downthetubes has learnt that our story posted yesterday about a missing Dick Spanner puppet is pure hokum contrived by the PR company promoting the release of the new DVD – and many local papers across the country have been victims of it.
Chris Bentley of Fanderson told fans yesterday that he has spoken to Gerry Anderson about the reports and apeal for the return of the missing puppet published in many local papers “and it turns out it’s all a lot of nonsense intended to promote the Dick Spanner DVD.
“Ben Titchmarsh [of Quite Great Publicity] is not Gerry’s publicist at all,” Chris reports. “He’s a publicist for the DVD company – and was not speaking on Gerry’s behalf in those articles. In fact, until I asked him about it, Gerry didn’t know what this guy has been telling the newspapers and it certainly wasn’t done with his permission.
“The truth is that Gerry doesn’t have a large collection of puppets at home, or any collection at all come to that,” Chris reveals. “He has a couple of the busts that were sculpted for New Captain Scarlet but that’s all. Nor is he looking for the original Dick Spanner and is more than happy for whoever might have it to keep it, if it even still exists.”
Apparently, the “Clive” person who allegedly owned the puppet is a figment of Mr Titchmarsh’s imagination too.
Fans of Gerry Anderson are likely to be considerably aggrieved by this hoax, so you may want to mail Mr Titchmarsh (nfo@quitegreat.co.uk) and tell him what you think of his “PR”.
I imagine many local newspapers won’t be very happy at being taken in, either, which will perhaps make it all the more difficult for genuine appeals of this nature to get coverage in future (although given the content of most local newspapers these days, if ours are anything to go by, I doubt it!)
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Television
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Not surprised at all that Pickwick would generate ‘PR’ like this. The Dick Spanner DVDs themselves are of such astonishingly low quality that anyone in the know would stick to the old VHS releases that genuinely look better! The reviews on Amazon.co.uk say it all. I’m afraid Gerry’s been taken for a ride by the fly by nights at Pickwick.