Stars in his eyes
Writer brings back cult show
It was a cult sci-fi show set on the Moon – and now a Rutherglen man has brought BBC TV show Star Cops back.
Andrew Smith is the script editor of a new series of audio adventures, working with cast members from the original show, which aired in 1987.
Star Cops featured an international group of police solving crimes in the then far flung future of 2027.
The programme only ran for one season, but earned a loyal following, and now production company Big Finish have developed a new series of audio plays.
Andrew, a former policeman who has written stories for the likes of Doctor Who and Survivors, was approached about taking charge of the show’s creative direction.
He said: “I’ve done quite a bit of writing for Big Finish over the years, and I got an email headlined Star Cops.
“I was just going out so only saw it briefly but thought, ‘oh, I’ll have some of that’ and then when I took a closer look later I saw they were asking me to actually script edit it.
“I had an extra sense of ownership of the whole thing and it was a true cult show that people had very fond memories of, so there has been a bit more pressure with that.
“It was only nine episodes in 1987, so in some ways it was like launching a whole new show again.”
A former Stonelaw High pupil who grew up in Eskdale Drive, Andrew spent over 25 years working with the police, and he took some of his real life experiences into Star Cops.
He said: “The thing about Star Cops is that it wasn’t ray guns and zippy ships - it was a grounded show looking at how police work would have evolved in the future, with new technology.
“So when I was writing I took some of my own experiences, or my colleagues’ experiences – I know someone who worked undercover, and there was one time when he was constantly eyeballed by someone in the gang he was going undercover with, so I used things like that.
“I also made sure that there were no scenes where the cops threatened to kill anyone, like they did in the original series!”
Andrew retired from the police in 2014 and has focused on his writing career ever since.
He has several more Doctor Who stories on the way, including another collaboration with Tom Baker.
In 1980 Andrew’s script Full Circle, was turned into a TV adventure starring Baker, who he has since worked with on several occasions.
He added: “It’s a funny one – when I first met Tom again I wasn’t really looking forward to it, because he had been a bit curmudgeonly in the 80s. I introduced myself to him and he boomed out ‘oh, I was terribly grumpy back then!’ and he has been brilliant to work with.
“I really enjoy writing stories for Colin Baker’s Doctor too, because his character is verbose and that’s fun to write.”
Although Andrew now lives in England, he might yet include his old hometown in a story.
He laughed: “I did write a Doctor Who story set in Portsoy – maybe I should have him visit the Main Street in the future!”
A box set of Star Cops audio plays is available now from www.bigfinish.com, with a second set due for release this December.