Thomas Brodie-Sangster on Thunderbirds Are Go 

Thomas Brodie-Sangster plays John Tracy, far right, who along with his brothers, from left, Scott, Virgil, Alan and Gordon make up the core of International Rescue on Thunderbirds Are Go!

Thomas Brodie-Sangster is hoping there\'ll be one particular spin-off from being part of

Thunderbirds are Go! – access to some of the toys accompanying the show\'s release.

Already a proud owner of Tracy Island, Lady Penelope\'s Car and Thunderbirds 1 through 5 from the original 1960s series, the 24-year-old British actor is crossing his fingers that voicing John Tracy on the ITV/Pukeko Pictures remake might earn him a "full set" of any new stuff.

"Maybe a few taster ones at least," he says down the phone line from his home in the UK recently.

Brodie-Sangster, who first caught the eye as Liam Neeson\'s stepson in 2003\'s Love Actually, has been a busy boy recently, starring in hit series Wolf Hall and Game of Thrones, as well as young adult blockbuster The Maze Runner. It was while on the set of the latter that he received word about Thunderbirds Are Go!

"It was 2.30am and I was literally just about to go to bed because I had to get up at 6.30am for filming. But when I saw the email, I got very excited and opened it because I\'ve been a Thunderbirds fan for many years. They wanted me to try out for three or four different Tracys to see what was best for my voice. So I sat up in my room and tried a few voices and recorded them and just as I pressed send, my alarm went off to go to work."

Describing the pilot of Thunderbird 5\'s role as communicating key information, Brodie-Sangster says he has "almost a bit of a Sat Nav voice".  "I decided not to go directly back to the original, but I did draw on what I could remember from watching it as a child – capturing whatever I thought John was, rather than trying to mimic his voice."

One of the biggest changes from Gerry and Sylvia Anderson\'s original 1960s iteration of Thunderbirds is the replacement of Supermarionation puppetry with live-action model sets and CGI, created by New Zealand\'s own Weta Workshop. To Sangster-Brodie\'s relief it wasn\'t as labour intensive as his last, brief encounter with the Wellington-based effects house, when he was in the running for the lead role on The Adventures of Tintin.

"I had one week out in LA with Weta," he says of his truncated time on Tintin, which he unfortunately had to drop out of due to scheduling difficulties. "I got to play around with the suits and dots on the face and work with Andy Serkis, who is the king of that. It was a crazy world to be in, but I got to learn from the best. By the end of the week, I felt only slightly comfortable, but it was certainly a very different experience and it takes an awful lot of imagination. So being able to go into a studio in normal clothes, have a cup of coffee and pretend to be a Tracy brother is a much more relaxing and easy way of doing things.

"I would still love to have a go at motion capture sometime because it is interesting. I think it is still in its infancy but it has really changed the filmmaking industry already."

Describing Thunderbirds are Go! as both for fans of the original ("there are lots of little nods and \'easter eggs\' for fans") and those new to the world of International Rescue, Brodie-Sangster says the reboot is probably aimed at a slightly younger audience.

And, when asked what he thinks is the enduring appeal of the show, he says that while the stories are "fantastic adventures", the Tracys aren\'t amazing superheroes, but rather "just normal, everyday guys that have cool stuff".

"They do all the things that young boys want to do, but they\'re also incredibly good role models as well. There\'s nothing wrong with wanting to save the world. Plus, I think it felt sophisticated as well. Kids know that there are dangerous things out there – parents and teachers tell you that all the time. In Thunderbirds, there was The Hood and terrorists – all sorts of nasty, horrible people who, in the end, got their comeuppance."

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