The company responsible for creating Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet is offering a F.A.B prize to anyone who can help track down missing film negatives which were last seen in Rickmansworth.

Anderson Entertainment is appealing to any nosey parkers who can help solve the mystery of lost Terrahawks, Dick Spanner and The Day After Tomorrow footage, which was last seen in the "Ricky Vaults" in 1989.

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The programmes were made by Gerry Anderson MBE, who was famous for his use of "supermarionation", a puppetry technique used in classics like Stingray and Joe 90.

His son, Jamie, who is now the managing director of the company, is trying to track down more than 100 cans of lost film negatives.

In return, he is offering a package of rewards, including a t-shirt, hat, DVD, limited edition collectors’ items, and two tickets to "Andercon", a Gerry Anderson convention, worth £45 each.

He said: "There were 131 cans of film shipped to Ricky Vaults in 1989.

"They were subsequently lost and we can’t find anyone connected with the vaults, or anyone that has heard of it.

"They were previously stored by Rank in Denham and were shipped there at the request of the production company.

"I have no idea why they would have been moved. I have searched high and low for anyone connected with Ricky Vaults.

"I’ve spoken to the owner, the council, I’ve put out requests to other film archives and no-one has heard of it.

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"At one stage I thought ‘Ricky Vaults’ was industry slang for sending something to be destroyed, but it was definitely there."

Ricky Vaults was located at number 26, Ebury Road, Rickmansworth.

The address is now linked to a kitchen, bathroom and bedroom design company called "Vault Designs".

Mr Anderson added: "It’s really important to me that we find these, as they are the last few bits and pieces where we don’t have any original film for.

"Terrahawks and Dick Spanner only exist on one inch transition tapes and the quality is really bad.

"Dick spanner was a short lived show but was really great and funny, but it relies so much on visual gags."

Three Rivers District councillor Les Mead has also been conducting research into the lost tapes.

He said the vaults were used to store cans of cinefilm, and had spoken to an Ebury Road resident who remembers seeing some rusting in a skip outside.

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He also revealed that in 1967, the phone book shows the address was registered to "Film & TV Location Services Ltd".

Anderson Entertainment has set up a special email address for information to be sent to: LostWorlds@gerryanderson.co.uk.