THE SECRET SERVICE

March 4th, 2022

I have posted a lot of my ‘what if’ Airfix kit box tops on the web, and the Gerry Anderson themed ones caught the attention of the people at Fanderson, the official Gerry & Sylvia Anderson appreciation Society. I was contacted by them and asked to contribute to their newest venture – an annual for the little-known TV series ‘The Secret Service.’ 

The Secret Service was the last of the Supermarionation TV shows to be made. The premise is that a mild manner English Priest named Father Unwin is actually a secret agent working as part of British Intelligence. This non-threatening persona allows him access to people and places otherwise off limits. The main character is not particularly adept as a spy. It is never mentioned, or explained, why he is chosen, other than he has a gizmo that allows him to miniaturise things. This is only used to miniaturize his gardener the burly Matthew – who is also an agent and assist Father Unwin on his missions. Typically, Father Unwin would sneak Matthew in, hidden within his suitcase that he takes with him everywhere. And then once alone, Matthew exists the suitcase via secret panel and sets about investigating. Matthew is always reduced to the same scale, which is approximately two feet in height. So not terribly stealthy. In the 1960s Irwin Allen TV series ‘Land of the Giants’ the ‘little people’ were six inches tall, and this allows then to hide on tabletops behind telephones, or books on a shelf while they navigated the giant world. Matthew is somewhat limited by his size – 2 feet tall is not that easy to stay concealed - although this does not hamper the scriptwriters who still write scenes where he hides within the cramped engine compartment of a motorboat.

The show is set in the present day (1960s England), and this limits the sort of exotic hardware spectacular seen in other Anderson programmes. It is shows akin to ‘JOE 90’ in this respect and the miniatures and visual effects are comparable.

The show is the last of the Supermarionation programmes but is a curious mix of live-action and puppetry. Puppets feature primarily, but long shots of characters walking, climbing in and out of cars etc are filmed on location with live actors. The cutting between puppets and live-acton can be quite disconcerting. An example scene would be the main character of Father Unwin - styled on the unique comic artist Stanley Unwin – seen in close up (puppet) driving his car and pulling up to a stop. Then cutting to a wide shot as he exits the car and walks up the to the front door of the house would be live-action, shot on location. Then when he is greeted at the door, we are cut to a medium shot and are back to puppets conversing. All a bit strange, taking the ‘close ups of human hands’ technique as seen in ‘Thunderbirds’ and the earlier shows to a new level. The result is actually quite distracting. This filming technique explains the ‘Minimizer,’ or more significantly the chosen scale of reduction. When Matthew is shrunk it is to the size of a Supermarionation puppet. This allows him to be shot in full-size live sets and locations. I recall one episode where he is chased across a garden lawn by a dog.

The premise of the innocuous priest seems to be quite often negated by the use of ‘Unwinese’. So, when speeding to intercept escaping bad guys, the Priest would be stopped by the Police, but instead of the writers providing a solution based on the Priest persona, as would often happen in ‘Joe 90’, where the top baddie of the week would laugh off ‘the threat of a 9-year-old boy collonnel’. Instead, we are treated to a monologue of Father Unwin’s humorous ‘Unwinese’, which soon has the policemen befuddled and he allows Father Unwin to carry on with his business.

Father Unwin is voiced – and portrayed in long shots - by Stanley Unwin, who developed a ‘language’ he called Unwinese, which was gobbledygook, with enough real words, or words that sounded mostly like real words thrown in. Apparently Gerry Anderson was so taken with the act, that he rafted the show and the characters around him.

The show is not without a degree of charm. But unfortunately lacks the quirkiness of ‘The Avengers,’ or other ITC shows like ‘Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased). The show really should have been live action. And indeed, the following Anderson shows were all live action until ‘Terrahawks’ in the early 1980s.

‘The Secret Service’ was cancelled before the series had run its course and the thirteen episodes have had extremely limited showings on TV. But it is now available on DVD and is getting some attention and recognition… albeit from mostly curious viewers. It is certainly unique. And it is a Gerry Anderson production, so it has that inherent appeal and craftsmanship that connect it with the likes of ‘Thunderbirds,’ ‘Captain Scarlet’ and ‘Joe 90’.

As the show was not a success it did not have an Annual as the other shows did. So Fanderson decided to create one, in the style of the day that would sit alongside the official annuals for the other programmes. And I will say they have done a really wonderful job with it. My assignment was to design and paint suitable End Papers – the 2-page artwork inside the front and back cover. I came up with a diamond pattern of the windows of his cottage as a pattern and put a vignette from the show, or something inspired by these adventures as well as his ‘day job’ as a Priest, into each panel. The pattern is broken up in order to feature Father Unwin, Matthew, the Suitcase and Gabriel – Father Unwin’s bright yellow Model T Ford. I put in some Easter Eggs which I would be happy to reveal for anyone who is interested, I left some of the panels along the border as empty colours and used hues that seemed fitting to the time period 1969 / 1970. It was a fun assignment. Quiet challenging to find the balance making it enticing to the reader and capture the flavour of the show.

I am very grateful to Nick Williams at Fanderson for the opportunity.

The artwork can be found in the ‘Gerry Anderson’ gallery.

Here is a link to the Fandeson website:

https://fanderson.org.uk/shop/the-secret-service-annual/

Here is a link to more on ‘The Secret Service’ TV show.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXHXYQKihAA