Black Mirror actress Daines on her ‘resonant’ sci-fi series Intergalactic

FAST forward 150 years into the future, and the vision of Earth that humans are faced with is in equal parts intriguing and terrifying – or so posits new sci-fi series Intergalactic.

With police swapping cars for spacecraft as they patrol the skies and prisoners being transported away from Earth to far-flung colonies, the prospect is undeniably bleak.

And yet it’s an intrinsic part of the allure of Sky One’s latest space-based show.

Black Mirror actress Imogen Daines, who plays convicted cyber-hacker Verona says: “You’ve got the Common

World – which is the Earthbased government, which is masquerading as a democracy but is, in fact, a dictatorship – and I think anyone living in

America would just chime with that immediately.

“You’ve got these pseudoliberal humanists at the top, which are actually keeping everyone down any way that they can, anyone who is just doing what they need to do to get by.

“And I think there are so many resonances now, all across the world, with

governments that behave in exactly that way.”

A tale of conflict, injustice and survival, Intergalactic tells the story of young police officer and galactic pilot Ash Harper, played by A Discovery Of Witches star Savannah Steyn.

Stripped of her career following a wrongful conviction for treason, Ash is separated from her motherand exiled to a distant prison colony. But with a mutiny afoot on board the spacecraft transporting the convicts, Ash finds herself on an entirely unexpected course.

Unleashing an empowered black female lead in the form of Steyn, the series also boasts a racially diverse and extensively female-led cast. It’s a fresh take on a tried and tested format, challenging the parameters of traditional dramas, as Steyn goes on to reflect.

“I think what’s interesting about this world, is that these characters’ problems aren’t their blackness or, you know, their background, or this, that or the other, but it’s just kind of refreshing to see us have a load of other problems.”

Intergalactic, Sky One, 9pm, Friday. Also available on NOW TV.

Imogen Daines as Verona