 Thunderbirds was the fourth Supermarionation puppet TV series to be produced by APF , which was founded by the husband @-@ and @-@ wife duo of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson with their business partners Reg Hill and John Read . <unk> in late 1963 , the series was commissioned by Lew Grade of ITC , APF 's parent company , on the back of the positive audience response to Stingray . 
