Space:1999 actress Zienia Merton dies at 72

Admirable characteristics: Zienia Merton, who played
Sandra Benes in Space:1999, has died at 72

Zienia Merton, who played a celebrated supporting role in both seasons of the TV series Space:1999, died on Friday at 72.

Ziena's character Sandra encapsulated much of what was right and good about Space:1999 - and by extension humanity.
She was confident, controlled, and efficient; an easily relatable and intelligent character. When Sandra was around there was a sense that sensible choices would be made, or at least be aired.

The show endeavored to have diversity among its characters,  demonstrating a theme of "one people" together. Like Star Trek before it, it portrayed people from a mixture of backgrounds living and working together with shared values and goals.

Zienia was British, although also very much a world citizen. She was born in Burma. Her mother was Burmese and her father half-English, half-French. She lived in a number of countries before settling in England. 

Early days: Zienia Merton, left, in The Beatles' Help!

As an actress, Zienia did most of her work on television, including a stint in one of the first Dr Who stories. Earlier in her career she was an extra in The Beatles' Help! playing (uncredited) a high priestess.

Space:1999 was my favourite TV show as a youngster. I watched every episode during its original TV run from 1975 to 1977.

Some 20-odd years later I attended an event on the outskirts of London after hearing that one of the '1999' cast would be there - Zienia. It felt surreal coming face to face with someone who I had such familiarity with, even though we'd never met before. Zienia was polite and easy to talk to, and despite the passage of years still looked almost exactly as she did in the show - right down to her hairstyle. For a few short hours while she was around it felt like being part of an extended Moonbase Alpha crew that had somehow been transported to a conference suite in a suburban hotel.

A few years later, on the 13th of September 1999, Zienia reprised her role as Sandra Benes to record a six-minute video for a Space:1999 convention in the US, which was held to coincide with the day the moon blasted out of Earth's orbit - as imagined in the show. Her short "Final Message from Moonbase Alpha" is now regarded as the 49th and final installment of the series. As the last person on the evacuated moonbase she recorded a message for those who might find it in the future, ending with: "To you, the people of planet Earth, we say goodbye and ask but one thing - remember us."
It was a fitting epilogue. Farewell Zienia