Unfortunately, The Secret Service has mostly had negative criticism.
Leo Eaton stated that he thought The Secret Service was "just a bit weird", whilst Desmond Saunders said the idea was "Strange, I suppose it was the gobbledegook and the mixture of live-action with puppets. It never seemed to me to be a very good idea". Even though Anderson stated the show to be his favourite of all his programs, this proves that even among the crew of the production team that the series was not viewed to be popular - which means that it won't be likely that the audience will enjoy the series. The series does have fewer action sequences compared to other shows, making it a slower program to watch compared to the action-orientated Thunderbirds. The series also features little appeal to the American market, for example, there were no American leads which were always something that would be made easier to sell to the US as they are more likely to have all the futuristic gadgets. Stephen La Rivière has stated that the show, more specifically the final episode, has more of a gentler feel like the days of Supercar whilst being "glorious" and "wonderfully quirky".
Furthermore, he also states that the main protagonist (a secret agent described as a priest) wouldn't appeal to children, which is fairly obvious at this point. "The puppets and special effects had always worked well together because they existed in the same artificial universe. By contrast, no such forgiveness is extended when you see a puppet in a car, then cut to a human getting out of the vehicle and walking across the road. The viewers simply find themselves removed from the storytelling, as the brain knows that the shots do not match". This also shows that the blend of live-action and marionettes only distracts from the main action and entertainment, leaving them to criticize the series further.
TV Historian Ian Fryer also gives a negative review of the series - describing that the show would have no appeal to someone like himself if he was young. The espionage themes may not have worked in America anyway if the series was sold there any way in his view, he gives the examples of The Man From U.N.C.L.E which had been cancelled the following year, and The Avengers had finished airing in the UK a couple of years even before The Secret Service started airing. Another factor is that by this time SUPERMATIONATION had become outdated, not only was this the 7th of these programs, but the team could move into live-action just as well with Doppleganger (1969). Science fiction author John Peel has also described the series to be "Completely pointless" and "Bizarre in the extreme", stating that Father Unwin is in no way amusing, who stated that the series "marked the death knell of SUPERMARIONATION" and that the Andersons went to the absolute peak with Thunderbirds down to the low-point of The Secret Service. Peel has also said that the every other SUPERMATIONATION series after Thunderbirds, the Andersons made one mistake after another. Stanley Unwin himself praised the Unwinese elements and its offbeat nature.
Paul O' Brian describes that "The clerical vocation of the main character also introduces the issue of faith – the series doesn't so much preach any religion as such but rather demonstrates people putting faith in each other. In trusting the eccentric Unwin (blind faith as it happens, as (Unwin) appears to be talking utter nonsense), Professor Graham (in Recall To Service) helps to avert the disaster. Unwin circumspectly passes it off as "a miracle of science", avoiding any awkward questions. In several other episodes, it's interesting that he implies that his successes (achieved using the science of the Minimiser) are down to divine intervention". Toonhound.com have further criticisms involving the blend of live-action with puppets, "Of course, the burning question is, does it work? – And one has to answer with an uncomfortable "yes". It does work. But in succeeding to make the puppets "real", the show has lost much of the reason for being a puppet series in the first place. The series might have worked even more successful had it been a fully-fledged live-action production".
The website Den Of Geek has even labelled their review of the series "The utter weirdness of The Secret Service". "If that seems odd and contrived, then the choice of personality to play Father Unwin came right from the same one that thought a dog who can say 'sausages' was hilarious. The comedian Stanley Unwin, because they couldn't be bothered to think up a new name for him in the show, was famous for communicating through an entirely mangled version of the English language, 'unwinese'". Historian Nicholas J Cull describes ultimately that the series was the Anderson's "one flop".
This is all more than just enough that the series didn't work out well; it was cancelled at once by Lew Grade, the idea didn't work, it had very little appeal, the audience was tired, and the series was responsible for ending SUPERMARIONATION. Was it a flop?
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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...
