article_snippet.sent: Thunderbirds aired here between 1964 and 1966 and repeated in 1992 and 2002.
article_snippet.sent: The show spawned a merchandising frenzy, with more than 3,000 Thunderbirds products, from puppets and lunchboxes to T-shirts, so much so that December 1966 was dubbed Thunderbirds Christmas.
article_snippet.sent: Thunderbirds, a 2004 Working Title film with real actors (including Ben Kingsley as arch-villain The Hood), was an unmitigated disaster, losing almost £20 million at the box office.
article_snippet.sent: Remaking something as iconic as Thunderbirds means that your feelings of excitement are mixed with apprehension because you don’t want to do anything to tarnish it,’ says Giles Ridge, the show’s executive producer.
article_snippet.sent: We didn’t want to mess too much with Thunderbirds but needed to make it in a way that would excite 21st-century children.
article_snippet.sent: When they hear of trouble anywhere on the planet their swimming pool slides open to allow a rocket (Thunderbird 1) to take off was made on a factory estate in Slough, Berkshire, on a shoestring budget, but the new production team spans the globe.
article_snippet.sent: Gerry Anderson and Sylvia came up with Thunderbirds after a mining disaster in West Germany in 1963.
article_snippet.sent: On When they hear of trouble anywhere on the planet their swimming pool slides open to allow a rocket (Thunderbird 1) to take off everyone had to multi-task; for Sylvia that meant voicing Lady Penelope, International Rescue’s London agent.
article_snippet.sent: Thunderbirds aired here between 1964 and 1966 and repeated in 1992 and 2002.
highlights_snippet.sent: Thunderbirds, ITV1 tomorrow at 5pm.