Cops and Cowboys
Chirs speaking to the Radio Times at the time said, "The central character, Nathan Spring, was never intended to be lovable. He's an outsider, a tough professional not unlike the lawmen of the old west.

"Indeed, the whole Star Cops organisation reflects that earlier frontier. The cops themselves were initially a handful of part-timers, volunteers who got the badge and had to keep the law and order while holding down other jobs.

"They're like Western sheriffs, elected to the job, but doing it so badly that a journalist facetiously labels them "star cops", and the name sticks. Nathan, however, is a full-timer appointed to whip them into shape."

Sci fact
Great pains were made to make the environment look authentic - and top bods from NASA were consulted for added realism.

Vox Box
David Calder also voiced the part of Box - Nathan's computer. He wasn't credited for the part on episode one, however.

Super Cop
Erick Ray Evans (Theroux) appeared as an extra in Superman I and II and Supergirl.

Casting Calder
Among the many programmes David Calder has worked on since Star Cops are Between the Lines, Spooks, Cracker, Hustle and Nice Work. He also appears in the Bond film The World is Not Enough, playing Sir Robert King.

Present danger
The subject matter of Star Cops proved topical, as David Calder explained in the Radio Times just before the programme aired: "While we were shooting an episode around a murder, I read in the Times about a group of hot shot New York lawyers who are already devising the laws that will apply to the first murder in space which, they predict, will happen in 40 years' time!"

Swiss swindle
A summer of sport meant that the series drifted around the schedules (cited as the reason it didn't perform well in the ratings). A tenth episode of Star Cops was planned, Death on the Moon, but shelved due to industrial action. The plot concerned an internal swindling of a Swiss corporation.

Moody music
Theme tune It Won't Be Easy was written and sung by Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues and War of the Worlds fame. He also wrote some of the show's incidental music.

Writing the future
Philip Martin, the writer of This Case to be Opened in A Million Years and the aborted episode Death on the Moon is known for the series Gangsters and the Doctor Who stories Vengeance on Varos and episodes 5-8 of The Trial of a Time Lord.

John Collee, the writer of In Warm Blood, A Double Life and Other People's Secrets, wrote the book Paper Mask and adapted it for a film version (starring Paul McGann). He recently contributed to the screenplay of Master and Commander.

Star shopping
Star Cops was previewed in the Radio Times with a feature and front cover. Three video cassettes of the Star Cops were released in July 1991. Two novelisations were also released - An Instinct for Murder and Little Green Men and Other Stories. A DVD is now available.