Brink of Disaster (Thunderbirds)

"Brink of Disaster" is an episode of Thunderbirds, a British Supermarionation television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company AP Films (later Century 21 Productions) for ITC Entertainment. Written by Alan Fennell and directed by David Lane, it was first broadcast on 24 February 1966 on ATV Midlands as the 22nd episode of Series One. It is the 11th episode in the official running order.^[1]

Set in the 2060s, Thunderbirds follows the missions of International Rescue, a secret organisation which uses technologically‑advanced rescue vehicles to save human life. The lead characters are ex‑astronaut Jeff Tracy, founder of International Rescue, and his five adult sons, who pilot the organisation's primary vehicles: the Thunderbird machines. In "Brink of Disaster", an entrepreneur goes to criminal lengths to fund his latest project: an automated monorail of questionable safety. While his associates break into Creighton-Ward Mansion to steal Lady Penelope's jewellery collection, the entrepreneur takes Jeff, Brains and Tin-Tin on a monotrain ride in a bid to secure funding from Jeff. When a helicopter crash destroys part of a bridge and cripples the monorail's automatic signals, a lack of fail-safes leaves the train speeding towards the breach, out of control.

In 1967, Century 21 released an audio adaptation of "Brink of Disaster" on EP record (catalogue number MA 124) narrated by voice actor David Graham as Parker.^[1] In 1992, Young Corgi Books published a novelisation by Dave Morris. The same year, a comic strip adaptation by Fennell was serialised in Fleetway Publications' Thunderbirds: The Comic.^[1] The episode had its first UK‑wide network broadcast on 13 March 1992 on BBC2.^[1]