Former Blue Peter host Anthea Turner has revealed that she still has that Tracy Island model she made in the 90s.

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“It’s in my loft,” Turner admitted on a children’s television presenter-themed edition of Pointless Celebrities. “It’s holding up; I made it so well.”

The creation of the soapbox, sawdust and sticky tape creation remains one of the most iconic moments in the show’s lengthy history, made in response to a shortage of Thunderbirds toys in the run up to Christmas ’92 after a BBC re-run of the series.

“That’s got to be worth a bomb,” Pointless co-host Richard Osman grinned. “Surely that’s worth a lot of money?”

“Yep, maybe one day I might need it…” Turner joked, which really rather tickled Osman.

“I love the fact that you didn’t go, ‘Oh, it hadn’t occurred to me’, you just went ‘Yep!’”

“What do you think it’s doing in my loft?” Turner laughed.

The beloved homemade creation caused such a fuss Blue Peter was inundated with requests for an instruction leaflet, which is still available online.

It also prompted various re-showings of the footage, including the below 90-second version so parents and kids could figure out how to replicate the model at home. It might be worth another watch given toy sellers are already warning there could be a similar demand this Christmas after this year’s CGI reboot. Now, where’s that sawdust…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UzWkEHOdZA

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