It's July 1969 and the Apollo 11 astronauts are about to make their historic Moon landing. But they are in for a surprise – somebody has beaten them to it. Mark Gatiss takes the lead role as Edwardian scientist Professor Cavor in his own adaptation of HG Wells's science fiction classic, The First Men In The Moon, for BBC Four. As the world waits for news of Apollo 11, a young boy meets 90-year-old Julius Bedford (Rory Kinnear) who tells him an extraordinary story. As a young man back in 1909, Bedford happens across Professor Cavor, who has developed an amazing invention – Cavorite, which makes anything to which it is applied immune to gravity. Recognising a miracle when he sees one, and with a keen eye on the potential profit, Bedford encourages Cavor to think big. The two men set about constructing a copper and cast-iron sphere, in which they intend to fly to the Moon. What terrors await them in the lunar interior, and will they ever succeed in returning to Earth?