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 (such as the difficulty in inducing lifelike arm and leg movements) 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.
Filming commenced at Century 21 Studios in Slough and on location in August 1968. However, production was cancelled in December when Lew Grade, Anderson's sponsor, responded poorly to a test screening of the pilot and judged that successful distribution of the series to the United States would be impossible with the inclusion of "Unwinese" dialogue. Filming concluded in January 1969 on completion of the thirteenth episode, and from September the series aired in three broadcasting regions in the United Kingdom. Critical reception to The Secret Service has been mixed: when compared to other series produced by the Andersons, verdicts range from "the forgotten gem" to "the one flop". Critics have questioned the wisdom in hiring Unwin as a voice actor, suggesting that the potential for comedy offered by Unwinese is too weak to sustain interest, although the scripting of the supporting characters has been praised.
