The Investigator is a 1973 British television pilot devised, produced and directed by Gerry Anderson, creator of Thunderbirds and other Supermarionation TV series of the 1960s.

It centres on two American youths, John and Julie, who have been recruited by an extragalactic being called "the Investigator" to aid his self-appointed task of ridding Earth of evil and corruption.

Miniaturised and given special knowledge and abilities, they take on Stavros Karanti, an unscrupulous businessman plotting to steal a priceless painting from a Maltese cathedral.

Shane Rimmer and Sylvia Anderson voice John and Julie, who are represented by two-foot-tall (0.61 m) marionette puppets, while Charles Thake and Peter Borg appear as Karanti and his minion Christoph.

Written by his wife Sylvia from a story by Rimmer, it was filmed on location in Malta between the production of The Protectors and a planned second series of UFO (which would later be made as Space: 1999).

The pilot was assembled from the incomplete footage but Anderson, disappointed with the result, abandoned his idea of pitching it to NBC as the basis for a new Supermarionation series.

Karanti and Christoph return to the Borgia pursued by John and Julie, who board the yacht via a miniature speedboat provided by the Investigator.

[4][5] Written by Sylvia from a story by Shane Rimmer, it was funded by private venture capital and produced by off-the-shelf company Starkits between The Protectors and a planned second series of UFO (which was later made as Space: 1999).

[4][5] The model car was affected by radio signals from RAF Nimrods, causing it to crash into objects or speed off in the wrong direction.

[1] At one point, heavy rain forced the crew to film outdoor scenes under a plastic cover that started to leak, soaking the set.

[5] On another occasion, a storm hit while Gerry Anderson was on Malta and the rest of the unit were on Gozo, leaving the director and his crew cut off from each other and causing the production to lose a day.

[4][7] Elmes was originally to have scored the entire pilot, but Gerry Anderson was unimpressed with his efforts and replaced him with John Cameron, the composer for The Protectors.

The Andersons and Hill were disappointed with the finished pilot and abandoned the idea of pitching it, feeling that its quality was too low to satisfy NBC or any other broadcaster.

"[6] Simon Archer and Marcus Hearn compare The Investigator to The Secret Service, which combined puppets and live actors in a similar way.

Suggesting that an Investigator series could have been a "junior version" of Mission: Impossible, noting that 1973 was the "tail end of the post-Bond craze", Fryer acknowledges the pilot's failure, concluding that "the return of Supermarionation died, unheralded, on the rain-swept streets of Malta.

"[4] TV Zone magazine comments that the lack of puppet movement "does little to enliven the characters" and calls The Investigator a "poor attempt to recreate the heyday of Century 21".