Series 1 (Thunderbirds)

Series 1 — 1965-66
Regular characters:	Jeff, Scott, Virgil, Gordon, John, Brains, Lady Penelope, Parker, Tin-Tin, Grandma
Key crew
Producer(s):	Gerry Anderson
Script editors:	Alan Pattillo
Series details
Start date:	30 September 1965
End date:	31 March 1966
Premiere network:	ITV
Typical episode length:	50'

You may wish to consult Series 1 for other, similarly-named pages.

Series 1 of Thunderbirds ran between 30 September 1965 and 31 March 1966. It starred Peter Dyneley, Shane Rimmer, David Holliday, Matt Zimmerman, David Graham, Ray Barrett, Sylvia Anderson and Christine Finn as the members of International Rescue and an assortment of guest characters. The series opened with Trapped in the Sky and concluded with Security Hazard.

Overview

It consisted of twenty-six episodes of around fifty minutes each. The series was most notable to the Doctor Who universe for including an episode which featured the Daleks, namely The Man from MI.5. They appeared under license by Terry Nation in the form of an in-universe version of the Century 21 Productions magazine TV Century 21.

The first series of Thunderbirds had a close relationship with the publication of TV Century 21, which included The Daleks comic strip, resulting in photographs of Thunderbirds characters and concepts appearing in the magazine as early as TV21 5 on 20 February 1965, often recontextualised to suit the current storylines within. This was most prominently seen on the front cover of the magazine which usually played host to "cover" stories in the shape of newspaper front page articles as part of TV Century 21's format that all its stories shared a single fictional universe, set exactly one hundred years into the future from publication date.

As a result, images taken from Thunderbirds television episodes were often in Dalek crossover stories. Titan Declares War! featured an image of the Stingray ship from Stingray in front of Tracy Island as well as a Black Dalek, Superjet Shot Down featured an image of the Fireflash from Trapped in the Sky with a trio of Daleks on Westminster Bridge taken from The Dalek Invasion of Earth, and Jungle Terror! featured the Junglecat from Pit of Peril with another Dalek image sourced from The Dalek Invasion of Earth. All of these shared covers were published within just a month of each other, from 20 February to 20 March 1965.

Even after Thunderbirds started broadcasting on 30 September 1965, the reports of Dalek activity continued to share their stories with Thunderbirds material. FAB1 Back in Action!, released on 6 November 1965 featured Lady Penelope's car front and centre while Thunderbird Two, released on 26 March 1966, featured a damaged Thunderbird 2 from Terror in New York City alongside Skardal.

Television stories

#	Title	Writer	Director	Notes
1	Trapped in the Sky	Gerry and Sylvia Anderson	Alan Pattillo	First appearances of Jeff, Scott, Virgil, Alan, Gordon, John, Brains, Tin-Tin, Kyrano, the Hood, Thunderbird 1, 2 and 5. Televised debuts of Tracy Island, Lady Penelope, Parker, FAB 1, Creighton-Ward Manor and the Fireflash.
2	Pit of Peril	Alan Fennell	Desmond Saunders	Televised debut of the Junglecat.
3	The Perils of Penelope	Alan Pattillo	Alan Pattillo & Desmond Saunders	First appearance of Alan as voiced by Matt Zimmerman. First episode written by Alan Fennell.
4	Terror in New York City	Alan Fennell	David Elliott & David Lane	First appearances of Thunderbird 4 and Grandma Tracy.
5	Edge of Impact	Donald Robertson	Desmond Saunders
6	Day of Disaster	Dennis Spooner	David Elliott	First appearance of Grandma as voiced by Christine Finn. First story written by Dennis Spooner.
7	30 Minutes After Noon	Alan Fennell	David Elliott
8	Desperate Intruder	Donald Robertson	David Lane
9	End of the Road	Dennis Spooner	David Lane
10	The Uninvited	Alan Fennell	Desmond Saunders
11	Sun Probe	Alan Fennell	David Lane	First appearance of Thunderbird 3. First appearance of a guest voice actor.
12	Operation Crash-Dive	Martin Crump	Desmond Saunders
13	Vault of Death	Dennis Spooner	David Elliott
14	The Mighty Atom	Dennis Spooner	David Lane	Only episode in which all five Thunderbird craft and all thirteen "main" characters appear.
15	City of Fire	Alan Fennell	David Elliott
16	The Impostors	Dennis Spooner	Desmond Saunders	Only non-appearance of Thunderbird 2.
17	The Man from MI.5	Alan Fennell	David Lane	First appearance of the Daleks outside of Doctor Who and the first crossover between Doctor Who and another franchise. Televised debut of the Dalek Prime and rank of Dalek Emperor.
18	Cry Wolf	Dennis Spooner	David Elliott	Final episode written by Dennis Spooner.
19	Danger at Ocean Deep	Donald Robertson	Desmond Saunders
20	Move – And You're Dead	Alan Pattillo	Alan Pattillo
21	The Duchess Assignment	Martin Crump	David Elliott	Most characters featured in a single episode.
22	Brink of Disaster	Alan Fennell	David Lane
23	Attack of the Alligators!	Alan Pattillo	David Lane
24	Martian Invasion	Alan Fennell	David Elliott	Final appearance of the Hood in the television series.
25	The Cham-Cham	Alan Pattillo	Alan Pattillo
26	Security Hazard	Alan Pattillo	Desmond Saunders	Clip show. Final appearance of Virgil as voiced by David Holliday.

Notes

• Both Trapped in the Sky and The Perils of Penelope were not given a title upon original broadcast, although title cards would be added in later for certain home video releases.

Cast

• Jeff Tracy - Peter Dyneley
• Scott Tracy - Shane Rimmer
• Virgil Tracy - David Holliday
• Alan Tracy - Matt Zimmerman, Ray Barrett
• Gordon Tracy - David Graham
• John Tracy - Ray Barrett
• Brains - David Graham
• Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward - Sylvia Anderson
• Tin-Tin Kyrano - Christine Finn
• Parker - David Graham
• Grandma Tracy - Christine Finn

Recurring

• Kyrano - David Graham
• The Hood - Ray Barrett
• Airport Commander Norman - Peter Dyneley
• Captain Hanson - David Graham
• Fireflash co-pilot - Ray Barrett
• Eddie Kerr - Matt Zimmerman
• Television reporter - Matt Zimmerman

Guest

• Jimmy Bondson - Ray Barrett
• Tidman - David Graham
• Carl - David Graham
• Ritter - Ray Barrett
• The Third Man - Matt Zimmerman

Adaptations and merchandising

Novelisations

Novelisations to various first series episodes were published in 1992. Those published by Young Corgi were closer to faithful novelisations whereas those published by Boxtree were more akin to picture books, although both formats were aimed at younger readers.

Title	Writer	Publisher	Based on	Release date
The Uninvited	Dave Morris	Young Corgi	The Uninvited	1992
Brink of Disaster			Brink of Disaster
Sun Probe			Sun Probe
Day of Disaster	Aisling O'Hagan	Boxtree Books	Day of Disaster
End of the Road			End of the Road
The Perils of Penelope			The Perils of Penelope
Desperate Intruder			Desperate Intruder
Cry Wolf			Cry Wolf
Man from MI5			The Man from MI.5
Martian Invasion			Martian Invasion
The Imposters			The Impostors

Audio episodes

Between 1966 and 1967, Century 21 Records released thirteen audio re-tellings of first series television episodes, adapted from the soundtracks. Each was cut to fit the shorter running time and accompanied by original narration from a member of the voice cast speaking in character.

#	Title	Writer	Narrator	Based on	Release date
1	Thunderbird 1	Gerry and Sylvia Anderson	Scott	Trapped in the Sky	April 1966
2	Thunderbird 2	Dennis Spooner	Brains	End of the Road	June 1966
3	Thunderbird 3	Jim Watson	Alan	Sun Probe	November 1966
4	Thunderbird 4		Gordon	Terror in New York City
5	The Perils of Penelope		Parker	The Perils of Penelope
6	Lady Penelope and Parker	Len Cleal	Lady Penelope	Vault of Death	January 1967
7	Brains and Tin-Tin		Tin-Tin	Desperate Intruder
8	International Rescue		Scott	The Impostors
9	Thunderbirds		Gordon	Day of Disaster	March 1967
10	Lady Penelope		Parker	The Cham-Cham
11	Brink of Disaster			Brink of Disaster	May 1967
12	One Move and You're Dead!	Alan Pattillo	Tin-Tin	Move – And You're Dead	July 1967
13	Thirty Minutes After Noon	Alan Fennell	Parker	30 Minutes After Noon