Scheduled to be shown at 7.30pm on BBC One Inside Out North West, this mini-documentary tells the story of illustrator Frank Hampson, Dan Dare and the Eagle comic, bringing the story up-to-date by showcasing the 2017 all-new audio adventures made in collaboration with Big Finish Productions and B7 Media.

Inside Out North West will feature interviews with Andrew Mark Sewell – the producer and director of Dan Dare for Big Finish, Frank Hampson’s son – Peter Hampson, and Dan Dare himself – actor Ed Stoppard. The documentary also features the origins of Eagle comics and Dan Dare, and how they continue to this day.

For those of you with a Sky Box you can watch the regional option for the NW on channel 958, or catch up on BBC iPlayer shortly afterwards for up to 30 days.

British science fiction action hero Dan Dare was created by artist Frank Hampson and his editor, the Reverend Marcus Morris. Dan Dare first appeared in the Eagle comic story ‘Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future’ from 1950 to 1967 (and subsequently in reprints), and was dramatised seven times a week on Radio Luxembourg between 1951–1956. Described as ‘Biggles in Space’, the original incarnation was seen by some as the British equivalent of Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon.

Dan Dare also returned in new incarnations to suit new generations: in the 1970s in the British weekly, 2000AD; in the 1980s in the relaunched Eagle comic; and in the 2000s as an animated series and, of course, in the adventures of Dan Dare from Big Finish!

The first volume of Dan Dare: The Audio Adventures was released by Big Finish in December 2016 with Ed Stoppard (The Pianist, Brideshead Revisited) playing the titular hero. This was soon followed by Volume Two in April 2017, bringing six new adventures in total to the legacy of Dan Dare. Both are available from Big Finish for £30 on CD or £25 on download. †¨†¨

For those who have yet to experience the adventures of Dan Dare, you can try a sample from Volume Two: Dan Dare Operation Saturn Chapter 1, for free.†¨

You can also find more on how this British superhero survived in the digital age here at the Independent -> http://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/how-the-british-superhero-survived-to-make-the-digital-age-a7924386.html