The Man from MI.5 (TV story)

It was of special note to the Doctor Who universe because of the licensed appearance by the Daleks in the form of a report from the Solturian News Agency, which made it the first ever televised crossover between Doctor Who and another franchise. Within the context of the ongoing storyline in TV Century 21, The Man From MI.5 was also significant for revealing that other security organisations in addition to the Universal Secret Service, such as the British Secret Service, were keeping updates of the Daleks' progression in space conquest in preparation for their impending invasion of Earth.

Synopsis[[edit] | [edit source]]

MI5 agent Jimmy Bondson asks for International Rescue's help to locate the stolen plans for a nuclear weapon which threatens the safety of the entire world. Lady Penelope assumes the identity of a leading fashion model investigating the crime to lure out the culprits but is kidnapped and restrained aboard a boat with a bomb set to detonate. Scott and Gordon have little time to find and rescue her, as well as to steal back the plans, before the boat explodes and the criminals escape.

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

to be added

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Jeff Tracy - Peter Dyneley
Scott Tracy - Shane Rimmer
Lady Penelope - Sylvia Anderson
Virgil Tracy - David Holliday
Alan Tracy - Matt Zimmerman
Brains - David Graham
Parker - David Graham
Tin-Tin Kyrano - Christine Finn
Gordon Tracy - David Graham
John Tracy - Ray Barrett
Jimmy Bondson - Ray Barrett
Tesland - David Graham
Carl - David Graham
Ritter - Ray Barrett
The Third Man - Matt Zimmerman
Tannoy - Christine Finn

Silent characters[[edit] | [edit source]]

Crew[[edit] | [edit source]]

Producer - Gerry Anderson
Director - David Lane
Associate producer - Reg Hill
Director of photography - John Read
Character visualisation - Sylvia Anderson
Lighting cameraman - Julien Lugrin
Special effects lighting cameraman - Michael Wilson
Camera operators - Jimmy Elliott, Geoff Meldrum
Art director - Bob Bell
Supervising special effects director - Derek Meddings
Puppetry supervision - Mary Turner
Teleplay - Alan Fennell
Script supervision - Gerry & Sylvia Anderson
Music composer and director - Barry Gray
Puppet operators - Judith Shutt, Ernest Shutt
Sculptors - John Brown, John Blundall
Wardrobe - Elizabeth Coleman
Assistant art director - Grenville Nott
Script editor - Alan Pattillo
Supervising editor - Len Walter
Editor - Harry MacDonald
Supervising sound editor - John Peverill

Special effects 2nd unit

Director - Brian Johncock
Lighting cameraman - Harry Oakes
Camera operator - Gary Coxall

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Alan jumping in the swimming pool upsets the sonic beam during Brains' experiment with his model submarine.
Lady Penelope orders Bondson to meet her in a clearing three kilometres into the perimeter of the Forest of Digne at midnight.
Captain Blacker collected plans for a nuclear device from a scientist living somewhere that Bondson cannot disclose for security reasons.
According to Bondson, Carl shot Blacker five times with a Henrietta .45 Supermatic.
It is International Rescue's policy not to involve themselves with politics or police work.
Lady Penelope tells Carl he will have seven years of bad luck for shooting her mirror.
Several copies of The Nutcracker are present on a shelf on Tracy Island.
Jeff uses Contact Code 5 to discreetly contact Lady Penelope, and she explains the noises away as being rats.
Tin-Tin and her father think Jeff might like a cup of coffee while waiting for news of Lady Penelope's rescue.
Thunderbird 1 has sonar tracking capabilities.
Gordon uses a drill and a paralyser to incapacitate Carl, Ritter, and the Third Man.
Parker loses Lady Penelope's yacht FAB 2 while gambling at the casino.

Story notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

A newspaper dated 10-11 January 1965.

In keeping with the setting of Thunderbirds being a matter of contention and contradiction, the newspaper in this episode dates its events to January 1965. Newspapers seen in other episodes of the programme date the activities of International Rescue to the 2000s and the 2060s, whereas a calendar in Give or Take a Million offers up the 2020s as another possibility. Additionally, Danger at Ocean Deep made reference in dialogue to an old bottle of wine with a 1998 vintage. The magazine TV Century 21, the main source of Doctor Who/Thunderbirds content, concurs with the 2060s date as each of its issues were set exactly one hundred years in the future from publication date. Action 21, a short-lived 1980s magazine consisting mainly of TV21 reprints, followed the same system which now meant its events were transposed to the 2080s. Finally, the Virgin New Adventures novel The Dying Days featured an appearance from a Lady Penelope living in the 1990s, "present day" at the time. It was not, however, a setting without narrative backing, with some theories dating the series to that decade based on the claim in Trapped in the Sky that Jeff Tracy, a man in his fifties, was one of the first to land on the Moon.
The Golden Emperor of the Daleks is clearly visible in one of the shots of Carl rifling through Captain Blacker's papers on the Solturis invasion; as well as the first televised appearance of the image of a Dalek outside of Doctor Who, this technically constitutes the first televised appearance of the Dalek Emperor overall, predating its appearance in The Evil of the Daleks.
The model submarine which Brains uses for his experiment also appeared as the Hood's 3E submarine in the Thunderbirds episode Desperate Intruder.
The backdrop for the harbour scenes also appeared in the Thunderbirds episode The Duchess Assignment, the Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons episode Model Spy, and the Joe 90 episode The Race.
Along with Glorious Goodwood, Police 5: The Master, The Crusade, Making Cocoa and The Stealers from Saiph, this is one of six DWU productions with no surviving cast members.