Intergalactic is a TV rarity: expansive, British, women-driven sci-fi. The brainchild of Julie Geary (
The Secret Diary Of A Call Girl), the eight-part Sky One show has all the ambition, appetite and desire to entertain of a big Hollywood action flick, but the intent is sabotaged by a lack of fresh ideas, subtlety and budget. It wants to be
Firefly. It ends up around
Blake’s 7.
The action is set in 2134, where climate change has screwed the planet and the world’s cities, now mostly underwater, are controlled by a pseudo democratic government called the Commonworld. The action gets off to a quick, exciting start as rookie sky cop Ash Harper (Savannah Steyn) chases hacker Verona Flores (Imogen Daines) through ‘New London’ in a ship, finally tracking her down on terra firma. Celebrating her success —100 years from now, it is still super-difficult to get served in a London bar — Ash is arrested for a crime she didn’t commit and sent to a convict transport ship, the Hemlock, on its way to an off-world detention centre.