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Official Site: AP Films

Thunderbirds is a British mid-1960s science fiction television show devised by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and made by AP Films using a form of marionette puppetry dubbed "Supermarionation". The series followed the adventures of International Rescue, a secretive organisation created to help those in grave danger using technically advanced equipment and machinery launched from its hidden Tracy Island base. The series focused on the head of the organisation, ex-astronaut Jeff Tracy, and his five sons who piloted the "Thunderbird" machines. Its London agent, Lady Penelope, also featured as a frequent guest-star. Perennially popular, the series has benefited from periodic re-runs since and is still shown today - as well as subsequently inspiring a number of other television programmes and advertisements, theatrical productions, feature films and substantial merchandise.

Thunderbirds was the fourth Supermarionation children's series made by AP Films (later Century 21 Productions). The logo of Supermarionation had previously been seen in the shows Supercar, Fireball XL5, and Stingray. Anderson came up with the concept for the series after hearing about a German mine disaster in 1963. The heavy equipment needed to rescue the miners was located far away—transportation time was a major hindrance in ensuring the survival of the miners. The "race against time" element is one of the recurring themes in Thunderbirds. The show's title derived from a letter written to his family by Anderson's older brother, while he was serving in the United States during World War II. In the letter, he referred to an American Air Force base called "Thunderbird Field". The working title, according to the trivia tracks used in Tech TV airings of the episodes, was simply "International Rescue."

Many of the crew came directly from APF's previous production Stingray, but for Thunderbirds the crew was expanded, and was shot at A.P. Films' ever growing studio at Stirling Road, Slough, UK. It was APF's first one-hour series. Thunderbirds had been in production for several months when ITC Entertainment boss Lew Grade was shown the completed pilot episode, "Trapped in the Sky", and he was reportedly so excited with the result that he immediately instructed Anderson and his team to expand all the episodes from 25 minutes to 50 minutes. This initially proved to be a headache as nine episodes had already been filmed and scripts for half-a-dozen others had been written.

Production commenced in September 1964 and the show premiered on British television on 30 September 1965 in the ATV Midlands region. Other ITV regions followed, including London on 25 December 1965. Two series were produced, comprising 32 50-minute episodes in total. Each episode was also split into two parts for a half-hour slot, creating 64 25-minute episodes.

International Rescue has not been a contender in any CBUB matches.