Image source, Dean Rogers
Image caption, The film has been funded by BBC Film, BFI, Sky, Screen Yorkshire and CML Entertainment Finance
ByDanny Fullbrook
Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire
Bafta-winning actors Toby Jones and Emily Watson have finished work on a film about the scientist behind Britain’s first spacecraft to land on Mars, which got “lost”.
Mars Express, directed by Mackenzie Crook, will see Jones play Colin Pillinger while Watson is his wife Judith.
The couple began developing the unmanned Beagle 2 probe to search for life on Mars while Pillinger was a professor of planetary sciences at the Open University in Milton Keynes. The probe went out of contact upon landing in December 2003, until it was finally spotted in 2015, after Pillinger died.
Crook said: “It’s a complete honour to be telling the extraordinary story… for my first feature film as director.”
Image caption, Pillinger died believing that Beagle 2 had not safely landed on Mars
Pillinger, originally from Kingswood near Bristol, became a familiar face in the 1990s as he sought public support and funding for the ambitious mission, enlisting celebrities and pop stars to help promote it.
Beagle 2 was launched into space on board the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter.
His Beagle 2 lander was due to touch down on 25 December 2003, but failed to send a signal confirming it had landed safely.
The mission was considered a failure for years, however, in January 2015 images taken by US space agency Nasa showed the lander had reached the surface safely.
Pillinger died eight months earlier following a brain haemorrhage.
Image source, Dean Rogers
Image caption, Mars Express is the first feature-length film to be directed by actor Mackenzie Crook
The director added: “Joe Bone’s beautiful script has made it easy to attract some of the best names in the business to join our brilliantly creative team and I’m thrilled to be working once again with my friend Toby Jones.”
Crook, known for his roles in The Office and Pirates of the Caribbean, previously worked with Jones on Detectorists, the BBC’s Bafta-winning comedy he wrote, directed and starred in.
He also starred in Small Prophets, a comedy which made its debut on BBC Two and the BBC iPlayer in February.
The film is expected to be released in 2027.
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