Telstar: Music from outer space

At long last a film is being made of the life – and tragic death – of one this country's most ground-breaking and bewildering music-makers, Joe Meek. Though best known for writing and recording the pioneering synthesised tune "Telstar", the first UK-produced No1 on both sides of the Atlantic, this biopic shows that he was more than a creator of novelty hits.

The maverick record producer defied the men in white coats who ran UK recording facilities by introducing studio techniques, such as compression and distortion, that turned our polite excuses for pop stars into rock'*'roll fiends. And, as an indie-label impresario, he took on the majors and won, with further chart-toppers thanks to John Leyton's "Johnny Remember Me" and The Honeycombs' "Have I the Right". Finally, he was a drug-addicted paranoiac, fearful that competitors were stealing his ideas, who murdered his landlady and killed himself in 1967.

I am in Bethnal Green's grand Old Town Hall, where beside a marble staircase various members of The Tornados, in silver suits, chat. Upstairs, meanwhile, in a series of wood-panelled rooms, Kevin Spacey stalks the set. He plays "Major" Wilfred Banks, the businessman who bankrolled Meeks's home studio at 304 Holloway Road, where he recorded his era-defining tunes.

Con O'Neill, bequiffed and bulkily menacing as Meek, has long been familiar with his character, having been nominated for an Olivier award when he played the role in a West End production in 2005.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of Meek's death, but Telstar is only the latest and most high-profile step in the producer's rehabilitation. It began with the formation of the Joe Meek Society in 1991, an event that coincided with an Arena documentary on the man. Since then, a plethora of reissues from Sanctuary and Cherry Red Records has raided the Meek vaults, while an informative biography places him in the context of a nascent UK music industry run by a mix of shysters and office managers.

For many years, only a small number of aficionados kept the Meek name alive, fascinated by how he constructed such far-out sounds using basic electronic kit in a north London flat. In recent years, though, there has been growing appreciation, with a new generation drawn via current fans such as Stereolab and Broadcast.

Now Nick Moran has come through with the biopic. Best known for his acting role in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Moran co-wrote the 2005 theatrical version of Telstar. Moran had been driving down Holloway Road when a friend pointed out a plaque commemorating Meek.

"When my mate explained Meek's story, I knew it had universal appeal," says Moran. "I struggled for years to get it made as a film, then settled for the theatre. It was just picking up an audience [at the New Ambassadors] when our lease ran out. Then Simon Jordan [the owner of Crystal Palace football club] came in with the funds to make the film."

Moran discovered that his own grandmother had links to Meek's former associates, who were able to provide him with eyewitness accounts and period detail. This was vital, as the secretive producer refused to share his thoughts or feelings with even close friends.

Partly, this was down to his homosexuality, still illegal then, but also his infamous persecution complex, exacerbated by the fact that rivals were out to steal his working methods. A walkie-talkie was once found in his studio set to pick up whatever was going on there.

Among the associates who Moran contacted were Chas Hodges, later of Chas and Dave, who started out in Meek's house band The Outlaws. He recommended Carl Barat for the role of Gene Vincent, while Justin Hawkins plays Screaming Lord Sutch. Also on hand is the Tornados drummer Clem Cattini, who regards the current interest in Meek with surprise. "I didn't see how they could make a story out of Joe's life, because for me it's just a man making records, but all those incidents make quite a drama." Now he is set to play Leyton's chauffeur in the film and has provided advice on the look and feel of Meek's studio: "It was only two bedrooms, but seeing it now is quite scary."

Music remains at the heart of Telstar and the responsibility for this lies with Jon Stewart, the former guitarist in Britpop faves Sleeper. His is the task of soundtracking the story and, less enviably, securing rights to the music.

"Joe led a complicated life," Stewart explains. "He struck a lot of interesting deals and lost a lot of rights to artists because he couldn't pay them. He was sued over 'Telstar', and when he made music for films he gave away exclusive rights. So I've been having some interesting chats with film people at retirement homes in Florida."

Studio scenes require such material to be broken down into its component parts. That job falls to the young Brighton-based solo artist Paul Steel. He explains that he fell under Meek's spell thanks to his outer-space suite I Hear a New World, only released in full years after his death. "I've only recently realised there's a lot of things you can only do with old gear."

No understanding of Meek is complete without his obsession with black magic, something that has haunted Moran's crew. On the first day of filming, a thunderstorm raged over London, just as when the producer first played the recording of "Telstar". This tempestuous character remains with us in more ways than one.

'Telstar' is due to be released next year