Star Trek actor Jonathan Frakes has signed up to direct a live-action film version of cult puppet show Thunderbirds, ending years of speculation over the project.

The 1960s series, created by Gerry Anderson, focused on the adventures of the top-secret International Rescue agency, run by retired astronaut Jeff Tracy and his five sons.

Other key characters included Lady Penelope, the agency's London representative, her chauffeur Parker, and the Tracys' houseguest Brains.

Although only 32 episodes were made, the show, first broadcast in 1964, still has a huge following. It is currently being repeated in the UK on the digital channel Boomerang.

Gerry Anderson's show remains a cult favourite

A spin-off film, Thunderbirds Are Go, was released in 1966.

The live-action, Universal Pictures project is scheduled to begin filming early next year.

A live-action feature based on the series has been in development for some time.

British producers Working Title and director Peter Hewitt, who made the recent comedy Thunderpants, have both been attached to the project over the past few years.

Adult audiences

A number of actors have also been linked with the film including the Baldwin brothers - Alec, William, Steven and Daniel - who were once tipped to take on the roles of the Tracy siblings.

However, plans to turn the live-action version into an action-adventure aimed at adult audiences were recently scrapped, and the project has been rewritten as a family film aimed at the under-10s.

Frakes, best known for playing Commander William Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation, also directed and starred in two Star Trek films, Insurrection and First Contact.

He recently directed the children's comedy Clockstoppers, and will also reprise the role of Riker in the latest Star Trek film Nemesis, which will be released in the UK in January 2003.