The Secret Service

The Secret Service is a British children's espionage television series produced by Century 21 for ITC Entertainment and broadcast on Associated Television, Granada Television, and Southern Television in 1969. Created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, and produced by David Lane and Reg Hill, it was the eighth and final Century 21 production to use marionette puppet characters as part of the "Supermarionation" filming technique, similar to Thunderbirds and other earlier series. Directed by Gerry Anderson, who aimed to address the limitations of Supermarionation and enhance the realism of the format, The Secret Service includes footage of live actors for long-distance shots. Anderson did not return to puppetry until the 1980s, when he produced Terrahawks in "Supermacromation". The episodes follow the adventures of Father Stanley Unwin, a character voiced by and resembling the real-life comedian of the same name. On the surface, Unwin is the parish priest of a rural English village, but he is actually a secret agent for BISHOP, a covert branch of British Intelligence that deals with criminal and terrorist threats from abroad. Assisted by junior operative Matthew Harding, Unwin reports to his London-based superior, codenamed "The Bishop," in a manner consistent with his public role. When required to gather intelligence in hostile environments, Unwin and Matthew use the "Minimiser," a device that shrinks Matthew to a fraction of his size for secret reconnaissance. Unwin also employs a nonsensical gobbledegook of his own creation to confuse and distract enemies when necessary.

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