The Secret Service

From Conservapedia

The Secret Service is a British television series created by Gerry Anderson, and the last of his Supermarionation series that included more famous series such as Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and Joe 90.

Contents 1 Premise 2 Production 3 Episodes 4 References 5 External Links

Premise

The series followed Father Stanley Unwin (played by comedian Stanley Unwin, whose likeness was used in the series) a country vicar who doubled as a secret agent for B.I.S.H.O.P. (an acronym for British Intelligence Service Headquarters Operation Priest), a government organisation recruiting priests to perform counter-espionage or anti-sabotage operations.

In the series, Father Unwin used a variety of gadgets to help him in his tasks, but his most frequent device was the Minimiser - a shrinking / enlargening ray that was hidden within a Bible. A series of comic-strips released after the television series helped to explain the backstory about the Minimiser and Father Unwin's enrolment into B.I.S.H.O.P.^[1]

Unlike previous Gerry Anderson series, The Secret Service was set in the modern day (i.e. the 1970s) rather than the 21st century, although some futuristic elements were retained in some episodes, most prominently Recall to Service, which referenced a World Army and included stock footage of Angel interceptors from Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, which had been set in the 2060's.^[2]

Production

The Secret Service was first imagined by Gerry Anderson whilst working on Joe 90, when Anderson received the idea of a country vicar being a secret agent, and eventually expanded the idea into his next Supermarionation series.

The government officials used in earlier episodes were deliberately made into stereotypical upper-class Englishmen in the hope of making the series popular in the Deep South of America, who at that time were expressing hatred towards the British.^[3]

A total of 13 episodes were completed, but the series was cancelled when producer Lew Grade objected to Unwin's use of nonsensical language (dubbed "Unwinese") to confuse his enemies, fearing that an American audience would not understand what Unwin was saying (despite the fact that they weren't meant to).

Consequently, the series was aborted, and only aired on a handful of local television stations around London, before being released abroad in New Zealand and later in Japan, where it was released under the title of London Mission X.

The Secret Service would not be re-released until the advent of DVD (in Regions 1 and 2) in 2005.

Episodes

• A Case for the Bishop (first aired September 21, 1969)

• A Question of Miracles (first aired September 28, 1969)

• To Catch a Spy (first aired October 5, 1969)

• The Feathered Spies (first aired October 12, 1969)

• Last Train to Bufflers Halt (first aired October 19, 1969)

• Hole in One (first aired October 26, 1969)

• Recall to Service (first aired November 2, 1969)

• Errand of Mercy (first aired November 9, 1969)

• The Deadly Whisper (first aired November 16, 1969)

• The Cure (first aired November 23, 1969)

• School for Spies (first aired November 30, 1969)

• May-Day, May-Day! (first aired December 7, 1969)

• More Haste, Less Speed (first aired December 14, 1969)

References

External Links

• The Secret Service at the Internet Movie Data Base