Thunderbirds Night on BBC4

By John Freeman on January 1, 2008

It’s official – BBC4 has gone scifi mad this week. As we reported back in October, BBC4 are having a “Thunderbirds are Go!” night tomorrow (Wednesday 2nd), followed on Thursday by a tribute to Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and Time Tunnel creator Irwin Allen.

This is what’s on… (the highlight of which must be the brand new epiode of Stingray at 10.10pm but the documentary at 9.10 sounds great too).

7.00 pm: Thunderbirds – The Perils of Penelope
Lady Penelope finds Paris in the spring less than romantic when called to a secret rendezvous with scientist Sir Jeremy Hodge. [S]

7:50 pm: Thunderbirds – Sun Probe
A manned sun-probe runs into trouble… and so does Thunderbird 3’s rescue mission.

8.40 pm: Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons – The Mysterons
2068 AD. On a Spectrum Mars mission a Mysteron city is found. Captain Scarlet is overtaken by the Mysterons and killed, but then returns to life.

9.10 pm: All About Thunderbirds

Gerry Anderson, cast, crew and fans reveal how space travel and new technology promised an exciting future, as Thunderbirds captured the spirit of the 1960s. More information on the BBC4 website

10.10 pm: Stingray: The Reunion Party

A brand new episode of Stingray, specially assembled under the supervision of creator Gerry Anderson. The material used was put together from footage used to help generate international sales, all of it unseen by UK viewers.

10.40 pm: Mastermind

Specialist subjects are the life and work of Hunter S Thompson, Thunderbirds, Kenneth Williams and the history of the Academy Awards.

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “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.