Jamie Anderson, the son of Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet creator Gerry Anderson, has spoken about the emotional real life events that inspired his father’s work, as a new documentary about the TV icon’s life airs.
Gerry Anderson: A Life Uncharted launches on streaming service Britbox on April 14, 2022 and sees Jamie explore the story of ‘what made the man who for many made their childhoods.’
Gerry Anderson, who died on December 26 2012, would have been 93 years old today (April 14), with the documentary exploring his life – from early childhood, to the death of his brother, marriages and diagnosis with Alzheimer’s Disease – interwoven with clips from his classic TV series that many of the real life events inspired.
(Image: Birmingham Mail)
Producer and director Ben Field and Jamie Anderson drew on over 30 hours of unheard archive footage from interviews by Gerry Anderson’s biographers – all while digitally recreating the TV icon on screen to ‘allow him [Gerry] to appear on screen in order to tell stories from his point of view for the first time.’
Including interviews with former colleagues and family members, Jamie Anderson told Daily Star that the documentary reflects “The positivity it [his shows] gave to so many millions, against the great tragedy and sadness of one person’s life.”
Talking about his father’s work, he added: “It’s not just sci-fi universes, with a load of puppet characters, these are family units, stories and tragedies, heroics, which has come completely from real life.”
(Image: Tony Sapiano/REX/Shutterstock)
Moments explored in the documentary include his relationship with his older brother Lionel who was a pilot in World War II – who was Gerry’s hero – with the documentary suggesting that he was the inspiration for Thunderbirds, after featuring in a film of the same name while stationed at a US airbase.
However, Lionel died while out on an operation during the war, and interview clips in the documentary reveal a story from the immediate aftermath of Lionel’s death, when Gerry was told ‘It should have been you’, something son Jamie Anderson was shocked to discover in the process of making the documentary.
“I think the story about what dad’s mum said to him in the immediate wake of Lionel’s death. I mean, goodness me, that was quite something – because I had not heard that before. He had never told me.”
He added: “that particular clip where he says it, and pauses for enough time that I can see that wound is still as raw as it was in 1944. Things like that were amazing to learn.”
(Image: Corbis via Getty Images)
Other moments explored throughout the documentary include Gerry’s marriages and birth of his children, with Jamie saying that later in the documentary: “It’s not all doom and gloom, and to know he found some sort of joy was the flipside to the coin of all the bad things.”
The documentary is also interwoven with classic moments from Gerry’s many TV series, including Stingray, Supercar, Joe 90, Secret Service, Thunderbirds, Terrahawks and Captain Scarlet, which are sure to hold memories for generations of fans.
They also hold many memories, unsurprisingly for Jamie, who revealed he chose the ‘oh a baby’ Terrahawks clip to reference when his mum was pregnant with him – as the last 13 episodes of the series were made when he was born.
(Image: Nils Jorgensen/REX/Shutterstock)
The eye-opening and emotive documentary makes the viewer feel as if they are rediscovering the programmes again for the first time, bringing a new poignancy to the stories, with Jamie saying: “It does change your perspective of them, and I’m sure you’ve watched Captain Scarlet and thought wow, Colonel White is the ideal father figure who was the antithesis of dad’s impression of Joe [Gerry’s father], and Captain Scarlet – clearly this is the hero who comes from death.
“Not the hero who is lost and never comes back, but the man who does come back. The hero brother – a trait that he wishes could have been possible in real life.
“Every show, you’ll find something new, and I love the fact that is the result.”
(Image: Granada International/REX/Shutterstock)
Talking about the series, Jamie also revealed the behind the scenes story of an encounter between his parents and Cliff Richard, which led to Cliff and Hank Marvin appearing in 1966 film Thunderbirds are Go as puppets.
“Behind the scenes they got them to do a performance of Shooting Star, so that the puppeteers could then try and mimic what the real performers were doing,” said Jamie.
“If you look at Cliff’s performance in that, the puppeteers did a damn near perfect job of replicating his real dance moves. It’s really lovely.”
The original film is also being screened at the Electric Cinema in Birmingham on Saturday, April 16 2022, ahead of a concert celebrating the TV series’ many themes in the city.
(Image: ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
The events follow the premiere of Gerry Anderson: A Life Uncharted at the BFI Imax, London which was held on April 9, 2022, with Jamie saying he was touched by the audience reaction to the documentary.
“To have a real live audience laughing, gasping, crying. They were whacked with a wave of emotion.
“I don’t think I could have hoped for a better response to that. Ben and I were just so touched.”
He added: “That is kind of the thing I want the audience to walk away with, is wow, I can watch these shows through a new lens now, and think, isn’t this amazing? Look at all these real life influences.”
“There’s so many tragic personal events, crammed into one life story. There’s at least one thing that seems to connect with everybody. I think as he says at the end, ‘it’s a story of a very human being.’
Gerry Anderson: A Life Uncharted is available on BritBox from 14th April.
There are 900,000 people living with dementia in the UK. Alzheimer’s Society provides a range of vital services to support anyone affected by dementia. Visit alzheimers.org.uk or call 0333 150 3456 for more information.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
