The Secret Service - The Complete Series (DVD)

...deservedly almost completely forgotten is the final project of Gerry Anderson's highly lucrative Supermarionation franchise of the late sixties, continuing in the tradition of its predecessor 'Joe 90' to distance Anderson's work from the action-packed science fiction clichés of his more popular projects. It was also allegedly Anderson's personal favourite of his puppet series in a prime example of the "I have done other things" frustration ...
...silly show is better than the classic 'Stingray' are quite clearly unreasonable, but watching this series back as an adult (or something in that general area), it has a lot to offer as a self-conscious commentary of Supermarionation in its twilight year. Even owning the video as a child, I found it amusing for somewhat different reasons than I suspect were intended.

Where Thunderbirds, Stingray and most of the other, previous, better ... more

I'm a bit of a sucker for overlooked or prematurely cancelled TV series, which tend to take on a false sense of maverick awe and unrecognised genius in my clearly distorted mind, even though their brief innings is usually due to them being a bit rubbish.

A bit rubbish, unpopular and deservedly almost completely forgotten is the final project of Gerry Anderson's highly lucrative Supermarionation franchise of the late sixties, continuing in the tradition of its predecessor 'Joe 90' to distance Anderson's work from the action-packed science fiction clichés of his more popular projects. It was also allegedly Anderson's personal favourite of his puppet series in a prime example of the "I have done other things" frustration often experienced by creators of a disproportionately popular phenomenon such as 'Thunderbirds,' who feel that their best work was yet to come. Claims that this silly show is better than the classic 'Stingray' are quite clearly unreasonable, but watching this series back as an adult (or something in that general area), it has a lot to offer as a self-conscious commentary of Supermarionation in its twilight year. Even owning the video as a child, I found it amusing for somewhat different reasons than I suspect were intended.

Where Thunderbirds, Stingray and most of the other, previous, better series focused on an intrepid group of young men racing around the globe, underwater or into space to save lives, 'The Secret Service' is centred around the far more laid-back premise of an old vicar who travels around the local area in his vintage car, generally stopping crime by confusing the culprits with his odd speech and senile mannerisms. The Secret Service succeeds admirably in its quest to distance itself from Thunderbirds, but the success mostly ends there. The changes are plain right from the opening titles, replacing loud explosions and rapid editing with a slow overview of a country church and the star Stanley Unwin looking out of a window at the Nothing that's happening outside.

While there are abundant rumours concerning the supposed resemblance of Supermarionation puppet characters to real-life individuals, the lead character of this final series was the first to be based almost entirely on the celebrity star voice actor who shared his name. The problem with this as a publicity stunt (which it clearly was not) is that the celebrity in question was Stanley Unwin, a well-liked old man whose respectable broadcasting career has been overshadowed by his unusual manner of talking, the much-imitated 'Unwin-ese,' and who not a lot of people may have been familiar with, particularly outside Britain. For this role, providing the voice of a puppet who shared his name and approximate likeness and occasionally performing live-action work when the character was in the background or required to do something technically complex like knock on a door, Unwin was provided with scripts for all thirteen episodes which he then partially translated into Unwinese to intended hilarious effect, generally changing a few words around and adding '-bold' to the ends of nouns.

Father Unwin's day job as a Priest serves as a cover for his spy-battling activities in the employment of an organisation called B.I.S.H.O.P. Assisting the vicar in his service of their unseen boss 'the Bishop' is Matthew, Stanley's gardener who travels around covertly inside the vicar's briefcase, having been shrunken down to two feet in height by some sort of ray in each episode. It's all rather odd, but fantastically quaint and eccentric, and acts as a fitting final chapter for Gerry Anderson's sixties career before he moved on to live action projects. What makes it so enjoyable for me is the obvious tongue-in-cheek approach taken with the show, as Supermarionation balances on the edge of farce; not only are viewers treated to Anderson's most convoluted acronym yet (in this case standing for 'British Intelligence Secret Headquarters, Operation: Priest'), but the entire premise seems determined to make fun of undercover spy series of which Anderson was clearly fond, Matthew's mode of transport even paying homage to ITV's earlier series 'Man in a Suitcase' by appropriating its title at face value. The concept is quite thin and would have needed to be significantly stretched to encompass the usual thirty-something run of these series, were it not cancelled mid-way due to poor performance and probably no small degree of confusion from executives who had hoped for another 'Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons' as opposed to 'Old Vicar and the Incredible, Moderately-Shrunken Man.'

The contemporary countryside setting provides another striking contrast to the rest of Anderson's series, and also avoids the need for large explosions, exotic sets and operational miniatures each week, which must have saved the show an enormous amount of its budget, but is also a little sad considering the heights that Supermarionation had reached by the end. 'Captain Scarlet' had finally seen the end of bulbous, oversized heads in place of a more realistic appearance (apparently by moving the mechanisms down into the body rather than inside the skull), and the strings were becoming less obvious all the time. While this is the most realistic of Anderson's puppet series along with its predecessor 'Joe 90,' this is at a cost to its entertainment value, as the high frequency of live action inserts draws uncomfortable attention to the puppets when they reappear. This raises the question of why this was created as a puppet show at all, and not a live action show along the lines of 'U.F.O.', which was produced around the same time. I'm personally very happy with the unique mixed format, as it allows for perhaps the series' finest in-joke, as the shrunken Matthew is exactly proportional to the 'real' size of the puppet, allowing for several amusing scenes of the character being manoeuvred around actors' legs and normal-size sets that I suppose were intended to be taken seriously, despite overflowing with irony.

The repetition of scenes common to these series are still present and are always highly anticipated, particularly Stanley's question, "are you ready, Matthew?" that inaugurates the hilarious shrinking sequence. The Unwin-ese may not be enjoyed so much now as it was in Unwin's heyday - personally I don't find it particularly funny, certainly not as much as the thought that Matthew is curled up inside the vicar's briefcase as he speaks - but it was a well thought-out contrivance to use it in the service of secret messages between them, satisfyingly communicated through the vicar's hearing aid right under the stupid villains' plastic noses. Father Unwin may not be as cool as Steve Zodiac or Troy Tempest, but his jabbering old man is a memorable protagonist, and aids the realism of the dialogue.

'The Secret Service' isn't a stroke of forgotten genius or a lost gem, but it's an amusing treat for fans of similar puppet series or perhaps even live-action spy series of the time, though it requires a significant suspension of disbelief even compared to those. It has much to offer if viewed as a postmodern self-parody, but in its serious focus on realistic espionage it lacks the high-energy thrill of 'Thunderbirds,' the intelligent sci-fi adventure of 'Captain Scarlet' and 'Stingray,' and the stupid, slightly racist, scientifically-inaccurate-fi fun of 'Fireball XL5.' I'd rather watch it than 'Supercar' or 'Joe 90' any day, but I guess it was a bit rubbish after all.

The complete series is now available on DVD, but so are a lot of better shows that you should check out first. 

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