In 1970, audiences who knew Gerry Anderson as the master of “Supermarionation” puppet shows like Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet sat down for his new series, expecting a high-tech, family-friendly adventure. What they got instead was a revolution. The UFO TV series (1970) was a live-action, prime-time drama for adults. It was a dark, stylish, and paranoid vision of a “near future” (1980) where humanity was locked in a secret, desperate war.

The show was a complex blend of 1970s high fashion, groundbreaking special effects, and surprisingly bleak, mature themes. It was a story not of exploration, but of defence. This was the world of SHADO (Supreme Headquarters, Alien Defence Organisation), a covert military force fighting a losing battle against an unseen, unknowable enemy. To truly understand its cult status and massive influence, we must go underground, to the launch bay of Skydiver, and uncover the facts about this sci-fi classic.

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1. It Was Gerry Anderson’s First, Daring Leap from Puppets to People

Gerry Anderson had conquered the world of children’s television. With Thunderbirds, he had created a global phenomenon. But he was, in his own words, “obsessed” with moving into live-action. He wanted to be seen as a serious filmmaker, not just a “puppeteer.” The 1969 film Doppelgänger was his first attempt, but Gerry Anderson’s UFO was his all-in bet on a live-action television series.

This transition was the show’s entire reason for being. Anderson brought his “A-team” with him: his wife, Sylvia Anderson, handled the high-fashion costumes and character development, while special effects guru Derek Meddings brought his model-making genius from the puppet shows. The result was a unique hybrid: the special effects sequences of battling spaceships and futuristic vehicles looked like a live-action Captain Scarlet, but the drama on the ground featured real actors dealing with “adult” problems. It was a gamble that proved Anderson’s incredible visual style was more than a match for the “real” world.

2. The Core Premise Is Incredibly Dark: Organ Harvesting

The central conflict of UFO is not a war of conquest. It’s a story of body horror. The aliens in the UFO 1970 series are not here to invade; they are here to harvest. Early in the series, SHADO discovers the horrifying truth: the alien race is dying. Their genetics are failing, and they are sterile. The only way they can survive is by abducting humans and stealing their organs to transplant into their own failing bodies.

This premise immediately elevated the show beyond “monster of the week.” It made the aliens both terrifying and tragic. They are not “evil” in the traditional sense; they are a desperate, advanced civilization that sees humanity as an “inferior” species, a resource to be harvested like cattle. This dark, morally-grey setup (first proposed in the mid-1960s, just as the world’s first heart transplants were happening) established a grim, psychological tone that was light-years away from the optimistic exploration of Star Trek.

3. The Show’s “Future” Was a Masterclass in 1970s High-Fashion

Set in the “near future” of 1980, UFO is perhaps the most stylish sci-fi show ever made. It is a perfect, hermetically sealed time capsule of what the 1970s thought the 1980s would look like. This was the domain of Sylvia Anderson, who acted as the show’s “fashion consultant.” She envisioned a future that was “mod,” sleek, and incredibly chic.

SHADO’s male officers didn’t wear military uniforms; they wore sleek, high-collared Nehru jackets and cravats. The female officers on Moonbase wore silver catsuits. The “civilian” clothing was a riot of flared trousers, metallic fabrics, and opulent accessories. Even Commander Straker’s futuristic, gull-wing car was a statement piece, custom-built for the show. This “future-mod” aesthetic, a hallmark of “cassette futurism,” gave the show a unique, high-fashion identity that was as central to its appeal as the spaceships.

4. Its Hero, Commander Straker, Is a Tragic, Broken Man

The protagonist of UFO is not a dashing, swashbuckling hero. Commander Ed Straker (played by Ed Bishop) is one of the most complex and tragic heroes in sci-fi history. He is a bureaucrat, a commander, and a man who has sacrificed his entire life for a war he can never talk about. To maintain the secrecy of SHADO, his “cover” is as the head of a high-tech film studio (a clever meta-joke, as the studio lot was also the secret entrance to the SHADO headquarters).

The show’s most famous episode, “A Question of Priorities,” cements his tragic status. Straker’s son is critically injured in a car accident, and the only serum that can save him is on a SHADO transport. Straker is forced to choose between diverting the plane to save his son or letting it continue on its mission to stop an alien attack. He chooses his duty. The plane stays on course, and his son dies. This single, devastating plotline proved that UFO was truly adult, a show about the crushing, personal cost of a secret war.

5. The SHADO Hardware Is Some of Sci-Fi’s Most Iconic

Gerry Anderson was a master of “hardware,” and UFO features his most brilliant designs. The SHADO vehicles were a masterpiece of practical special effects, each with a specific, ingenious purpose.

• The Interceptors: Earth’s first line of defence, these were three white, single-pilot fighters based on the Moon. Their most notable feature was their primary weapon: a single, massive nuclear missile launched from the craft’s nose. They had one shot, and if they missed, the UFO was one step closer to Earth.
• Skydiver: The second line of defence. This was the show’s pièce de résistance: a nuclear submarine that was also an aircraft carrier. The front third of the submarine, “Skydiver 1,” was a detachable, high-altitude supersonic jet that would launch underwater to intercept UFOs in Earth’s atmosphere.
• SHADO Mobiles: The ground-based units. These were tank-like, caterpillar-tracked vehicles used to hunt down any UFOs that landed. With their “talking” computers and all-terrain capability, they were the “search and destroy” arm of SHADO.

6. The Iconic Purple Wigs Were a High-Tech, In-Universe Uniform

It’s the show’s most famous, and most asked-about, visual: the UFO TV show purple wigs. Why did the all-female crew of SHADO Moonbase wear them? The answer is a perfect blend of 1970s fashion and in-universe logic. The idea came from Sylvia Anderson.

First, the fashion: she (correctly) predicted that wigs would become mainstream, changeable fashion accessories. Second, the “in-universe” logic: the wigs were part of the uniform. The women on Moonbase, living in a sterile, military environment, were required to cover their hair. The wigs were not just wigs; they were “mind-probes,” supposedly containing electronic components and acting as a standardized part of the spacesuit uniform, much like a helmet. It was a brilliant, stylized way to solve a practical problem, and it accidentally created one of sci-fi’s most unforgettable images.

7. The Aliens Were Kept Deliberately Mysterious (and Tragic)

For most of the series, the aliens are an unseen, abstract threat. They are defined by the sound of their spinning ships and the flashing “UFO” warning lights in SHADO HQ. This “war of nerves” approach made them all the more terrifying. We, like SHADO, knew almost nothing about them.

When we do finally see the aliens, the reveal is shocking. They are not grotesque monsters. They are frail, humanoid, and beautiful. We learn their spacesuits are not armor; they are filled with a green, life-supporting liquid, as their own bodies are too weak to survive their journey. They remove their helmets only to die. This was a stunning twist: the “monsters” were pathetic, desperate creatures. This tragic component made the “war” even more complex—SHADO was fighting a species that was already on the brink of extinction.

8. It Was One of the Most Psychologically “Adult” Sci-Fi Shows of Its Era

UFO was not a “kid’s show.” It was one of the first sci-fi series to tackle mature, psychological themes head-on. Beyond Straker’s family tragedy, the series explored the deep, psychological toll the secret war took on SHADO personnel. It was a show about PTSD before the term was widely used.

Several episodes dealt with the mental “burnout” of the soldiers. “The Man Who Came Back” features an astronaut who is “taken over” by an alien consciousness and becomes a cold, unfeeling killer. “Mindbender” sees SHADO operatives hallucinate after being exposed to a mysterious alien crystal, blurring the line between reality and their own paranoid fears. The show constantly reinforced that the real battle wasn’t just with ray guns; it was for the minds and souls of the people fighting.

9. It Was Canceled Because It Was Too Good (and Confusing)

Why was the UFO TV series cancelled? The answer is a tragic case of bad marketing. The 26-episode series was a British show sold for syndication in the United States. In the UK, it was a hit, aired in prime time. In the US, however, television networks were baffled. Was it an “adult” drama or a “kids” show with cool spaceships from the Thunderbirds guy?

This confusion led to a scheduling nightmare. Some US markets aired it in a primetime “adult” slot, where it found its audience. Many others, however, stuck it in the Saturday morning “kids’ slot,” leading to horrified parents and confused children. The “adult” themes (like Straker’s son dying, or episodes about adultery and drug use) were a disaster for a “children’s” audience. This inconsistent scheduling, combined with the show’s incredibly high budget, meant it never found the stable, global audience it needed to survive, and a second season was scrapped.

10. Its Failed “Season 2” Evolved and Became Space: 1999

This is the show’s ultimate legacy. Gerry Anderson was so confident in a second season that he had already begun pre-production. The plan for UFO Season 2 was to escalate the war. SHADO would abandon its vulnerable Earth-based headquarters and move its entire operation to a newly-built, much larger SHADO Moonbase. The show would become more space-focused.

When UFO was suddenly cancelled, Anderson was left with a team of artists, a studio full of half-built sets, and a new, more expensive “Moonbase” premise. Unwilling to let the money and creative work go to waste, Anderson convinced his backers to let him re-tool the concept. He kept the expanded Moonbase, the new ship designs, and the “war in space” idea, but created a new set of characters and a new premise. That “failed” second season of USO evolved, and one year later, it premiered as Space: 1999. Moonbase Alpha is, in effect, the direct descendant of SHADO Moonbase.

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Further Reading

Want to declassify more files from the SHADO archives? Here are a few essential books for any operative interested in the secret war.

1. UFO: The Complete Book of the Series by Chris Bentley
   • The definitive guide to the show. Bentley provides a comprehensive, episode-by-episode breakdown, including production notes, cast interviews, and a deep dive into the lore.
2. Gerry Anderson’s UFO: The Agents’ Manual by Chris Bentley
   • A beautifully designed “in-universe” technical manual, in the style of the “Haynes” guides. It details the schematics and operation of Skydiver, the Interceptors, the SHADO Mobiles, and more.
3. Gerry Anderson: The Authorised Biography by Simon Archer & Gerry Anderson
   • To understand UFO, you must understand its creator. This biography tells the full story of Anderson’s career, his obsession with the future, and the creative battles that led to his first, greatest live-action series.

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