A rare 30-minute interview with Mark Hamill, which appears to have been taped in late 1977 just before the release of Star Wars in Britain that December, has surfaced on YouTube by poster “mhsayers.”

The interview, which is described as having been conducted at Imperial College London, seems to have been broadcast on British television in October, 1978 — although Hamill at one point mentions the film hadn’t yet released in England, likely placing the original session sometime in late 1977.

It’s very rare to find such an extended one-on-one interview with one of the key cast members from this period, which had Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford whisked from one interview to another, often spending only a few minutes with any single interviewer.

Some interesting insights are revealed here that to our knowledge have never been officially publicized — definitely worth the watch if you’ve got a half-hour to spare (and can tolerate choppy editing on black-and-white videotape!)

UPDATE: According to our favorite Star Wars bibliographer/historian Bob Miller, this session was taped December 14, 1977, based on Hamill’s mention of “Blue Peter” being taped the following day (which occurred on December 15). Miller was also able to cross-reference the host’s mention of Hamill’s percentage reported in the Evening News, which was published on December 12.