Fanderson

54321FAB!

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Thunderbirds and friends are coming to Worcester this summer

  • 54321FAB! arrives at Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum on 4th July and runs until until 6th September 2026
  • Exhibition includes original puppets, studio models, art and memorabilia
  • Includes family Action Station for hands-on fun
  • Free entry

54321 FAB! is an incredible display of original puppets, studio models, art and memorabilia from the much-loved 1960s TV shows of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson.  The exhibition arrives at Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum on 4th July and runs until 6 September 2026.

Visitors will revisit their childhood favourites including Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons, Joe 90, Stingrayand more, and will have an unprecedented opportunity to see screen-used original puppets from the shows.

Original puppets including Lady Penelope and Joe McClaine will be on display, having been painstakingly restored to their original condition as filmed in the 1960s. Other characters which no longer exist in their original form, such as the heroic International Rescue pilots, have been rebuilt from original moulds and materials to create new working replica puppets. The exhibition also features models of iconic vehicles such as Fireball XL5, Stingray and the Thunderbird craft.

Original comic and production design art will also be in the exhibition, whilst a huge collection of 1960s toys and memorabilia will be on show to take visitors on a FAB trip down memory lane.

Families can enjoy hands-on fun together at the WASP – Worcester Aquanaut Severn Patrol action station where they can create their own puppet show and dress up as characters from the TV shows.

A FAB programme of events celebrating the exhibition can also be enjoyed at the Art Gallery & Museum throughout the summer, including spotlight talks by Graham Bleathman, one of the country’s leading illustrators well known for his work on Gerry Anderson’s TV series including Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and Stingray, and Marc Silk, the voice of Global Defence Force agent Captain Wayne Rigby in Thunderbirds Are Go as well as the voice of several guest characters in the show. Plus the popular Museum After Hours events return with a FAB theme.

Museums Worcestershire Senior Curator Deborah Fox comments: “We pride ourselves in providing top, family fun for the summer holidays and this year is a true classic where visitors can relive their childhood through Thunderbirds and friends, and share their memories with their families. We might even inspire some new fans!”

The exhibition has been made possible with the support of Fanderson, The Official Gerry And Sylvia Anderson Appreciation Society.

Check out www.museumsworcestershire.org.uk and our social media channels for up-to-date news and information on the exhibition and a fun FAB-themed programme of events and activities.

This year’s Worcester Show is also following the 60s theme, so prepare for a day of family fun, entertainment, food and community competitions when the Worcester Show is back at Pitchcroft on Sunday 9 August. Find out more at www.worcestershow.org.uk.

 

Thursday 2 July, 11am photo / interview opportunity, Worcester City Art Gallery & Museum

There will be a photo opportunity with Captain Scarlet (Chris Daniels). There will be an interview opportunity with Marc Silk, the voice of Global Defence Force agent Captain Wayne Rigby in Thunderbirds Are Go as well as the voice of several guest characters in the show. Please confirm your attendance with Helen.Large@worcester.gov.uk

 

Exhibition Details:
54321FAB!

Saturday 4th July – Saturday 6th September 2026 | Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum, Foregate Street, Worcester, WR1 1DT (www.museumsworcestershire.org.uk). Free entry to the exhibition, donations welcome

  • Tuesday – Saturday 10am – 4pm,
  • Sunday 10am – 3pm

FAB events and activities:

Talks and Events

Family Fun!

 

Some images from 2024’s 54321 FAB! The Art Of Supermarionation exhibition:

Fantastic free exhibition this summer!

Posted on by Parker

Fantastic free exhibition this summer!

Building on the huge success of the 2024 exhibition 54321 FAB! The Art of Supermarionation in Lichfield, Chris King is assembling an expanded version of the display in Worcester this summer.

Retitled 54321 FAB! The Future Was Fantastic!, this new iteration will introduce fresh exhibits, including an impressive collection of original puppets, studio models, artwork and memorabilia from across the Worlds of Supermarionation and beyond.

54321 FAB! runs at Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum from Saturday 4th July to Sunday 6th September 2026. Visitors can explore the exhibition Tuesday to Saturday from 10am–4pm, and Sundays from 10am–3pm, with last entry one hour before closing. Entry is free, making it an ideal summer outing for fans of all ages.

Fanderson is proud to confirm that the club is sponsoring the exhibition in partnership with Chris King, helping to bring this remarkable celebration of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson to a wider audience.

Keep an eye out for the postman!

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The postman’s on his way with your winter mailing

FAB Express 111 was posted today to all Fanderson members. As well as all the Anderson news and your views, this issue takes a FlashBack to Titan Goes Pop, the perennially popular episode of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s Stingray.

Unfortunately, we are extremely sorry that FAB Annual 2026 is not included in the winter mailing. Editor/designer Mike Jones has been unexpectedly distracted by some personal issues recently, and the team felt it was better not to rush to get an annual finished that we’re not happy with. We know many of you will be disappointed to not have an annual to open on Christmas morning, but hope you agree that it’s better that the book is the quality you expect, albeit coming to you in the spring. We’re all working to support Mike to get FAB Annual 2026 finished so it can be with you alongside FAB Express 112 in the spring mailing.

As we mentioned in issue 110 this summer, we’re now reviewing our merchandise pricing on the website. As well as postage prices going up recently, we’ve aligned ourselves with Royal Mail’s world postal zones to ensure you’re paying the right postage.

Meet Ross, your new editor!

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Ross Ironfield is your new editor of FAB Express

Hi everyone,

I’m delighted to be joining the Fanderson committee as the new Editor of FAB Express. As a lifelong fan of the fabulous futuristic worlds created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, it’s a real privilege to help shape the magazine’s next chapter. 

My favourite series has to be Thunderbirds, it was a huge part of my childhood growing up in the 1990s – along with Stingray, Captain Scarlet and Joe 90. I proudly collected all the comics, videos and toys released at the time – and later the many DVD and Blu-ray releases, not forgetting of course, the wonderful soundtrack releases and exclusive merchandise produced by Fanderson.

More recently I’ve been enjoying Thunderbirds Are Go, the 2015 series, with my six-year old son, who has cheekily pinched all my Thunderbirds models and action figures!

I look forward to working with members to continue the club’s proud tradition of high-quality, well-researched features and articles, starting with FAB Express 112 early next year. If you have any ideas, suggestions or would like to contribute – or even just to say hello, I’d love to hear from you. You can email me, or I’m on most social networks and you’ll find me on the Fanderson Facebook group.

FAB! 

Ross Ironfield 

Order in good time for Christmas

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We know, it’s not even December yet, but for some countries we’ll need to get merchandise orders on their way as soon as possible if they’re to arrive before Christmas!

You can see Royal Mail’s full details of last posting dates here, but to allow us time to package your order up and get it in the post, here’s a summary of ‘last order’ dates that will apply to the majority of Fanderson club members:

  • Wednesday 3rd December – everywhere outside the United Kingdom
  • Monday 15th December – UK (17th December if you add the optional Special Delivery payment to your order)

We’ll do our best to fulfil orders as quickly as possible, but we cannot guarantee orders will arrive by Christmas. If in any doubt, please place your orders as soon as you can. Remember, they’ll show as ‘complete’ in your online account once they’re in the post. Of course, we’ll save up any packages we haven’t been able to mail in time for Christmas and send them as soon as possible afterwards.

Thanks to Fanderson members, kids supported by Demelza are WINners!

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Young Joe McClaine presents our donation to Demelza

Over the last year Fanderson members have helped to raise an amazing £1234.11 for Demelza, helping them provide extraordinary care to children and young people with serious or life-limiting conditions, providing expert clinical care and helping to create extraordinary moments along the way. Activies have included our 2024 advent calendar, 44 FAB Years and items available for a donation to the charity.

Professor Ian McClaine took his son Joe along to Demelza to present our donation cheque.

Demelza’s CEO, Lavinia Jarrett, said,

“We’re so grateful to Fanderson for your generosity to Demelza.

“Without the support of organisations like yours, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do.

“Every donation we receive makes a difference to the children with serious or life-limiting conditions and their families who use our services.”

Fanderson has a great reputation for supporting worthwhile causes, and over the club’s 44 years members have raised in excess of £62,000 for Alzheimers Society, Baby Lifeline, Children In Need, Demelza, Diabetes UK, The Film And TV Charity, Hearing Dogs For Deaf People, International Rescue Corps, Macmillan Cancer Support, Orchid, Silverline, Terrence Higgins Trust, Wallace and Gromit’s Grand Appeal and many more.

With special thanks to Chris King for the presentation photo.

Recognition for Honorary Members at Project Ford

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Puppeteer, sculptor and director Mary Turner and actor, voice artist and writer Keith Alexander were recognised for their contributions to the Anderson productions, and to Fanderson, by becoming Honorary Members of the world’s only official Gerry and Sylvia Anderson appreciation society.

Mary and Keith were presented with certificates at the Project Ford event on 31st October 2025 and will receive free membership of the club.

We’re changing to Royal Mail’s world postal zones

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Ensure you’re paying the right postage

With the summer mailing, we’ve started aligning ourselves with Royal Mail’s world postal zones to ensure you’re paying the right postage.

We’re updating our Fanderson Sales product pages over the coming months, so that they’ll reflect this structure by the time of the winter mailing. Until this process is complete, if you see seven postage options for a product, choose the right one for where you live. If you only see our old UK/Europe/Rest of the World options, use the one that you’ve been using for years.

You can always check which zone you’re in by clicking here, or log in to your Fanderson account and check your recent membership renewal.

Keep an eye out for the postman!

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The postman’s on his way with your summer mailing!

FAB Express 110 was posted yesterday to all Fanderson members, and has already dropping through letterboxes! As well as all the Anderson news and your views, this issue takes a FlashBack to TV Century 21, the groundbreaking comic for all 1960s fans of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s productions (and other TV favourites).

Being the summer mailing, it’s also that time when we again invite you all to renew your club membership. Mailed with FAB Express 110 is a short letter that explains how to renew your membership – ensure you do it by 1st October and you can save money with your Loyalty Discount (explained in the letter).

Please note that, from this mailing onwards, we’re aligning ourselves with Royal Mail’s world postal zones to ensure you’re paying the right postage. Your renewal letter details which zone you are in, or you can check for yourself here. We’ll be gradually updating our Fanderson Sales product pages over the coming months, so that they reflect this structure by the time of the winter mailing.

Once you’ve got your Loyalty Discount code*, you can renew your membership from this page. As long as we’ve got your renewal by 1st October you’ll be included in the winter mailing, comprising FAB Express 111 and FAB Annual 2026. Editor Mike Jones is working hard to ensure the new annual is even better than the 2023, 2024 and 2025 issues!

With this mailing we’ve completed the 2024/5 membership year, so FAB Annual 2025, FAB Express 107, 108 and 109 are now available in the shop, if anyone has missed an issue or wants an extra copy.

Whilst we’re at it, don’t forget that we’re running monthly offers on various issues of the old club magazine – FAB. Packed full of articles (much like those in FAB Annual nowadays), you can get a whopping 50% off by buying five or more issues in each offer, together. We’ve only got very small stock of some issues, and others have already gone out-of-stock since we’ve been running these monthly offers. Don’t miss out, click here for this month’s offer.

LOYALTY DISCOUNT TERMS AND CONDITIONS (in addition to our standing Ts&Cs)

  • The Loyalty Discount is offered to current Fanderson members only
  • The Loyalty Discount can only be applied against a membership renewal, as specified in your renewal letter
  • Apply the Loyalty Discount coupon code before you pay to get the discount.
  • Members must apply the coupon code themselves to get the discount. It cannot be applied after you have paid, and we cannot apply it retroactively.
  • Offer ends 1st October 2025

 

FAB Book Of Free Gifts… with a free gift!

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Lucky for some – our 13th FAB Book Of… comes with its own free gift – a reproduction Captain Scarlet file from TV21!

The FAB Book Of… series has been incredibly popular since the book of Dinky toys started it way back in 2010.

Now, we’re delighted that the 13th book is being added to the series – the FAB Book Of… Free Gifts And Promotions. This new 60-page book takes a look at all the wonderful gifts that were given away in comics such as TV21, Lady Penelope and Countdown. For many of us, this will be our only chance to see some of these items – as giveaways, many weren’t designed to last for long, or were simply thrown away after a short while. This book features not just the gifts themselves but also the comics they were offered in, as well as advertising in other publications.

Our new book comes with a free gift of its own – a reproduction of the Captain Scarlet file originally given away with TV21 issue 155.

Click here to order your copy now!

Don’t forget, although Sweet Cigarette Cards Volume 2 has sold out, we still have 11 other titles in the series available. Buy any three or more in the same transaction (excluding FAB Book Of Free Gift And Promotions) and you’ll get 20% off! And we still have stock of FAB Books binders to keep your books safely in.