With the end of 2023 approaching fast, we’re feeling nostalgic for everything that’s happened in our corner of the Anderson universe this year – and here are five of our favourite projects that you can enjoy completely free over the festive period!
Free audio stories!
Several of our team have recorded free audio stories for you to enjoy in 2023! In April the Official Gerry Anderson Store released Chris Dale’s reading of The Siege, a story from the 1961 storybook Mike Mercury in Supercar! Later in the year, as part of September’s 2023’s Thunderbirds Day celebrations, Andrew Clements recorded two classic Thunderbirds stories; Brains’ Gamble from the 1968 TV21 annual, and Flight to Destruction from the 1992 Thunderbirds annual. All three readings feature music and sound effects, to fully immerse you in the worlds of their respective series – would you like to see more of these in 2024?
A missing episode!
Unlike many of their contemporary series, every episode of the Gerry and Sylvia Anderson shows of the 1960s and 70s still survive to be enjoyed today. However, Anderson television shows of the 1950s are not so fortunate, and among the missing material are episodes of his directorial debut You’ve Never Seen This, a short-lived television series from 1955 focusing on people and places with strange or unusual stories to share. In 2022, episodes 5 and 6 were rediscovered and released on Blu-ray…but episode 3, also part of the same find but missing the first six minutes, has never been released or seen since its original transmission. We were delighted to share this episode with viewers of our YouTube channel earlier this year!
Free documentaries!
Also to be found on our YouTube channel are several documentaries and documentary series, with this year’s additions to the channel including The Terrahawks Story, The Women of UFO and The Making of Joe 90!
An unfilmed script brought to life after more than 60 years!
If you were at the BritSciFi event at the Leicester Space Centre back in June, and came along to the recording of the Gerry Anderson Podcast on the Saturday, you’d have been treated to a live performance of a never-filmed episode of Four Feather Falls! Dusty’s Day, written by series star Nicholas Parsons, was performed in front of a captive (we always lock the doors beforehand) audience, and starred Richard James as Tex Tucker, Chris Dale as Rocky the horse and Doctor Who star Sophie Aldred as Dusty the dog! If you missed it, or were there and would like to see it again, it’s available to watch on our YouTube channel – and you can learn more about the rediscovery of this script in this interview with collector Karl Williams!
And let’s finish with a song!
It’s not often you hear an Anderson character take to the stage to sing a song, but as part of the 10 Months of Terrahawks running throughout 2023 we were lucky enough to dig up an archive recording of Yung-star performing Nessum Dorma! Recorded in 2017 as part of the third volume of the Terrahawks audio dramas, but only briefly heard in the episode Star Crossed, you can now hear Yung-star’s unique interpretation of the classic song on our YouTube channel!
There’s been much more besides – but what’s your favourite Anderson event, moment, merchandise or memory of 2023, and what are you hoping for in 2024? Let us know in the comments below!
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