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[]

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^[1]
• The Hood - Ray Barrett^[1]
• 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.

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.

Footnotes[]