Like any other puppet series, before a single shot could be filmed, the dialogue had to be recorded. Which was of course recorded at the usual studio in Denham, Buckinghamshire at Anvil Studios. Usually, a few episodes would be recorded on the same day.
Among the talented cast, we have Stanley Unwin recording the voice of himself in the series. Gary Files provided the voice of Matthew Harding in the series, providing a Yorkshire accent for his disguise as a secret agent,"It just seemed so right for the character. Then once I had the voice, the rest of Matthew followed". Files had previously worked with the Anderson's when he voiced in Captain Scarlet, Thunderbird 6 and Joe 90. Born in Melbourne in Australia, he left to work in Canada as an actor where he worked on several CBC radio dramas, before moving to England to join the theatre workshop in London. His work continued in the BBC in radio, with his ability to do a vast array of accents meant that he could play any type of role for an English, American and Australian person, making him the ideal person for Century 21 studios to employ for their new puppet shows. He played the voice of Captain Magenta in Captain Scarlet, as well as many other voice roles in the series. This led him to work directly in Thunderbird 6, followed by Joe 90 and then The Secret Service. He would also go on to make a cameo appearance in Identified as Phil Wade in the opening episode of UFO. Files also made a writing career in Australia and began as a theatre director in 1993 in Melbourne.
Sylvia Anderson would play the role of Mrs. Appleby in the series or any other female character, bar one in More Haste, Less Speed, whenever there was a female character, being the only female voice artist in the series. Jeremy Wilkin would play the voice of the BISHOP, a much older character than himself. Born in Byfleet in Surrey, Wilkin emigrated to Canada to complete his studies in drama. Returning to England in the 1960s, he was soon cast into the role in the ITV fantasy series Undermind as Drew Herriot. He then went on to play the voice of Virgil Tracy in the second series of Thunderbirds and the feature film Thunderbirds Are Go (1966), as David Holliday was unavailable to return. This directly leads him into Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, playing the voice of Captain Ochre and numerous other guest roles, whilst providing the voice of Virgil Tracy once more in Thunderbird 6 (1968). Other guest roles would follow in Joe 90 and would be cast in Doppleganger (1969) as the uncredited Trajectory Analyst. The Secret Service would give him the role of the BISHOP, before the Andersons would move to live-action and he would play Skydiver Navigator Lt. Gordon Maxwell in UFO. His significantly reduced role made him leave the show eventually. He would return to the Andersons in The Protectors (Route 27), and would find work in Doctor Who (Revenge Of The Cybermen), The New Avengers, Blake's 7 and even in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me. He died in 2017.
Keith Alexander would make numerous guest roles throughout the series, as he migrated from and to England, America and even Australia doing voice work it meant he could easily pull off accents whenever he required it. He was famous for providing the voice of Topo Gigo at Century 21 studios. This enabled him to begin working with the Andersons and provided the voice of John Tracy in Thunderbird 6, replacing the unavailable Ray Barratt. This directly led him into Joe 90 where he played Sam Loover and then numerous other roles for The Secret Service. He would also make a cameo appearance in Doppelganger before he played Lt. Keith Ford. He would continue his acting career further with roles like the Newscaster in Superman (1978). David Healy would also play several guest roles throughout the series. Born in New York in 1929 and studying drama at the University of Texas, he moved to England to pursue his acting career. He appeared in Captain Scarlet as numerous guest characters, before he was cast as Shane Weston, Deputy of W.I.N of Joe 90. This leads him directly into The Secret Service with more guest appearances in the series. Being unavailable for the rest of the recording sessions, he would later return with the Andersons for UFO in the episode Ordeal as Joe Franklin. Healy would also appear in the Gerry Anderson pilot Space Police and Space Precinct. His other appearances include Dallas, The Troubleshooters and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased). He died in 1995 during a heart operation.
With David Healy out for the recording sessions, old Anderson favourite David Graham returned to the worlds of SUPERMARIONATION. Instead of doing an eccentric voice for the puppet, for the two episodes, he utilized his talents to made a more realistic approach for the new puppets. This is why Graham was dropped for Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, the production team wanted a more natural sound for the more realistic puppets. Graham was born in the mid-1920s, he was originally cast for Four Feather Falls, followed by Crossroads To Crime. He would work with Gerry Anderson further with Supercar playing the voices of Mitch, Dr. Beaker and Zarrin. Fireball XL5 saw Graham play Lieutenant Ninety, Zoony and Professor Matthew Matic. However, Stingray saw him play only the Doc and Oink, who only appear in a few episodes, as well as many other alien aquaphibians for the series, which is why he was required for the series as he had provided many alien voices for Fireball XL5. For Thunderbirds, he would play his most famous roles playing the voices of Gordon, Kyrano, Brains and Lady Penelope's chauffeur Parker, where he would play all of those characters for the two Thunderbirds feature films, before going on to play as guest roles in The Secret Service. He is a genius when it comes to voice acting; Grandpa Pig in Peppa Pig, the Wise Old Elf in Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom and the Dalek voices of Doctor Who. He played the voices of the Daleks with Peter Hawkins for all the William Hartnell stories featuring Daleks and both 1960s Dalek feature films. On-screen, was seen in The Gunfighters (1966) as barman Charlie and fan-favourite City Of Death (1979) as Professor Kerensky. He can also be seen in The Saint, Supergirl and King David. For 2015, he would return to the reboot series of Thunderbirds as the voice of Parker once again in Thunderbirds Are Go!.
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The Secret Service: The Vault
Non-FictionThe Secret Service was a 1960s British children's TV series created by Gerry Anderson and the team of Century 21 studios in Slough, from the makers of Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and Space: 1999. This was the final of his television series to feat...
