Day of Disaster

"Day 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 Dennis Spooner and directed by David Elliott, it was first broadcast on 4 November 1965 on ATV Midlands as the sixth episode of Series One. In the official running order, it is the 15th episode.^[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 "Day of Disaster", a space probe being transported to its launch site sinks to the bottom of a river following a bridge collapse, trapping a pair of technicians underwater and triggering the probe's automatic countdown. International Rescue race to save the two men before the compromised craft is destroyed on blast-off. The events of "Day of Disaster" are later recalled in flashback in the clip show episode "Security Hazard".

In 1967, Century 21 released a condensed audio adaptation of "Day of Disaster" on EP record (Thunderbirds, catalogue number MA 121), with narration by David Graham in character as Gordon Tracy. The episode had its first UK‑wide network broadcast on 6 December 1991 on BBC2.^[2]