When Skywalker met the force of Imperial

Exactly 38 years ago today, Mark Hamill AKA Luke Skywalker came to Imperial for an interview about the first Star Wars film.

The latest Star Wars film The Force Awakens premiered in the US earlier this week and will go on general release in the UK in just a few days' time. But when the original Star Wars: A New Hope opened, British audiences had to wait months before they could see the film.

During that time actor Mark Hamill travelled to the UK to publicise the film. While in London he paid a visit to Imperial where he was interviewed by James Sinclair, who was at the time chairman of Imperial's student TV society STOIC. 

In the film above, hear Hamill explain Star Wars’ fairy-tale appeal and respond to criticisms of inconsistency levelled at the film at the time.

James Sinclair and Mark Hamill in the studio at Imperial

Interviewer James Sinclair said: “I recall the interview well. It was recorded it on a dark and wet December afternoon in 1977.  Star Wars had not yet been released in the UK; I'd been to the press showing of the film a few days before, read the press kit and newspaper reviews.”

Asked in 2011 about the film, he added: “I showed the interview to some of my current colleagues. Their first reaction was to point at my sideburns and hair length.

“Their second is to ask why I say in the intro that Mark is immodest. I cannot recall why I thought that. He was a pleasure to interview, spent longer on camera than scheduled and stayed chatting with us until repeatedly urged to leave by his press agent.”

The interview was edited and shown in 1978. Colin Grimshaw was working at Imperial at the time and produced the video. 

He recalls: “When the first film was due for release the publicity machine was in full swing and we were actually offered these interviews rather than having to ask for them.”

“We’d been told that we had to be very organised and on time for the recording session with Mark Hamill because he was leaving immediately to go the BBC Television Centre for an edition of Blue Peter, which back then was broadcast live.”

“Because of the ‘Imperial guard’ connection we thought that the publicity people and indeed Mark Hamill might go for an Imperial College T-Shirt. So we presented him with one, which he immediately put on and said that he would keep wearing for Blue Peter. He kept his word and a few hours later we saw him wearing the T-shirt on BBC TV.”

“He signed my autograph book: ‘Galactically Yours, Mark Hamill’.”

You can read more about Colin Grimshaw's memories of this interview and other films from the Imperial archive in the Video Archive Blog.