The Secret Service

1969
The Secret Service

Seasons & Episodes

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EP1 A Case For The Bishop Sep 21, 1969

A Case For The Bishop is the pilot episode of the British Supermarionation television series "The Secret Service". It was written by Gerry & Sylvia Anderson, directed by Alan Perry and was first broadcast in ATV Midlands on the 21st September 1969.

EP2 A Question of Miracles Sep 28, 1969

Two British-designed desalination plants have exploded as they neared 250 hours of operation and an order for ten plants in the United States now hangs in the balance. Suspecting sabotage, the Bishop assigns Unwin and Matthew to ensure that the last remaining plant, at Port Trennick, stays operational.

EP3 To Catch A Spy Oct 05, 1969

Enemy agent George Grey is believed to be being hidden by the influential Sir Humphrey Burton at his country residence. Father Unwin pays Sir Humphrey a visit, enabling a miniaturised Matthew to discover that Grey is to be smuggled out of the house by helijet - if he effects a successful escape, he will take with him details of anti-missile defences and the locations of all reprisal bases!

EP4 The Feathered Spies Oct 12, 1969

Aerial photos of a secret experimental World Air Force fighter plane are being offered on the black market, so Father Unwin and Matthew are assigned to determine how the photographer has managed to breach the restricted overhead access to Crayfield airbase. Their investigations lead them to pigeon fancier John Masden, who seems an unlikely candidate for espionage.

EP5 Last Train To Bufflers Halt Oct 19, 1969

£1 million in used bank notes is travelling to London by express train. One attempt to steal the notes has already been made, so the Bishop assigns Father Unwin and Matthew to protect the train's cargo. After the train is hi-jacked, Unwin finds himself unable to stop the vehicle as it hurtles towards London at 80mph.

EP6 Hole In One Oct 26, 1969

Top secret plans to correct the orbit of the errant G9 satellite are falling into the hands of the opposition and sabotaged. The Bishop suspects that General Brompton is unwittingly leaking the information at his golf course, so Father Unwin tees off with the General to determine how the secrets are being passed to the other side.

EP7 Recall To Service Nov 02, 1969

The Aquatank, a new computer-controlled military vehicle, is to be demonstrated to the NATO heads of defence at the World Army Experimental Vehicle Division base. Anticipating sabotage, the Bishop assigns Father Unwin and Matthew to check security arrangements at the base, and Matthew is on board the Aquatank when it is re-programmed to target the oberservers' blockhouse!

EP8 Errand Of Mercy Nov 09, 1969

Suffering from sunstroke, Father Unwin is retired to bed and prescribed sleeping pills by Dr. Brogan. In his fevered dreams, Unwin finds himself on a dangerous mission to deliver medical supplies to Bishopsville, flying in Gabriel to Africa where he and Matthew are captured by natives and attacked by mercenary fighter jets.

EP9 The Deadly Whisper Nov 16, 1969

Professor Soames has developed a sonic rifle, capable of projecting destructive waves of ultrasonic vibration, accurate to within a centimetre over thirty feet. But three unscrupulous saboteurs intend to use Soames' rifle to bring down an experimental aircraft, holding the Professor's daughter hostage to ensure his complicity. When Father Unwin becomes suspicious and investigates, he too is held prisoner in Soames' house.

EP10 The Cure Nov 23, 1969

Sakov, one of Europe's most astute freelance agents, is trailed by Blake to Greenways Nursing Home, a health farm run by chief therapist Dr. Klam, and the Bishop assigns Father Unwin to find out what his plans are. Sakov engineers the crash of a GK2 test car at a nearby race track, but Unwin is baffled as to how he managed to escape the confines of Klam's theray theatre to carry out his sabotage.

EP11 School For Spies Nov 30, 1969

Father Unwin discovers that a gang of bogus vicars are responsible for a series of sabotage attacks on military installations and vehicles. After one ofthe gang is hospitalised after their latest venture, Unwin masquerades as his replacement, a demolition expert, to infiltrate the gang, but he is soon exposed as an imposter.

EP12 May-Day,May-Day Dec 07, 1969

The Bishop assigns Father Unwin to protect the King of Muldovia during his visit to London, joining his retinue for a flight to New York where the King plans to visit his son. An attempt on the King's life is foiled by Matthew, but the Prince of Muldovia has hidden a bomb aboard the King's private plane and rigged a device that incapacitates the pilot and co-pilot.

EP13 More Haste, Less Speed Dec 14, 1969

Lord Edward and Lady Martha Hazlewell have inherited a counterfeit plate from their father, but the location of the second plate is known only to their father's accomplice, Mullins. Unwin and Matthew trail Mullins to Hazlewell Manor and join a frantic chase to retrieve the second plate from an old barn at Greenacre Farm.
6.6| 0h30m| en| More Info
Released: 21 September 1969 Ended
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Country: United Kingdom
Budget: 0
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Synopsis

The Secret Service is a British children's espionage television series, made by Century 21 for ITC Entertainment and broadcast on Associated Television, Granada Television & Southern Television in 1969. Created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, and produced by David Lane and Reg Hill, it was the eighth and last Century 21 production to feature – in a manner similar to Thunderbirds and other earlier series – marionette puppet characters as part of a filming technique known as "Supermarionation". Under the direction of Gerry Anderson, who wanted to compensate for the inadequacies of Supermarionation and increase the realism of the format, The Secret Service incorporates footage of live actors for long-distance shots. After The Secret Service, Anderson would not work with puppets again until the 1980s, when he produced Terrahawks in "Supermacromation". Episodes of The Secret Service follow the adventures of Father Stanley Unwin, a character voiced by and resembling the real-life comedian of the same name. Outwardly the parish priest of a rural English village, Unwin is in fact a secret agent for BISHOP, a covert branch of British Intelligence that combats criminal and terrorist threats from overseas. Aided by junior operative Matthew Harding, the Father answers to his London-based superior – codenamed "The Bishop" – as he would in his public profession. When faced with the challenge of collecting intelligence in a hostile situation, Unwin and Matthew deploy the "Minimiser", a gadget capable of shrinking Matthew to a fraction of his normal size for the purposes of carrying out secret reconnaissance. A nonsensical gobbledegook of Unwin's formulation is used to confuse and distract enemies when required.

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ShadeGrenade Following 'Joe 90' ( 1968 ), Gerry and Sylvia Anderson decided not to stray too far from the world of international espionage for their next 'Supermarionation' show. 'The Secret Service' was built round a real-life person - actor/comedian Stanley Unwin, the inventor of 'Unwinese', a gobbledygook language.Father Stanley Unwin ( as he was billed in the credits ) was an eccentric priest who lived in a beautiful English country cottage, had a home help called 'Mrs.Appleby' ( voiced by Sylvia ) and a work-shy gardener named Matthew Harding. Whenever a major crisis occurred ( such as top secret documents being stolen or whatever ), B.I.S.H.O.P. ( British Intelligence Secret Headquarters Operation Priest ) contacted the Father through a radio in his hearing aid. A gadget - known as a Minimizer - concealed in his Bible would shrink Matthew to the size of a doll, and Unwin could then carry him round in a specially-adapted briefcase. In the opening episode, Unwin mentioned that the Minimizer was bequeathed to him by one of his parishioner's, the late Professor Humbolt.For thirteen weeks, this unlikely pair of secret agents thwarted villains and routed saboteurs. Father Unwin would often fall back on Unwinese to get him out of scrapes by confusing the enemy.Another interesting feature was the amount of live action footage employed. The real Unwin would drive along a road, stop outside a house, get out, walk to the front door and knock. But when it was opened, the puppet Unwin was suddenly in place. You could not see the join, as Eric Morecambe used to say.With its choral Barry Gray theme tune, 'Service' was a charming series, not too far removed from 'The Avengers' with its idyllic English country setting and bizarre plots ( as a matter of fact, an early 'Avengers' episode was called 'The Little Wonders' and featured enemy agents masquerading as priests ). But Lew Grade - head of I.T.C. - felt the show would not appeal to the American public, and had it cancelled. It was true that the potential for merchandising was severely limited - kids were hardly likely to nag their parents at Christmas for a Dinky toy of 'Gabriel', Father Unwin's Model T Ford. Many I.T.V. regions opted not to screen it. Even when B.B.C.-2 were raiding the Anderson back catalogue for their 6 P.M. Friday slot in the early '90's, they inexplicably passed up a golden opportunity to introduce 'Service' to a new audience.I myself first heard of it through the early '70's children's comic 'Countdown' which ran a strip detailing the story of how Father Unwin acquired the Minimizer. Twenty years later, all thirteen episodes came out on video, and Network have since brought it out on D.V.D.It was the last of the Andersons' famed 'Supermarionation' shows. From here on, it was live action only, commencing with the superb 'U.F.O.'.Timeus to endey this reviewbold. Goodly-byecus!
Enoch Sneed It seems to me that some of us have forgotten that Gerry Anderson's productions were originally aimed at *children*. A generation of confirmed adolescents have laid claim to 'Thunderbirds', 'Captain Scarlet', etc., with their SF elements and spectacular model work. When Mr Anderson decided on a change of pace with a whimsical espionage story people were baffled: "A Gerry Anderson show - starring a Model T Ford? What's that about?" Well, don't forget the 60's was also the era of 'The Avengers', when England's green and pleasant land was full of power-mad eccentrics. It seems to me that Anderson combined elements of 'The Avengers' (off-the-wall spy stories in an apparently innocent setting) with the Father Brown character of GK Chesterton (unobtrusive village priest as super-sleuth). Father Unwin lives in an England of parish churches, tea on the vicarage lawn, and tree-lined country lanes free of traffic. He thinks getting 42 m.p.h. out of his Model T is cutting a dash. If anything I would like to know more about how he came to be involved in B.I.S.H.O.P.The result was not (and is not) to everyone's taste, but it should not be dismissed just because it's different. The stories are not repetitive, although they do repeat the same elements. 'Thunderbirds' is repetitive: a huge disaster requires the fantastic equipment of International Rescue to save the day. Only the circumstances change: skyscraper, monorail, airliner. We saw the launch sequence of Thunderbirds 1 & 2 in every episode.And in my opinion Stanley Unwin was a genius whose wordplay lay as much in the subtle association of ideas (a typewriter becomes a 'tripewriter', a trombone is a 'slideyhuff') as the simple scrambling of the words themselves. Read Unwin's 'House and Garbidge' or 'The Miscillian Manuscript' then John Lennon's books 'In his own write' and 'A Spaniard in the works' to see how influential he was (even those titles are 'Unwinesque'). He could also be extremely quick-witted and funny without resorting to 'Unwinese'. When, as 'Professor Unwin', he was asked about the castrati (male singers who were castrated to preserve their boyish voices) his reply was simple: "I'm not cut out for that sort of thing." Deep joy!
purakek After Thunderbirds and that mysteron series, I looked forward to this Anderson offering. Tried to like it, but it was too slow and the concept of a priest working for the British Secret service (British Intelligence Secret Headquarters Operation Priest or BISHOP) didn't really take off. I guess if I wanna watch a show with marionettes as the cast, I need more toy rockets and explosions.