Fab! Thunderbirds To Return In New Episodes

Fans of Thunderbirds have helped raise thousands of pounds to bring the puppet show back for three new episodes to mark its 50th anniversary.

A Kickstarter fund launched to raise money for the Thunderbirds 1965 project has already received pledges of over £150,000 from 2,000 people.

Viewers who want to watch the new episodes will have to go to the Kickstarter site and pledge a minimum of £15.

The team behind Lady Penelope, Virgil Tracy and Brains has returned to its "spiritual home" at Slough Trading Estate and the project will use audio recordings first released in 1966 which featured the series' original voice cast.

Gerry Anderson's Thunderbirds was originally written, produced and filmed at SEGRO's Slough Trading Estate between 1964 and 1966.

Stephen La Riviere, producer of Thunderbirds 1965, said: "Technology has moved on in five decades, but our goal is to produce an unashamedly retro episode made with many of the same supermarionation techniques used to bring the puppets and models to life in the 1960s.

"So in my mind it made sense to return to the show's original home in Slough to inspire us in the same way it did the original production team."

Jamie Anderson, son of the late Gerry Anderson, said: "Knowing that Thunderbirds will return to the Slough Trading estate - its spiritual home - fills me with pride, and I cannot wait to see these new episodes being shot on Stirling Road, which was the site of the original studio building where the classic series was filmed."