Supercar (TV Series) - Casting and Characters

Casting and Characters

The cast for Supercar was put together weeks before shooting was to commence. The lines were recorded in the rushes theatre, which was transformed in to a recording studio. Lines were record on a Sunday (once every month) because of the fact that the studio was on a trading estate, meaning Sundays were the quietest days of the week. The recording sessions would typically be done between 9:30 to 5:30 where the cast and sound engineers would try to get through at least three scripts a day.

Canadian actor Graydon Gould (The Forest Rangers) voiced Mike Mercury, despite never auditioning for the part, but was offered it whilst doing a stage production that was shown on television. In an interview Gould recalls that, without owning a car, getting to Slough was difficult because “Sunday transport is about half of what it normally is,” but considering he had a wife, two-year old child, and three bedroom apartment, he was grateful for the money. While Sylvia Anderson directed the sessions, she especially helped Gould with his American accent. He recalls “she would point out when my Canadian accent was slipping through”.

David Graham voiced three characters for the series, Doctor Beaker, Zarin, and Mitch the Monkey and voiced the recurring character Bill Gibson. He had previously worked on the series Four Feather Falls where he had shown his ability to provide a variety of different voices. Graham had based his voice for Dr Beaker on veteran actor Felix Aylmer, while he also spent a day at London Zoo watching monkeys at the Monkey House, trying get a good interpretation to how Mitch should sound.

George Murcell voiced Professor Popkiss and Masterspy for the first season. He had first work for AP Films when playing the character Diamond in the low budget B-Movie Crossroads to Crime along side David Graham. Graham believes that “because of his voice quality” Gerry thought he would make a good Masterspy, while Gould remembers Murcell doing “all the European voices”. Murcell left the series after twenty-four episodes, which would explain why he and Popkiss do not appear in the last two Supercar episodes of the first series.

Sylvia Anderson voiced Jimmy Gibson and all other female characters in the series, however was not credited for the first series. Originally Sylvia was not to voice Jimmy, but was given the opportunity when Gerry was not happy with the original voice of Jimmy that had all ready been recorded. This would mark Sylvia’s first involvement in the world of voice acting and she would go on to voice every other female character in the series.

Cyril Shaps was brought in to voice Professor Popkiss and Masterspy for the second season as George Murcell left for reasons that are now forgotten. David Graham had been a friend of Cyril, and suggested him for the part when George left. At the time Cyril was performing in West End play of The Tenth Man, which David, Gerry, and Sylvia went to see.