Sylvia Anderson, voice of Thunderbirds' Lady Penelope, dies

Sylvia Anderson, best known as the voice of Lady Penelope in the TV show Thunderbirds, has died after a short illness, her family has confirmed. Anderson co-created the hit science-fiction puppet series, which ran from 1965, with her late husband Gerry.

The character of Lady Penelope was based on Sylvia Anderson's appearance, and she also provided the voice

 In a career spanning five decades, she also worked on shows Joe 90 and Captain Scarlet, and for US TV network HBO. She died at her Buckinghamshire home, aged 88. Her daughter described her as "a mother and a legend".

The Andersons collaborated on many of his programmes, including Captain Scarlet and Stingray. Some puppets from the latter can be seen in this image.

"Her intelligence was phenomenal but her creativity and tenacity unchallenged. She was a force in every way," Dee Anderson said. Her former husband Gerry Anderson died in 2012 after suffering from Alzheimer's.

Nick Williams, Chairman of Fanderson - a fan club dedicated to the work of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson - told BBC Breakfast she was a "huge influence" on the entertainment industry.

Thunderbirds revolved around a futuristic emergency service called International Rescue, manned by the Tracy family

"She was one of the first really prominent women in the film and TV industry," he said, adding that Anderson leaves behind "an amazing legacy of fantastic television, really groundbreaking entertainment."

The 1960s series pioneered "supermarionation" - a puppetry technique using thin wires to control marionettes

Rae Earl, writer of the My Mad Fat Diary television series, tweeted: "Sylvia Anderson was responsible for some of my favourite TV."

Puppet pioneers

Born in south London to a boxing promoter and a dressmaker, Sylvia Anderson graduated from the London School of Economics with a degree in sociology and political science. She spent several years in the US and worked as a journalist before returning to the UK and joining a TV production company, where she met her future husband.

When he started his own company, AP Films, she joined him, and the couple began making puppet shows. They developed a production technique using electronic marionette puppets, called Supermarionation, in which the voices were recorded first, and when the puppets were filmed, the electric signal from the taped dialogue was hooked up to sensors in the puppets' heads.

That made the puppets' lips move perfectly in time with the soundtrack. In 1963, the couple came up with the idea for Thunderbirds, which told the story of the Tracy family who form a secret organisation dedicated to saving human life, set in the future.