Gerry Anderson – the first famous TV producer? Part 1

If you asked the average man in the street in the English-speaking world to name a TV producer back in the 1960s, most would probably be only able to name one - Gerry Anderson. There were other producers whose work was more critically acclaimed, or reached bigger audiences, or used TV as a stepping stone to movie production - but there were few people who had not heard of Anderson. And what makes him unusual is that he was not working with famous actors, or news-breaking current affairs documentaries, or stylistic masterpieces breaking new ground in the art of programme making. In fact, he was making children's programmes. With puppets. And with tiny budgets. Gerry Anderson was the man behind Thunderbirds, Fireball XL5 and UFO

Gerry Anderson was born in 1929, and although he originally planned to become an architect, ended up working with photographers and eventually landed a job with the quaintly named Colonial Film Unit, a government-owned film unit making propoganda films. As a trainee, he was given a chance to work in many different areas of film production. His talent as an editor landed him a job with the famous British film production company Gainsborough Pictures, at the tender age of 17. The first movie he worked on was a Stewart Granger movie called "Caravan", described as 'a batty period melodrama', directed by former cinematographer Arthur Crabtree, who does his best to make the bleak Brecon Hills of Wales look like Spanish mountains. The film featured someone else who was to become a stalwart of British broadcasting - a very young Pete Murray is a Spanish peasant boy, long before his long career as a host of hundreds of TV and Radio shows.

After a decade or so (with a couple of years out for National Service) he joined up with a group of friends and colleagues to form A.P. Films. Work was thin on the ground until he was approached to produce a children's show called Torchy the Battery Boy. Anderson decided to produce a series of his own, which was funded by Granada TV. The puppets were built to a third life size - about two feet tall - enabling the programmes to be made using decent sized sets and props, and giving directors a chance to use some more creative shots. Four Feather Falls was the first series produced by Anderson to use anything like the technique that was to become SuperMarionation.

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