It's A TV Record !!

[DiVicenzo]

I wouldn't take the word of a Daily Mirror hack (even back then) that the figure was £450. The figure I heard was £150 (I think).

I remember hearing £450 but it was probably from this Daily Mirror all those years ago. That figure has stayed with me for 40+ years.

[Timeless A-Peel]

I think considering the hours she (and pretty much every other actor in the sixties) was working, it was still a pretty raw deal. Honor Blackman didn't have a single solitary day off through the entire second season. If she wasn't shooting an episode, she was doing publicity, training for fight scenes, doing costume fittings, or rehearsing lines. I doubt Diana had it much better. Couple with six more episodes a season (and they were longer, too--today's hour long series clocks in at around 45 minutes).

As for Gareth and Joanna, they were certainly spending more than a week an episode, and had the added fitness training, etc. to deal with. Most of the time they were exhausted (they finally got Joanna a driver because she spent an hour driving in circles unable to remember where she lived). By the end they weren't being paid, either, due to the funding issues. There's a reason they thought it was hilarious whenever anyone asked how rich they'd gotten off the series (remember they never earned repeat fees, either).

AS with all The Avengers seasons after Cathy Gale weren't they making more than one episode at a time - that I find amazing! How the heck didn't they get confused Also, Diana only wanted to buy her Dad a bottle of whisky a week (or something like that). Now she could buy her own place in St John's Wood and a place in Ibiza. I think we all agree she was worth it. And, I think Patrick is the only one getting repeat fees/ royalties and that was through pure luck and hard work of his accountant according to him.

I've heard anywhere from 3 to 5 episodes at once, the latter when Patrick and Diana came down with a stomach bug.

Joanna has said she did five at once, too, and the reason she kept the same hair and earrings was tp make the continuity easier. She never had the foggiest idea which plot she was doing.

[Rodney]

Working on different episodes at the same time is no more complicated than working on different scenes from the same episode. As long as the leads remain the same, i.e. Steed, Purdey and Gambit, then I see no problem. Macnee was a pastmaster at this and in the Gale era rarely thought about anything other than the actual scene which was being shot.

[Dandy Forsdyke]

On a related note, I happened to come across William Hartnell's Wikipedia entry...

"Doctor Who earned Hartnell a regular salary of £315 per episode by 1966 (equivalent to £4,050.90 in modern currency). In comparison, his co-stars Anneke Wills and Michael Craze earned £68 and £52 per episode at the same time"

Also: a post another forum contained this info re. Carry On stars ....

Sid (James) Kenneth (Williams) got the most averaging £5000 per pic with (Joan) Sims, (Barbara) Windsor, (Charles) Hawtrey, (Kenneth) Connor and (Bernard) Bresslaw averaging £3000 per pic, mostly for the later colour films. Joan Sims always said that money was the biggest issue for the cast, but it seems to me that 3k per pic for 6 weeks work twice a year wasn't that bad in the 60's and 70's, especially on films that had very limited box office outside the UK.

Not suprisngly, the guest stars did best money-wise. Harry H Corbett received £12,000 for 'Screaming', Frankie Howerd on £9000 for 'Jungle'.And the highest paid Carry On star ever....? Phil Silvers who got £30,000 for 'Follow That Camel'

Lowest paid was Patsy Rowland who received just £60 and £75 for a couple of scenes at the beginning of 'Abroad and 'Henry' respectively and Jack Douglas who got £25 (!) for his debut in 'Matron'.