With Anderson serving chiefly as executive producer, the majority of the writing input for Captain Scarlet was provided by Tony Barwick, who had previously written for the short-lived second season of Thunderbirds.[39] Originally given the role of script editor, Barwick went on to pen 18 of the 32 episodes himself, and was also often required to make substantial changes to other writers' work.[39] While discussing his approach to writing episodes in a 1986 interview, he drew parallels between the premise and characters of Captain Scarlet and those of Thunderbirds, suggesting, for example, that Spectrum was similar to International Rescue and that the character of Captain Black was like the earlier recurring villain from Thunderbirds, The Hood.[39]