Following the show's final broadcasted transmission in the 1970s, The Secret Service has continuously been enjoyed by generations of fans and audiences alike. The Gerry Anderson Appreciation Society, Fanderson, was founded in August 1981 and was in fact requested by ITC. The first attempt to revive the show for new audiences was when ITC New York intended on repackaging their shows for a market in America by Robert Mandell. Under the package "Super Space Theatre", compilations of episodes from ITC shows would be made into feature-length movies. These included features of ITC shows like The Saint and The Persuaders!, but also features like Gerry Anderson's Space 1999. The compilation film Destination Moonbase Alpha was the first Gerry Anderson compilation, essentially re-editing the two-part story The Bringers Of Wonder into a separate film. The intention was for these new films to be syndicated across America under the banner. Other programs such as The Prisoner, Anderson's The Protectors, The Champions and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) were also considered for this new banner.
This would follow for three more Space 1999 features (Alien Attack, Journey Through The Black Sun and Cosmic Princess), three Thunderbirds (Thunderbirds To The Rescue, Thunderbirds In Outer Space and Thunderbirds: Countdown To Disaster), two Captain Scarlet (Captain Scarlet vs The Mysterons and Revenge Of The Mysterons From Mars), two Stingray (The Incredible Voyage Of Stingray and Invaders From The Deep) and one UFO (Invasion: UFO). Neither Joe 90 nor The Secret Service had been shown to the US, therefore it would make it a perfect time for the showing of these two programs in America. Joe 90 had The Amazing Adventures Of Joe 90, whereas The Secret Service was considered for the new syndication, however, nothing came to it.
Over the 1980s and 90s, the series did make appearances in book form (usually Gerry Anderson dedicated books about his life and shows), including SUPERMARIONATION graffiti NO.43: Captain Scarlet from 1984. This book mainly focuses on Captain Scarlet, but does include every Gerry Anderson program from Supercar to Terrahawks. The Japanese book TOWN MOOK SUPER VISUAL SPECIAL 4 ITC SF MECHA GRAFFITI focuses on models and crafts from Supercar up to Terrahawks once again, whilst 1989's Complete Gerry Anderson Episode Guide is largely known as The Incomplete and Largely Inaccurate Gerry Anderson Episode Guide published by Titan Books and contains, as the infamous name suggests, many mistakes of the Anderson productions. In 1993, Simon Archer published the FAB Facts containing much information about the Anderson shows. Another Japanese book, Gerry Anderson's Thunderbirds, features 376 pages about Anderson's work. The 404 paged book The Gerry Anderson Memorabilia Guide complied by Dennis W. Nicholson contains a detailed list of merchandise from The Adventures Of Twizzle right up to the BBC2 repeats of Thunderbirds, Stingray and Captain Scarlet of the 1990s. The Gerry Anderson Authorised Biography in 1996 is a fascinating book detailing the works from The Adventures Of Twizzle right up to Lavender Castle - which had to be aired yet until 1999.
In 1992, the show was finally released on VHS by Polygram Video across four videos, these videos were the first time that the show had been made available to the British public since the 1970s. The episodes followed in the ITC order, with volumes 1 and 2 containing three episodes and 3 and 4 contained four. The Secret Service also received its own minute-long trailer on several other ITC VHS releases. A longer trailer promoting other Anderson programs included Fireball XL5, Space 1999, The Secret Service, Supercar and The Protectors. Although little more merchandise was released, it at least gave audiences to see the series once more. With all videos deleted by 1998, Lew Grade died on 13th December - bringing an end to his incredible television career and distribution. The rights for the films were sold off to Universal and television programs were sold off to the Carlton International Media (ITV) from Polygram at £91 million in early January 1999 and soon began digitally remastering the ITC shows with The Saint, The Persuaders, Danger Man, Jason King, Department S, Man In A Suitcase, Return Of The Saint, The Champions, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), The Prisoner and Thunderbirds.
The Secret Service featured briefly in The Complete Book Of Captain Scarlet published by Carlton Books in 2001 across three pages as the book describes several other Anderson shows that followed Captain Scarlet. The show received its first US showing on 30th December 2003 on DVD, released by A&E Video, distributed by Carlton Video who digitally remastered all thirteen episodes and included a commentary of the opening episode for A Case For The BISHOP with David Lane. The set was released in a two-disc set on 25th June 2005 from Network Distributing with the same prints from Carlton. Obviously, they were remastered at some point around late 2002 for the US release, and the picture quality is outstanding even today - and are in far better condition than Carlton's prints for Thunderbirds and Stingray remastered back in 1999. The extras included picture galleries, original script PDFs and Gerry Anderson commentaries on A Case For The BISHOP and More Haste, Less Speed. He would discuss the development of puppets on the SUPERMARIONATION programs compared to his latest series New Captain Scarlet - one of his proudest achievements.
More books would follow in the new century - The Encyclopedic of Children TV shows (2001), What Made Thunderbirds Go!, The Authorised Biography of Gerry Anderson (2002) and The Complete Gerry Anderson Authorised Guide (2003). Another Japanese book followed in 2005, Captain Scarlet, Joe 90 and The Secret Service. Cult TV; The Golden Age of ITC included pages on every Anderson show from Supercar to Space 1999 when released in 2006. Two more books followed the same year, one by Sylvia Anderson (My F.A.B years) and by Mike Trim (The Future Was F.A.B, the Art Of Mike Trim). In 2008, the Complete Gerry Anderson book was revised, included was all 26 episodes of New Captain Scarlet.
The complete series was released on DVD in Australia on 12th July 2006 under Umbrella Entertainment, including TV spots and behind the scenes images. Meanwhile, the Fanderson Community did release a CD album containing the show's soundtrack in 2007, however, this was only made to those available in Fanderson. The series was released again in Australia in a box set on 2nd December alongside the entire series of both Supercar and Fireball XL5. The series was also released on DVD in France on the 10th February 2011.
Gerry Anderson died on 26th December 2012 at the age of 83, bringing an end to an incredible legacy of a television career. His greatest creation lives on with Thunderbirds Are Go which begun transmitting in 2015, doing justice to Anderson's greatest series and the other cult classics. On 20th October 2014, The Secret Service received its first High Definition release as the newly produced Filmed In SUPERMARIONATION documentary told the story of the entire SUPERMARIONATION story - covering only briefly The Secret Service. HD21: The Worlds Of Gerry Anderson in High Definition Blu Ray contained A Case For The BISHOP on the second of the two discs with other SUPERMATIONATION episodes, whilst More Haste, Less Speed was featured on the This Is SUPERMARIONATION set, also containing other SUPERMARIONATION. Both sets were included in the SUPERMARIONATION box set containing new postcards, the Filmed In SUPERMARIONATION book written by Stephen La Riviere in 2009 and a brand new TV21 comic, issue 243. Although The Secret Service was briefly whisked over and featured little in the other pieces of merchandise, this gave the first chance for the show, and for most of the other SUPERMARIONATION shows to be presented in high definition for the first time. The picture quality, despite being in HD, was only upscaled and was not fully restored.
In 2016, historian Ian Fryer published The World Of Gerry And Sylvia Anderson: The Story Behind International Rescue, featuring several excellent pages on The Secret Service and every show until Space 1999.
50 years later, the show has stood for the test of time. Although it has nowhere near as big as a following as Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet or Space 1999 alone, The Secret Service has still continued to be enjoyed by audiences for decades later, and while one of his most forgotten shows, the series is an enjoyable program with much fun quirkiness and adventure. It is one of television's most ludicrous and fun shows of all time - and will continue to be enjoyed for decades to come, perhaps for another 50 years...
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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...
