After Vic Elmes
left Christie, he dabbled in writing music scores.
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VIC
married Dee Anderson, daughter of Sylvia and
Gerry Anderson, creator of the Thunderbirds
and other "supermarionation" series. (The Thunderbirds
character Lady Penelope was in fact modelled after
Sylvia Anderson.)
Because of this
connection, Vic was able to get a foot in the door of the
Anderson stable, and was commissioned to write theme music
for some of its shows, the most notable of which was the
first year run of Space: 1999,
with its "space disco" feel and electric guitar
work. Vic also wrote the score for a couple of other Space:
1999 episodes.
He provided the music for another Anderson project,
The Investigator, which unfortunately
never got beyond the pilot stage, and to this day remains
unreleased. He also collaborated with former Christie bass
player Roger Flavell on the Anderson program The
Animates.
After the Anderson
projects, Vic delved in the movie world, penning the music
for a film called The Ups and Downs
of a Handyman.
The following extracts were taken from answers provided
by Vic to a series of questions posed by Space:
1999 fans Jerry Scott, Brian J Dowling, Simon Morris
and Kevin McCorry:
"By being married to Sylvia Anderson's daughter,
the offer of the job did come more easily than if I'd had
no personal connection.
I did not find
it at all easy working on Space 1999
as I had never worked in the film business before. With
a lot of help from the program's music editor Alan Willis,
I had to learn how to improvise and compromise to get through
it all. I don´t remember being influenced by anyone
while I was working on the series, only what came out of
my own head.
Alan Willis and
I became very good friends, due to our close working relationship,
and I have to say I learned a great deal from him, as it
was more than obvious that Barry Gray (who wrote most of
the other Anderson music) had no intention of trying to
work together with me. It became very clear that he considered
me as something of an underling or novice where music was
concerned, because of his vast classical background. Therefore
this made it impossible for us to find a working relationship.
As for the
theme to Space: 1999 (first
year), where you can hear the lead guitar piece playing
in the intro theme, and of course at the end of each episode,
it has to be said that I did write this piece myself, based
upon the overall mood of music which Barry Gray was composing.
I used a bass player (John McCoy) and drummer (Liam Genockey)
from a very good rock band named Zebra, and I played the
lead guitar part.
I also wrote the
score for the Space: 1999 episode
Ring Around the Moon, although we also used some library
music.
After
Space: 1999, I worked on the film The
Ups and Downs of a Handyman and on a pilot TV series
for Sylvia Anderson, which was a puppet series for very
young children. Its title was The
Animates, but only a few episodes were televised,
because it did not prove to be a success."
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