6.13 - Game

[MikeR]

The gateway has been widened and tidied up (getting rid of some trees) somewhat since Tony McKay took his photograph that appears on the Avengerland site.

All yours for £65 million, or if you that kind of money to spare you could always finance a new series of The Avengers?

[anti-clockwise]

The location used as the school that Steed and Tara visit to see Professor Witney was in the paper today.

Heath Hall http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/prop ... y-35m.html

Nice find Darren. so the owner bought for 100 million and put 40 million into renovations. hopes to sell for 65 million. only a 75 million loss.

[MikeR]

This is an Avengers location that I've never been to. Geoff perhaps this would be a good place to start enquiring about a visit on the Saturday of the Treasure Hunt event.

[anti-clockwise]

This is an Avengers location that I've never been to. Geoff perhaps this would be a good place to start enquiring about a visit on the Saturday of the Treasure Hunt event.

We can arrive as interested investors.

[mariocki]

Not for this year but I'll bear it in mind for future events.

[anti-clockwise]

Not for this year but I'll bear it in mind for future events.

Too bad. Perhaps Mike can inquire as an interested buyer. Then he can let us know, as in his book, what has changed since filming.

[MikeR]

Not for this year but I'll bear it in mind for future events.

Too bad. Perhaps Mike can inquire as an interested buyer. Then he can let us know, as in his book, what has changed since filming.

Yes, that’s fine I’ll do that, the only problem I can foresee is the paying part.

Filming at Heath Hall on The Bishops Avenue, Barnet, for the episode Game took place on June 5th 1968, though the only credited cast on location was Garfield Morgan. When Steed and Tara arrive in his vintage Rolls Royce and park in front of the university building in an establishing shot it was Paul Weston as Steed and Cyd Child as Tara. This was only the second day of principal photography on this episode and the second unit under the direction of Robert Fuest was responsible for the filming, later moving on to film at two other locations that day.

[anti-clockwise]

Not for this year but I'll bear it in mind for future events.

Too bad. Perhaps Mike can inquire as an interested buyer. Then he can let us know, as in his book, what has changed since filming.

Yes, that’s fine I’ll do that, the only problem I can foresee is the paying part.

Filming at Heath Hall on The Bishops Avenues, Barnet, for the episode Game took place on June 5th 1968, though the only credited cast on location was Garfield Morgan. When Steed and Tara arrive in his vintage Rolls Royce and park in front of the university building in an establishing shot it was Paul Weston as Steed and Cyd Child as Tara. This was only the second day of principal photography on this episode and the second unit under the direction of Robert Fuest was responsible for the filming, later moving on to film at two other locations that day.

Yes good point Mike! And don't forget about paying the butler and maids.

Speaking of money, any idea how much it would have cost to rent a property such as this back in 1968? Which of all the episodes would you guess have incurred the most expense in production cost?

[MikeR]

Too bad. Perhaps Mike can inquire as an interested buyer. Then he can let us know, as in his book, what has changed since filming.

Yes, that’s fine I’ll do that, the only problem I can foresee is the paying part.

Filming at Heath Hall on The Bishops Avenues, Barnet, for the episode Game took place on June 5th 1968, though the only credited cast on location was Garfield Morgan. When Steed and Tara arrive in his vintage Rolls Royce and park in front of the university building in an establishing shot it was Paul Weston as Steed and Cyd Child as Tara. This was only the second day of principal photography on this episode and the second unit under the direction of Robert Fuest was responsible for the filming, later moving on to film at two other locations that day.

Yes good point Mike! And don't forget about paying the butler and maids.

Speaking of money, any idea how much it would have cost to rent a property such as this back in 1968? Which of all the episodes would you guess have incurred the most expense in production cost?

Margo

Sorry, I’ve no idea what the fee would be to film at some of the large properties around the Elstree/Borehamwood area on private property. I can remember John Hough joining us on the Treasure Hunt event one year when we went to Shenley Lodge and after Chris Bentley had said his bit about what episodes had location footage shot there (The House That Jack Built and The See-Through Man), he asked John for his memories of the place.

John then admitted that he had never used Shenley Lodge while he was with The Avengers as he had come onto the production with the Thorson episodes. However, when he was working on The Champions he did some filming here for the episode The Fanatics and this came about when he was out scouting locations and seeing the building from the road he drove up the driveway and knocked on the door. At the time Shenley Lodge was a Health Farm/Hydro as gyms were called during the sixties.

The owner opened the door and John asked if he could bring a film crew to the property and the owner agreed and they exchanged contact information. However, the owner was on such a high about his property being featured in a TV episode that he actually forgot to ask John what the fee for this would be. I’m pretty certain someone asked John what the standard fee was, but I cannot remember the answer, perhaps Geoff or Andrew Pixley can as they were there on the day.

Using Tony McKay’s excellent Avengerland website I have had a look through the episodes for the one with the most location filming on private property and these are my findings.

The episode with the most location footage is Dead Man’s Treasure, being shot at 20 different locations of which 5 were on private property.

Coming close to being the winners were Silent Dust and The See-Through Man, which were both filmed at 9 locations, with both using private property on 5 of those.

For me the winner is Return of the Cybernauts, filmed on 9 locations, but with 6 of those being on private property.

However, there is something to take into consideration and that is that the Thorson episodes visit central London far more than the Rigg episodes did and so some of the final season would have also been quite expensive to produce, because of the distance involved and difficulties involved such as the parking of unit vehicles.

The winner here appears to be Take Me to Your Leader with 6 different central London locations, plus footage shot at what was RAF Bovingdon in Hertfordshire.

However, it gets even more complicated as obviously it was more expensive to have the main unit out on location, then the much smaller second unit which could be as small as 4 people, thus, costs would fluctuate.

Other episodes that spring to mind as being expensive to produce are The Town of No Return, two different shooting blacks and partially filmed on location in Norfolk. The Grave-Diggers that had major location filming done on the narrow gauge railway at Stapleford Park, near Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, which was the furthest north that the series was ever shot. The Thorson episode that springs to mind as being expensive involved the second unit travelling to the south coast to Start Point Lighthouse in Devon and Peacehaven in East Sussex to film material for All Done with Mirrors.

In contrast the cheapest episode, possibly Epic, with only 1 piece of location footage done on private property in Aldenham Park, no sets specifically built, no costumes made, hardly any supporting cast and most of the episode shot on the studio lot.

[anti-clockwise]

Yes, that’s fine I’ll do that, the only problem I can foresee is the paying part.

Filming at Heath Hall on The Bishops Avenues, Barnet, for the episode Game took place on June 5th 1968, though the only credited cast on location was Garfield Morgan. When Steed and Tara arrive in his vintage Rolls Royce and park in front of the university building in an establishing shot it was Paul Weston as Steed and Cyd Child as Tara. This was only the second day of principal photography on this episode and the second unit under the direction of Robert Fuest was responsible for the filming, later moving on to film at two other locations that day.

Yes good point Mike! And don't forget about paying the butler and maids.

Speaking of money, any idea how much it would have cost to rent a property such as this back in 1968? Which of all the episodes would you guess have incurred the most expense in production cost?

Margo

Sorry, I’ve no idea what the fee would be to film at some of the large properties around the Elstree/Borehamwood area on private property. I can remember John Hough joining us on the Treasure Hunt event one year when we went to Shenley Lodge and after Chris Bentley had said his bit about what episodes had location footage shot there (The House That Jack Built and The See-Through Man), he asked John for his memories of the place.

John then admitted that he had never used Shenley Lodge while he was with The Avengers as he had come onto the production with the Thorson episodes. However, when he was working on The Champions he did some filming here for the episode The Fanatics and this came about when he was out scouting locations and seeing the building from the road he drove up the driveway and knocked on the door. At the time Shenley Lodge was a Health Farm/Hydro as gyms were called during the sixties.

The owner opened the door and John asked if he could bring a film crew to the property and the owner agreed and they exchanged contact information. However, the owner was on such a high about his property being featured in a TV episode that he actually forgot to ask John what the fee for this would be. I’m pretty certain someone asked John what the standard fee was, but I cannot remember the answer, perhaps Geoff or Andrew Pixley can as they were there on the day.

Using Tony McKay’s excellent Avengerland website I have had a look through the episodes for the one with the most location filming on private property and these are my findings.

The episode with the most location footage is Dead Man’s Treasure, being shot at 20 different locations of which 5 were on private property.

Coming close to being the winners were Silent Dust and The See-Through Man, which were both filmed at 9 locations, with both using private property on 5 of those.

For me the winner is Return of the Cybernauts, filmed on 9 locations, but with 6 of those being on private property.

However, there is something to take into consideration and that is that the Thorson episodes visit central London far more than the Rigg episodes did and so some of the final season would have also been quite expensive to produce, because of the distance involved and difficulties involved such as the parking of unit vehicles.

The winner here appears to be Take Me to Your Leader with 6 different central London locations, plus footage shot at what was RAF Bovingdon in Hertfordshire.

However, it gets even more complicated as obviously it was more expensive to have the main unit out on location, then the much smaller second unit which could be as small as 4 people, thus, costs would fluctuate.

Other episodes that spring to mind as being expensive to produce are The Town of No Return, two different shooting blacks and partially filmed on location in Norfolk. The Grave-Diggers that had major location filming done on the narrow gauge railway at Stapleford Park, near Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, which was the furthest north that the series was ever shot. The Thorson episode that springs to mind as being expensive involved the second unit travelling to the south coast to Start Point Lighthouse in Devon and Peacehaven in East Sussex to film material for All Done with Mirrors.

In contrast the cheapest episode, possibly Epic, with only 1 piece of location footage done on private property in Aldenham Park, no sets specifically built, no costumes made, hardly any supporting cast and most of the episode shot on the studio lot.

Oh that was most kind of you to research that for me Mike! The more I have read your book and read your posts, the more it becomes very real, how much work and money went into each episode. When the average person sees the finished product, it is not obvious what the cost is or the production efforts were.

It is funny that Epic was the most economical. It was the most inexpensive and a fan favorite. And getting Peter Wyngarde to play 11 roles saved on the payment to the actors. I hope he was well paid for such an outstanding performance. It really does not look inexpensive at all. The whole illusion effect made it look more grandiose than it really was. It really was both a brilliant idea and economical at the same time.