Watch this space [documentary]

Space + Storytelling

Space seems so far away… until suddenly it’s not.

On Friday, there was a brief flurry of online activity when part of a Chinese rocket that had been in orbit started its re-entry into the atmosphere. The debris was large enough to not burn up entirely, and predicting exactly where it would land is still difficult, and at some point, it included ‘somewhere over northern Scotland’.

Eek. (Image via Marco Langbroek)

Of course, in reality this was extremely unlikely, and the debris actually ended up in the south Pacific, and most people remained completely none the wiser.

The various goings-on in space remain disconnected from our everyday reality, and if the general public do have a perception of the industry, it’s that of a playground for elitist billionaires desperate to leave the rest of us behind.

In the short time I’ve worked in the sector, I’ve heard countless speakers talking about the need to tell a different story about space. That the marketing, public relations and communications side of the sector really needs to improve, in order to connect with a wider public. Not just to raise people’s awareness of what the modern space economy looks like and how much of it we all rely on, but also to attract the next generation to pursue careers in space.

There was a documented “Peake” in interest during British astronaut Tim Peake’s Principia Mission, for example. But that was 10 years ago now (which BBC4 marked by re-airing his Horizon programme from 2016), and there are so many more things happening outside of just human spaceflight.

We’ll need a lot more high-profile, long-term awareness campaigns and sustained investment before the message is more widely heard. But in the meantime, there’s still nothing, to my mind, quite as compelling as a good TV documentary.

This has been my very long-winded way of saying that I recommend watching Channel 4’s new two-part show called Mission To Space With Francis Bourgeois. Yes, him of the trainspotting and GoPro face-altering fame. While it may seem like an odd choice at first, Francis points out that at the core of his passion for locomotives is his love of engineering – and suddenly, a desire to blast off on a rocket ship makes total sense.

What the show does well is start at that exact premise – if you like space, you have to go to space. But do you? Francis goes through some of the experiences that real astronauts are tested on. And over time, he realises that there are other avenues, much closer to his passion and skillset, that still allow you to take part in the modern space industry without the need to leave the planet.

He’s young, relatable, very funny, and also very candid about his insecurities and doubts along the way. I laughed, I cried, I was quite grossed out at one point (you’ll know which one), but for the most part I was cheering him on.

Congratulations to production company Shine TV for putting it together, and well done to the space companies – Axiom, Space Forge, Exolith and Firely among them – for seeing the potential in being part of something like this.

(Bonus points if you can spot Frank White’s book on The Overview Effect in one of the scenes)

I’d love to see more shows like this being made. Hell, I’d like to be involved in making them. I studied television journalism at university before moving into radio, and have enjoyed the experience of making short online videos over the course of my career.

In fact, an unexpected highlight came last December while helping AstroAgency organise the Scottish premiere of Torsten Hoffman’s documentary, Fortitude: Forging the Trillion Dollar Space Economy. We had the opportunity to play a few short trailers before the main feature, and so the video I’d made for the AstroAgency website ended up being shown on the biggest screen in the country to hundreds of audience members.

I’ve recently upgraded my own filming equipment, and so this is me, putting it out there into the universe: I will be making my own documentary about space in the future. And anyone reading this who would like to work with me on that, get in touch!

As always, thanks for subscribing. Comments and other TV doccie suggestions welcome below!