Imagine a world facing a crisis, an existential crisis in which the very survival of the planet and all forms of life upon it are threatened. Again and again the world’s scientists and experts warn us: pointing out that the evidence is clear, undeniable. Our only chance of averting this crisis is through action, immediate radical action. We need to open our eyes and work together as one people, ignoring our national and political borders. The threat, after all, is global and is no respecter of our human-created boundaries.
The year is 1965 and astronomers discover a six-mile wide meteor hurtling through space on a collision course with Earth. The results of the impact will be catastrophic and threaten the existence of all life on the planet.
Object Z was a six-part television sci-fi series written by Chris McMaster and produced by Associated-Rediffusion. It stars Ralph Nossek as Professor Ramsay, the scientist who first spots the meteor. Alarmed by the threat, the NATO bloc and the Warsaw Pact countries are prompted into working together for the common good. They plan to launch a rocket with a nuclear warhead straight at the meteor to destroy it before it reaches the Earth.
But not everyone is happy with the idea of international cooperation. A chilling populist agitator called Keeler tries to whip up nationalist sentiment in Britain with the aim of installing an authoritarian regime with himself at the head. These days we would view Keeler with Farage or Trump in mind but, for 1960s audiences, he would appear, perhaps, to be more of an Oswald Mosley figure.
But all is not as it seems. As the meteor, Object Z, draws closer and preparations to launch the missile to destroy it are finalised it is discovered that the whole crisis is a hoax. Alarmed by the threat to humanity caused by the proliferation of nuclear weapons, scientists on both sides of the Iron Curtain have acted together to try to jolt their governments out of the madness of the Cold War.
Professor Ramsay, the leader of the plot, is arrested and imprisoned. With the threat to the planet lifted, international relations are free to return to hostile normality. In Britain Keeler’s movement is side-lined.
But within days three large objects, real ones this time, are spotted speeding towards the Earth. Ramsay is released from jail to help the government and the story continues in a further six episodes, Object Z Returns, the following year.
