The Gemini Apes

1st Broadcast BBC Radio 4, Christmas Day 2.15pm 1998

Producer

Dirk Maggs

Writer

Dirk Maggs

Director

Dirk Maggs

Produced By

Audio Movies Ltd for BBC Radio 4

Synopsis

At last ... Intelligent Life On Earth ...

Two chimpanzees shot into space in 1964 as part of a NASA capsule test return thirty-five years later, apparently unchanged - but for exceptional intelligence, exceptional compassion - and a deep distrust of Man. Yet the Gemini Apes hold the key to solving Western Medicine’s most urgent problem - antibiotic resistant superbugs.

Should they be sacrificed to save a child’s life ?

What happens in a world where we are not the only intelligent life on Earth?

This is an action-packed space age fairytale in which survival of the fittest doesn’t necessarily mean fittest to survive...

Cast

Character	Actor
Drake	Christopher Lee
Jojo	Gary Martin
Character Name not known	Nic Colicos
Rusty	Garrick Hagon
Character Name not known	Lorelei King
Mollie	Liza Ross
Character Name not known	Rupert Degas
Ricky	Alan Marriott
Nadia	Katherine Shannon
Character Name not known	Simon Treves

Production Crew

Studio Assistant John Hood http://homepage.mac.com/johnhood

Music composed & Arranged

Matthew Strachan

His website is here

Comments by Matthew Strachan

on working with Dirk Maggs

Click here

Audio Design

The Soundhouse LTD

Comment by Dirk Maggs

Background on The Gemini Apes

In 1998 BBC Radio 4's controller James Boyle kindly allowed me make a story of my own as an ‘audio movie’ for Christmas Day. The idea had been in my mind for several years and I wanted to play with the conventions of narration and backstory in a way that kept things moving along in a dynamic way.

I hit on having the narration in the present tense to give the feeling that we are witnessing events rather than getting them second hand. The story concerns two NASA chimps lost in space in the 1960s who return in the 21st century, not only none the worse for wear but now possessed of great intelligence. It's a story I'd like to develop further if I ever get a chance.

The Gemini Apes Timeline