Editing Journey into Space (section)

== The main characters ==

The four main characters appear in all the original series, as well as the later special episodes:

{| class="wikitable"
!
!Captain Andrew<br/>"Jet" Morgan
!Doctor<br/>Daniel "Doc" Matthews
!Stephen "Mitch" Mitchell
!Lemuel<br/>"Lemmy" Barnet
|-
!rowspan="2" |''Journey to the Moon''
|align="center" rowspan="5" |[[Andrew Faulds]]
|align="center" rowspan="5" |[[Guy Kingsley Poynter]]
|align="center" |[[Bruce Beeby]] (episodes 2 to 6)
|align="center" rowspan="3"|[[David Kossoff]]
|-
|align="center" |[[Don Sharp]] (episodes 7 to 18)
|-
!''The Red Planet''
|align="center" |[[Bruce Beeby]]
|-
!''The World in Peril''
|align="center" |[[Don Sharp]]
|align="center" rowspan="2"|[[Alfie Bass]]
|-
!''Operation Luna''
|align="center" |[[David Williams (screenwriter)|David Williams]]
|-
!''The Return from Mars''
|align="center" |John Pullen
|align="center" |[[Ed Bishop]]
|align="center" |Nigel Graham
|align="center" |Anthony Hall
|-
!''Frozen in Time''
|align="center" |[[David Jacobs (broadcaster)|David Jacobs]]
| rowspan="2" align="center" |[[Alan Marriott (voice actor)|Alan Marriott]]
|align="center" |[[Michael Beckley]]
|align="center" |Chris Moran
|-
!''The Host''
|align="center" |[[Toby Stephens]]
|align="center" |Jot Davies
|align="center" |[[Chris Pavlo]]
|}

Guy Kingsley Poynter (who played Doc) had worked with Charles Chilton before ''Journey Into Space'', and Chilton once commented that Poynter "was a very good poetry reader".<ref name="OL booklet"/> Chilton also observed that Bruce Beeby was like his character Mitch, and was "always blowing his top".<ref name="OL booklet"/>

David Kossoff asked Chilton if his character (the ship's radio operator) could be called Lemuel (a name he loved), and Chilton shortened the name to Lemmy. Chilton based Lemmy's character on himself, since he had been a radio operator in the [[Royal Air Force|RAF]].<ref name="JIS Again">{{cite episode  |series=Journey Into Space... Again |network=[[BBC Radio 4]] |date=20 July 1999 }}</ref> Originally, Chilton had chosen John Glen to play Jet, but later decided to use Andrew Faulds instead, because Chilton's secretary fancied him.<ref name="JIS Again"/>

[[David Jacobs (broadcaster)|David Jacobs]]'s ability to play a wide variety of characters, each with their own distinctive voice, resulted in him playing 22 different characters during the course of ''Journey Into Space''. He used to mark up his script using different colour pencils, to help him remember what each character was supposed to sound like. In episode 1 of ''The Red Planet'', Jet is interviewed by a group of newspaper reporters, all of whom were played by Jacobs.<ref name="JIS Again"/>

Light-hearted pranks were often played on David Jacobs just before a recording session was about to begin. On one occasion, Andrew Faulds poured a jug of water inside his trousers, totally soaking him, and he "did the rest of the programme in a raincoat!"<ref name="OL booklet"/> On another occasion, some of the actors smeared mustard on his lip microphone, causing him some difficulties during the recording session.<ref name="JIS Again"/>

[[Don Sharp]] later became a noted director.<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/unsung-aussie-filmmakers-don-sharp-top-25/|magazine=Filmink|title=Unsung Aussie Filmmakers: Don Sharp – A Top 25|date=July 27, 2019}}</ref>