Andy Rolfe
Andy grew up with Captain Scarlet and Thunderbirds and at the time he didn’t realise the significance of all of these Gerry and Sylvia Anderson shows. The fact they were made and filmed under the towers of the Mars building in Slough, and most of the crew were all local people to where he lived. This fascinated Andy as he had a healthy appreciation of all of this and was hungry to learn more. During Andy’s school years, his artwork was a little advanced for his tutors to understand. But what they didn’t realize at that time was, Andy was interest in making more models and Puppets from the Anderson’s shows.
Whilst embarking on a career in plumbing and building, little did Andy realize this would help him develop even more skills to follow his passion for making models and puppets. Andy met many more people involved with the shows, one of those being Christine Glanville who had been living at the bottom of his parents road for years, and he never knew. They became very good friends with Christine who introduced Andy to the Puppet Guild and the Puppet Theatre Barge. Christine is no longer with us but Andy will always be eternally grateful to her for that.
A short while after Christine had passed, his friends Dave and Liz Finchett recommended Andy to a company, to build Brains laboratory set for the DVD release of Thunderbirds, with a documentary as an added extra for the DVD’s. Andy enjoyed his time working on this project but he continued with his plumbing career. As time went on, he became more disillusioned with plumbing, and it was affecting his health. He still enjoyed making things and one day, he happened to be in his brother-in-law’s pub when he met Steve Begg, who was a visual effects supervisor on many of Gerry Anderson’s shows.
They became good friends and Steve put Andy’s name forward to Gerry to create some new sets for Captain Scarlet shows, and the documentary that would feature on the DVD box set. Gerry was given the green light to go ahead with the Captain Scarlet project and Andy was delighted to have been asked to join the team. This has always been a special moment for Andy. To create the SPV set for Captain Scarlet and Captain Blue, and to see the puppets sitting there in the scale model chairs Andy had made and surrounded by Andy’s brilliant set. It will always be a special memory.
There were roughly 15 people gathered around the set that day with the puppets looking limp and lifeless. Then Gerry called for ‘Action’, and Andy’s childhood heroes were brought to life right in front of his eyes. Instantly Andy had goosebumps on his arms, and at that precise moment, Andy knew that his life was about to change. Shortly afterwards Andy was approached by Bill Pearson. A well renowned model maker who worked on the first Alien film, and had asked Andy to come and work on Alien versus Predator AVP. This was Andy’s first film back in 2003, and the rest you could say is history!
Andy has gone on to work on 3 James Bond films making Models and Props, another Alien film Prometheus. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy 2, Fantastic Beasts, Justice League and in 2023 Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Also during this time, and in between, he would have been making adverts and working on his own projects. One of his latest projects is Mob Street. A 1930’s cops and robbers/gangster Puppet show. Andy together with some close friends also recreated Captain Scarlet to celebrate its 50th anniversary. All cleverly filmed in Andy’s living room and for little or no cost at all. The last model Andy made was to re-create a Bigature Red Dwarf 17 foot long. Andy thoroughly enjoyed doing this and created it in the same way that his mentor Bill Pearson would’ve done.
Going forward, Andy’s aim and ambition is to continue with his love affair of all things Puppets, by taking on creating and filming commission work for TV and the film industry. Andy’s Show Reel is just a fraction of what he is capable of creating, and if you like what you see, his contact details are here.