ITV Adds to Thunderbirds Lines

Random House is planning a 50th anniversary book for ITV Studios Global Entertainment's Classic Thunderbirds.

Thunderbirds–The Complete Archive will be a 240-page anniversary book featuring behind-the-scenes and new content and will launch across print, electronic, audio, digital and e-book formats in 2015.

Additionally, Egmont U.K. has ordered a second print run of its Best Of The Comic Collection gift books, based on Gerry Anderson’s original comic strips. The publisher will also extend its line ahead of the anniversary celebrations and launch a variety of Classic Thunderbirds gift items this year including notebooks and comic albums as well as the collectible books Gerry Anderson Collection and Inside the World of Gerry Anderson.

The Classic Thunderbirds consumer products program now boasts 20 licensees in the U.K. and another 20 internationally across key categories including collectibles, adult puzzles and board games, gifting and accessories, calendars and greeting cards, adult ‘print on demand’ apparel, figurines and publishing.

A further range of special products and limited editions based on new artwork will launch in time for the anniversary and celebrations will be boosted by the arrival of the new boys’ action-adventure TV series, "Thunderbirds Are Go" on ITV and CITV in spring 2015.

“It’s really shaping up to be a fantastic celebration,” says Trudi Hayward, senior vice president, head of global merchandising, ITVS GE. “Thunderbirds is a national treasure and our recent developments confirm the consistent consumer demand for products and the great retail confidence in this much-loved brand, 50 years since it first hit our screens.”