Blue Peter Makes a Thunderbirds Tracy Island is a piece of Blue Peter Merchandise which was produced by BBC Worldwide, and was released around 5 April. 1993. The video lasted for around 14 minutes and was a guide for viewers to build their own Tracy Island and was a VHS tape.
History[]
In 1992 in the UK, a BBC2 re-run of Thunderbirds resulted in a shortage of Tracy Island toy playsets in the run-up to Christmas. The story was reported in the national news and is cited as the archetypal mistake to be avoided by the toy industry in general during the Christmas shopping season.
The children's programme Blue Peter responded to the stock shortage by demonstrating how to build a home-made version; the BBC was then, in turn, overwhelmed by viewers' requests for copies of an instruction sheet for making the model.
The BBC's re-launch of Thunderbirds in the early 2000s prompted a resurgence of consumer and press interest in Tracy Island and a second Blue Peter island-building demonstration. Vivid Imaginations' playset was ranked among the British Association of Toy Retailers' Top 10 toy products; it went on to become the best-selling toy of 2000, with demand estimated to be up to ten times greater than supply.
Gallery[]
External Links[]
- The full Video on YouTube.
- Tracy Island guide
