When we made Fireball XL5 (1962), I'd never heard of NBC, and I didn't even know what American networks were. I knew that it would be wonderful if the show was successful in America, but I knew nothing about the American networks.

I've always been interested in the idea of space exploration. When I was younger it was just a dream, but the theory of rockets being able to travel through space was very much alive. I found it very exciting.

[on his reluctance to make his first puppet program, The Adventures of Twizzle (1957)] I was shattered when I learned the programmes had to be made with puppets as I'd illusions of making great pictures like Ben Hur. But there we were with no money, and an offer on the table. We had to take it.

[on his famous puppet programs] I always used to think that they were terrible. I didn't see much on screen but the faults. I couldn't get a puppet to pick something up, or to walk. Their mouths were like letterboxes flapping open and shut. But I got to the point where I thought I'd better stop running down these pictures, because everybody in the world except me seems to like them.

The real tragedy of my life is that my son, Jamie, is a Doctor Who (1963) fan.