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The Episode Guide to Season 4 (1965-6) of The Avengers

Episode 10 - Dial a Deadly Number

Episode Rating

Subject 0-5 Subject 0-5 Subject 0-5 Subject 0-5
Direction
3½ stars
Music 3 stars Humour
1½ stars
Intros/tags 3 stars
Villains 4 stars Plot
4½ stars
Emma
3½ stars
Sets/Props 3 stars
Overall
(0-10)
Is it just me? Financial storylines just don't grab me, so this episode slips down the list.
6½ stars

The Cars

Marque/Model/Type Number Plate
Mercedes Benz 300 saloon -
Bentley 3 litre UW 4887?
Austin Mini -
Jaguar S-Type -
Volvo 122 S Saloon -
Austin Mini 24 BLX?
Triumph motorbike -
Triumph motorbike 452 VMF
Ford Zodiac 1956-62 -
Ford Zodiac 1956-62 5418 MW
Austin A35 M15 63?
Austin taxi SGY 477
Ford Thames 1956 E83W van YMV 445
Bedford CALV van IPS 523
Austin taxi PKL 767

Who's Killing Whom?

Victim Killer Method
click a name to see the face
Todhunter Fitch V* needle through heart
Myers? Steed and himself V* motorcycle crash (caused by gunshot?)
Frederick Yuill V* Fitch V* needle through heart
Fitch V* himself and Steed bicycle pump gun (in fight)
Henry Boardman? Ben Jago V* shot

continuity and trivia

15:14 - When Steed first meets Ben Jago he tells him they have the same broker, and Jago says "Charlie Bingham?" as a test. Steed looks taken aback and replies "Yuill, Brian Yuill" (instead of Frederick Yuill), and Jago merely says "Can't be too careful."

16:00 - Separated by a common language - When Steed queries the lack of ice in his drink, the waiter explains it's a house rule. A Wall Street broker once asked for "bourbon on the rocks" and two brokers fell dead on the spot. ("On the rocks" of course being City slang for bankrupt).

21:00 - Steed questions Emma's lack of tan and is told it's the rainy season in Barbados; Harvey chips in that half the annual rainfall of 36" falls between September and November, putting this episode in October or November - it was filmed in January and screened the following December.

22:45 - Steed contradicts the above when he notes that next Tuesday - the day of the wine-tasting - is the anniversary of the relief of Ladysmith in 1900 (which occured on 28 February, and was a Tuesday only in 1961 and 1967). If, on the other hand, the date was the start of the seige of Ladysmith, then it's 2 November 1965, which works perfectly.

25:10 - Yuill causes more problems later on when he swallows while Emma examines his corpse.

28:27 - Later, at the wine tasting, when Steed chooses a wine for the duel, he tastes a glass of the Latour '59 but spits most of it onto his jacket.

29:33 - Steed's tasting notes:

It's either a '65 Algerian red or a Premier Cru. Chateau Lafitte-Rothschild. [BOARDMAN: What year?]
No nose; it's old, very old. Pre 14-18 War? [HARVEY: Correct.]
It's an outstanding vintage, definitely pre 1914 but no earlier than 1880. [BOARDMAN: You still have 34 years to play with. Well?]
190- 8 [Harvey smiles] - would not be the year. 1909! [Boardman looks surprised]
From the northern end of the vineyard. [Boardman's is so surprised his monocle falls from his eye]

31:10 - When Fitch examines the frame showing Steed's watch, you can see the spools are still turning on the projector when they should be still. Furthermore, why does he examine the still at all, when he already has a blow-up of the frame?

49:50 - Mrs Peel emulates Steed's wine identification in the cab - but she's read the label:

A claret with unusual body, - the Bordeaux distict.
Mmmmm... the little village of St. Perignon which would make it the de Villé vineyard.
A Mérignac Sainte-Claire!
Nineteen-thirty... would not be the year - 1931!

© Piers Johnson 2000-9