FAB WORLD OF THE SECRET SERVICE

There were quite a few puppets on display at Fab Worlds that had appeared in Century 21’s final Supermarionation series, The Secret Service.

Puppets of Father Unwin and Matthew Harding. I suspect The Secret Service and its premise isn’t as well-known as some of the other Supermarionation series due to its poor showing at the time of its original release. In the series Father Unwin uses an invention called ‘The Minimiser’, which he has inherited from a deceased scientist parishioner. This gadget is hidden inside a copy of Milner’s Gallery of Nature, and is capable of shrinking objects and people to one third their size (conveniently, about the same size of a Supermarionation puppet and scaled prop)

Father Unwin , is a parish priest who also operates as a secret agent for the British Intelligence Service Headquarters Operation Priest or B.IS.H.O.P. for short . This is an original ‘under-control’ head, with an original torso & hands.  Like so many of these original heads, the eyes have taken on that pink hue with age. Occasionally, the eyes are replaced by the puppets owners to give a more naturally look.

Matthew Harding, also a highly trained agent for B.I.S.H.O.P, works on secret missions with Father Unwin who uses ‘The Minimiser’ to shrink Matthew and enable him to infiltrate places or situations and remain virtually undetectable.   When not on a mission, he acts as Father Unwin’s gardener at the Vicarage. The puppet on display is an original ‘normal’ head, with original clothes.

A lot of the puppets on display are known as ‘Revamps’, and created to support the main characters. These puppets, rather like a repertory company could be re-used by giving them a change of costume or sometimes different coloured hair or eyes.

Many of these puppets made multiple appearances in Captain Scarlet, Joe 90 and Secret Service. 

Even puppets that had major roles turned up as different characters in other series. Captain Scarlet can be seen in the Secret Service as B.I.S.H.O.P. agent Blake, while Matthew Harding first appears in Captain Scarlet episode, Treble Cross.

This is Saunders who turns up in a couple of Secret Service episodes as a sort of liaison between the British Government and B.I.S.H.O.P. The puppet which is a screen used head was originally seen as ‘Doctor Fawn’ in Captain Scarlet and The Mysterons.

This is Lady Martha, seen in the Secret Service episode, ‘More Haste, Less Speed’.  (Most fans will recall the episode as having a glaringly obvious stunt man in drag stealing a Triumph Motorbike and speeding off – one of those examples of the series’ uneasy mix between puppets and live action)

This original screen-used head was originally the McClaine’s housekeeper, Mrs Harris in ‘Joe 90’.

This is Lord Edward Hazlewell, the brother of Lady Martha. This is an original screen-used head, original clothes, as well as hands.  The puppet first appeared in Captain Scarlet episode, ‘Renegade Rocket’ as the base commander. It was then ‘aged’ to appear as old Thomas in the Joe 90 episode, ‘The Unorthodox Shepherd’.

This original screen used head shows what it looks like underneath. Although this head did appear just once in The Secret Service, it’s probably more recognisable to fans of Joe 90 as Ben Shazar in the episode, ‘King for a Day’.

 Of course, The Secret Service does promote mixed opinions from fans as to whether puppets mixed with live action worked or not. Personally, I don’t think it did. The willing suspension of disbelief is ruined when the scene jumps from one to the other. However, I have to say I still have a lot of affection for it, and its repertory of puppets.