Like the other shows before it, The Secret Service would require a set of writers "in the house", meaning that a set of writers would write the entire series together. Gerry and Sylvia Anderson would write the first episode of the series, as with any SUPERMARIONATION series, setting the tone of the series they would like, which would introduce audiences to the new series and the characters, premise and vehicles. Producer David Lane also assisted in the first episode being written up, he had been made producer on Joe 90 due to Gerry Anderson's commitment being mostly taken up on Doppleganger (1969), Lane would maintain this role for The Secret Service.
The writer of May-Day, May-Day was Bob Keston, a newcomer to SUPERMATIONATION. Although he had worked in Canada as a scientific journalist, he moved over to the UK and began writing professionally for comics. He would continue his writing career with the BBC's Dr. Finaly's Casebook, the 1962 film K.I.L.1 and the 1960 Armchair Theatre Production The Innocent. Shane Rimmer would also write only one episode of the series, Hole In One, obviously inspired by Rimmer and Script Editor Tony Barwick's love of golf. He migrated to the UK originally as a cabaret singer but would become an actor and star in plays in Leeds when he got a call from Gerry and Sylvia Anderson to do the voice of Scott Tracy in Thunderbirds. Scott Tracy has proven to be one of the most popular Gerry Anderson characters throughout his career and would star as Scott in both feature films of Thunderbirds, before he would lend voice talents for Captain Scarlet and Joe 90, before beginning to write for episodes of those shows (Avalanche, Expo 2068, Inferno, Big Fish, Relative Danger and Breakout to name a few), and would even occasionally voice in several episodes. Although writing for this episode, Rimmer made no voice casts throughout The Secret Service. For UFO, he would appear in Identified and would continue to star (or even write) for some episodes in the 1970s, like Space 1999's Space Brain. Rimmer also provided the voice as the titular detective in Dick Spanner and in the 1986 pilot Space Police, although he didn't appear as the main role as Brogan as he was considered too old to take on as the lead of the series. Shane Rimmer is also noted for his work in Doctor Who (The Gunfighters) and appearances across the James Bond films. He released his autobiography in 2010 entitled "From Thunderbirds to Pterodactyl". Shane Rimmer sadly died in March 2019. It would have been nice if he made a cameo appearance in the Thunderbirds reboot "Thunderbirds Are Go". F.A.B Scott.
Donald James contributed to three scripts (A Question Of Miracles, The Deadly Whisper and School For Spies), having co-written Doppleganger and writing three Joe 90 scripts late in the show's run (The Professional, Test Flight and Trial At Sea). James had made association with Tony Barwick when writing the books including The Penguin Dictionary of the Third Reich and The Fortune Teller. He is also well-known for the work he provided for Associated-Rediffusion's No Hiding Place as well as writing scripts for The Saint in the show's final series, The Avengers, Mission Impossible, The Persuaders!, Department S and for a variety of scripts for The Champions. He would later write for UFO (Kill Straker), a variety of Series One episodes of The Protectors, and Space 1999 (The Exiles, Journey To Where and The Seance Spectre). He died in London in April 2008. Pat Dunlop would write To Catch A Spy, Recall To Service and The Cure. Dunlop had already written for the Joe 90 episode Mission X-41 and was the father of actress Lesley Dunlop. Pat had written for United!, Dr. Finlay's Casebook, Z-Cars, Dixon Of Dock Green and The Bill. He would go on to have a successful career later in American television.
The script editor for the show who commissioned writers to pen stories was Tony Barwick, who would write the majority of the episodes. After being commissioned an assistant script editor on the first series of Thunderbirds to lengthen the episode to fifty minutes, he was then given the task of writing scripts for the second series, starting with Lord Parker's 'Oliday and Ricochet. With Thunderbirds cancelled, he was made script editor of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, where he would write the majority of episodes, along with Joe 90 and The Secret Service, UFO and The Protectors. With so much work on The Protectors, it made him unavailable for Space 1999 Year 1, but would return to write the Year 2 episodes One Moment Of Humanity and The AB Chrysalis. He would also write most episodes of Terrahawks, under funny pseudonyms and return once more for Dick Spanner, being credited as "Harry Bolt". His other writing credits include The Pathfinders, The Persuaders!, The Professionals and would even write an ultimately rejected script for James Bond's Moonraker.
YOU ARE READING
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...
