Anglia, Border, Grampian, London and Southern regions. It premiered on Channel Television, ATV Midlands and Westward Television on 6 October and Granada Television on 30 December. First shown in black and white, it was broadcast in colour for the first time in December 1969. The series received little publicity but replicated the success of earlier Supermarionation productions. It was repeated on ITV in 1981 and on BBC2 in the early 1990s, with further repeats in the early 00s.Bentley 2017, p. 194. In the US, the series was first shown in 1965. Premiering in colour, it was syndicated across more than 100 markets with sales exceeding £3 million.Rogers et al., p. 94. It ran on the Sci-Fi Channel in 1994 as part of the Cartoon Quest block. In New Zealand, TVNZ screened the show during the mid-1980s in its weekend early morning kids block, along with a number of other Gerry Anderson shows from the 60s and 70s. Critical response Writing in 2006, Robert Sellers described Stingray as the "first truly classic Anderson show", whose special effects "have stood the test of time remarkably well." Daniel O'Brien, author of SF:UK: How British Science Fiction Changed the World, considers it to be "perhaps the archetypal Gerry Anderson series". Ranking the Anderson productions, Morgan Jeffery of Digital Spy places Stingray fourth, calling it "a kids' adventure serial of the highest order". Andrew Blair of Den of Geek believes that when grouped with Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, Stingray is "the lesser of the Holy Triumvirate of Supermarionation [...] It's shorter than the former, and lighter than the latter, giving it a comparatively breezy feel." He also describes it as "inherently a matinee adventure, an inspiring rush of mild peril and jaunty escapades". Comparing Stingray to the Andersons' earlier productions, media historian Marcus Hearn writes that the series essentially "[transfers] the format of Fireball XL5 to an underwater setting." Peel suggests that the decision to locate the action under the sea was influenced by the 1960s vogue for ocean exploration inspired by adventurers such as Jacques Cousteau and Thor Heyerdahl. Kim Newman describes Stingray as a "patrol show" in the same vein as Fireball XL5 and Supercar. Clark notes that Stingray, like its space-bound precursor, uses "some very simple elements – a four-square hero, a fantastic craft which lends its name to the show and a mix of fast-paced action and innocent