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Star Trek: Looking Back at the BBC’s Ban and Censorship

With a new Star Trek TV series incoming, we revisit the show's long history of censorship at the BBC...

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This article comes from Den of Geek UK .

Star Trek  is not a franchise you’d normally associate with controversy. Nevertheless, between 1969 and 1994, four episodes of the original series – Empath , Whom Gods Destroy , Plato’s Stepchildren and Miri – were not aired on the BBC, and other episodes were heavily redacted.

It’s difficult nowadays to appreciate just how sacrosanct terrestrial television was until the 1990s. Even though   Star Trek  was first broadcast in the UK on BBC One on July 12 1969, with the episode Where No Man Has Gone Before , repeats were rare and VHS tapes were expensive, and difficult to get hold of after the show was cancelled.

The BBC, which controlled the distribution rights to air the series in the UK, was the most accessible means by which most fans could enjoy the show until Sky One began broadcasting the complete series in 1990. Even so, for many years afterwards cable TV was a costly luxury and the banned episodes remained unseen for a majority of fans.

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Some episodes were shown at early conventions in Britain, but only after copies had been brought over from the U.S. Due to word of mouth and comments from the producers and the stars themselves, knowledge of the omissions was widely shared amongst the fan community. In June 1976,  Star Trek  fans launched a letter campaign petitioning the BBC to show the banned episodes. The Star Trek Action Group , a fan newsletter, reprinted the BBC’s response in which they explained that:

“After very careful consideration a top level decision was made not to screen the episodes entitled Empath , Whom Gods Destroy , Plato’s Stepchildren and Miri , because they all dealt most unpleasantly with the already unpleasant subjects of madness, torture, sadism and disease.”

Not to give up the ghost there, the fan petitioning continued and in August 1979, the BBC again expounded its position:

“We have no plans to show the banned episodes as we have stated several times before. I am afraid every big organisation comes in for a little ridicule from time to time, but we are a public service broadcasting organisation with great responsibilities, and if after very careful consideration we decide not to show a particular programme, you may rest assured that it is in the best interest of viewers in this country.”

Credit to both fans’ and the BBC’s patience, the latter again issued a statement in 1984 saying that:

“You will appreciate that account must be taken that out of   Star Trek ’s large and enthusiastic following, many are juveniles, no matter what time of day the series is put into the programme schedules. A further look has been taken following the recent correspondence, but I am afraid it has been impossible to revise the opinion not to show these episodes.”

The BBC has something of a reputation for coming down hard on science-fiction, particularly with  Doctor Who , throughout the 1980s. Yet, rewatching the banned   Star Trek episodes there is a niggling feeling that the broadcaster might have had a point with some of its red-taping.

In the first instance, the BBC had actually originally aired Miri in 1970 as part of its original run. However, it was not broadcast again until the 1990s after several viewers wrote to complain about its content. Heeding caution, the channel determined that the other three episodes were also unsuitable.

With some irony, Miri (episode 1.8) is the least deserving of its notoriety and is actually quite tame. Captain Kirk comes across a  Lord Of The Flies -type society of children where all the adults have died from an unknown disease. While the episode teeters on the edge of being a full-blown   Battle Royale  with some segments of violence, it’s more unpleasant because of its emotional punch of lonely orphaned children facing disease and starvation. That said, Kirk and co. save the day and why the BBC thought the ending didn’t mitigate its unpleasant aspects is curious.

By comparison, Plato’s Stepchildren (3.10) sits more curiously on the list. The episode is synonymous with the iconoclasm of the 1960s because it featured television’s first inter-racial snog between Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Uhura. NBC, the U.S broadcaster, was worried that the scene might provoke a backlash from the more conservative elements of the country, but the scandal was not forthcoming. Instead, and with almost satirical deliberation, the episode was banned in the U.K because of its ‘violent’ elements.

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While the episode does indeed have plenty of action, there’s little in it to set it apart from most others in   Star Trek . While there’s no evidence to suggest that the BBC surreptitiously blocked it for its seminal scene, it’s not a far cry to imagine that in an office on a floor in Britain’s national broadcaster sat an official keen to avoid the ire of the Great British public.

Whom Gods Destroy (3.14), on the other hand, ups the ante and there is a legitimate claim that the episode contained elements not suitable for a family show. Not only does it feature Kirk, Spock and several supporting characters being tortured in a mental asylum, it also contains one of the most famous and sexualised moments of television history with Marta’s exotic dance (the green-skinned Orion slave girl).

Empath (3.12), by contrast, still has the power to disturb and is the episode which unequivocally proves the BBC had a point. In an underground laboratory, Captain Kirk, Spock and McCoy are brutally tortured by aliens in a bid to find out if a mute woman is compassionate and worthy of the aliens’ technological bequeathment. From start to finish the episode is a cerebral exploration of the themes of sacrifice and loyalty. Standard enough, save for the horrific methodology it uses as a crucible.

As any horror aficionado will tell you, what is implied is more brutal to the imagination than looking at fake blood. Off-screen shots are limited to seeing characters dangling from chains, torso stripped (Shatner’s scene, naturally) and writhing in agony. There is no gore, few screams and no focus shots on wounds. While there are no guns or knives, and the aliens have plastic pain devices, it’s the enclosed black set and the clinical script that leave a lasting impression.

Spock’s cold, logical descriptions of McCoy’s horrendous injuries are so matter of fact that audiences can all but hear him scream in the torture chamber. The constricted budget, so often mocked, is the key here to creating a rustic realism and it’s staggering how unnerving it is to see these indestructible characters reduced to their component parts; something of a rarity in the history of the franchise as a whole.

The episode is deeply unpleasant, not least because of the willingness by which each character subjects themselves to myriad agonies. That, of course, is the point of the episode but it also happens to create one of the most unpleasant depictions of pain ever put to screen.

At a news conference in 1984,   Star Trek   creator Gene Roddenberry was asked what he thought of the continuing ban on the four episodes:

“… I disagree [with the ban] very much. Empath to me was a beautiful story… If someone is to say to me, ‘You can’t have hurt and pain’, I say, ‘Nonsense!’ Suffering and pain are a part of life. They should be handled and handled well. I feel the same way about violence and sex.“My objection to violence and sex is on the shows where it goes on for a while and someone says, ‘Well, it’s going slow now, why don’t you have a fist-fight or a shooting?’ Then they put it in to raise the ratings.“What I hate about violence are… shows where grown men strike out and hit each other in the face with their fists… and after hitting themselves for thirty minutes with all their strength in the face, they grin and say, ‘Wow, wasn’t that fun!’ That’s not how life is!”

While there’s a logic to what Roddenberry has to say, the BBC were not wrong about Empath even if they were overzealous with Whom Gods Destroy , off-the-mark with Miri and cowardly with Plato’s Stepchildren . It remains difficult to stomach and Empath is up there with Theon Greyjoy’s tête-à-têtes with Ramsay Bolton in  Game Of Thrones .

While an outright ban was employed only four times of the original series’ 79 episodes, it danced with the BBC censors many more times throughout the show’s run in the U.K. The Man Trap (1.1), Patterns Of Force (2.21) and Bread And Circuses (2.25) were all redacted because of violent scenes, including the shocking attempted rape of Janice Rand by Kirk’s doppelganger in Enemy Within (1.5).

Many other episodes, including  Court Martial (1.20), Return Of The Archons (1.21), The Alternative Factor (1.27), A Private Little War (2.19),  And The Children Shall Lead (3.04),  Lights Of Zetar (3.18) and The Cloud Minders (3.21) were mostly edited for time, with little attention given to the subtleties of detail, introductions or the sense of scenes. There was a split at the BBC between the convenience of time-saving and logical duty, such as with Arena (1.18) which, as the BBC explained to the Star Trek Action Group newsletter, was edited because “it is not BBC practice to show the exact process by which gunpowder is made… to prevent the children emulating their heroes”.

Eventually, the BBC showed the banned and edited episodes and showed the episodes in 1994, over twenty years after their original broadcast in the U.S.

However, Star Trek ’s courting of controversy, like the franchise itself, was not to end with the original series.   Star Trek: The Next Generation  likewise suffered from curious bouts of gruesome violence which were removed from the episode Conspiracy (1.25), showing the aftermath of a character being shot with phasers, and The Icarus Factor (2.14) in which ritualistic ‘pain sticks’ are repeatedly used.

Most infamously, the BBC refused to screen season 3’s The High Ground (3.12). When discussing the empirical evidence of the merits of terrorism to achieve political ends, Data lists “the Irish unification of 2024” as a definitive example. Given the Anglo-Irish issues of the day, the episode was only broadcast unedited on Sky One in 2006 and finally shown in full on the BBC Two in September 2007 (nine years after the Good Friday Agreement).

Certainly, by the 1990s, there was a change in the compulsive editing of   Star Trek at the BBC, highly likely due to a wider evolution in the public about the expectation and tolerance of more explicit content on television. The psychological elements were given more of a free pass, largely explaining why some moments of  The Next Generation  escaped the editing floor. The Best Of Both Worlds , for example, seemed to represent a greater acceptance from the BBC about the surrealness of science-fiction, probably why any analogy between Picard’s assimilation and rape was overlooked (the solitary tear running down his face still remains harrowing).

After 1992, the first-run rights of TNG , followed by  Deep Space Nine  and  Voyager , went to Sky One, with the BBC showing the episodes several months later. While TNG was never challengingly violent, the two-parter Chain Of Command (6.10 & 6.11) was a brutal psychological take on Alan Rickman’s Closet Land and pitted Picard against his less than savoury Cardassian interrogators.

The Next Generation  lead to DS9 which was undoubtedly more mature as it encompassed genocide, rape, terrorism, torture, and a religious and political subtext. Numerous episodes, particularly Duet (1.19) and Tribunal (2.25) deal with these themes rather graphically. Season 4’s To The Death (4.23), which featured an en masse battle between Starfleet and the Jem’Hadar, was cut by a staggering 45 seconds by The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) in the U.K because the scenes of hand-to-hand combat were too violent.

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Voyager , often derided as the weakest incarnation, likewise contained genuinely disturbing elements. Season 2’s Deadlock (2.21) saw the deformed organ harvesting Vidians board and murder the crew. In the same episode, and eerily reminiscent of Empath , Tuvok, a Vulcan, stoically states that “he regrets to report’ the death of an infant after an attack. Likewise in Resistance (2.12) he’s heard screaming as he’s tortured by Nazi knock-offs, has his face melted in Cold Fire (2.10) and is driven insane by a psychotic in Meld (2.16).

The BBC lost out in the bidding to broadcast   Star Trek: Enterprise  on terrestrial TV to Channel 4 in 2001 and did not renew its repeat rights for the other series until 2006. While it has not been seen on terrestrial television in the UK since then, BBC America did run a marathon of uncut, digitally remastered HD episodes of  Star Trek in 2016.

In any event, the legacy of   Star Trek  at the BBC is to serve as a marker for how attitudes to violence, sex and television, in general, have evolved. More importantly, looking back at this is a reminder of what   Trek can do to explore topical issues while flag-bearing as a family show.

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Star Trek episode 'banned' for 34 years after it predicted Irish reunification in 2024 following terror campaign

4 March 2024, 16:26

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By Christian Oliver

A Star Trek episode that made reference to 'Irish unification in 2024' following a successful terror campaign is still banned in the Republic of Ireland it has been revealed.

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Series three, episode 12 of Star Trek: The Next Generation, entitled Higher Ground, was released in 1990 but did not air amid the febrile political situation on the island of Ireland at the time.

The character Data, known for his blunt analytical skills, but lack of emotional intelligence, recounts a terror organisation abducting a member of the Federation Starfleet starship USS Enterprise-D.

Data, played by Brent Spiner, then cites "Irish unification in 2024" as an example of violence helping achieve political aims.

In light of the episode's reference, the episode has only been aired on Irish television network RTÉ once in 34 years.

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The BBC meanwhile finally gave approval for the episode to air in the UK in 2007 - 17 years after the episode's release. However it buried Higher Ground in a 2.40am graveyard slot and has not been repeated since.

Sky, however, chose to air the episode in 1992 but without the line referencing Irish unification.

In the episode, Data asks protagonist Jean-Luc Pickard whether terrorism can be an effective way to achieve political change.

"Yes, it can be," Picard responds, "but I have never subscribed to the theory that political power flows from the barrel of a gun.

“These are questions that mankind has been struggling with throughout history. Your confusion is only human.”

As well as Irish unification, Data cites Mexico's independence from Spain and a fictional event as examples of violence achieving political aims.

The episode's writer Melinda M Snodgrass said the story deliberately resembled the situation in Northern Ireland in the 1990s.

She said she wanted to explore the idea that one person's freedom fighter is another's terrorist.

"These are complicated issues," she told the BBC. "And when do people feel like their back is so much against the wall that they have no choice but to turn to violence? And is that actually ever justified?

"I think what I wanted to say was: if we're talking and not shooting, we're in a better place."

The episode's prediction gained attention from Star Trek fans after Northern Ireland elected its first republican first minister this year.

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The Star Trek episode ‘banned’ after predicting a ‘united’ Ireland

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The Star Trek episode The High Ground.

A Star Trek episode released in 1990 has only ever been screened in Ireland once over concerns about a single line .

The original season of the sci-fi series first hit screens in 1966 and ran for three years.

It was then followed by Star Trek: The Next Generation , which aired from 1987 until 1994.

However nearly 35 years after it aired, one episode from the franchise’s second series is still ‘banned’ .

Titled The High Ground, the 12 th episode of the third season sees a crew member of the Federation Starfleet starship USS Enterprise-D taken hostage by terrorists who hope Federation involvement will help them win concessions for their cause.

In one scene android character Data, played by actor Brent Spiner, spoke about the ‘Irish unification of 2024’ as an example of violence successfully achieving a political aim.

The Star Trek episode The High Ground.

Originally shown in the US in 1990, there was so much concern over the exchange that the episode was not broadcast on the BBC or Irish public broadcaster RTÉ.

At the time, US TV shows often debuted internationally several years after their original broadcast.

Two years later, satellite broadcaster Sky reportedly aired an edited version, cutting the crucial scene.

The episode was then shown by the BBC on September 29 2007, however BBC Archives has said it believes that is the only time it’s ever been aired.

The decision not to air the episode came at a time when deadly conflict continued to rage in Northern Ireland, with the Provisional IRA – a paramilitary group with the aim of ending British rule in Northern Ireland – one of its main protagonists.

Now, in 2024, Sinn Féin, which emerged as the political wing of the IRA, is the largest party in the devolved Stormont assembly.

Reflecting on the episode, writer Melinda M Snodgrass told the BBC she had no clue at the time how the episode would still be so divisive decades later.

The Star Trek episode The High Ground.

‘We became aware of it later… and there isn’t much you can do about it,’ she said.

‘Writing for television is like laying track for a train that’s about 300 feet behind you. You really don’t have time to stop.’

But she added: ‘Science fiction is incredibly important because it allows people to discuss difficult topics – but at arm’s length.’

The episode, which was based on the theme of terrorism, saw the Starship Enterprise’s chief medical officer Dr Beverly Crusher is abducted by the separatist Ansata group, who use murder and violence to pursue their aim of independence.

In it, Data commented: ‘I’ve been reviewing the history of armed rebellion, and it appears that terrorism is an effective way to promote political change.’

Captain Jean-Luc Picard, played by Patrick Stewart responded: ‘Yes it can be, but I have never subscribed to the theory that political power flows from the barrel of a gun.’

The Star Trek episode The High Ground.

However, the android then added: ‘Yet there are numerous examples of when it was successful. The independence of the Mexican state from Spain, the Irish unification of 2024, and the Kenzie rebellion.’

The exchange then saw Data ask whether it would be ‘accurate to say that terrorism is acceptable when all options for peaceful settlement have been foreclosed?’.

‘Data, these are questions that mankind has been struggling with throughout history. Your confusion is only human,’ the Captain shared.

Snodgrass said her script’s parallels to what was unfolding in Northern Ireland at the time was deliberate.

‘I was a history major before I went to law school and I wanted to get into that; discuss the fact that one man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist,’ she said.

‘I mean, these are complicated issues. And when do people feel like their back is so much against the wall that they have no choice but to turn to violence? And is that actually ever justified?’

A Republicans holds an Irish Flag as he stands next to a line of police during clashes in the Oldpark area of north Belfast, northern Ireland, on August 9, 2015.

She added that what they wanted to say at the time was: ‘If we’re talking and not shooting, we’re in a better place.’

The episode was initially due to air in the UK in 1992, two years before the IRA ceasefire and six before the Good Friday Agreement.

From 1988 until 1994, a ban was enforced on broadcasting the voices of members of certain groups from Northern Ireland on TV and radio.

The BBC’s press office said it had spoken to ‘a number of people’ about why a ban may have been implemented but was unable to get this information ‘as it dates quite far back’.

Star Trek is streaming on Netflix.

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The BBC ( British Broadcasting Corporation ) was one of the UK broadcasters of Star Trek and is the parent corporation of BBC Worldwide, which in turn operates BBC America . The corporation had the rights to show Star Trek: The Original Series , Star Trek: The Animated Series , Star Trek: The Next Generation , Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , and Star Trek: Voyager . They also have the terrestrial rights to show Star Trek: The Motion Picture , Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , Star Trek Generations , and Star Trek: First Contact – the rights to broadcast Star Trek: Insurrection were obtained by Channel 5 and the remaining film rights are held by Channel 4 .

The BBC produced and broadcast two special evenings of Star Trek programming, each known as Star Trek Night , one in 1996 and another in 2001 .

The BBC is also known for producing the science fiction franchise Doctor Who .

  • 1.1.1 Season 1
  • 1.1.2 Season 2
  • 1.1.3 Season 3
  • 1.1.4 Season 4
  • 1.1.5 Later airings
  • 2 Spin-offs
  • 3 Further reading
  • 4 External links

Star Trek [ ]

Initially, the BBC was the first-run broadcaster of Star Trek ( 12 July 1969 - 15 December 1971 ). The series was not shown in airdate or production order (although unlike on NBC, the " Where No Man Has Gone Before " pilot was aired first), and the BBC edited some episodes for violent content. The series was shown in four seasons, the first on Saturday evenings at 5:15 pm (in the time slot usually taken by Doctor Who ), the second on Monday evenings at 7:10 pm. The final two seasons were shown on Wednesday evenings at 7:10 pm. Star Trek was one of BBC's bigger ratings winners and was repeated throughout the 1970s and early '80s. ( Star Trek Magazine  issue 177 , p. 33)

During their original run of The Original Series , the BBC had chosen not to show the episodes " The Empath ", " Whom Gods Destroy ", and " Plato's Stepchildren ", deeming them unsuitable for the series time slot, due to their assessment that " (...) they all dealt most unpleasantly with the already unpleasant subjects of madness, torture, sadism and disease ", as stated in a letter sent to the UK-based Star Trek Action Group in 1976. These episodes were eventually shown during the 1992 repeat run. " Miri " was not repeated by the BBC until 1993 for similar reasons, following audience complaints after its original transmission. ( Star Trek Magazine  issue 177 , p. 33)

Apart from having no commercial breaks, there were several differences in how the episodes were presented, compared to their original NBC broadasts:

Firstly, all episodes had their opening titles moved to the start, in common with many series shown by the BBC.

Secondly, all Season 1 episodes featured the cello version of the theme music. The electric violin version originally used on the earliest episodes would not be heard in the UK until the VHS release of " Where No Man Has Gone Before ".

Thirdly, William Shatner 's opening narration was heard on " Where No Man Has Gone Before ", having been absent on NBC.

Finally, the Desilu and/or Paramount closing logos were removed from all episodes, again in line with BBC policy, though it was a policy inconsistently followed as many imported series did keep their closing logos. However, ITV broadcasts still use the Desilu and/or Paramount closing logos until it fades to every ITV endcap in every ITV region.

At the time of first airing, BBC was still broadcasting in black and white. The first episode transmitted in color was " Arena ".

Following the huge success of the series in the UK, BBC subsequently repeated the series throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, but in the order which followed the original NBC schedule.

Broadcast order [ ]

Season 1 [ ].

  • 12 July 1969 : " Where No Man Has Gone Before "
  • 19 July 1969 : " The Naked Time "
  • 26 July 1969 : " The City on the Edge of Forever "
  • 2 August 1969 : " A Taste of Armageddon "
  • 9 August 1969 : " Mudd's Women "
  • 16 August 1969 : " Tomorrow is Yesterday "
  • 23 August 1969 : " The Menagerie, Part I "
  • 30 August 1969 : " The Menagerie, Part II "
  • 6 September 1969 : " The Devil in the Dark "
  • 13 September 1969 : " Charlie X "
  • 20 September 1969 : " Shore Leave "
  • 27 September 1969 : " Space Seed "
  • 4 October 1969 : " The Man Trap "
  • 11 October 1969 : " Dagger of the Mind "
  • 18 October 1969 : " The Corbomite Maneuver "
  • 25 October 1969 : " Balance of Terror "
  • 1 November 1969 : " The Squire of Gothos "
  • 8 November 1969 : " What Are Little Girls Made Of? "
  • 15 November 1969 : " Arena "
  • 22 November 1969 : " The Return of the Archons "
  • 29 November 1969 : " This Side of Paradise "
  • 6 December 1969 : " The Doomsday Machine "
  • 13 December 1969 : " Errand of Mercy "
  • 20 December 1969 : " The Conscience of the King "
  • 27 December 1969 : " The Galileo Seven "

Season 2 [ ]

  • 6 April 1970 : " Court Martial "
  • 13 April 1970 : " The Enemy Within "
  • 20 April 1970 : " Catspaw "
  • 27 April 1970 : " Who Mourns for Adonais? "
  • 4 May 1970 : " The Apple "
  • 11 May 1970 : " Metamorphosis "
  • 18 May 1970 : " Wolf in the Fold "
  • 25 May 1970 : " The Changeling "
  • 1 June 1970 : " The Trouble with Tribbles "
  • 8 June 1970 : " Bread and Circuses "
  • 22 June 1970 : " Journey to Babel "
  • 29 June 1970 : " The Deadly Years "
  • 6 July 1970 : " A Private Little War "
  • 13 July 1970 : " Obsession "
  • 20 July 1970 : " By Any Other Name "
  • 27 July 1970 : " I, Mudd "
  • 3 August 1970 : " Patterns of Force "
  • 10 August 1970 : " The Immunity Syndrome "
  • 17 August 1970 : " Return to Tomorrow "
  • 24 August 1970 : " The Omega Glory "
  • 7 September 1970 : " A Piece of the Action "

Season 3 [ ]

  • 7 October 1970 : " The Ultimate Computer "
  • 14 October 1970 : " Friday's Child "
  • 4 November 1970 : " Assignment: Earth "
  • 11 November 1970 : " Mirror, Mirror "
  • 18 November 1970 : " The Gamesters of Triskelion "
  • 25 November 1970 : " Amok Time "
  • 2 December 1970 : " Miri "
  • 9 December 1970 : " Operation -- Annihilate! "
  • 16 December 1970 : " The Paradise Syndrome "
  • 30 December 1970 : " Requiem for Methuselah "
  • 6 January 1971 : " All Our Yesterdays "
  • 13 January 1971 : " Day of the Dove "
  • 20 January 1971 : " The Way to Eden "
  • 27 January 1971 : " Let That Be Your Last Battlefield "
  • 3 February 1971 : " Wink of an Eye "
  • 10 February 1971 : " The Cloud Minders "

Season 4 [ ]

  • 15 September 1971 : " Spectre of the Gun "
  • 22 September 1971 : " Elaan of Troyius "
  • 29 September 1971 : " The Enterprise Incident "
  • 6 October 1971 : " And the Children Shall Lead "
  • 13 October 1971 : " Spock's Brain "
  • 20 October 1971 : " Is There in Truth No Beauty? "
  • 27 October 1971 : " For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky "
  • 3 November 1971 : " That Which Survives "
  • 10 November 1971 : " The Mark of Gideon "
  • 17 November 1971 : " The Lights of Zetar "
  • 24 November 1971 : " The Savage Curtain "
  • 1 December 1971 : " The Tholian Web "
  • 8 December 1971 : " The Alternative Factor "
  • 15 December 1971 : " Turnabout Intruder "

Later airings [ ]

  • 19 August 1992 : " The Cage " (first broadcast in the US in 1988)
  • 22 December 1993 : " Plato's Stepchildren "
  • 5 January 1994 : " The Empath "
  • 19 January 1994 : " Whom Gods Destroy "

Spin-offs [ ]

The first season of Star Trek: The Animated Series was broadcast from 31 August 1974 to 22 December 1974 , with the second season being incorporated into a broadcast run the following year.

Star Trek: The Next Generation premiered 26 September 1990 and ran until 6 May 1992 , up to " The Best of Both Worlds, Part II ". Many of the first season episodes were shown out of original airdate order, leading to some inconsistencies in plot lines across the first few episodes. After 1992 , the first-run rights of TNG – and later DS9 and Voyager – went to Sky One , with the BBC showing the episodes several months later.

From 26 August 1992 , the BBC instead repeated The Original Series , ending on 6 April 1994 . This screening mirrored the original US airdate order, and restored all of the edited content. The run of The Next Generation started again on 13 April 1994 , and once the run ended in 1996 the entire series repeated in its now regular Wednesday 6 pm time slot.

All of the Trek spin-offs were shown in an early-evening 6:00 pm slot – TNG on Wednesdays, DS9 on Thursdays, and VOY on Sundays – and as a result, several episodes had to be cut for violence and disturbing imagery, most notably the TNG episodes " Conspiracy " and " The Icarus Factor ". The BBC also refused to show the episode " The High Ground " due to political sensitivity over its content (stating that terrorism had succeeded in re-unifying Ireland), broadcasting the episode for the first time on 29 September 2007 , nine years after the Good Friday Agreement brought the conflict in question to a largely peaceful end.

The BBC lost out in the bidding to broadcast Star Trek: Enterprise on terrestrial re-run to Channel 4 in 2001 , and did not renew its repeat rights for the other series until 2006 , when in July, Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation returned to the screen – Star Trek in a late-night Friday slot, with The Next Generation in a mid-afternoon Saturday slot (later following on from TOS in the Friday slot). Voyager repeat rights were taken by Five in 2005 .

BBC Two stopped repeating TOS in 2007 and TNG in 2008

Further reading [ ]

  • "Trek Britain: 45 years on British TV", Paul F. Cockburn, Star Trek Magazine  issue 177 , 24 July 2014, pp. 28-33

External links [ ]

  • BBC.co.uk – official web site
  • BBC at Wikipedia
  • BBC Cult - Star Trek – archive only, no longer active
  • BBC at the Internet Movie Database – distributor
  • BBC at the Internet Movie Database – production company
  • 3 Starfleet uniform (2350s-2370s)

BBC

The 'banned' Star Trek episode that promised a united Ireland

W hen sci-fi writer Melinda M Snodgrass sat down to write Star Trek episode The High Ground, she had little idea of the unexpected ripples of controversy it would still be making more than three decades later.

"We became aware of it later... and there isn't much you can do about it," she says, speaking to the BBC from her home in New Mexico. "Writing for television is like laying track for a train that's about 300 feet behind you. You really don't have time to stop."

While the series has legions of followers steeped in its lore, that one particular episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation has lived long and prospered in infamy.

It comes down to a scene in which the android character Data, played by actor Brent Spiner, talks about the "Irish unification of 2024" as an example of violence successfully achieving a political aim.

Originally shown in the US in 1990, there was so much concern over the exchange that the episode was not broadcast on the BBC or Irish public broadcaster RTÉ.

At the time, US TV shows often debuted internationally several years after their original broadcast.

Satellite broadcaster Sky reportedly aired an edited version in 1992, cutting the crucial scene. But The High Ground was not shown by the BBC until 02:39 GMT, 29 September 2007 - and BBC Archives says it is confident this is its only transmission.

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The decision not to air the episode reflects a time when a bloody conflict continued to rage in Northern Ireland, with the Provisional IRA - a paramilitary group with the stated aim of ending British rule in Northern Ireland - one of its main protagonists.

Now it is 2024 - and Sinn Féin, which emerged as the political wing of the IRA, is the largest party in the devolved Stormont assembly .

The party's leader in Northern Ireland, Michelle O'Neill, became first minister last month and has predicted a referendum on Irish unity within a decade.

She strikes a very different tone to Sir Keir Starmer, favourite to be the UK's next prime minister, who has said such a poll is "not even on the horizon" .

On social media, people have been sharing screenshots of Data's prediction and drawing links to Sinn Féin's electoral success.

Back when Ms Snodgrass was writing the script, she did not think it would cause any problems. "Science fiction is incredibly important because it allows people to discuss difficult topics - but at arm's length," she says.

In the episode, Data's line does not come out of the blue.

The High Ground is based on the theme of terrorism, after the Starship Enterprise's chief medical officer Dr Beverly Crusher is abducted by the separatist Ansata group, who use murder and violence to pursue their aim of independence.

"I've been reviewing the history of armed rebellion, and it appears that terrorism is an effective way to promote political change," says Data.

"Yes it can be," responds Captain Jean-Luc Picard, played by Patrick Stewart, "but I have never subscribed to the theory that political power flows from the barrel of a gun."

"Yet there are numerous examples of when it was successful," Data says. "The independence of the Mexican state from Spain, the Irish unification of 2024, and the Kenzie rebellion."

"I'm aware of them," says Picard, to which Data asks: "Would it then be accurate to say that terrorism is acceptable when all options for peaceful settlement have been foreclosed?"

"Data, these are questions that mankind has been struggling with throughout history. Your confusion is only human."

The story has parallels with the situation in Northern Ireland at the time - something Ms Snodgrass says was deliberate.

"I was a history major before I went to law school and I wanted to get into that; discuss the fact that one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist," she says.

"I mean, these are complicated issues. And when do people feel like their back is so much against the wall that they have no choice but to turn to violence? And is that actually ever justified?

"I think what I wanted to say was: if we're talking and not shooting, we're in a better place."

In 1992, when the episode was due to air in the UK, the IRA ceasefire of 1994 and 1998 Good Friday Agreement were still years away.

In April of that year, the Baltic Exchange bombing carried out by the IRA in the heart of London's financial centre killed three people, and injured more than 90.

Such was the atmosphere from 1988 to 1994, a ban was enforced on broadcasting the voices of members of certain groups from Northern Ireland on television and radio. Restrictions were seen as specifically targeting Sinn Féin.

It resulted in the bizarre situation where prominent politicians including Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams had their voices dubbed by actors (Mr Adams, famously, was voiced at times by Oscar-nominated actor Stephen Rea).

Reflecting on the Star Trek episode, Prof Robert Savage of Boston College says: "It was amazing it was censored."

His latest book - Northern Ireland, the BBC, and Censorship in Thatcher's Britain - covers the period when the episode was pulled.

"The argument I think the robot [Data] asks you is basically just: does terrorism work? If there are no alternatives, if you've tried every other avenue to try to affect change, is it acceptable? To use terrorism?

"And it's a very human question. But [Jean-Luc Picard] doesn't answer the question! That would have unsettled somebody like Thatcher," Prof Savage adds.

There is some murkiness about how a decision was reached not to broadcast the programme at the time.

BBC Archives confirmed the 2007 broadcast of the episode and was "satisfied" any other screening would have been listed.

The BBC's press office said it had spoken to "a number of people" about why a ban may have been implemented, but was unable to get this information "as it dates quite far back".

A spokesman for Sky said he had looked into it, but could not confirm it had broadcast an edited version of the episode in 1992 - or what its reasoning might have been for doing so.

RTÉ noted that TV guides from the time show it had broadcast Star Trek: The Next Generation, but did not have further information in its acquisitions system, and could not find anyone from the time to speak to.

"I think this would probably have stirred a memory if I had been made aware of this at the time, but I am afraid it rings no bells at all," said Lord John Birt, who was director general of the BBC from 1992 to 2000, and before this served as deputy director general.

If the episode had been removed, it would probably have been a decision made at operational level in Network Television, he said.

More than three decades on, the picture in Northern Ireland has changed.

Ms Snodgrass says she was "thrilled" when the Good Friday Agreement was signed, adding it had allowed Northern Ireland to prosper.

She notes Games of Thrones, a television series based on books by George RR Martin (who she knows well and has co-authored work with ) was filmed in the region in recent years - something which has given a big boost to the economy .

"[At the time] 2024 seemed a long way away. I probably should have made it, you know, 2224! I just pulled that number and it didn't occur to me that suddenly we would be here."

Star Trek: The Next Generation featured Sir Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard, in what has become one of his most iconic roles

Star Trek: A Brutal Special Effect Got a Key TNG Episode Censored by the BBC

A memorable early episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation featured enough intense body horror to get the BBC to make cuts.

Star Trek in general and Star Trek: The Next Generation in particular usually retained a family-friendly tone, avoiding excess violence or unsettling images that might mark more dystopic science fiction. But The Next Generation made one early exception to the rule -- Season 1, Episode 25, “Conspiracy” -- that did far more than unsettle sensitive viewers. The BBC censored it during its run in the United Kingdom, and it aired in Canada with a warning. While refusing to air the episode might have been extreme, there was good reason for caution.

In the documentary  William Shatner Presents: Chaos on the Bridge , the episode's writer Tracy Tormé reveals that he wanted to do something different than the usual Star Trek optimism . Writer/producer Maurice Hurley hated it and initially overruled him, feeling that it ran counter to Gene Roddenberry’s vision for the series. However, “higher-ups” who liked the script overruled Hurley. The resulting episode was quite effective, but a little too effective as far as British censors were concerned.

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Star Trek The Next Generation Conspiracy Gross Melting Man

The episode concerned a race of parasites capable of taking control of the humanoid bodies they infiltrated. Picard and Riker uncovered a series of possessed officers high in Starfleet's ranks. “Conspiracy” ended with the parasites being destroyed but a signal being sent into the deepest regions of space, with a presumed follow-up planned for later in the series run. That never happened -- the 1988 Writers’ Strike crippled the show’s second season -- leaving “Conspiracy” a singularly chilling  The Next Generation  entry.

That came in part due to the surprisingly intense body horror involved. Possessed humanoids had a small spine protruding from the base of the host’s neck, and the parasites were also seen scuttling in and out of human mouths at several points. Possessed beings consumed live grubs and worms, which Riker had to emulate to pass himself off as one of their numbers. And in the episode’s finale, both Picard and Riker fired their phasers at an officer hosting the parasite queen. His head vaporized, and his body split apart, revealing the creature amid his shattered chest cavity. A second volley of phaser fire destroyed the monster for good.

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It’s a deeply unsettling moment, keeping with the episode's themes of paranoia and suspicion, which helped inform future efforts such as Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . While the parasites never returned, their basic concept was reimagined as the Borg, who brought a similarly scary tone to the famously bright and cheery Federation. Fans routinely cite "Conspiracy" as one of the high points of an otherwise struggling Season 1. There have been several non-canon novels and tabletop gaming adventures that delve further into the parasites and their goals.

But it was all a little too much for the BBC, which disapproved of the final climactic scenes' intensity. According to Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Continuing Mission, the episode aired on BBC 2 for the first time in March 1991, but not before censors cut several minutes out of it, notably the gruesome death of the parasite queen. Canada’s science fiction cable network Space allowed the episode to run but placed a warning beforehand: something it didn’t do for any of The Next Generation ’s other episodes.

It wasn’t the first time Star Trek got into trouble with British censors, nor would it be the last. Star Trek magazine cited several  The Original Series   episodes that the network declined to air, while  The Next Generation Season 3, Episode 12, “The High Ground,” was banned for decades for a controversial reference to Irish reunification. “Conspiracy” provided different reasons to give the censors pause. Although video and streaming access have rendered the point all but moot, it still speaks far more to the episode's effectiveness than the squeamishness of the BBC.

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  2. The 'banned' Star Trek episode that promised a united Ireland

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