Sylvia Anderson, Co-Creator Of 'Thunderbirds', Dies At Age 88

Sylvia Anderson, one of the co-creators of the iconic 1960s children’s TV show ‘Thunderbirds’ and who voiced one of its characters, Lady Penelope, has died at the age of 88 following a short illness at her home in Buckinghamshire.

She created the supermarionation puppet series in 1964 with her husband Gerry Anderson, and went on to have production and character roles in other similar Anderson-created series like ‘Stingray’, ‘Joe 90’ and ‘Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons’.

Born in London in 1927, Anderson had a career in the TV industry that spanned over five decades, until recently working as the head of programming in the UK for American network HBO and collaborating with her daughter, Dee Anderson, on a show called ‘The Last Station’.

“Sylvia was a mother and a legend. Her intelligence was phenomenal but her creativity and tenacity unchallenged,” Dee said in a statement to the media on Wednesday morning. “She was a force in every way, and will be sadly missed.”

More: Thunderbirds Are Go! ITV re-make classic children’s TV series [archive]

Fittingly, she made a brief appearance in the 2015 re-make by ITV, entitled ‘Thunderbirds Are Go’, playing the new Lady Penelope’s great aunt in one episode. That series also saw David Graham reprising his original voice role as Lady Penelope’s Cockney chauffeur, Parker.

Leading the tributes, Dee Anderson also said that she would like her mother to be remembered as the “first lady of sci-fi”, and said that it didn’t bother her that her husband got most of the recognition for coming up with so many children’s classics.

“I spoke to her about it recently and I said, 'Weren't you upset that Gerry got all the kudos?' and she said 'No'. They were all film-makers, they weren't interested in creating so all her ideas got put forward and that made her happy. She didn't care about being recognised.”

Her ex-husband Gerry, whom Sylvia had divorced in 1981, died in 2012 having suffered from Alzheimer’s disease at the age of 83.

More: See how ‘Thunderbirds’ was made in documentary ‘Filmed in Supermarionation’ [trailer + pictures]