The answers may not be what fans are expecting, and can be found in a candid new BritBox<\/a> documentary, Gerry Anderson: A Life Uncharted<\/a>, released on what would have been his 93rd birthday, and nearly 10 years after his death following a diagnosis of Alzheimer\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n Among those to be surprised was its presenter and producer Jamie Anderson \u2013 Gerry\u2019s son from his third marriage. \u201cThe whole process has remodelled my vision of, and my thoughts about, Dad,\u201d says Jamie, 37, during an online chat with Radio Times<\/strong> from his home in Abertysswg, south Wales.<\/p>\n So why did Jamie want to make it? \u201cI go to conventions and have that lovely thing of people saying, \u2018Oh your dad was brilliant, he changed my life and he made my childhood.\u2019 I must have heard it 1,000-plus times and that\u2019s amazing and I don\u2019t want to stop hearing that\u2026 Same as I\u2019m always happy to hear the Thunderbirds March when they play that on the radio and it\u2019s never tiresome. But it\u2019s about separating that public persona from the man behind it.<\/p>\n \u201cQuite often people say, \u2018Where did he get his ideas from?\u2019 and I knew some of the stories, the Mine Disaster [in Germany in 1963] that inspired Thunderbirds<\/a> and that kind of thing, but it\u2019s the step beyond that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The Gerry Anderson Podcast, which Jamie hosts with his friend, the actor Richard James, has also helped him look at his father\u2019s life and career in a different way by talking to guests including broadcasters Samira Ahmed and Matthew Sweet.<\/p>\n \u201cSo when [director] Benjamin Field approached me and said, \u2018Why has nobody ever made a documentary about your dad and his life?\u2019, I thought, \u2018That\u2019s weird you know.\u2019 I mean, there have<\/em> been documentaries but they always tend to focus on the outcome and the process but not the person behind it\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cI had access to this archive which has either not been heard or not been seen before \u2013 or seen in a very limited way \u2013 and thought we could tell an honest story. And Ben from the very beginning said, \u2018I want this to be your dad\u2019s story, it\u2019s about his life.\u2019 This isn\u2019t a list of achievements or a propaganda piece, this is: \u2018Who is this man who made so many childhoods?’\u201d<\/p>\n Anderson\u2019s body of work is extraordinary and much loved: 18 TV series (including Supercar, Fireball XL5, Stingray, Thunderbirds, UFO and Space:1999<\/a>) and four feature films. He also gained and lost a fortune twice over, and had four children from three marriages \u2013 to Betty, Sylvia (his professional partner during the golden-age Supermarionation period) and Jamie\u2019s mother Mary.<\/p> The project has been a voyage of discovery for Jamie, who says he \u201cdidn\u2019t really know\u201d his father. \u201cI always used to say he was a workaholic and I think the era in which he was born and raised had a lot to do with it \u2013 it\u2019s very much that generation of children being seen and not heard. But I\u2019ve learnt about the way that his\u00a0<\/em>childhood and parents impacted on him and that was echoed through his life\u2026 and two failed marriages and losing touch with those children.<\/p>\n \u201cBy the time I was born there were so many influences in his life about how he wanted to parent, he was overprotective but disconnected. He wanted to be there but was very busy and so he expressed his desire to parent in a very peculiar way.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAll these things have become really clear now and it\u2019s been a wonderful experience. But sitting here now makes me very sad because I think in possibly an afternoon\u2019s conversation, knowing what I know now, we could unpick so many things \u2013 which we have unpicked through this documentary.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n A Life Uncharted is a balanced, warts-and-all profile with input from Gerry\u2019s two daughters Linda and Joy, his ex-wife Sylvia who died in 2016, his widow Mary, and colleagues who describe him variously as \u201cone of the most honest chaps I\u2019ve ever met\u201d and \u201ca very evil man\u201d. It\u2019s also deeply moving, and Anderson\u2019s journey from a poor and miserable childhood to a period in which he commanded huge TV budgets and created adored series is an astonishing one.<\/p>\n David Graham, who voiced Parker from Thunderbirds and was a long-time collaborator of Gerry\u2019s, sums up his contribution like this: \u201cPeople like that don\u2019t come along very often who established a whole new genre in entertainment which is loved universally.\u201d<\/p>\n The film is an unflashy contrast to Anderson\u2019s big spectaculars, but one concession to hi-tech is the use of \u2018deepfake\u2019 to re-create the likeness of Gerry, for the practical reason of visually presenting his frank audio statements. \u201cDad was always pushing tech,\u201d says Jamie. \u201cHe would have loved the idea of this being done, so I think it was only fitting. If he was able to give his blessing on it, he absolutely would, probably from pure technical fascination if nothing else.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n So what was the most surprising revelation for Jamie? \u201cThere are things that we learn about Dad\u2019s relationship with his mum, and some of the ways that she behaved and things she said were just heartbreakingly awful. I don\u2019t want to give it fully away but one in particular was just an awful thing to say to a child, and we kind of assumed that it\u2019s the sort of thing that you\u2019d never forget even as an adult. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIn fact we found archive footage of him repeating almost verbatim what was said to him, but 65 years later. So it\u2019s clear what a huge impact it had even though he never really actively recognised it\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Born Gerald Abrahams in London in 1929, Anderson suffered dreadful antisemitism as a child. He idolised his older brother Lionel whose time in the RAF and training in the glamorous USA sparked Gerry\u2019s love of both aviation and showbusiness. Lionel\u2019s death in 1944 when his plane was shot down also had a lifelong effect on Gerry.<\/p>\n So is there a theme that runs through Gerry\u2019s shows? \u201cCertainly things like family units and a unified world,\u201d Jamie replies. \u201cPositivity, utopian futures\u2026 those things came out of an escape from a pretty terrible childhood: imagined worlds, looking to the future, looking to the sky\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n As to which was Gerry\u2019s favourite show, Jamie says: \u201cThunderbirds, because it was the pinnacle, it was the series that made his parents most proud of him, which was massively important to him. He had fondness for some of the later shows. He was always fond of [early 2000s stop-motion series] Lavender Castle, which is little known, not much spoken of, and had a sweetness to it, but he would never look back and be like, \u2018That was a brilliant show, I\u2019m so amazing.\u2019 He would constantly find flaws.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Thunderbirds was an undoubted high spot for Supermarionation and for his creative partnership with second wife Sylvia. And for a time their\u00a0chemistry produced hit after hit. \u201cI don\u2019t think anyone can profess to know why any particular combination of people or creative ideas works. At the time it did,\u201d says Jamie. And as one contributor to the documentary puts it, \u201cGerry was the king of hardware, Sylvia was the queen of software.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The disintegration of their marriage fed directly into their later shows including UFO. \u201cThe lead character, Ed Straker, is the head of a studio with his marriage collapsing,\u201d says Jamie. \u201cIt was Dad\u2019s art imitating Dad\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n And which is Jamie\u2019s favourite of his father\u2019s shows? \u201cMine is Terrahawks and I know that doesn\u2019t appear in a lot of people\u2019s favourites but it was my first introduction to Anderson!\u201d<\/p>\n Famously, Jamie was a big fan of Doctor Who<\/a>, growing up. \u201cYeah, Dad hated it! Back in the early \u201990s when the BBC were reshowing Thunderbirds and Stingray<\/a>, someone at the BBC got wind that I was a fan. He would go into the BBC for marketing meetings about the shows and quite often in the middle of a meeting someone would turn up with a box of Doctor Who VHS tapes for me [laughs<\/em>]. Which I think they did on purpose just to wind him up.<\/p>\n \u201cBut in the documentary 30 Years in the TARDIS he says on camera, \u2018The greatest tragedy of my life is that my son is a Doctor Who fan.\u2019 He just didn\u2019t get it because he went to all these lengths to create these incredible-looking shows and to him, Doctor Who always felt a bit wobbly and cardboard-y, with bug-eyed, bubble-wrap aliens. And for some reason, of all the things his bloody son likes, it\u2019s that! [laughs<\/em>]\u201d<\/p>\n Today, Jamie straddles the two worlds: he\u2019s a producer, director and writer of audio plays for Doctor Who, but is also continuing the legacy of his father\u2019s work. So how does it make Jamie feel that his father\u2019s shows have remained popular, decades later? \u201cOh it\u2019s amazing. We get emails and messages all the time. People saying, \u2018I\u2019ve just introduced my grandkids to it and they love it.\u2019 I mean that\u2019s pretty incredible isn\u2019t it?<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThere is such a high degree of effort and love that went into those shows from everybody involved that it\u2019s helped to keep them timeless.\u201d<\/p>\n And what are his hopes for Gerry Anderson: A Life Uncharted? \u201cTo get people to know Dad, really. Not just the name above the titles but Gerry Anderson the person. Suddenly you\u2019ll see all sorts of things in every single series that are born of frustrations and tragedies and happiness and hopes within his own life. I can tell you now, if you watch the first episode of Thunderbirds after watching this documentary, it\u2019ll be like watching it academically in 4K.\u201d<\/p>\n Gerry Anderson: A Life Uncharted is on BritBox<\/a> from 14th April. Anyone affected by dementia can visit alzheimers.org.uk<\/a>\u00a0or call\u00a00333 150 3456 for more information.<\/strong><\/p>\n The latest issue of Radio Times is on sale now \u2013\u00a0subscribe now<\/a>\u00a0to get each issue delivered to your door. For more from the biggest stars in TV, l<\/strong>isten to the\u00a0Radio Times podcast<\/a>\u00a0with Jane Garvey.<\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n By Mark Braxton Published: Saturday, 09 April 2022 at 12:00 am Years before humans had set foot on the Moon, one man and his team of TV technicians were sending them out into deep space to keep peace in a teeming galaxy, plunging them into deep-sea danger and propelling them to Mars to meet terrifying […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":13612,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/04\/the-man-behind-the-magic-a-new-documentary-profiles-the-creator-of-thunderbirds-and-captain-scarlet.png",1838,1196,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/04\/the-man-behind-the-magic-a-new-documentary-profiles-the-creator-of-thunderbirds-and-captain-scarlet-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/04\/the-man-behind-the-magic-a-new-documentary-profiles-the-creator-of-thunderbirds-and-captain-scarlet-300x195.png",300,195,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/04\/the-man-behind-the-magic-a-new-documentary-profiles-the-creator-of-thunderbirds-and-captain-scarlet-768x500.png",768,500,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/04\/the-man-behind-the-magic-a-new-documentary-profiles-the-creator-of-thunderbirds-and-captain-scarlet-1024x666.png",800,520,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/04\/the-man-behind-the-magic-a-new-documentary-profiles-the-creator-of-thunderbirds-and-captain-scarlet-1536x999.png",1536,999,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/04\/the-man-behind-the-magic-a-new-documentary-profiles-the-creator-of-thunderbirds-and-captain-scarlet.png",1838,1196,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Mark Braxton Published: Saturday, 09 April 2022 at 12:00 am Years before humans had set foot on the Moon, one man and his team of TV technicians were sending them out into deep space to keep peace in a teeming galaxy, plunging them into deep-sea danger and propelling them to Mars to meet terrifying…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/13611"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/Screenshot-2022-03-23-at-07.46.49-735a085.png?quality=90&crop=12px%2C0px%2C608px%2C405px&resize=608%2C405"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
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