the setting continued to be a space station; the 'base station on Earth' concept also continued with Paul Hendy joining to present with Lucinda. This was the final series of P9, ending on 17th September 1994. The following year saw the introduction of Fully Booked.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Satkids