Gerry Anderson
Tuesday 20th May 2008, The Watershed
Legendary Gerry Anderson, the creator, producer and director of Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and many other epic TV series from the 1960s, 70s and 80s, spent one and a half hours taking his audience through the development of his career and ideas, laced with many anecdotes. Having also spent 3 hours with Gerry on a tour of Aardman Animation before his lecture and seeing their reaction to him, there is no doubt that he is considered the guru of animatronics and Supermacromation puppetry. Our 180 strong audience at the Watershed certainly were not disappointed either.
From his early days as a young programme maker, developing children’s series such as Twizzle and Torchy on a shoestring budget, he moved into the area of space and science fiction. His first series Fireball XL5, was a runaway success selling not only here but also in the US. Then followed Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Joe 90, Space 1999, UFO, etc – the list goes on.
There is no doubt that Gerry was a pioneer and still has the entrepreneurial spirit to do much more. Intriguingly he relayed several stories about Lou Grade, the then head of ITV and a giant in the history of TV. Also Gerry revealed that he doesn’t actually like puppets!
Gerry’s work was an epic part of many of our childhoods. His sets, design for gadgets and vehicles, interiors and graphics have undoubtedly influenced many designers, giving us a vision and impression of what ‘modern’ actually looks like. It was a great privilege to be able spend some time with him.
