Reginald E. Hill (May 16, 1914–1999) was a British television producer and was most prominently associated with the work of puppet animator Gerry Anderson.
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Reg Hill started his working life during the 1930s in the display department of a London wholesale grocer before progressing to a role of advertising designer. In the pre-war period, Reg drove a Morgan three-wheeler, and he obtained his private pilot's license in June 1939.
He served in the Royal Air Force during World War II, spending time at Benson in Oxfordshire as an Airframe Fitter Instructor. After the war ended, he was posted to Germany and, on his return, flew a Lancaster bomber from Germany to England.
Once he had returned to England, Reg joined National Interest Picture Productions as a designer on Army, Air Force and other government films, working as a model maker and animator. He also used his artistic and design skills as a commercial artist creating paper cut-out model books (three-dimensional flight aircraft and other working models), jigsaw puzzles, greeting cards, the gunfire on the Dambusters film, and much more.
In 1954 while working as an artist at Pentagon Films, Reg met the young animator Gerry Anderson. Gerry had just formed, in partnership with Arthur Provis, a new production company, Anderson-Provis "AP" Films, and he invited Reg, who became a production designer. Initially based in Taplow, the new company produced a range of adverts for TV, including the 'Blue Cars' advert starring Nicholas Parsons. During quiet periods Reg worked on a number of other projects including the 1957 series The Adventures of Robin Hood, made at Walton Studio (now Sainsbury's) and the town centre.
The company was approached by Roberta Leigh to produce animated programs for television. This collaboration resulted in the production of Torchy the Battery Boy and The Adventures of Twizzle. Reg worked in all things artistic from set and puppet design to special effects. This collaboration ended, and the production of new programs commenced, with Four Feather Falls, a western starring Nicholas Parsons as Sheriff Tex Tucker. (Michael Holliday provided Tucker's singing voice.) During these early years, Reg was also involved in producing the low-budget film Crossroads to Crime.
AP Films was then bought by ATV boss Lew Grade and renamed 'Century 21 Productions' in 1966. It would be renamed 'Group 3 Productions' in 1972 after Gerry Anderson, Sylvia Anderson, and Reg Hill, and 'Gerry Anderson Productions' in 1975. Grade's purchase of AP Films was immediately followed by Supercar. Reg was responsible for designing the characters, the vehicles, and the sets, and he also wrote scripts for some episodes. This set the tone for future productions and the move into vehicle/science based adventures.
A succession of successful puppet and live action TV series followed: Supercar, Fireball XL5, Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, Joe 90, The Secret Service, which combined puppetry with live-action, UFO, which was entirely live-action, The Protectors, also live-action with Robert Vaughn and Nyree Dawn Porter, and Space: 1999. During this time, whilst taking on various roles as art director, producer and executive producer, Reg continued to be involved in series concepts and vehicles, character and set design.
Additionally, Reg contributed to the Thunderbirds films Thunderbirds Are Go! and Thunderbird 6, and worked as a designer on Doppelgänger, a 1969 film also known by the title Journey To The Far Side Of The Sun.
After completing the second series of Space: 1999, Gerry Anderson Productions was wound up and Reg entered semi-retirement. But far from taking life easy, Reg continued to use his artistic talents, working as a storyboard artist on a range of films including Pink Floyd The Wall, Gunbus, Outland, Octopussy, The Last Days of Pompeii, Supergirl and Superman and Superman II.
After a long and varied career in the film business, Reg finally retired. He died in October 1999—ironically barely one month after the events in Space: 1999 were described in its first series's first instalment, "Breakaway," as having begun.
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