The Significant Props
of Season 5 (1967-8)

The Avengers
Page 5

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Station

Still to come: micro camera

Admiral's office
©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved

Decked out like a old ship of the line, the crusty old duffer has embellished his office so that ir resembles the captain's quarters of an Eighteenth Century English frigate.

umbrella
©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved

In this particular brolly, Steed keeps a tape recorder. Elsewhere you'll see it contain a sword, a gas canister, and all manner of things. Isn't it lucky that he always anticipates the need?

trains
©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved

I'm no trainspotter, I can't tell you a thing about them. I used to love these old dark wood-panelled trains though. It's a shame they've taken them out of service and replaced them with bland aluminium and beige aeroplane-style carriages.

stations
©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved

These always remind me of The Goodies - remember when they buy the

disused station, and then end up towing it away with their tandem? Great stuff. Same too for the episode where they enter the station in the Le Mans 24 hour race. If you look closely, you'll recognise that the walls and doors are used as other buildings on other sets, notably Hi-Limba Products in Who's Who???.

scales
©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved

Flatterer! This old set of platform scales reports Mrs Peel's weight to be a paltry 5 ½ stone, an answer she's very pleased with.

Lucas' suitcase
©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved

And doesn't it hold a lot of information? Such as...

>> A clue! But what could it mean? Find out below...

<< A photo of Salt, Admiralty public servant and general no-goodnik.

>> Every agent in the Ministry has an Auntie - but none of them are real. Here's the photo of Lucas' 'Auntie', we never get to see Steed's

control room
©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved

Like a miniature version of Churchill's War Office, in the restaurant car of a British Rail train.

cross-stitch
©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved

Watch and Pray indeed!

comic relief
Just what is John Laurie up to? First he sit on the lap of an old lady to avoid detection (!) and then he's munching away on biscuits in the saloon while Mrs Peel fights the villains. What a strange fellow.

©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved	©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved	©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved

©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved	©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved

newspaper
©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved

This newspaper is the exact same prop that's used in the taxi during the episode Death's Door. Sir Andrew Boyd is reading it when Steed and himself are being driven to the conference. It's a bit more appropriate in this episode though - there's even dialogue directly associated with it.

tickets
©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved

With a hole big enough to take a good-sized microdot packed full of information. Imagine handing over government secrets to a train conductor!

train seat
©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved

Ah - ha! That's what that clue was! A seat number on a train. So who thought it was a date then?

invitation to adventure
Another whimsical summons by Steed sees him getting a slap on the nose by way of the invitation.

Something Nasty In The Nursery

Still to come: old lavender.

toys
©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved

Baby bouncers in a cabinet, disturbingly marked "TREATED" and "UNTREATED", Mrs Peel blithely picks up a treated one. To the right, Sir George has already picked up a treated one, and is in la-la land (or the nursery of it at least), his car turned into a toy.

bomb
©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved

The villainous Mr Lucas - working in Grace Bros would turn anyone evil - delivers a bomb to Steed, but his plot goes awry as Steed fires it out the window with his tuba. Well, he was supposed to, but it fell out halfway through the scene.

invitation to adventure
©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved

Strangely similar to last week's invitation, this time with a toy carousel rather than a train set, which seems more to Mrs Peel's liking. No slap on the nose this time!

crystal ball
©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved

...of sorts, anyway. Props obviously couldn't come up with one in time, so they use a decorative lamp shade.

G.O.N.N. sign
©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved

The Guild of Noble Nannies is based in the building behind this impressive sign.

missile map
©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved

A map of Britain, with all the missile stations under General Wilmot's command clearly marked. Notice they're using an Airfix kit for the rocket?

Martin's shop
©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved

J.W. Martin & Son & Son established 1835. deceased 1968, judging by that jack-in-the-box (a luger semiautomatic pistol, if you're interested) on the right.

photo of nanny
©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved

Dear Nanny Roberts, in her younger days.

hell-raiser
©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved

Dangerous Nanny Roberts in her later years. At least, Goat's impersonation of her.

The Joker

Still to come: phonograph

Mrs Peel's dissertation on the application of complex mathematics to the playing of Bridge catches the eye of a dangerous villain. I like the way they've created an entire magazine for this, despite the terrible cut-price design of the magazine's front cover. Still, minority interest magazines like a Bridge Players International might conceivably be this low-budget.

photograph
©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved

Here we see attention to detail. They've actually held onto the pieces of photograph chopped up in the first scene, and slipped them into Mrs Peel's book, so that when reconstructed we can see they're the same pieces, not another photo cut up for the next scene. This probably means these two scenes were filmed on the same day.

book
©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved

Here we have the book "Trump Hand", in which Mrs Peel later discovers the cut up photograph pieces have been inserted.

wreck
©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved

An old Austin A40 Cambridge, by the looks. Anyone want to confirm that?

cards
©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved

A final flourish to end on - card tricks, but have you noticed the cards? The design on the back is of entwined roses. You don't think Steed was winding Mrs Peel up, do you?

What a lot of clothes this woman has!
A red coat, a blue coat, a black coat, a burgundy dress, plus the silk pyjamas and the green outfit. How long was she planning to stay?

©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved	©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved	©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved

The macabre decoration of the house is taking this card theme too far...

...I mean, just look at the dining room!

From this point you have a breathtaking view of four counties.
Except today perhaps.

Desperate times mean desperate measures - it's a good thing Mrs Peel packed her pistol! It's a bad thing the villains found it first and loaded it with blanks!

A nasty surprise for Major Fancy - a poisoned razor blade glued to the back of a playing card; the intended victim, Steed.

Another ominous occurrence for Mrs Peel - this is getting like a Hammer horror film, or 'The Shining' or something.

And now the line's been cut! Oh my!

Who's been spoiling their dinner with a cigar?

Yet another promotional photo of one of the leads gets pressed into service as a prop.

Karl Schmidt's "Mein Leibling, Mein Rose"

Suddenly, the halls and bedrooms are decked with bouquet after bouquet of blood-red roses.

(trip wire)
A nasty surprise for Steed on his way downstairs in the morning.

The Props

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The Significant Props of Season 5 (1967-8)

The Avengers Page 5

The Significant Props
of Season 5 (1967-8)

The Avengers
Page 5