Captain Scarlet and The Mysterons - Casting and Characters

Casting and Characters

The regular puppet cast of Captain Scarlet was the largest of all the Anderson Supermarionation series. While earlier productions had emphasised the benefits of futuristic technology, for Captain Scarlet it was decided to develop and deepen the cast of characters. Further to the enhanced realism of the puppet design, voice roles for Captain Scarlet were, as opposed to Thunderbirds and other predecessors, also intended to be less caricatured. Anderson biographers Simon Archer and Marcus Hearn note that, between Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet, a proliferation of English-accented voices altered the sound of the Supermarionation production and its impression on the viewer.

Francis Matthews, voicing Captain Scarlet, had previously turned down offers for voice-acting on Thunderbirds. Matthews claims that Gerry Anderson went to great lengths to get him to sign on to Captain Scarlet because of the skilled Cary Grant impression that he had once used for a radio programme, and indeed the English actor based the tones of Scarlet on Grant's Mid-Atlantic accent. In contrast, Anderson claims in his biography that the impression was Matthews' choice at audition, and that while it was not what had been intended for Scarlet the production team nevertheless elected to use it. Matthews' filmography prior to Captain Scarlet included the Hammer films The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958), Rasputin, the Mad Monk (1966) and Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966).

Matthew's co-star in Dracula: Prince of Darkness had been Charles Tingwell, chosen to voice Dr Fawn, the Cloudbase chief medical officer. Tingwell, who had provided voices for the second season of Thunderbirds and its first feature film, Thunderbirds Are Go, had initially been recommended to the Andersons by Ray Barrett, a fellow Australian actor who had worked on Stingray and Thunderbirds. However, due to theatre commitments, Tingwell could only contribute to the first 12 produced episodes of Captain Scarlet. Also departing after the completion of "Shadow of Fear" was the voice of Captain Grey, Paul Maxwell, a Canadian actor who had voiced the character of Steve Zodiac three years earlier in Fireball XL5.

Cy Grant, a Guyanese actor selected for the role of Lieutenant Green (Colonel White's assistant and Cloudbase's main computer operator and public announcer), had been known to the Andersons for singing topical calypsos on the current affairs programme Tonight. His casting influenced the decision to accept Ed Bishop as Captain Blue (Captain Scarlet's friend and mission partner), as Bishop recalled in an interview recorded in 1995: "It was just that a girl in my agent's office happened to be on the ball. She represented this black actor by the name of Cy Grant and Gerry and Sylvia wanted to use him ... And the girl said, 'Oh, by the way, Mr Anderson, we've just taken on a new, young American actor'—shows you how long ago it was—'a new American actor, name of Edward Bishop. And we know how much you like American voices. Would you like to meet him as well?' He said, 'Okay, send him out.' So I went out and auditioned and got the job."

Donald Gray, who had found himself typecast after appearing in the lead role in Saber of London, a detective series, was having to resort to voice work to support his acting career. The South African actor was selected for three regular roles: Colonel White, Captain Black and the Mysterons. After his mind is hijacked in the pilot episode, Black speaks with the same voice that the Mysterons are heard to use when transmitting threats to Earth. For his portrayals of Black and his Mysteron masters, Gray's voice was electronically deepened, by running the tape at high speed whilst he was recording his lines and playing it back at normal speed, to produce a haunting effect.

The voice of Captain Ochre was provided by English-born Canadian, Jeremy Wilkin. Having served in the role of Virgil Tracy during the second series of Thunderbirds, Wilkin remained to voice Ochre for the subsequent production. The character of Captain Magenta, meanwhile, was voiced by Gary Files. Another Australian actor, Files was a fresh addition to Century 21 Productions, and was cast for a number of roles in the second Thunderbirds film, Thunderbird 6, before progressing to the role of Magenta for Captain Scarlet. Like Files, Welsh actress Liz Morgan was new to the Anderson productions and voiced the regular characters of Destiny Angel, the lead pilot of the Spectrum Angel fighter squadron, and one of her subordinates, Rhapsody Angel.

Sylvia Anderson, the voice of Lady Penelope from Thunderbirds, voiced Melody Angel, while Canadian actress Janna Hill was given the part of Symphony. The character of Harmony Angel was voiced by Morgan for five episodes before being replaced by Chinese actress Lian-Shin about one-third of the way through the recording sessions. Although Lian only provided the voice of Harmony for one episode, "The Launching," she received billing for 20 episodes.

Supporting character voices were performed by Anderson, Files, Hill, Maxwell, Morgan, Tingwell and Wilkin. Completing the supporting cast were American actor David Healy and British actor Martin King. Canadian Shane Rimmer, who had performed the voice of Scott Tracy in Thunderbirds and its films, made a number of uncredited contributions in addition to writing for the series. Fellow Canadian Neil McCallum, who had provided the voice of the character of Dr Ray Pierce in Thunderbirds Are Go, can be heard in four episodes uncredited. Six members of the voice cast would continue their association with the Andersons after Captain Scarlet. Healy would voice the character of Shane Weston in the penultimate Supermarionation series, Joe 90, while Files would voice Matthew Harding on The Secret Service. Wilkin, Morgan and King were all given small roles for these final two Supermarionation series, while Bishop appeared as SHADO Commander Ed Straker in Anderson's live-action series, UFO, which was transmitted in the United Kingdom from 1970.