Thunderbirds are (almost) go! Crowdfunding project to bring the puppets back is taking off

A bid to bring 1960s-series Thunderbirds back to the small screen is underway and man from the Rhondda Valley is hoping he can help bring the puppets back to life.

Barry Davies, from Ferndale, is one of those behind a project to create new episodes of the popular children's series using audio-only stories released on LPs and recreating the Tracy family, as well as Lady Penelope and her chauffeur, Parker, using original mouldings.

The Thunderbirds 1965 project launched on crowd-funding site Kickstarter just a few months ago and has already surpassed its original £75,000 target. It's now hoped fans will help fund three new episodes. Those donating will also received a DVD-Blu-Ray of the finished collection.

Barry learned his Supermarionation (a puppetry technique devised in the 1960s) skills from the original Thunderbirds' chief puppeteer and worked for the show's creator Gerry Anderson on various projects. He'll be building the puppets as well as creating and installing the mechanisms inside the heads which make the lips move.