Parallel 9
| Parallel 9 | |
|---|---|
Series 1 title card
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| Genre | Children's entertainment |
| Created by | Jill Roach |
| Directed by | Simon Staffurth, Bob Collins |
| Starring |
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| Composer(s) |
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| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 64 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Jill Roach, Stuart Pinches & Edward Barnes |
| Producer(s) | Anna Home |
| Camera setup | Multiple-camera setup |
| Running time | 120 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Roach & Partners |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC 1 |
| Picture format | 4:3 |
| Original release | 25 April 1992 – 17 September 1994 |
Parallel 9 (commonly known as P9) was a British children's television entertainment show that broadcast from 1992 to 1994. A total of three series - one in each year - was produced, and each series ran for up to twenty-two weeks (in all a total of 64 episodes were produced across the three years; series 1 ran for 20 weeks, with the remaining two weeks being taken by Olympic Games coverage.)
P9 aired on BBC1 on Saturday mornings during the summer months, occupying the schedule slot that was at other times of the year held by programmes such as Going Live!; the first series of P9 aired in the summer break between the penultimate and final series of Going Live, the second series of P9 (summer 1993) aired between the close of the final series of Going Live and the launch of Live & Kicking, and the final run of P9 aired over summer 1994, between the first and second series of L&K. At the time, the pattern of the BBC's Saturday morning broadcasts was that Going Live/L&K would run for approximately 30 weeks of the year - from the Autumn of one year to the Spring of the next - with the remaining 20 or so weeks taken by a 'summer replacement' show such as P9.
P9 was the first BBC Saturday morning children's show to be produced by an independent production company - in this case Roach & Partners - rather than the BBC's in-house children's production unit. The programme was produced at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire.
The show is also notable for the large number of changes in cast and situation that it undertook during its run despite retaining the same P9 branding throughout.
Series 1 of Parallel 9 began on 25 April 1992.
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 'Zarb'.
As part of his punishment, he was allowed to awake for only 2 hours a week; from 9am to 11am on "the day the Earthlings call Saturday", and had the ability to 'beam up' guests from Earth to Parallel 9 to take part in interviews and features.
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 their time plotting ways to escape Parallel 9.
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