THE SECRET SERVICE - DEEP FOLLY

Gerry Anderson tried several times to mix puppetry with live action with very little success. An early   premise for the series that would eventually become Fireball XL5 was to originally feature live action mixed with puppetry. This was deemed to be too expensive for the time and dropped in favour of just puppets.

Some years later Gerry came up with another idea mixing live action and puppets calling it The Secret Service.

Rather than an all action sci fi feature set in the future with fantastic vehicles and squared jawed heroes, he set it in contemporary Britain with the hero being a vicar who spoke gobbledegook and drove a yellow Model T Ford!

Needless to say, this seldom seen series was a commercial flop with critical opinion divided. 

As I continue my look at Gerry's classic series in comic strip format, the limited television exposure  of  The Secret Service meant a comic strip was going to be a rare thing.  

Countdown comic carried a limited run of a Secret Service strip beginning with this example in issue two.  

It's an origin story, not seen in the TV series showing how our hero, Father Stanley Unwin is first introduced to 'The Minimiser'. The artwork is by Jon Davis.

Next time - UFO