
Stand by for Action
★ 10 · 2007 · Documentary
'Stand by for Action' takes an in depth look at the career of the legendary Gerry Anderson, creator of Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, UFO, Space 1999 and many many more. Features interviews with the people who brought his ideas to life as well as Anderson himself.
Episodes
1. Part One40m · The story of two worlds; a world full of danger and peril, and a world set against the prosaic backdrop of the Slough Trading Estate., where technicians and filmmakers would launch themselves into a universe which "Anything could happen in the next half hour!"
2. Part Two34m · The 1960s had seen the rise of an empire; comics, toys, records, books, and most importantly - a string of successful action-adventure shows with a difference. Every year, new adventures emerged from the unconventional warehouse location. But soon, it was time for the puppet stars to move over and make way for a more conventional type of star...More Like This

Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
1967 · ★ 7.5
Captain Scarlet heads up an international intelligence agency as they battle against the Mysterons, an alien species from Mars that vows vengeance after a misunderstanding with humans.
More info →
Thunderbirds
1965 · ★ 7.6
Thunderbirds is a 1960s British science-fiction television series which was produced using a mixed method of marionette puppetry and scale-model special effects termed "Supermarionation". The series is set in the 21st century and follows the exploits of International Rescue, a secret organization formed to save people in mortal danger with the help of technologically advanced land, sea, air and space vehicles and equipment, launched from a hidden base on Tracy Island in the South Pacific Ocean.
More info →
The Secret Service
1969 · ★ 5.8
The Secret Service is a 1969 British children's espionage television series, produced by Century 21 / ITC Entertainment for Associated Television, Granada Television, and Southern Television. Created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, and produced by David Lane and Reg Hill, it was the eighth and final Century 21 production to feature Supermarionation. Under the direction of Gerry Anderson, who wanted to compensate for the inadequacies of Supermarionation and increase the realism of the format, The Secret Service incorporates footage of live actors for long-distance shots. Father Stanley Unwin, voiced by and resembling the real-life comedian of the same name, is the parish priest of a rural English village. But Unwin is in fact a secret agent for BISHOP, a covert British Intelligence branch that battles international criminal and terrorist threats. Aided by junior operative Matthew Harding, Unwin answers to his London-based superior 'The Bishop', as he would in his public profession.
More info →
Joe 90
1968 · ★ 7
Joe 90 is a 1960s British science-fiction television series following the adventures of a nine-year-old child, Joe McClaine, who starts a double life as a schoolboy-turned-spy when his scientist father invents a device capable of duplicating and transferring expert knowledge and experience from one human brain to another. Equipped with the skills of the foremost academic and military minds, Joe is recruited by the World Intelligence Network and, becoming its "Most Special Agent", pursues the ideal of world peace and saving human life.
More info →
Stingray
1964 · ★ 6.9
In 2064, Captain Troy Tempest of the World Aquanaut Security Patrol and his crew explore the oceans in their combat submarine Stingray, encountering friendly and hostile undersea aliens.
More info →
Fireball XL5
1962 · ★ 6.4
Fireball XL5 is a science fiction-themed children's television show following the missions of spaceship Fireball XL5, commanded by Colonel Steve Zodiac of the World Space Patrol. The show was produced in 1962 by husband and wife team Gerry and Sylvia Anderson through their company APF, in association with ATV for ITC Entertainment. While developing his new show, Anderson thought a brand of motor oil—Castrol XL—had an interesting sound. A phonetic change created the name "Fireball XL", with the "-5" added as the title seemed a bit flat without the numeral. The show featured the Andersons' Supermarionation, a form of puppetry first introduced in Four Feather Falls and Supercar and used again in their subsequent productions such as Stingray and Captain Scarlet. Thirty-nine black and white half-hour episodes of Fireball XL5 were made on 35mm film: all future Anderson series were produced in colour. Several Anderson series have been shown in syndication in the US, but Fireball XL5 is the only Anderson series to have run on a US network. NBC ran the series in its Saturday morning children's block from 1963 through to September 1965. A similar programme often confused with Fireball XL5 is Space Patrol, produced by Gerry Anderson's ex business partner and co-founder of AP Films, Arthur Provis due to a number of similarities and settings.
More info →
Nebula-75
2020
‘Nebula-75' is a new puppet lockdown drama made entirely during confinement in 2020 using only existing puppets and materials. Filmed in Supermarionation, it follows in the tradition of 'Thunderbirds', 'Stingray' and 'Fireball-XL5' while at the same time also being filmed in SuperIsolation and Lo-Budget! 'Nebula-75' charts the exploits of Commander Ray Neptune and the crew of the spaceship NEBULA-75 as they make their way across the stars, encountering strange worlds and forms of life hitherto unknown by mankind. It has been created and produced by a small group of filmmakers during the British lockdown of 2020.
More info →
Presented in Supercolorisation
2022
Prior to Stingray, Gerry Anderson produced three series in black and white - their only colour representation being a small number of on-set stills taken during production. Using these as a basis, key episodes of Four Feather Falls, Supercar and Fireball XL5 have been colourised from High Definition remasters using state-of-the-art software, enabling fans to see their favourite shows in a whole new way!
More info →
Keep and Destroy
2020
Adam Luff interviews fans of the legendary Gerry Anderson, a man famous for TV shows such as Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Space 1999, and many others. However, the fans have a tough challenge ahead: they must list five examples of his work that they like, and five examples that they dislike.
More info →
Mayday
2003 · ★ 8.2
Major real-life air disasters are depicted in this series. Each episode features a detailed dramatized reconstruction of the incident based on cockpit voice recorders and air traffic control transcripts, as well as eyewitnesses recounts and interviews with aviation experts.
More info →
Driven
1998 · ★ 10
Driven was a motoring television programme launched by Channel 4 in 1998 as a rival to the successful and long-running BBC series Top Gear. The style was similar to its rival, but with additional features such as the "Driven 100", a road test of three cars in the same class, where each car would be given marks for qualities such as practicality, desirability and cost of ownership. The car with the highest total score would be the winner. The programme launched with the concept that the presenters should interact with each other rather than present items on their own, as was then the case on Top Gear. The first series also featured a "headquarters", a racing team truck, set on a former air force base at which cars were put through their paces. These concepts resurfaced in the reborn Top Gear soon after.
More info →
Declassified
2004
Declassified is an American television series produced by Ten Worlds Productions on The History Channel that originally aired on November 9, 2004. The series takes viewers inside vaults and archives around the world to reveal the untold stories of modern history. With the fall of the Iron Curtain and the advent of market economies worldwide, new footage and materials are flooding out of formerly secret organizations like East Germany's Stasi, the Kremlin, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, and state television in Korea. Declassified reveals the stories behind the previously unseen footage with relentless, fast-cut montage and a rock beat. Declassified fuses modern graphics and editing, story-telling, rock music and expert interviews to bring to light the thrilling and secret tales of our modern era. The show's director Kosh, winner of three Grammy Awards, is the former creative director for Apple Records and designer for the Beatles and Eagles. Produced and created by Susan Shearer, John J. Flynn and Kosh. Executive produced by Carl Lindahl for the History Channel.
More info →