30 Minutes After Noon

30 Minutes After Noon
Season 1, Episode 7

Air date

11th November 1965

Written by

Alan Fennell

Directed by

David Elliott

Episode Guide

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"We're gonna get to the bottom of this, even if it means employing a little deception."
— Police Commissioner Garfield

"30 Minutes After Noon" is the seventh episode of Thunderbirds season 1, originally broadcast on 11th November 1965.

Plot

A mysterious fire in an office building turns out to have been a test of a new explosive device, by a dangerous criminal gang. A British agent infiltrates the gang in an attempt to prevent its members from destroying a nuclear depot, but his cover is blown - and he's trapped in the explosive-rigged depot...

Storyline

Main article: 30 Minutes After Noon/Storyline

Transcript

Main article: 30 Minutes After Noon/Transcript

Cast

Regular Characters

Guest Characters

Cameo Roles

The only cameo roles in this episode were a few people seen walking past Garfield's office.

International Rescue Equipment Used

Non-International Rescue Equipment Used

Locations

Trivia

All Security Robots in this episode were the same puppet; a minor redesign of Brains' robot, Braman, previously seen in Sun Probe.
Two Pod Vehicles - the Dicetylene Cage and the Laser Cutter Vehicle - make their first, and only, appearances in this episode.
Glen Carrick Castle previously appeared as McGregor Castle in the Stingray episode Loch Ness Monster; and appears again as part of Glen Garry Castle in the Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons episode The Trap.

This marks the first use in the series of a human hand in the same frame as a puppet character: during the scene where Southern plays with his pen, a real hand plays with it in the foreground; while the characters of Kenyon and Dempsey appear in the background.
Although he didn't write this episode, it's possible Dennis Spooner may have borrowed ideas for an episode of The Professionals - in which Bodie and Doyle had to prevent a bomb from exploding at 12.25am, destroying London.
The faces of Sir William Frazer, and the Erdman Gang Member who Southern meets, are never seen; only their hands appear on screen - when Sir William hand the pen to Southern, and when the Erdman Gang Member fastens the bracelet to Southern's wrist.
The rendezvous point where Southern receives his bracelet would later be seen as the Thompson Tower in City Of Fire.
The episode title refers to the time by which the bracelets placed in the plutonium store in the second half of the episode will explode - at 12:30PM - thirty minutes after noon.

Goofs

Main article: 30 Minutes After Noon/Goofs

Alternate Versions

Thunderbirds The Comic

In 1992, several episodes of Thunderbirds were adapted into comic book format for Fleetway's Thunderbirds The Comic series, with 30 Minutes After Noon among the first. Written by Alan Fennell and illustrated by D. M. Stokes, the 12 page adaptation was spread over 3 issues, emulating the presentation of the 1960's TV Century 21 stories.

For this compressed version of the episode, 8 pages were entirely dedicated to Thomas Prescott's subplot, while the remaining 4 swiftly detailed the "Erdwing Gang" (sic), and Southern's rescue from the Security Robots.

Foreign Titles

French: Le bracelet
German: Rennen gegen die Uhr
Spanish: 30 Minutos Después del Mediodía
Italian: Un bracciale prezioso
Dutch: 12 uur 30 precies (TV 1965), 30 minuten na twaalf (TV 1992), Race tegen de klok (VHS, DVD)
Japanese: スパイにねらわれた原爆
Australian: 30 Minutes Afternoon (VHS 1990), 30 Minutes To Noon (DVD 2001), 30 Minutes To The Moon (DVD 2010)