Sam Neill - host in space

By FRANCES GRANT

The words of the first line in the Joni Mitchell song are true. "We are star dust."

Some might like to claim, for instance, that actor Sam Neill hails from Dunedin. In fact every molecule in his body, and all our bodies, comes from outer space.

Sam Neill is a star made from star dust. We are all aliens. Life is an alien force, the elements of which were forged in the unbelievably hot furnaces of the stars.

From the explosions of dying stars came the matter which clumped together to form our solar system. On the little rocky, watery planet three out from the sun life was sparked and eventually a race evolved which could make hamburgers, mobile phones and, in its more intelligent moments, a television documentary series about the universe called Space.

The six-part BBC series is presented by Neill, who had the happy convenience of being able to film just down the road from his home in Queenstown.

Space is made in the mould of such BBC popular science series as Walking With Dinosaurs, that is, using state of the art computer graphics and with a fair amount of entertaining speculation thrown in among the gee-whiz facts and figures.

The makers created a "virtual space zone" in an arena "deep in the mountains of New Zealand". There Neill can play God, interacting directly with the universe — throwing a stone and watching it become an asteroid and wiping out the dinosaurs, for example, sending out a black hole to guzzle the Earth or simply holding a newborn star in the palm of his hand.

The series also features Neill stalking the Otago hills, ruminating on the universe and the big questions. What's out there? How did we get here? Are we alone? Are we safe? Can we move if the Earth gets too hot to handle?

Space isn't Neill's only cosmic outing. Last year he starred in Australian comedy The Dish, about a small-town satellite station with a major role in man's first walk on the moon. And Neill has other science-inspired adventures under his belt, walking with the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park movies.

But Neill told the British Radio Times he was not exactly sure how he became involved in the BBC series. "I'd say space has always been an interest of mine. But I've never by any means been authoritative. I don't quite know why they picked on me!"

As well as the handiness of the shooting location, there have been other benefits from making the series, Neill says. "I have trivia that I can now produce at dinner parties. The thing that I'm trying to get to grips with is that not only is the universe infinite but it's expanding. That seems contradictory, but there are all kinds of contradictions at work in space."

Producer Richard Burke-Ward has a much clearer idea of why Neill was the man to take us to infinity and beyond. He told the Radio Times: "We needed a famous face. Sam's got the gravitas that a lot of actors lack, and he's used to bringing imaginary worlds to life. In the Jurassic Park movies he's spent a lot of time interacting with computer graphics. Now he's done for asteroids and black holes what he'd previously done for dinosaurs."

The series was inspired by the success of the BBC's computer-enhanced travelogue round our solar system, The Planets (which screened here on TV One two years ago).

Burke-Ward, a child at the time of the moon-landing, says he wanted Space to capture "the childlike sense of awe and fascination" that that event evoked in his generation.

While fans of Star Trek will feel perfectly at home in this universe, a place of mind-blowing dimensions, unimaginable forces, black holes and worm holes, the programme also looks at the work of some of the most prominent astronomers and astrophysicists working on Earth.

High on the agenda is an emphasis on how fragile our small world is: asteroids and comets hurtling through space could smash into the planet and eradicate us, black holes could devour us, and ultimately the ageing sun will expand and fry us.

Space is not afraid to mix the sci-fi with Stephen Hawking and boldly goes where no factual series has gone before: in search of potential new homes out there.

"Earth isn't going to last forever," says Burke-Ward. "We have to think of ourselves as inhabitants of space, rather than of Earth. The solar system is our neighbourhood. If life isn't going to last on Earth, we'd better make sure it's going to carry on somewhere else."

Ultimately, the programme suggests, the human race may have to genetically alter itself to survive in some radically different new environment.

Seems like it's the second line of the song — "And we got to get ourselves back to the garden" — which is wrong.

The six programmes Space covers:

* Star Stuff

All life on Earth, including humans and the Queen of England, comes from outer space — every molecule in our bodies originated from the enormous hydrogen cloud created by the Big Bang when the universe exploded into being.

* Staying Alive

Plenty to get deeply worried about in this episode. Is the Earth due for another cataclysmic event like the asteroid collision which spelled the end for the dinosaurs?

* Black Holes

Yes, we all know one, that person in the office sucking energy out of everyone around them, but the real thing is far more frightening than the dark lord Sauron. And it's estimated there are 10 million in our galaxy alone.

* Are We Alone?

For the past 40 years the SETI project (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) has been scanning the sky for signs that we've got company. Our own radio broadcasts have travelled out into space for only a few decades so chances are, if anyone's out there listening to us, Kylie Minogue is still a treat in store.

* New Worlds

Even if we escape the asteroids and other hazards, eventually meltdown will occur as our sun dies. Maybe we could turn Mars into a Noah's Ark for the our planet's animals and plant life. We may even have to change ourselves genetically to survive.

* Boldly Go

Some would say let's solve global warming first, but if we needed to make a cosmic journey how could we do it? Perhaps by "ion propulsion" or using solar sails. Or could a worm hole help us to cheat time and space?