Video taking off 55x its usual first day

Patrick Stewart recalls how a UCLA reading led to Picard

BBC Archive's Wogan interview captures the actor discovering both his new role and the expectations of Star Trek's devoted audience.

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BBC Archive Story of October 31, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 330,859 views a day, 55 times a normal first day on this channel (6,052).

1988: Sir Patrick Stewart on becoming Star Trek's Captain Jean-Luc Picard | BBC Archive

Producer Robert Justman turned to his wife with a decision: they had found their new captain. Patrick Stewart had been giving literary readings for a friend's UCLA class, not auditioning for the Enterprise.

That is the casting story Stewart tells Terry Wogan in a 1988 interview, shared by BBC Archive following the actor's death. The short extract has drawn nearly 300,000 views in 19 hours, far beyond the channel's usual first day for a Short. A longer upload of the Wogan conversation is also running well ahead of its usual start for regular videos.

Stewart describes how taking the part of Jean-Luc Picard meant discovering just how deeply Star Trek ran through American culture. Some established viewers, he explains, initially treated The Next Generation as a replacement for the original rather than a continuation of its world. He also gently corrects the terminology: "I think they prefer to be called Trekkers."

The fan mail brought a different perspective. Stewart recalls hearing from people whose doubts about the new programme had given way to affection for it. Among the responses to the archive upload, viewers remember watching those early episodes and single out his speaking voice.

The interview, originally broadcast on BBC One in April 1988, catches Stewart with that long association still ahead of him. His own verdict on the role is straightforward: "I'm delighted with the job."

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