Gerry Anderson Associated Television (ATV) boss who offered to buy the show. This began a long friendship and a very successful professional association between the two men. The new series, "Supercar", (1960–61) was developed by Gerry & Sylvia Anderson and Reg Hill based on a story written by Sylvia Anderson and marked several important advances for APF. Sylvia Anderson took on a larger role and became a partner in the company. The series was also the official debut of Supermarionation, the electronic system that made the marionettes more lifelike and convincing on screen. The system used the audio signal from pre-recorded tapes
Gerry Anderson huge and dedicated international following that spans several generations. During the production of "Thunderbirds" the Andersons' marriage began to come under increasing strain, and the company also had a setback when the "Thunderbirds Are GO" feature film surprisingly flopped. In later interviews, Anderson said that he considered divorce, but this was halted when Sylvia announced that she was pregnant. Their son, Gerry Anderson Jr., was born in July 1967. By that time, production had started on a new series, "Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons" (1967), which saw the advent of more realistic marionette characters which, thanks to improvements in electronics