Telstar started life as a critically acclaimed West End stage play in 2005 written by Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels actor Nick Moran. For the film version he gets behind the camera and Con O’Neill reprises his role, for which he was nominated for an Olivier Award, as Joe Meek.

From a ramshackle studio in his flat above a handbag shop on Holloway Road, North London Meek had a No. 1 smash with John Leyton’s ‘Johnny Remember Me’. He later shot to international stardom with instrumental hit ‘Telstar', played by his ‘in house’ band The Vagabonds, making him the first British artist to earn a No. 1 in the US.

Meek’s genius was a tortured one though. A workaholic hooked on sleeping and diet pills he was prone to violent outbursts when things weren’t going his way. He was also in love with talentless singer Heinz Burt (JJ Feild) who he showered with gifts and advances and moved him into the spare room.

But Heinz was straight and the spare room doubled as his casting couch. There are scenes of cosy nights on the sofa watching TV in matching white vests and a short shot of the pair having sex through a rain covered window before Heinz blames Meek for his failure in reaching Buddy Holly status.

Heinz’s departure is fuel for Meek’s burgeoning paranoia, a paranoia set ablaze by a police bust in a Hampstead Heath public toilet. This is not how Meek imagined his name would next be making front page news.

Telstar has a very British feel to it, although it takes a while immersing yourself into Moran’s London of the early swinging 60s because the sexual revolution hasn’t quite started yet. The older characters, such as Kevin Spacey as Meek’s business partner Major Banks and Pam Ferris as his long-suffering land lady Mrs. Shenton, are firmly rooted in 1950s propriety.

When the dialogue doesn’t have a plum in its throat it’s swearing its head off and making scatological jokes. The Vagabonds of Clem Cattini (James Corden) and Chas Hodges (Ralf Little) are mostly potty-mouthed in their disdain for Meek’s erratic moods.

And who can blame them? His most loyal collaborator is Tom Burke’s painfully shy and extremely camp songwriter Geoff Goddard, who’s secretly in love with Meek. When he first arrives into the studio set up of a vocalist in the bathroom, band in the bedroom and landlady banging on the ceiling with a broom handle because of the noise, we see the mania behind Meek’s method through Burke’s eyes and Telstar is one step away from a Carry On.

Once settled into Moran’s groove you being to appreciate the eclectic cast he’s put together. Spacey and Ferris aside there are small roles for Jonny Lee from S Club playing Billy Fury; Nigel Harman from EastEnders as Jess Conrad, Jimmy Carr, The Darkness’ Justin Hawkins as Lord Sutch and Chas Hodges from Chas ‘n’ Dave who Meek produced when he was part of The Outlaws.

Meek was a maverick musical genius and it’s about time his role in the development of modern music and his homosexuality were appreciated by a wider audience.

Read Our Nick Moran And Con O'Neill Interview »
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Read The Telstar Summary »
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Telstar [2008]
Studio: Momentum Pictures
Released: 28 September 2009
ASIN: B0026ZPKTS

Buy the DVD of Telstar online now. Want more? Then  find out more about Joe Meek by getting the book Joe Meek: The Legendary Joe Meek, the Telstar Man. Buy it online and svae some money to put towards the CD Joe Meek: The Alchemist of Pop - Home Made Hits and Rarities 1958-1966.