TV Times – 13 July 2019

MOON LAUNCH LIVE IS

PREVIEWED ON PAGES 32-

NEW FACTUAL

Moon Launch Live

SATURDAY / C4 / 8PM

Our ‘Man on the

Moon’ issue to

celebrate ITN’s

coverage of the

Apollo 11 mission

remains one of

our most iconic

covers. Inside,

ITV’s ‘Space

Team’ – Peter

Fairley, TV Times’

Science Editor

and American

space expert

Paul Haney –

set the scene.

ALSOTHIS

WEEKÉ

STARGAZING:

MOON

LANDING

SPECIAL

Monday,

BBC2, 9pm

Professor

Brian Cox and

Dara O Briain

travel to Cape

Canaveral in

Florida to see where the

historic Apollo 11 mission began.

CHASING THE MOON

Tue-Thu, BBC4, times vary

The six-parter (two each day)

traces the history of the space race,

with the story kicking off in 1957.

MOON LANDING: WORLD’S

GREATEST HOAX?

Monday, Yesterday, 8pm

Did the moon landing really

happen? This one-off looks at the

most famous conspiracy theories.

THE MOON: OUR GATEWAY

TO THE UNIVERSE

Wednesday, Eden, 6pm/10pm

Part of Eden’s special Space

Week of programming, this

documentary reveals the latest

facts and surprising scientific

discoveries about the moon.

Back to the

future

How C4 aims

to bring the

moon landings

to life again

A

s Neil Armstrong

became the first

man to set foot

on the moon in

July 1969, people

all over the world celebrated one of

mankind’s greatest achievements.

It was a key moment in human

history, but what was it like for the

half a billion viewers who followed

every step of the eight-day

mission from their living rooms?

This week, C4 hopes to

recreate the excitement, tension

and wonder of that week for

viewers today, with a

documentary, short news

updates and online content, all

designed to transport viewers

back 50 years in time.

‘We want to try to get today’s

viewers into a similar head space

as those in 1969,’ says executive

producer David Glover.

‘I’ve worked on a few series

where we tried to turn real history

into a sort of boxset drama. But

with this we’re solely using archive

footage to make it as immersive as

possible for modern audiences.’

Lift-off comes this Saturday,

with Moon Launch Live, a film

that recreates the build-up to

Apollo 11’s launch, atop an

enormous Saturn V rocket. Small

details and rarely seen material

will leave viewers feeling like

they’re watching the moment

in real-time and hopefully, even

after all these years, the emotions

of that week will feel just as real.

The first moonwalk will be

explored in another documentary,

airing on C4 next week.

‘It was voted the most

memorable TV moment ever in

a C4 poll and it’s impossible to

overstate how much it meant

to people all over the world,’

says David, adding that both

programmes have an American

flavour because there is no

surviving footage of the BBC

coverage from 1969.

‘We have footage of people

cheering in Japan, Africa – even

some on the streets of Russia.’

A series of five-minute news

pieces will play at the end of the

C4 seven o’clock news from

Monday to Friday this week, to

keep viewers updated on Apollo

11’s progress in real-time.

There will also be a minute-

by-minute Twitter account and

a YouTube live stream of the

spacecraft’s voyage.

‘We really hope audiences get

involved and feel pulled along by

the whole thing,’ says David. ‘The

moon landings are inspirational!’

Sean Marland

TV

TIMES

WA S

THERE!

Nerve centre: Apollo

11’s mission control

Heroes: Neil

Armstrong,

Michael Collins

and Buzz Aldrin

pictured in 1969

TV TIMES 19

Lift-off: Apollo 11’s

Saturn V rocket

Watching history

unfold: Former

president Lyndon B

Johnson at Cape

Canaveral