Project Johnson

Ayshea enjoying Saturday's video call with Keith Alexander (aided by Sam Loover, the puppet he voiced in the Joe 90 TV series).

Project Johnson; UFOria 3 was a weekend based a tour around the filming location based on the seventies television series UFO.

Several guest stars from the series UFO had been lined up for personal appearances over the weekend. there were plenty of opportunities to take photos and to collect autographs if you should want them.

Also, there was a scheduled video call late on Saturday night with actor Keith Alexander who now lives in New Zealand. Keith had been a big hit when he appeared in person at a previous event

There would also be quite a comprehensive collection of models some of which were originally used in the actual production. There were incredible fan-made replicas of models and with a merchandise room where you could spend your pocket money.

You would also be able to ride in one of the futuristic vehicles that had been designed for the series and had been painstakingly renovated.

Ayshea, Penny Spencer and Georgina Moon

Gary Raymond and Tessa Wyatt

Locations

Elstree Studios

Models

Guests

Although UFO was set in the then far-off future of the year 1980, the series was produced between 1969 and 1970. Unfortunately, that means that a lot of the cast and creatives who worked on UFO are sadly no longer with us.

Thankfully the organisers were able to persuade several of the surviving cast, guest stars and production team to give us their personal recollections of the programme.

Alan Shubrook

Alan is a likable bloke with an infectious enthusiasm who worked in the effects team that crated UFO back in the 60’s.

You can tell by listening to him just how much he enjoyed his time there. His memory is incredible and Alan was able to paint a picture of a wonderfully creative team. He was also a photographer and was able to take unique photos of the effects being filmed, as well as quite a few of his friends on the crew as they went about their work over 50 years ago!

On Sunday afternoon Alan took time out to view some of the displays in the model room.

Here he is with a Skydiver made by Mamas Pitsillis.

Suzanne Neve

Actress Suzanne Neve played Mary Straker in two episodes of UFO.

She happily sat in the baking sun at the side of a country road in Barnet having her picture taken with fans and chatting. That’s not as random as it sounds, the same position was the location of a key scene in one of her episodes (Confetti Check A-OK).

The signed hat she is wearing here was later auctioned for charity.

Ayshea

Ayshea played Lieutenant Ayshea Johnson in several episodes of UFO. About the same time, she was also hosting the pop show ‘Lift Off with Ayshea’ and released several records.

As the weekend was basically named after her character Ayshea was on show almost all the time. Saturday night's disco was held in her honour, and she was happy to chat with everyone. On Sunday she accompanied people on a ride around the grounds in the refurbished SHADO jeep.

She’s very vivacious and had lots of interesting stories about working on the series and her career in the pop industry in the 70's.

Ayshea seemed to really enjoy socialising with fans.

Ayshea, Penny Spencer and Georgina Moon

Ayshea

Penny Spencer

Georgina Moon

Ayshea, Penny and Georgina all played SHADO operatives in the series but as they were all supposed to be in different locations they never appeared with each other.

Ayshea was mostly based in the Earth headquarters but on occasion also appeared on Moonbase. Penny was totally based in SHADO's underground headquarters and Georgina was all at sea manning SHADO's submarine/fighter jet Skydiver. All three were young women at the beginning of their adult careers when they were filming UFO.

Ayshea seemed to remember most out of the three and was quite often prompting her fellow actors about co-stars and studios.

Penny seems to have enjoyed her time on UFO. At same time she was appearing in the popular comedy 'Please Sir!' so she was a very busy person.

Georgina recalled a lot about her time on the show and seemed to have been fascinated with the technical aspects of filming.

Gary Raymond and Tessa Wyatt

Gary Raymond is probably best known for being one of the leads in one of the greatest Christmas movies ever made; Jason and the Argonauts (Well, it always used to be on at Christmas!). He was also the British star of an American World War II series in the 60's called The Rat Patrol. In UFO he guest stars in one of the more intense episodes 'The Man Who Came Back.

Tessa Wyatt is a character actor who seemed to be constantly on television during the 70's. It was possibly inevitable that she would appear in UFO. Tessa appears in a later episode who embraced the drug culture of the era, 'The Long Sleep'.

She was very honest about remembering almost nothing about her episode. Which is very understandable as it would have been a few days of work for her over 55 years ago.

Delena Kidd (Gary Raymond's wife)

Locations

The exotic Church Street Car Park in Watford which appeared in the episode 'Confetti Check A-OK'.

The hotel where the Straker's start their married life in 'Confetti Check A-OK'

On Saturday we boarded coaches to tour various locations used in UFO.

It was a bit like a bunch of late (ish) middle aged folks re-living school day trips from the 60's and 70's. The only thing missing were singing rude words to pop songs and mooning other road users.

The coach returned us back at the venue back in time for a nice buffet before the evening's 70's themed disco. I've no pictures of the disco because I was too busy enjoying myself, I'm afraid.

Footage of this building in its construction phase was used to represent the SHADO HQ being built in 'Confetti Check A-OK'

Windermere Hall in Edgeware, used in the episodes 'Survival' and 'The Responsibility Seat'

A bit of a cheeky shot 😆

This was taken at the back of BBC Elstree studios, which is now being demolished. While the tour photographer took an official group shot, I took my own 'Behind the scenes' shot. Please let me know if you can identify yourself from the back!

The hi-rise block on the right was also used in the episode 'Confetti Check A-OK' and was Alex's home in Kubrick's 'A Clockwork Orange' (see pic below).

Also below, a piece of fascinating wall in Letchmore Heath. I'm sure nothing else needs to be said about this world-famous location.

Elstree Studios

UFO wasn't actually filmed at Elstree. However, it's possible that one exterior scene was shot in the entrance to the underground car park you can see on the right.