Mark Bonnar goes back to the future for Space: 1999
Scottish Line of Duty favourite loves playing childhood hero, Commander Koenig
Scottish actor Mark Bonnar may be best known for his tough, no nonsense characters in the likes of Line of Duty, but a quick look at his social media reveals it’s playing 70’s sci-fi favourite Commander John Koenig from the ITV series Space: 1999 that gives him the biggest thrill - he recently Tweeted a picture of himself with an toy Eagle spacecraft from the cult show that gave him nightmares as a kid.
He explains, “My best mate Keith Taylor found the Eagle in his garage while clearing it out. He was going to give it to a charity shop but I was like, ‘Oh man, I’d love that,’ so he sent it to me.”
Space: 1999 ran on STV for two series between 1975 and 1977 and was set on the Moon, which had been sent hurtling out of the Earth’s orbit after a nuclear explosion. With the action taking place in a futuristic 1999, it was the last series to be made by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson together, the creators of Thunderbirds, and starred American actor Martin Landau as Commander John Koenig, whose moon boots Bonnar has been stepping into since 2019 for a new reimagined audio series from Big Finish.
Ahead of the release of three new audio adventures - Skull In The Sky, The Godhead Interrogative and Dragon's Domain - this May, the 54-year-old says receiving the model Eagle rekindled great memories.
“I was about seven when Space: 1999 first came out. It was one of the things I loved watching with my dad. That was the joy of it. It had a family appeal and it was absolutely a TV event in our house. We lived on a farm back then and I remember watching it and then dreaming, having nightmares that were set in that house. In fact, the nightmare was about one of the episodes we have just recorded.”
He continues, “Space: 1999 just captured my seven-year-old’s imagination; it had an alien who could change shape into any animal she wanted, which was amazing and I was always excited to see what she’d turn into to combat whatever they were facing.
At the heart of the series was John Landau as Commander Koenig, an actor Bonnar describes as ‘a very charismatic man.’ Consequently, when he was given the chance to audition for that very role, he admits he wasn’t just excited by the prospect, but nervous too.
“I loved him in Space 1999 so when the opportunity came along I was actually quite nervous, even though I’ve been working with Big Finish for 10 years. This was a chunk of my personal childhood and Martin Landau had been so iconic in that role - you were drawn to him and couldn’t take your eyes off him,” he explains.
“So I relished the possibility of playing that part because I loved it when I was wee, but that puts added pressure on. You want to do a good job and pay respect to the source material, but also, you are stepping into big shoes so you want to be as good as you can be. It’s tricky, such an ephemeral thing, and you do have to make it your own as you go forward.”
Having successfully demonstrated his American accent to win the role, Bonnar who also raised in Stonehouse and Edinburgh, discovered he’d got the part when someone accidentally let it slip during another recording.
He remembers, “I was absolutely delighted. I was in the studio at the time, working with Sylvester McCoy, and somebody let it slip. I went, ‘What?’ And they said, ‘No, nothing… you’ll probably get a phone call soon though’. I got the call five minutes later.”
And the newly cast Commander Koenig could not hide his further delight when he found himself at his first publicity shoot for the role.
“They had the original Moonbase Alpha uniforms for us to wear,” he grins. “That was an incredible treat. To don those and pose with some of the original props from the TV series felt very special. It’s why Big Finish are such a great company, they are fans themselves, it’s why they do it… even the publicity is created with such love and attention.”
When it was filmed, Space: 1999 was the most expensive TV series on British telly, that said, today, while they retain a certain charm, some of the special effects have not aged well, and that’s the beauty of the audio adventures says Bonnar - in your imagination, anything is possible.
“There are no limits, that’s the joy of audio; the story is happening in your head as we are acting it out. The sound design, special effects, music and the fact we are lucky enough to get to use all the original stuff, also adds to the experience. The sky's the limit, you can do anything, anything at all.”
So do fans see Martin Landau in their head when they hear Bonnar playing Koenig?
“It’s what I do,” he admits. “If I’m having trouble saying a line accent-wise or having a little bit of a brain fart as far as what I should be doing, I always think of Martin Landau because, although I’m not trying to do him, he originated the character and while I’m bringing to it what I bring to it, the bones of are still him.”
Landau died in 2017, but Bonnar believes that, although they always say ‘you should never meet your heroes’, the original Commander would have been the exception to prove the rule.
“I would have loved to have had the chance to work with him,” he says, adding, “but the truth is, we are all quite boring really, even the most charismatic, incredible actors are just folk. So often, in my job, you find yourself on set with big name famous people and we’re actually all quite dull. What makes us seem exciting are the scripts or a nice photo of you on a red carpet somewhere, but you still sweep the path and put the rubbish out just like everybody else.”
However, Bonnar admits he'd love to know if any of the other original TV cast members have heard the audio adventures, “That would be an interesting thing to put out there,” he suggests. And if he could tell his seven-year-old self that he’d one day play Commander Koenig for a whole new generation of Space: 1999 fans, what would his reply be?
He thinks for a few moments and then laughs, “He’d probably have said, ‘Will ye f***’.”
Pre-order Space: 1999 Volume 3: Dragon's Domain, £19.99, now from www.bigfinish.com
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