Gerry Anderson - A Life Uncharted

Gerry Anderson… who isn’t familiar with the name of the creator whom we have some of the world’s most cherished children’s TV-series such as ‘Thunderbirds’, ‘Stingray’, ‘Captain Scarlet, and ‘Terrahawks’ to thank for. However, this fascinating and highly personal documentary reveals the untold story of the much-beloved television pioneer – lovingly brought to life by Anderson’s son Jamie (the producer) and director Benjamin Field - with exclusive contributions from family, friends and colleagues.

We are off to a somewhat intriguing start and we are informed that audio-interviews with Anderson have been visually re-created using a technique called ‘Deep Fake’ (a computer-generated ‘ghost image’ for which another person stood in lip-synching, though it’s in all likelihood more complex than that). After this introduction we make the acquaintance of Jamie Anderson, the youngest of Anderson’s four children, who tells us “I never really knew my father” before the documentary continues with the rather sad story of Gerry Anderson’s unhappy childhood due to his dysfunctional family, that is to say the family’s Jewish background (the family name Abrahams was changed to Anderson) and mother Debbie who adored her oldest son Lionel and had little time for Gerry (Gerald). Consequently, Gerry strived to be like Lionel who became his idol and his best (and possibly only) friend, especially given the fact that Gerry was badly bullied at school because of his Jewish background. Tragedy struck when Lionel, who volunteered for service in the RAF in WW2, was killed in action in 1944 when his plane was shot down over the Netherlands, causing Gerry’s heartbroken mother to remark that it should have been him who got killed and not Lionel. Harsh words indeed! Perhaps it is due to mother Debbie and her ‘worship’ of brother Lionel that throughout his life and career, Gerry Anderson was never really satisfied with his achievements.

Later on, Gerry felt some regret that during his youth he was never that close to his father Joseph (a nice enough chap it would seem, unlike his mother) but later on made up for it in the various puppet series he created for TV, in which his heroes always look up to a father figure but never to a mother figure.
Other interesting points inform us how – after school – Gerry Anderson slowly but surely started on the career that one day would see him accepted as the genius that he undoubtedly was but we also get to learn about his first marriage to Betty Wrightman, with whom he had daughters Linda and Joy (the latter features in the docu), however, and despite wife Betty being a devoted wife, Gerry eventually left her after starting an affair with Sylvia Thamm whom he first met and fell in love with during a production. Just as he was supposed to go on a holiday to Cornwall with his wife and his daughters, he broke the news to Betty that he no longer loved her, something he was to feel guilty about for many years – in particular because his two daughters went on to live with their mother and gradually become more and more estranged from him.

With new wife Sylvia, he had son Gerry Anderson Jr. (who didn’t wish to participate in this production) but after twenty years of a stormy marriage and many creative differences, Gerry and Sylvia finally called their union quits. However, one year later he married again, this time Mary Louise Robins (who didn’t work in the film biz) and with her he had another son, Jamie.

Equally of interest is the different perspectives with which Gerry Anderson was perceived not just by family members but by colleagues as well, with some describing him as an inspiration to work with while others had less good things to say about him, such as a certain Roberta Leigh who recalled that one day, while the entire crew were filming, they shut the old decrepit building which they used for a lengthy lunch break. Gerry shut down all the lights and everything, leaving a terrified Roberta behind who was furious when eventually they returned from their break: “Didn’t you notice that I wasn’t sitting at the lunch table? I knew that he (Gerry) switched off the lights on purpose, he was a very evil man.” Perhaps less evil but instead quite sad is an incident which his estranged daughter Joy recalls: “I lived in London at the time and a friend of mine asked me whether I knew that my dad was doing a book signing in London, and whether I got a ticket. I was hesitant in going because it had been such a long time since I’ve been in touch but I went. When it was my turn to get the book signed, he asked me what he should write in the book (clearly not recognising me) and when I replied: “To Joy with love from Dad, he nearly got a shock!”

There was, of course, a nice side to Gerry Anderson too but his entire adult life and many things he created for television were often dominated by his various childhood traumas… or other unpleasant memories like the creation of ‘Zelda’ – the female villain in the Sci-Fi marionette show ‘Terrahawks’ which, according to Gerry Anderson, was modelled on his second wife Sylvia with whom he had split on bad terms.

The final chapter is the most gut-wrenching one when, in old age, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Son Jamie and his mum Mary recall how hard it was on them to look after Gerry who deteriorated so badly, in the end he didn’t even recognise his own son anymore and referred to him as his older brother instead. As the hallucinations became ever more severe, Jamie and Mary had no other option than to transfer him into a care home where he died on Boxing Day 2012, aged 83.
The final scenes of this insightful documentary are all the more poignant as some of the family members attempt to make peace with the memories of their late dad.

Available both on Blu-ray and DVD format, Special Features include the ‘Making of Featurette’ and Trailer.