AP Films (APF) was a British independent film production company of the 1950s and 1960s. It was formed in 1957 (as Pentagon Productions) by editor-director Gerry Anderson and cinematographer Arthur Provis, in partnership with producer Reg Hill and cinematographer John Read. Provis left the partnership after a few years and Anderson's wife, Sylvia, subsequently became a partner. Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson are most famous as the production team for several futuristic childrens television shows involving specially modified marionettes, a process called supermarionation. Their most famous production is Thunderbirds, which was produced by their production company, originally known as AP Films and later renamed Century 21... John Meredith Read (July 21, 1797–November 29, 1874) was an American lawyer, jurist, and politician from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...

The company became world-famous with its imaginative children's action-adventure marionette shows, produced for British ITV companies Associated-Rediffusion, Granada, ABC Weekend TV and ATV. APF's first three series were The Adventures of Twizzle for Associated-Rediffusion, Torchy The Battery Boy for Associated-Rediffusion (first series) and ABC Weekend (second series) and Four Feather Falls for Granada — but its best known productions, for ATV, were the futuristic sci-fi action adventure shows Supercar (1960-61), Fireball XL5 (1962), Stingray (1964) — the first British children's TV series to be made in colour — and Thunderbirds (1964-66), which was, by far, their most famous and successful production. Current ITV logo. ... Associated-Rediffusion, later Rediffusion London, was the British Independent Television (commercial television) contractor for London, on weekdays between 1954 (transmissions started on September 22, 1955) and July 29, 1968. ... Current ITV Granada logo A Granada TV logo from the black and white era. ... ABC logo, 1960s ABC Television or ABC Weekend TV was the British Independent Television (ITV) (commercial television) contractor on Saturdays and Sundays in the Midlands and North of England between 1956 and 1968. ... The ATV colour logo, used from the start of the colour standard in 1969 until the companys demise in 1981. ... Four Feather Falls was the third puppet TV show produced by Sylvia and Gerry Anderson, from an idea by Barry Gray. ... Supercar was a childrens TV show produced by Gerry Andersons AP Films for ATV and ITC Entertainment. ... Fireball XL5 was a science fiction marionette TV show produced in Britain in 1962 by Gerry Anderson. ... Cover from Stingray DVD box set (2001). ... Thunderbirds is a mid-1960s Sylvia and Gerry Anderson television show which used a form of puppetry called Supermarionation. // Cast, crew, and production notes Thunderbirds was the fourth childrens action-adventure series made by AP Films (APF) (at the time of production renamed Century 21 Productions) for the British...

After the completion of Fireball XL5, ATV owner Lew Grade purchased the company, with Grade becoming managing director, and the Andersons, Hill and Read remaining as directors. The company was renamed Century 21 Productions in 1964, when production commenced on Thunderbirds. As Century 21, the company produced two Thunderbirds feature films, and two more Supermationation series for ATV, Captain Scarlet and The Mysterons and Joe 90. This was followed by the feature film Doppelganger (aka Journey To The Far Side of the Sun), their first live action TV series, UFO (1969). Fireball XL5 was a science fiction marionette TV show produced in Britain in 1962 by Gerry Anderson. ... Lew Grade, Baron Grade (birth name Louis Winogradsky) (December 25, 1906 - December 13, 1998) was an influential showbusiness impresario and television company executive in the United Kingdom. ... Century 21 Productions was a British film and television production company of the 1960s and 1970s, best known for the hit TV series Thunderbirds. ... Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, often referred to in shorthand as simply Captain Scarlet, is a science fiction television series produced by the Century 21 Television company of Sylvia and Gerry Anderson and first shown in Britain between September 1967 and April 1968. ... Joe 90 is a 1968 Sylvia and Gerry Anderson television show concerning the adventures of a nine-year-old boy, Joe McClaine. ... For other uses of the word Doppelgänger please see Doppelgänger (disambiguation). ... UFO was a British television science fiction series created by Gerry Anderson and produced by Andersons and Lew Grades Century 21 Productions for Grades ITC Entertainment company. ...