Death At Bargain Prices

[SonofTPMcKenna]

Hi Guys,

I'm new to the site so just want to say 'Hi'!

My father was a three times guest artist, T.P. McKenna, in:

Trojan Horse (3)
Death at Bargain Prices (4)
Noon Doomsday (7)

I'm currently writing a book on him: 'My Daddy, the Actor - the Life and Times of T.P. McKenna'.

I'm especially keen to add to my knowledge base any information related to these three appearances.

My most useful acquisition, so far, has been a copy of the shooting script for Trojan Horse.

I'd love to find something similar for Death at Bargain Prices.

Here are some of my Avengers Faves.

Fave era: Emma Peel

Fave episodes: the one's set in deserted villages

Fave players: Mother/Paddy Newell

Fave Theme: I'm a big John Dankworth fan, but Laurie Johnson's Avengers theme is one of the great sig tunes of all time.

Fave Moment: Meeting Diana Rigg in 1972. She was simply GORGEOUS and very friendly to this 10 year old.

[Frankymole]

Hello and welcome!

I loved your father's performances, so great in so many things. I particularly remember Nigel Kneale's "Beasts", "Adam Adamant Lives!", "Blakes 7": Bounty, and of course Doctor Who. But that was just a small selection of a glittering screen career!

[mousemeat]

Hi Guys,

I'm new to the site so just want to say 'Hi'!

My father was a three times guest artist, T.P. McKenna, in:

Trojan Horse (3)
Death at Bargain Prices (4)
Noon Doomsday (7)

I'm currently writing a book on him: 'My Daddy, the Actor - the Life and Times of T.P. McKenna'.

I'm especially keen to add to my knowledge base any information related to these three appearances.

My most useful acquisition, so far, has been a copy of the shooting script for Trojan Horse.

I'd love to find something similar for Death at Bargain Prices.

Here are some of my Avengers Faves.

Fave era: Emma Peel

Fave episodes: the one's set in deserted villages

Fave players: Mother/Paddy Newell

Fave Theme: I'm a big John Dankworth fan, but Laurie Johnson's Avengers theme is one of the great sig tunes of all time.

Fave Moment: Meeting Diana Rigg in 1972. She was simply GORGEOUS and very friendly to this 10 year old.

WELCOME aboard...can't wait to read more from you..and insights...btw, Death at Bargain prices, is one of my ten fave episodes ...

[SonofTPMcKenna]

Thank you, FrankieMole and MouseMat, for the very kind welcome.

One of my objectives on here is is to see if I can discover more information on about Death at Bargain Prices. Specifically to know which of the sound stages at Elstree Studios it was filmed on.

I'd love to be able to claim it was the same as where they had the lobby of the Overlook Hotel for The Shining.

For now, allow me to share an draft extract for the book and a chapter titled 'Masterclass In Villainy'.

http://mckennawhitefilms.com/fanmailrichande-951854

[Andrew Pixley]

Welcome to the forum Stephen!

Delighted to know that you're celebrating your dad's life and career. He was one of those actors that always made you smile when he turned up on television. I always think of him as Richmond in "Callan"... and his appearances in "The Sweeney", "Blake's 7", "Minder" and "Lovejoy" also come to mind.

I've not seen any primary paperwork in terms of call sheets of progress reports for "Death at Bargain Prices", but I believe that at this point, Stage 5 was primarily being used for "The Avengers" at ABPC Elstree.

In terms of production of episodes, Michael Richardson wrote a book called "Bowler Hats and Kinky Boots" which goes into a lot of detail about the production of all the episodes of "The Avengers" and "The New Avengers" and might have information that would be of interest (e.g. the shooting schedule for "Noon Doomsday"). I don't know if that would be of use.

Not sure that I've ever seen anything other than Dialogue Sheets for either of your dad's two filmed episodes, but you might get lucky locating shooting scripts.

Good luck with it all. Hope you have a lot of fun doing it and an enthusiastic audience when it's out there.

All the best

Andrew

[Frankymole]

I've not seen any primary paperwork in terms of call sheets of progress reports for "Death at Bargain Prices", but I believe that at this point, Stage 5 was primarily being used for "The Avengers" at ABPC Elstree.

According to Piers' site, the lift was shot at Pinewood, not sure about the other store scenes: https://www.dissolute.com.au/the-avenge ... other.html

[dissolute]

I suspect my Pinewood reference is an error as everything else was at Elstree...

[SonofTPMcKenna]

Even if only a few percent of my research makes the final text, it matters not.

Context is all, and I love the process of reconstructing a picture of the times, as best as I can.

My father was a very lucky player in some respects. He ended up coming to London almost by accident and from the start he was in demand. Quite remarkable considering he had spent virtually no time in a television or film studio up till then.

In Ireland his work was almost exclusively theatre and Ireland didn't get a television service until 1961.

Books about actors can be very dreary affairs ... then he did this, then that, and some of the other, which was nice ... zzz zzz. So, I'm keen to also give an impression of the industry and the atmosphere of the times.

Thanks Andrew Pixley for the encouragement and I'll follow up on the book. 'Richmond' in Callan was one of his finest hours, for sure. As for the The Sweeney. Gosh, my siblings and I were the hit of the playground the morning after that was screened. The series was brand new and making a big impression with everyone. The norm was more a question of us having the mickey ripped out of us. Especially his popping up in a film called The Beast in the Cellar with Beryl Reid and Flora Robson. We never heard the end of that one ... you're dad was the beast in the cellar!!! Ha ha!! x 1,000.

Dissolute - I'm reminded of a picture I saw recently of DR outside one of the sound stages in her cat suit, but now I can't find it. it was ever thus.

[J.Mac3]

Hi Guys,

I'm new to the site so just want to say 'Hi'!

My father was a three times guest artist, T.P. McKenna, in:

Trojan Horse (3)
Death at Bargain Prices (4)
Noon Doomsday (7)

I'm currently writing a book on him: 'My Daddy, the Actor - the Life and Times of T.P. McKenna'.

I'm especially keen to add to my knowledge base any information related to these three appearances.

My most useful acquisition, so far, has been a copy of the shooting script for Trojan Horse.

I'd love to find something similar for Death at Bargain Prices.

Here are some of my Avengers Faves.

Fave era: Emma Peel

Fave episodes: the one's set in deserted villages

Fave players: Mother/Paddy Newell

Fave Theme: I'm a big John Dankworth fan, but Laurie Johnson's Avengers theme is one of the great sig tunes of all time.

Fave Moment: Meeting Diana Rigg in 1972. She was simply GORGEOUS and very friendly to this 10 year old.

I'm sorry I can't offer you anything of substance other than to say the Death at Bargain Prices is one of my favorites and your father was superb in the episode.

[J.Mac3]

Hi Guys,

I'm new to the site so just want to say 'Hi'!

My father was a three times guest artist, T.P. McKenna, in:

Trojan Horse (3)
Death at Bargain Prices (4)
Noon Doomsday (7)

I'm currently writing a book on him: 'My Daddy, the Actor - the Life and Times of T.P. McKenna'.

I'm especially keen to add to my knowledge base any information related to these three appearances.

My most useful acquisition, so far, has been a copy of the shooting script for Trojan Horse.

I'd love to find something similar for Death at Bargain Prices.

Here are some of my Avengers Faves.

Fave era: Emma Peel

Fave episodes: the one's set in deserted villages

Fave players: Mother/Paddy Newell

Fave Theme: I'm a big John Dankworth fan, but Laurie Johnson's Avengers theme is one of the great sig tunes of all time.

Fave Moment: Meeting Diana Rigg in 1972. She was simply GORGEOUS and very friendly to this 10 year old.

I'm sorry I can't offer you anything of substance other than to say that Death at Bargain Prices is one of my favorites and your father was superb in the episode.