The brains behind Thunderbirds

In 1965, a groundbreaking children's show using cutting-edge puppets first blast onto television screens.

Thunderbirds was set in 2065 and followed the antics of secret organisation ‘International Rescue’ which was manned by Jeff Tracy, his team of five sons and agent Lady Penelope. Set up to save humanity, the characters travelled in futuristic vehicles across land, sea and air from their remote base in Tracy Island.

It was created by husband and wife Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, who used supermarionation, a pioneering technique with thin wires which controlled the puppets' movements.

Their daughter Dee Anderson speaks to Reena Stanton-Sharma.

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Image: Thunderbird 2 pilot Virgil Tracy in a scene from the TV series Thunderbirds (Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)