The Secret Service

Father Stanley Unwin appears to lead a quiet life as a parish priest. In reality, he undertakes intelligence assignments for B.I.S.H.O.P., assisted by Matthew Harding, whose cover is the church gardener. Their unusual advantage is the Minimiser, a device that can reduce Matthew to a third of his normal size.

A miniature operative can enter places that would defeat a conventional agent. Father Unwin has a second defence of his own: Unwinese, the apparently nonsensical speech that confuses people while still sounding tantalisingly close to understandable English.

The series grew from Gerry Anderson’s admiration for the real Stanley Unwin and his distinctive comic language. The two met at Pinewood during the making of Doppelgänger. Instead of finding a performer for an existing role, the production developed a premise that could make Unwin’s talents part of the action.

The fictional Father Unwin shares his performer’s name and appearance. Unwin supplies the voice and appears in live-action sequences, while a matching puppet takes over for scenes within the miniature production. This makes the show an unusually direct encounter between an Anderson character and the person performing him.

Read how the concept developed.

Earlier Supermarionation programmes had often used live-action inserts for hands or objects. The Secret Service went much further, combining puppet drama with extensive location footage and shots of the actors walking or travelling through real surroundings.

The shrinking device also made scale part of the story. A small Matthew could occupy full-size spaces as part of his mission, while the production moved between human-scale locations and miniature sets. The approach was an attempt to expand what the established puppet technique could do.

The resulting mixture is distinctive even within Gerry’s varied work. Its pleasure lies partly in that experiment: a country church, a vintage car and a seemingly gentle clergyman become the starting points for international espionage.

The production followed Joe 90 and first appeared on British television in 1969. Only 13 episodes were completed. It brought the original run of Century 21 Supermarionation television to an end before the company’s work moved towards UFO and live-action science fiction.

David Lane produced the series, with Reg Hill as executive producer, Tony Barwick as script editor and Keith Wilson as art director. Barry Gray’s score combines the story’s espionage with the unusual atmosphere of its church setting. Gary Files voices Matthew, alongside Unwin and the supporting cast.

Start with A Case for the Bishop to see how Father Unwin, Matthew and the Minimiser work together. The complete run is short enough to explore the experiment as a whole, rather than treating it only as a footnote to the more familiar shows.

Chris Dale’s discussion of The Secrets of The Secret Service offers a deeper route into the programme’s production and surviving history. The original introduction video is retained below for a quick overview.

Century 21 / ITC. Produced 1968–69; 13 episodes of approximately 25 minutes. First broadcast in 1969.

Executive Producer: Reg Hill
Producer: David Lane
Production Supervisor: Desmond Saunders
Directors: Alan Perry, Leo Eaton, Ian Spurrier,
Brian Heard & Peter Anderson
Characters Created by Sylvia Anderson
Lighting Cameraman: Paddy Seale & Julien Lugrin
Art Director: Keith Wilson
Script Editor: Tony Barwick
Supervising Visual Effects Director: Derek Meddings
Senior Visual Effects Director: Jimmy Elliott
Visual Effects Directors: Bill Camp, Shaun Whittacker-Cook & Alan Berry
Music Composed and Directed by Barry Gray

Voice Cast:
Stanley Unwin, Keith Alexander, Gary Files, David Healy, Jeremy Wilkin, David Graham, Sylvia Anderson