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The Secret Service
Secret service
Production
Released by ATV
Producers Gerry Anderson
Sylvia Anderson
Directors Alan Perry
Leo Eaton
Brian Heard
Peter Anderson
Ken Turner
Music Director Barry Gray
Special Effects Derek Meddings
Details
Medium Colour
Episodes 13
Duration 25 Minutes
Original Air Date 21st September 1969
Series Guide
Previous Next
Joe 90 UFO

The Secret Service was a Supermarionation show with a tiny bit of live action originally shown on three ITV regions in 1969 - ATV, Granada & Southern. Unfortunately only 13 episodes were ever made - it was cancelled by Lew Grade. The reason given was Americans wouldn't be able to understand the strange gobbledegook language spoken by Father Unwin - which missed the point entirely!

Set in present day (1969) Britain and working for B.I.S.H.O.P., or British Intelligence Service Headquarters's "Operation Priest," Father Stanley Unwin and his gardener Matthew Harding led a double life. In reality they were both secret agents and they made quite a team. Using a unique device called the Minimiser, Father Unwin could reduce Matthew down to one-third normal size, and he could then be transported around in a special case.

Father Unwin drove around in a yellow vintage 1917 Model T Ford named "Gabriel," with Matthew in tow. With his reduced stature, Matthew could enter aeroplanes, tanks and cars without being seen.

Main Characters[]

Main Equipment[]

Vehicles[]

Main Locations[]

Episodes[]

Cast and Crew[]

Credited[]

Produced by
David Lane

Format by
Gerry and Sylvia Anderson

Directed by
Alan Perry

Characters Created by
Sylvia Anderson

Music Composed and Directed by
Barry Gray

Vocal Title Music by
The Mike Sammes Singers

Teleplay by
Gerry and Sylvia Anderson

Production Supervisor
Des Saunders

Supervising Visual Effects
Derek Meddings

Lighting Cameraman
Paddy Seale

Script Editor
Tony Barwick

Supervising Editor
Alan Killick

Art Director
Keith Wilson

Production Manager
Frank Hollands

Puppet Co-Ordinator
Mary Turner

Puppet Operators
Wanda Webb
Rowena White
Charmaine Wood

Wardrobe
Iris Richens

Sculptors
Tim Cooksey
Plugg Shutt

Film Editor
Alan Killick

Camera Operator
Ian Vinson

Assistant Director
Geoff Pittman

Dialogue Synchronisation
John Drake

Senior Visual Effects Director
Jimmy Elliott

Visual Effects Designer
Mike Trim

Models
Peter Aston

Property Master
Peter Holmes


Visual Effects Unit

Director
Bill Camp

Lighting Cameraman
Les Paul

Camera Operator
Nick Procopides


Location Unit

Director
Ken Turner

Lighting Cameraman
Ted Wooldridge

Camera Operator
Noel Rowlands

Manager
Gren Nott


Supervising Sound Editor
Peter Pennell

Sound Editor
Tony Roper

Music Editor
George Randall

Sound Re-Recording
Anvil Films Limited

Character Voices
Keith Alexander
Sylvia Anderson
Gary Files
David Healy
Stanley Unwin
Jeremy Wilkin

Executive Producer
Reg Hill


Trivia[]

  • The Secret Service was the final Gerry Anderson programme to use the Supermarionation brand, although a few years later, he did try unsuccessfully to revive the genre in the pilot The Investigator. It was also the only Anderson production to combine super-marionation with live action.
  • The Secret Service was only Supermarionation series does not featured voice actors Martin King nor Shane Rimmer since Joe 90.
  • Because Agent Paul Blake (voice of UFO cast member Keith Alexander) was represented by the Captain Scarlet super-marionation puppet using browner, less black-coloured hair and eye-glasses, "fanon," or fan-fiction canon, has equated him with Captain Scarlet's grandfather on his (Captain Scarlet's) mother's side, and thus Captain Scarlet's mother with Paul Blake's daughter as both characters share the same name of Paul.
  • Production of The Secret Service took place concurrently with that of UFO, and Unwin's antique car actually appears in an episode of UFO.

Puppet Gallery[]


v - e - d
The Secret Service Logo
Characters
B.I.S.H.O.P: Father Stanley UnwinMatthew HardingThe BishopAgent SaundersAgent BlakeAgent Patterson
Others
Mrs. Appleby
Revamp Puppets
Episodes
A Case for the BishopA Question of MiraclesTo Catch A SpyThe Feathered SpiesLast Train to Bufflers HaltHole In OneRecall To ServiceErrand Of MercyThe Deadly WhisperThe CureSchool For SpiesMay-Day, May-Day!More Haste Less Speed
Vehicles
Gabriel
Equipment
The Minimizer • Matthew's Suitcase
Locations
B.I.S.H.O.P. HeadquartersVicarageFather Unwin's ChurchBritish Intelligence Headquarters
Supermarionation:
About Supermarionation: What is it? | Who makes it? | The marionettes | the legacy
The Series: Four Feather Falls |Supercar | Fireball XL5 | Stingray | Thunderbirds | Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons | Joe 90 | The Secret Service
The Films: Thunderbirds Are Go | Thunderbird 6
Other Uses: Calling Elvis | The Investigator
Imitators and tributes: Paul starr | Team America World Police | Interster | X-Bomber (Star Fleet) | Superthunderstingcar | Thunderbirds F.A.B. | Misc. Parodies and references




Preceding series: The Secret ServiceFollowing series:
DoppelgängerUFO
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