"Then nightly sings the staring owl: 'Tu-who; Tu-whit, tu-who' - A merry note."
Original UK broadcast: October 12th, 1969 (ATV Midlands)
Written by: Tony Barwick
Directed by: Ian Spurrier
Regular cast: Father Unwin, Matthew, The Bishop, Mrs. Appleby
Additional voice cast:
John Masden Jeremy Wilkin
Dr Groot David Healy
Carl Gary Files
Agent Keith Alexander
Officer Jeremy Wilkin
Operator Gary Files
Aerial photos of a secret experimental World Air Force fighter plane are being offered on the black market. When Father Unwin and Matthew are assigned to determine how the photographer has managed to breach the restricted overhead access to Crayfield airbase, their investigations lead them to pigeon fancier John Masden, who seems an unlikely candidate for espionage...
Usually, directors for a SUPERMARIONATION series would usually promote a pool of directors, but for this episode, only the story was directed by Ian Spurrier. Being first credited for Thunderbird 6 for the lip sync, he would do the same for four episodes of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. Towards the end of Captain Scarlet, he would be promoted to assistant director and became one of the main assistant directors of Joe 90. Here, he would be able to test his skills as a lead director. This episode is another example of how the show would be viewed as weird, the odd methods and presentation in this example, it is in fact quite clever of the antagonists of the episode.
The Captain Ochre is the only major puppet from another series to reappear in this episode as John Masden, whilst the XK4 fighter would return to the series in "The Deadly Whisper", but is the same as the Mach 3 aircraft seen in that episode - even before the series was cancelled. So it may have been reused with the exact same design or slight alterations down the episode line. This story is also one of the only four episodes to feature an original soundtrack by Barry Gray, however, a track can be heard from the Stingray episode The Golden Sea towards the end of the episode.
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The Secret Service: The Vault
Non-FictionThe Secret Service was a 1960s British children's TV series created by Gerry Anderson and the team of Century 21 studios in Slough, from the makers of Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and Space: 1999. This was the final of his television series to feat...
