Photograph · GA-ARC-004
Gerry Anderson, Arthur Provis and Torchy’s rocket
A glimpse behind the camera in the early AP Films years, with Gerry, Arthur Provis and the miniature world of Torchy the Battery Boy.

Arthur Provis and Gerry Anderson with Torchy at the controls of his rocket ship, as identified in the original article’s caption.
Before the rescue machines and space fleets came smaller puppet worlds. This production photograph places Gerry Anderson and Arthur Provis beside Torchy’s rocket, with the studio apparatus visible around the miniature set.
Chris Dale’s account of Provis’s career describes a partnership formed through practical filmmaking. Anderson and Provis established AP Films in 1957 and produced Roberta Leigh’s The Adventures of Twizzle, followed by the first 26 episodes of Torchy the Battery Boy. Provis’s principal role on those puppet productions was director of photography.
Seen alongside that account, the photograph is a reminder that the Anderson story grew through collaboration and learning on the studio floor. Provis later pursued his own work with Leigh; his place in the early AP Films story deserves to be seen in its own right.
The identification here follows the published caption. The article supplies production context, but it does not give a precise date, photographer or episode for this image.
About this record
- Record reference
- GA-ARC-004
- Type of material
- Production photograph
- Date of the material
- Undated photograph; early AP Films / Torchy production period.
- Creator and attribution
- Photographer not identified. Gerry Anderson and Arthur Provis are identified in the source caption.
- Source publication
- 18 January 2020 — date of the article, not of the photograph.
- Digital source
- The Arthur Provis Story, by Chris Dale
Catalogue entry prepared by Anderson Entertainment on 15 September 2026 from material already published on this website. The original print or negative and its full ownership history are not documented in the published source.