FORMER Bretton Hall student Mark Gatiss will star in an H G Wells classic.
The League Of Gentlemen’s founder will star in his own adaptation of H G Wells’ satirical science fiction thriller The First Men In The Moon.
Rory Kinnear will also appear in the one-off drama for BBC4.
The story is set in July 1969, as the world waits for news of the Apollo 11 astronauts and young boy meets 90-year-old Julius Bedford (Kinnear) who tells the story of two men’s journey to the Moon – way back in 1909.
Gatiss, whose writing credits also include Doctor Who, plays Professor Cavor, a “somewhat unworldly” scientist, who Bedford meets as a young man.
Prof Cavor has a gravity-defying invention named Cavorite, and the two men construct a copper and cast-iron sphere to fly to the Moon.
Gatiss, who studied drama at Bretton Hall, said: “I’m completely delighted to have the chance to bring this wonderful, funny, charming and scary story to BBC4.
“It’s very rare to be able to adapt a genius like H G Wells for the small screen and we hope to do full justice to his extraordinary vision.”
The film, expected to air next year, is the first drama commission for Gatiss and director Damon Thomas’s Can Do Productions.
