Anthea Turner joined Vivid Toy Group to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Thunderbirds this week by unveiling the original Blue Peter Tracy Island model alongside the new Interactive Tracy Island.

The beloved 1993 home-made creation led to Blue Peter being inundated with requests for an instruction leaflet, which is still available online.

The most popular “how-to” guide in Blue Peter history, Anthea Turner’s demonstration of building a replica Thunderbirds base using papier-mache and toilet paper tubes resulted in over 100,000 factsheet requests. Rumoured to having been offered £100,000 for the model, she claims she would never part with it and now keeps it in her loft!

This year represents the 3rd time Vivid Toy Group have launched Tracy Island as part of their Thundebirds toy range.

Anthea said: “It’s amazing that 50 years on Thunderbirds still has the power to engage with children and adults alike, it’s rich history remastered to a 21st century audience has only strengthened its appeal and place as an iconic British brand.”