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I was very young when this was on (I think) Children's BBC in the after school slot. There was a live audience of children, wearing brown robes/habits(?). They were supposed to be pupils or cadets of some kind. I'm not sure if this was a game show, exactly, or a story telling game in which the outcome of the 'adventure/mission' depended on participation. The setting was meant to be another planet, or possibly a spacecraft. The host was a man called the Captain, or maybe 'Commander'. All I remember was that after each illustrated segment/chapter (no animation or pre-recordings, just pictures on a screen), he would wind up the audience to a cheering/shouting pitch, then bellow "Silence!", with a sweep of his hand. Does anyone have any idea what this was?

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15

There's not much information online about it, but is it possible this is Captain Zep - Space Detective?

Set of "Captain Zep - Space Detective"

Wikipedia says this about the show:

Captain Zep – Space Detective is a British television children's series produced by the BBC between 1983 and 1984.

Constructed as part drama and part quiz game, Captain Zep featured mysteries that would be solved by the child audience in the studio, along with a write-in competition for viewers. The child audience were dressed in futuristic clothes and had gelled hair. The series was also notable for its combination of live action and animation, where the cast would interact with drawn alien characters amidst drawn backgrounds.

(Emphasis mine)

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  • Given the uniforms, are you sure that's not a clown college?
    – Spencer
    Commented Jul 9, 2021 at 21:26
  • 1
    There's a full episode on youtube youtube.com/watch?v=Xow3fJzLEP4 and it seems to match the question pretty well (students in robes helping solve the mystery, a Captain, a spaceship, illustrated segments...)
    – Showsni
    Commented Jul 10, 2021 at 5:27
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    @Spencer "I’ll thank you not to refer to Princeton that way!"
    – Blerg
    Commented Jul 10, 2021 at 7:05
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    YES!!! Thank you so much! That has been bugging me for years.
    – pietro2
    Commented Jul 10, 2021 at 12:24
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    @pietro2 If this is correct you should click on the checkmark under the voting arrows in the upper-left corner of the answer. That will mark it as correct, which will help future searchers find the answer more easily.
    – DavidW
    Commented Jul 12, 2021 at 14:51

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