Tracy Island on Blue Peter

After the 1992 re-run of Thunderbirds by the BBC - the popularity of the show led to a shortage of Tracy Island models in the run-up to Christmas. It became headline news and the example cited as the archetypal mistake to be avoided for the whole toy industry every Christmas since. At the time the British children's programme Blue Peter responded by demonstrating how to build a home-made version. The BBC was then, in its turn, overwhelmed by requests for copies of the instructions for making the model - after over 100,000 requests the BBC decided to withdraw its offer to send out Tracy Island fact sheets. The make was famously fronted by Anthea Turner (pictured). It may not seem like it, but that was 20 years ago! If you missed out at the time, and want to make your own Tracy Island (Blue Peter style) then we're happy to offer the original fact sheet for download. Click here to download the instructions Have you made your own Tracy Island? Head over to the Gerry Anderson Facebook page and share a picture with us!