Anderson Entertainment’s Jamie Anderson and Tim Collins discuss news, views and Terrahawks booze

Jamie, Tim – lovely to see you. Last time we caught up, we spoke about Century 21 and your Cartoon Museum exhibition. I understand that went well! Since then, you’ve inked a new deal with ITV. What else is new?
Tim: Well, Deej, last time we updated you, we’d just done a big deal with ITV, one which essentially gave us what we call a cross-category license. That meant we could become a manufacturer, creating and sourcing a range of merchandise to sell through the Gerry Anderson Store. We can also do deals with wholesalers and other retailers to get product into people’s hands on a global basis.

Which was huge for you…
Tim: It was; it was a big, big step for us. It’s quite an unusual situation because – obviously – there were other licensees doing collectibles and other bits and bobs. And we were taking some of their product to sell on our store, of course, but this has paved the way for us to make a big investment.

And just in case, Tim, people missed a couple of our other chats, what was the first area you explored?
Tim: The first area we really got on board with was book publishing. We created a couple of different formats that we continue to apply to many of our IPs. The technical manual for Moon Base Alpha came first; a sort-of behind-the-scenes concept for Space: 1999…

People can read about that here, but – in brief – what was the idea there?
Readers imagined they were astronauts sent to Moon Base Alpha… And this was your guide to everything: how the Eagle works, where the communication system is, where the nuclear dump is – all of that sort of stuff.

Beautifully produced as I recall.
Tim: Thank you! Yes… That launched September 21st, 2021. I think we’ve sold around 7,000 of those over multiple print runs. We followed that up last year with the same sort of format for UFO. And a couple of months ago we launched Joe 90. The key thing about those books – created by one of our team, Chris Thompson – is that they’re very visual. So it’s not taking stills from a TV show, it’s not just boring blueprints… It’s new content, in effect, that fans love because it’s very much in universe.

Yes – I think Chris spoke to us too… I’ll link to that here as well. That was around the time of the new Captain Scarlet books…
Tim: Right. And, of course, with Stingray’s 60th anniversary being next year, you can probably guess where we’re going to go next! And you know what will be 60 in 2025, Deej?!

Is it me? I bloody feel it!
Tim: Ha! No, no! The answer is Thunderbirds!

Ah! That’s a relief! Thunderbirds at 60, though. That must be incredibly exciting .
Tim: Well, in a sense that new license from ITV gives us the green light to invest in all kinds of interesting things. Meanwhile, we’ve also carried on doing comic anthologies… Reprints of comic strips taken from multiple sources; the shows in period, together with some interesting stuff about the artists and writers, foreign editions and things like that. Because fans love that sort of thing. So those are the two big categories in terms of non-fiction.

And fiction?
Tim: Fiction too! We’ve done novelizations and things like that. They’ve been primarily limited to reprints of things that happened before… Very helpful for fans to have these books in print. All very much packaged with new Anderson branding – so it feels premium, and the right direction of travel.

Well, something I think you chaps really get right is balancing the nostalgia of your brands and real creativity. I’m thinking about the Moon Base Alpha book as an example. You expanded the brand in a really original, authentic way – which some comparable properties fail to do… How is it that you get it right so often?
Jamie: Well, thank you for thinking we do get it right!

Tim: I think the key thing with fan IPs is to have people who know what they’re doing. Not just people creating products, and the detail of those products, but people who also understand the customer. The people have to be fans, but commercially minded fans because each product’s got to withstand the stress test of commercial reality. I think only someone that really understands the IP, and has talented people to make it work cost effectively, can execute some of the things we’ve done. So, when we made the investment on the technical manuals, we knew the content would help with other things we do too.

Such as?
Jamie: Well, there are a couple of things we’d like to talk about, actually. But, for example, if we were to do video gaming, the fact that we’ve already created 3D models would help. So we’re doing things retrospectively that we couldn’t have done in 1963; things that would most likely be done today by a big studio.

Got it. It’s that approach of ‘get everything you can out of everything you’ve got’ – which, presumably, there wasn’t time or need to do back in the 1960s. Of which, you chaps came to mind the other day because there’s an auction coming up… And it seems to me that, every few years, you might find something lost; something relating to your IP.
Jamie: Yes, from time to time a screen-worn costumes or on-screen prop comes up. There’s an original Space: 1999 suit coming up in the auction you mentioned.

And that’s something that fans must find painful! Knowing that when a lot of the Anderson things came to an end way back, an awful lot of stuff just got junked; it got put in a skip.
Jamie: Yes. It went to landfill, sadly.

But presumably, some people took stuff out of the skip, thinking, “I’ll keep that as a memento!” And some of it was cast to the winds! So when something comes up on an auction site, do you then look at it thinking, “If we could get our hands on that, then we could retrofit that part of the IP?
Jamie: It’s quite rare, actually, that there’s a commercial opportunity following an auction. If we got Martin Landau’s spacesuit, for example, what could we did with it? We could display it somewhere – but that’s about it. And fortunately, there are some very generous fans out there that would help us with that anyway…

Fans who collect memorabilia?
Jamie: Right. James Winch comes to mind – he has a vast Space: 1999 collection, collated over 30 years. He has the biggest collection, I think, of screen-used and screen-worn props and costumes. So if we need access to something, then he gives us access. The fans tend to be really, really generous like that. And in a way, it almost feels wrong for us to be hoovering up archive items, unless they feel like they really belong with us, because we’d be depriving fans.

Can you give me an example of something that would – as you put it –
feel like it belongs with you?
Jamie: Yes, there are a couple of good examples. There was an auction a couple of years ago, of stuff owned by a guy who worked on Terrahawks, Julian Bell. Sadly, Julian passed away… And in his collection was some paperwork from from a lost Anderson IP called The Hit Squad. So that was an auction item that we felt might be better with us…

And when you say it was lost IP? You didn’t have any other info on it?
Jamie: Right. We had no record of it; we had no other material. So yes, that’s one where we thought it should go back into the archive because we’re not doing any fan any harm by having that in the filing cabinet. Whereas if we buy models, say, and put them in a warehouse, then nobody gets to see them. That feels wrong.

Got it. And it was The Hit Squad of which I was thinking… That made me wonder if there’s a possibility that, like The Hit Squad, there is other IP about which you don’t know?
Jamie: Well, yes – stuff turns up from time to time and surprises us because dad was just so ridiculously prolific. So there are always things that could crop up… I think the kind of nostalgia mine has has mostly been drilled, though, so I’m not sure what’s left out there. But I’m always ready to be surprised.

Expect the unexpected…
Jamie: Nice! And because dad never stopped, it is very possible that someone somewhere has got a one pager for some show I’ve never heard of from 1982.

Well, that’s what people would be delighted to think! It’s like thinking about a lost Hancock script, or the lost episodes of Dad’s Army, or Dr. Who that somebody somewhere might have… There might be one more Gerry Anderson thing that you’re missing. And that leads me to the recent loss of Network Distributing… I lamented their closure in an opinion piece here. But I wanted to ask: how does that impact you?
Jamie: Well, first it’s very, very sad. Network was a vital component of the cult TV and film landscape – it really was… As you know, they brought out hundreds and hundreds of titles that would otherwise never have seen the light of day, let alone been restored. And we had a very good relationship with the late Tim Beddows, who was MD of Network. Tim was a great supporter of what we were trying to do. We partnered on a lot stuff… They also took home-entertainment rights for most of our own titles, and we’d contribute to their releases of ITV owned titles.

Was anything missing from their offering?
Jamie: There was only one Anderson series that wasn’t available on any kind of physical media, which was Lavender Castle. That’s owned by Dreamworks. Network had everything else; they were very much the main outlet for Anderson specific content, so it was sad to see them vanish – overnight, essentially.

Yes. That’s brutal.
Jamie: And you can see the demand and the desire for stuff now because if you go onto amazon and look for old Network releases of Captain Scarlet and Joe 90, there are Blu-Ray versions available… £300, £400, £500 a set. And people are buying them. They’re paying for those things. So yes, Network closing left a big gap in general, and for us specifically. And we very quickly decided we wanted to make sure Anderson stuff was still physically available. You know, people in the industry keep saying that DVD and Blu-Ray are in the winter of their lives but – well… It’s been a bloody long winter!

Tim: Ha! Same with vinyl music for many years.

Jamie: Right. It keeps going! And Inthink there’ll always be a place for physical media as long as you have these moments in the streaming world where licenses end and content just disappears! It’s not for everyone, but it amazes me how many people still do have the means to play DVDs and Blu-Rays, and they’re still still buying them.

You don’t need to sell me on that – I’ve actually stockpiled old DVD players. Because I have plenty of stuff on DVD that’s very unlikely to get a streaming release… And plenty of titles that come and go. I can’t be alone in wanting to watch something when I want to watch it! I don’t want to spend weeks checking to see whether anyone plans to stream stuff again. So, yes – physical media has its place, and Network were doing a great job for people like me. But in terms of plugging that gap for your own stuff, how have you done that?
Jamie: Naturally, when Network ceased trading, the rights to our IP came back to us. And we very quickly turned those around to do our own physical releases of some of the titles. So the Stand By for Action! concert, and the recent documentary, A Life Uncharted… The Lost Worlds of Gerry Anderson, New Captain Scarlet – all those titles have come back to us, and we’ve tried to maintain continuity there. There are also some titles outside of that. So after Network went down, I spoke to the son of Roberta Lee, who was the creator of Twizzle and Torchy.

Good God! That’s going back a bit!
Jamie: Right. 1957! After she and dad worked on that, they fell out somewhat and she went off to work with Arthur Provis – dad’s former business partner. He was the P in AP Films to dad’s A! Anyway, Roberta and Arthur made a couple of shows, including one called Space Patrol. This was a puppet show, very much like Fireball XL5. We did a deal with the Roberta Lee Estate to make sure Space Patrol is now available on Blu-Ray because it felt like a good fit. So we’re not exclusively locked to Anderson stuff. We’ll go a bit wider when we think it’s relevant to the fan base.

Feels like a neat way to bring that out, yes. I’m astonished, though, that you were able to pivot so quickly after Network went down. You do work hard!
Jamie: Well, another thing that makes us different is that we already have a very active consumer base that’s buying products from us all over the world, and we can share things directly with them. We can say, “Go and buy the new Space Patrol DVDs here…” We’re not entirely depending on third parties. That also makes the margins more attractive on smaller volumes. So having the rights, the manufacturing or sourcing capability, the partners and the direct-to-consumer platform make it cost effective. If we still had to then go and work just with HMV and Forbidden Planet, it becomes not so attractive.

And to clarify: you’ve been building your fan base and nurturing them over the years when Network was still going… Presumably, you couldn’t have pivoted like that ten years ago?
Jamie: Ha! No! No, we wouldn’t have had the infrastructure, the team, the operational stuff. Just wouldn’t have been there. We’ve been fortunate in that we’ve now become the main source for anything Anderson, across all categories… Which I think is a good thing for fans. It also means we’re not just doing reversions of existing physical products. We’re actively creating new physical product currently. So yes, special editions and anniversary editions, one of which will be out next year for, uh – one of the shows… So it’s not simply a case of continuity, but also expansionism.

And you said “one of the shows” there, Jamie, just coyly enough to make me think you’re not quiiiiiite ready to say which show. So naturally, I have to see if I can I prod you on that…
Jamie: Well… When’s this coming out, Deej?

When do you want it to come out?!
Jamie: Ha! Well, I’m always in favour of going sooner rather than later! So the one we’re apparently announcing now is Into Infinity, which was dad’s 1976 TV pilot. It was also known as The Day After Tomorrow. We’re doing a special edition Blu-Ray for the end of the year, with a brand new audio commentary from Brian Blessed. We recorded new interview stuff with him which will be out for the end of the year. So there’s an example.

And for those that don’t know the show, what’s the synopsis there?
Jamie: Mankind’s last hope, a group of adults and children are sent off, in the Lightship Alair, to find a new home for mankind. It’s with Anderson stalwarts Nick Tate and Brian Blessed, with narration by Ed Bishop. It was a pilot made for NBC which didn’t make it to series.

Well respected, though… “An overlooked gem” it says in this review!
Jamie: Yes, it’s quite a niche, one-off pilot which is now getting the love and attention it deserves. And, again, like we’ve got these technical operations manuals and comic anthologies, and we’re doing a new making-of thread, starting with The Secret Service – which is an unusual place to start – but has proved to be relatively interesting to fans. It’s the same for this: a one-off lavishly packaged and accompanied release with value-added material.

And you had a little chuckle when you said “it’s an interesting place to start”. Then why start there?!
Jamie: Ha! Good question! Because there’s virtually nothing out there on The Secret Service. And we’d actually started this project several years ago, but our license didn’t really allow for it at the time. Also, I wanted to add another more accessible thread, because we’ve had some lovely books from other publishers, like the Vault books, Space: 1999: The Vault and Thunderbirds: The Vault… These big, hardback things.

Which are what?
Jamie: Oh, they look at all sorts of scripts and toys, props and collectibles from across the years. But I think making the shows, and looking at how and why they were made – making that accessible to people is really important. So presenting The Secret Service that way is presenting the least accessible show in the most accessible way.

Great sentence! You can take the rest of the day off, Jamie, it’s not going to get better than that!
Jamie: Thank you. Goodbye!

Tim, you’re on your own! What else is new?
Tim: It’s probably worth mentioning that we’ve expanded our license until the
the end of 2027… Conveniently, that lets us do all of those anniversaries we mentioned earlier. So Space: 1999 turns 50, Thunderbirds turns 60, Stingray turns 60. Lots of interesting stuff there for fans. But the key area in terms of expansion is new editorial content. We can’t share details today, but it allows us to do fiction, graphic novels and so on… Very much in the universe of the period.

And that’s a big change because there hasn’t been a new Thunderbirds story for an awfully long time… How long?
Jamie: 20 years…

20 YEARS? Wow. Maybe I really am 60! Now Tim, such is the keenness of my observation skills, I see you’ve started unboxing something. What’s this?
Tim: It’s a box with some black foam in it… And an Eagle!

Oh, look at that. Beautiful! This is a replica of the Space: 1999 ship? For sale?
Tim: It is. And it has a launchpad base for it to rest on…

The Eagle has landed! Absolutely beautiful. You’re making these as collectibles?
Tim: Right. This is a big investment for us in terms of time… And cash, obviously! So we’ve spent some money on the research and development, the tooling and manufacturing for collectibles. And the reason for that is – quite simply – that fans tell us repeatedly that they want collectibles… Collectibles, books, and t-shirts. Well, anyone can do a tee shirt – it’s not very interesting to us. But a quality collectible is something we want to dive into. And we have two variants of the Eagle… This one and the Rescue Eagle, which has got red stripes on the module.

And from the way you unboxed it, I sense that this isn’t out yet…
Tim: No, we haven’t launched it yet. It’s something we’ve been working on for about a year. We’ve asked some fans how interested they are… But no pricing, no dates, no specifications – very hush-hush. By the end of the year, though, that should launch. The products will be coming into the UK at the end of the year if we airfreight them.

Okay. As quick as that? That’s going some. And presumably this is the first of many?
Tim: I hope so! I mean, there are 20 or 30 vehicles we could quickly name that could all fit a similar sort of pattern; similar sort of size. Not too big to fit on your shelf… They have to be of a size that lets people build a little collection. And going back to what we discussed about the technical manual, some of the content in that will see its way into the collectibles range. Some of the spacecraft detail, the CGI that we employed can be reused, essentially.

And I think it’s safe to say that this is incredibly authentic…
Tim: You know, if you get a collection of these toys from the 1960s and 70s and put them on a table, there’ll be loads of weird stuff going on. Dinky, for example, did a line of Eagles in the 70s. They decided, in their wisdom, that they couldn’t sell a white or grey toy. So they painted them different colours.

Did they? What were the – that makes no sense! What were the colours?
There was a metallic green one and a blue one. They did do a white one as well, to be fair, but the green one and the blue one were the most famous. They decided white toys wouldn’t sell, so they just coloured them.

Gosh, that’s an extraordinary liberty – and I would’ve thought that the only people that cared to get those toy would be people that cared to get a toy that looks right! How extraordinary.
Tim: And today’s collectors certainly want authenticity. I don’t think we’d go out and launch a blue Eagle without some massive justification. And we’re looking forward to launching this… If you look on the Gerry Anderson Shop site, there’s a sign-up page for information about these Eagles. We probably don’t want to divulge too much more than that… They’re coming. We’re not saying when, we’re not saying how much they’re selling for and – in fairness, Deej, you’ve probably seen more of the product than anyone else.

Well, I’m really glad you like that, Deej, because we’re going to go from the sublime to the ridiculous now. This is a copy of the new Four Corners book, we’ll just show you a few pages…

Um… Okay… Couple of questions, then… First, what the fuck is this?!
Jamie and Tim: Ha!

Second: have I fallen asleep? Am I having a horrible fever dream?!
Jamie: Ha! We’re hoping the consumer reaction will be exactly the same as what you just did there, Deej.

Oh, I’m pretty sure it will be! Ha! This is what you’re aiming for? Confusion and fear? What even is this?!
Jamie: Ha! So between Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet, dad and his team…

…lost their actual minds?
Jamie: Ha! They created Candy, Andy and the Bearandas, which was a photo comic that ran for two years on a weekly edition. It starred… Ha! Candy and Andy; they’re the two mannequins. Uh, here they’re, um, collecting fruit. And they drove around in Stripey, the Magic Mini, and they lived with, um, Mr. And Mrs. Bearander, these two stuffed pandas here… They’re Candy and Andy’s sort of captors slash parents… Ha! And… Ha! It’s the creepiest thing you’ve ever seen, Deej. Look at her… What’s she going to do? Poison him? Ha!

Ha! What is HAPPENING here?! If you’d said “David Lynch has teamed up with us on this…” I’d be, like, “Oh, yeah, I see that.” Oh my goodness.
Jamie: So, yes, we partnered with Four Corners Books to make this beautiful art presentation going back to the original art. That’s going up for pre-order next week… I don’t know why you’re laughing, Deej, this is very serious! Ha!

I’m literally crying! Okay… It IS interesting, because I’ve never seen this; it’s not on my radar at all. Clearly, my mother sheltered me from this – and thanks be to God, because that would’ve kept me up at night. So where did you say that project fitted in? You did say but I was laughing too hard to hear…
Between Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet. They created this photo comic. Doug Luke, the studio photographer who did all those lovely images from TV21, and all those action shots of the vehicles and Thunderbird 1 being captured by a monster… He was the one who was sent out with the two Bearandas, and the two children mannequins in the back of his car. And he’d have to go out and about and painstakingly set up these shots.

Well, that is a hell of an IP to burn into my retinas. But, you know, this goes back to what we were saying: I don’t remember that IP at all. And if I find the right therapist, uh, maybe they’ll help me forget it now! But there IS going to be an audience for that…
Jamie: Yes. Because people suddenly go, “Oh my God, I had that comic when I was a kid – it was terrifying.” Or “This is the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen! I can’t believe the man that made Thunderbirds did this.” So, you know, for both those audiences – and any others who might be interested in weird 60’s stuff, there it is. I mean, the guys who run Scarred for Life are obsessed with it. In fact, they’ve got a new podcast coming out next week, which I’m the first guest on. Didn’t mention Candy and Andy though!

Ha! Brilliant. Brilliant. Well, I’ll tell you what… What a chat this has been, chaps. My mind’s melted. Just to wrap things up, what’s next for you? What’s happening at BLE?
Tim: We’ll be there Wednesday and Thursday. Something for your diary on Thursday, Four o’clock if you can make it…

Is it the Bearandas in person? Ha! Oh! What is that? Terrahawks beer?
Tim: Right!

Just when I thought we’d finished! Whereabouts is that launching Tim?
Tim: That’s on the Larkshead stand; Larkshead Licensing. It’s something we’ve been putting together for a while to celebrate 40th anniversary of Terrahawks – which first broadcast on the 9th of October 1983.

So that’s 40 – well, now?! And who’s made this beer?
It’s a company called Brew York. Founded by Wayne Smith and Lee Grabham, Brew York is – unsurprisingly – based in Yorkshire. They have the most amazing facility up there, and brew beers inspired by a number of offbeat things. They’ve been a great partner for Terrahawks at 40.

Well, thank you both again for this! It’s been an absolute riot, I’ve really enjoyed catching up. Thank you both.