1.06 - Girl on the Trapeze

[darren]

Written by Dennis Spooner

Directed by Don Leaver

Production completed: 11 February 1961

[Rhonda]

I just watched something else last night, where other 1960's actors (from Doctor Who, The Aztecs) were saying how nerve-racking live TV was at the time. Then I felt I just had to watch this live episode 'Girl on the Trapeze' again. The film inserts by the Thames blend perfectly with the bridge/river bank scenes in the studio. That was well done. Also all the comings and goings backstage at the circus look so believable as when people are held out of the way of exiting circus performers. But do you know what's the best thing about this? It's how Ian Hendry manages to relax things for everybody while they tell this very believable story so well. He does this several times with ad libs; including at the Circus Box Office with "we've all been dropping our ? tonight" and later when Carol coughs on a cigarette "you never could do that very well could you". I also liked how simply it's summed up, about how laxly the circus performers will be checked when returning home, by Dr. Keel's line "oh I see, one out one in". They are very good actors indeed.

[Charlie Parker]

It is a nice little episode which manages to work as a spy story without Steed's involvement rather then a little crime caper. I think they missed a beat by not having Dr. Keel do the autopsy and note the oddity of the drowning. Hendry is a charismatic lead and it is a shame we don't have more of him to watch.

[Operation E.N.G.L.A.N.D.]

I have to take a few more points off than most, because the central subterfuge of the plot just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me when I think about it. We know that the circus folk have already committed to pretending that Katrina’s just injured and is taking the night off; they’ve already got the corrections to the program printed up and everything. That being the case, why devise this elaborate plan of disposing of the body and making it look like a suicide, including Vera jumping off the bridge in full view of the public, and having an obviously foreign man floating around in the middle of the Thames in a small rowboat after dark? Even if they had done a better job of avoiding the police and concealing the needle mark, why do things in a way that is guaranteed to attract attention? Why not just bash Katrina’s head in and dump her in a closet? They’re leaving in the morning anyway; by the time the cleaners go through the hall that thoroughly, they’ll be safely out of the country. Is there something I’m missing here?
That being said, this is a very ambitious episode which works out amazingly well given the constraints of the way it was produced. Give the writers credit for portraying the police as being smart enough to a.) know that something’s not right from the start, b.) pick up on Keel’s hints when under duress, and c.) infiltrate the hall quite effectively by pretending to be circus hands. Lewis, in particular, is very sympathetically portrayed; he’s under the weather, and could have just gone home and let someone else handle the problem, but instead insists on digging into a matter in which it turns out that time is of the essence. Other than the somewhat silly incident with the cigarette I’ve mentioned elsewhere, the relationship between Keel and Carol is convincingly portrayed, and the bit with Carol getting wrapped up in the bandages and jumping Vera is pretty awesome, even if you can see it coming a mile away. Finally, as other reviewers have noted, you really don’t miss Steed all that much; Hendry does a great job of persuading you that Keel really can go on an adventure like this all by himself.

[Borgus Weems]

Just saw this over the weekend for the first time. It's very prototypical ITV action, but not very Avengers like. I liked Ian OK but it wasn't super memorable in and of itself, other than the nutty circus setting.

[Ian Wegg]

I finally managed to watch this yesterday, now that it has appeared on Britbox.

Very enjoyable and I agree with everything Rhonda says about the production.

7/10

[johnnybear]

I liked this one and found Keel works better outside of Steed's shadow! Kenneth J.Warren as Zibbo and the beginning of his near regular appearances in the show! Edwin Richfield also appeared and has a few shows under his belt! Apparently Patricia Haines was in it too but was uncredited which was a bit of a shock!
JB

[johnnybear]

Another thing for people who own the region 1 disc 17. Did you notice the flash when Zibbo broke into the room after Keel had taken care of Edwin Richfield? I find a few of these flashes on Network discs these days. timeslip, Danger Man and The Persuaders sets! There are usually no visible marks on the discs either. Very annoying when you're in the moment!
JB

[Frankymole]

I liked this one and found Keel works better outside of Steed's shadow! Kenneth J.Warren as Zibbo and the beginning of his near regular appearances in the show! Edwin Richfield also appeared and has a few shows under his belt! Apparently Patricia Haines was in it too but was uncredited which was a bit of a shock!
JB

Good old Edwin Richfield - he's in every one of the Avengers' six seasons.

[dissolute]

I've updated my page for Girl on the Trapeze for the 60th anniversary of its premiere.

Nadia Regin is definitely NOT in the episode and must have been replaced, possibly due to illness, during rehearsals. This happened to other actors in several other series 1 episodes - the TV Times had a two week turnaround from content delivery & typesetting to printing, so if Nadia became unavailable in that two week period, the TV Times listing would be wrong (and it was - it listed Nadia as playing Anna Danilov, who was actually played by Mia Karam). Some people have tried to claim the Nadia instead played Katrina Sandor but that is fanciful, she looks almost nothing like her.