It’s the 4th of July so we had to do something cool for US Independence Day. So, of course, Stuart Mulrain sat down with audiomeister Dirk Maggs to remember Independence Day UK. Caution: contains envy-inducing photos of Dirk sitting in fighter planes…
In 1996, Independence Day became the smash hit blockbuster of the summer, spawning the usual array of tie-in TV specials, toys, books, magazines and games. Perhaps the most interesting tie-in though is the BBC Radio audio movie Independence Day UK, which was broadcast on BBC Radio 1 on Sunday 4th August 1996 and depicted the events of the alien invasion from the view point of the UK.
The audio movie starred Radio 1 DJ’s Nicky Campbell & Mark Goodier and astronomer Sir Patrick Moore as themselves, along with a cast that included Colin Baker, Toyah Willcox, Simon Treves, Peter Serafinowicz and Toby Longworth as RAF Pilots and William Hootkins as Orson Welles.
• Continue reading at Garbage-File.
Sure, there’s a movie sequel out now called Independence Day: Resurgence. Of course, it’s missing a lot of weird over-the-top charm that made the first movie fun. Thankfully, there’s a better option out there.
Independence Day UK is an hour-long radio play that aired on BBC Radio 1 in 1996, about a month after the original movie premiered in the US. It was meant as a way to promote the film in the UK, and combined the events of Independence Day with Orson Welles’ The War of Worlds. It’s very weird. (All the involved names are doubtless much more familiar to the UK than to anyone else. I apologize in advance for being incurably American)
Independence Day UK has actual BBC broadcasters playing themselves. Well, themselves as they would be if there was a giant alien invasion. So the first half of the play is “UFO Watch,” with actual British presenters Nicky Campbell and Mark Goodier. Oh, and the astronomer Patrick Moore, who had the very strange task of trying to introduce anything remotely scientific into an Independence Day property.
• Continue reading at io9. Further info on Independence Day UK at toyahwillcox.com.
