1.03 - Square Root Of Evil

[Allard]

LOST EPISODE - episode summary from The Avengers Dissolute website:

Steed impersonates the forger Riordan, which allows him to join a crime syndicate that prints forged banknotes. Having uncovered their plans, he finds his every move being watched by The Cardinal - the second-in-command. Only the pretence of an injury eventually allows Steed to visit his Doctor's surgery and Keel ensures that The Cardinal and his superiors, Bloom and Hooper are arrested.

[dissolute]

I've updated my page for this episode for the 60th anniversary after doing more research:

https://www.dissolute.com.au/the-avenge ... -evil.html

SQUARE ROOT OF EVIL
BY RICHARD HARRIS
Production completed: 21 January 1961. First transmission: 21 January 1961

This episode summary is written from the original scripts as this episode is now lost. There may have been changes made during filming.

ACT 1
Steed's boss, "5" (Heron Carvic) informs him that another agent, Tobert, was found dead while investigating a forgery racket run by Charles Hooper and "The Cardinal". 5 orders Steed to impersonate Timothy Riordan, an Irish master forger that Hooper has recruited; Riordan is due to be released from prison in three weeks. Steed is pensive about being 6: taller than Riordan but 5 believes none of the gang have ever met him. 5's secretary (Cynthia Bizeray) leads Steed to the records room and plays a film of Hooper's gang so Steed can identify them.

Steed is picked up outside Wandsworth Prison and taken to Hooper's print shop to meet the gang. Hooper's printing plates are wearing out and he wants Riordan to make new ones. Steed claims he's going straight and isn't interested - until Hooper shows him one of their notes and offers £10,000. The Cardinal enters, wearing his fedora, at which Steed says, "Who's the poor man's Al Capone" - annoying The Cardinal and making him test Steed's bona fides with regard to knowing the prison he supposedly just left. They show Steed the set-up, and Hooper confesses they haven't distributed any forgeries yet. Steed finally agrees that he's in on it and is startled when The Cardinal says he has a surpise for him - one of his old girlfriends, Lisa, is outside in the car! Lisa is brought in and she greets him. Steed kisses her then turns to The Cardinal and tells him to stop playing games, he's never seen Lisa before in his life.

ACT 2
Warren is at his flat, discusses a post office hold-up with Steed and confesses he used to run a legitimate wedding stationery business. Steed asks why he doesn't live above Hooper's garage and learns they were all kicked out when The Cardinal turned up; Warren is wary of The Cardinal because he carries a gun. Steed departs to place a bet on the dogs but actually rings 5, informing him that he's infiltrated the gang and The Cardinal tried the phoney girlfriend stunt, using his wife. Steed plans to check out the safe that night as The Cardinal and Hooper will be away collecting the next load of paper.

Steed arrives at the garage and enters to search the safe, unaware that someone was in one of the cars and they silently follow him. As he leaves, the lights come on, revealing Lisa who confronts him. She tells him she might not tell The Cardinal what he's doing, but she knows he's not Riordan. She only didn't say because she knew Jimmy would kill him, he's changes in the two years they've been married - vicious and suspicious and he's started carrying a gun. Steed warns her that he has "enough evidence to make things red-hot for all of you".

Hooper and The Cardinal, Jimmy not liking the gang getting larger, and not knowing more about the operation. Steed watches them stacking the paper but then a truck loaded with paper runs into the bench where he's hiding, injuring his hand. He tells Lisa to go back to her room and say nothing but Jimmy spots her and hits her for sticking her nose into thing.

ACT 3
Steed visits Keel to get his cut hand fixed, asking Carol for a large Scotch to take away the pain. He's worried about Lisa, if she hadn't shown herself when she did, Keel would be dealing with a corpse instead of a cut hand. Steed calls 5 and tells him Keel has been told about the case in case they need him, and he's dropped off some film at the chemist. Hanging up, Steed gives Keel 5's number - WHItehall 0011 as Carol prepares an antibiotic injection for his hand.

Lisa learns that Jimmy is suspicious of Steed and had heard Steed had been seen with a plain-clothes copper last night but Lisa persuades him Riordan wouldn't throw away the money for those who put him inside. Hooper arrives and calls the gang into his office, angrily telling Jimmy to get out of his chair. He announces the boss will collect the money that night. Bloom is concerned as they've only done half the job and Hooper explains the boss planned it that way to stop loose talk; the job is complete. Steed complains they haven't used him yet and won't get his money but Hooper promises him half they offered, or the full amount if he stays on for the next job. He then orders them all to crate up the presses as they're moving the operation.
Steed goes to call Keel, saying he needs both his hands, but The Cardinal doesn't want to let him. Hooper agrees but finally decides to call Keel on his behalf. When Hooper hears he has rung a real doctor he lets Steed take the phone and Steed tells Carol it's the new patient with the sore hand, Riordan. Carol laughs and says "Oh, it's you. Scotch this morning, Irish this afternoon", before handing the receiver to the doctor. Steed manages to pass on a warning to Keel, who immediately calls 5 and passes on the warning. 5 doesn't want to make a move as they're after the man behind Hooper so he asks Keel to visit the garage to see what's going on while he organises a discrete police cordon.

The gang are packing up when the door bell rings, making them jumpy. It's Keel, who Hooper leads into his office. He goes to give Steed another injection but The Cardinal doesn't buy it and orders them down to the print room at gun point. He tells Hooper he never trusted Riordan and now the doctor's seen too much there's only one thing to do - and says to Steed, "If you're one of us - kill him". Steed refuses and points the gun at Jimmy instead. The Cardinal sneers at him and shows the cartirdge is in his hand, the gun is unloaded. He launches himself at Steed with a roar and they fight, Keel and Lisa siding with Steed and Hooper with The Cardinal, employing printing equipment as weapons. With the gang rounded up and Lisa let to escape, Steed muses that they can catch Number 1 by replacing the gang with some of their own boys.

[Frankymole]

Here is another (possibly better) photo of Heron Carvic, alias "5":

[dissolute]

Here is another (possibly better) photo of Heron Carvic, alias "5":

Oh, that is excellent, wherever did you find it? I searched high and low for his picture with no luck at all. The one I had was sent to me by Scott Palmer via Phil Ellis, as a possibility of it being him.

[Frankymole]

Mestor the Magnificent (a Doctor Who fan) posted it on Twitter, saying "Not a lot of people know that Heron Carvic (real name Geoffrey Harris) who gave a wonderful voice to Morpho in #DoctorWho The Keys of Marinus was also a successful author of detective fiction. I was recently able to put a face to the voice of this captivating performance! I must credit @danblythewriter and @TobyHadoke for helping to put me on his track"

The previous "suspect" photo seems to have come from https://booksenstock.forumactif.com/t2379-heron-carvic, though I was reading up on a published (in book form) family biography by one of his relatives around the internet (can't find it now) and also saw it on some page linked to that book. It looks like it was copied - or rather photographed, at an angle - from a periodical of some kind. I could've sworn I had seen it in a Doctor Who magazine / special edition, but may be mistaken. In any case the better photo seems more likely to be him given its provenance - Toby Hadoke is very good at these things, especially solving mistaken identity problems for Doctor Who actors.

[Frankymole]

Don't change the picture just yet - the matter is up in the air...

Mestor has replied to me saying "It’s a baffling photo. I now have two pictures in my possession from dust jackets of his books, and this photo looks nothing like either of them. I also have it on good authority from Toby Hadoke that this photo is not him. An intriguing mystery"

Dunno why Toby changed his mind (if indeed his mind was made up in the first place)!

I've asked if Mestor can post the two photos he has from the dust jackets. Could it be that Mr Carvic didn't want to be identified? Or was his agent just incompetent?

[Frankymole]

Here we are. This is one of Mestor's pics from the dustjackets, with name! He writes "Unless that photo you sent me is just at an unusual angle, or the lighting is off, it can’t be the same man."

[dissolute]

Lovely - but if you ask me it IS the same man, just a different hair style - or syrup.
The chin, mouth, nose, eyes and eyebrows are a definite match, don't you think?

[Frankymole]

I think it's him at different ages. The first photo we had (the weird-angle magazine photo-of-a-photo of a macho-looking bloke in a denim shirt) doesn't look much like the author dustjacket photos though.

[dissolute]

I agree, that first photo was completely out there. It's possible that he put on weight and affected a light wig but it seems at odds with the other two. It's more likely it was a misattribution but it does remind me of that terrible old photo of Clifford Elkin from Doctor Who that I used to use which made him look like Eddie Booth (John Smethurst) as well.
This third one seems to confirm that the second is correct and, as the second is square on rather than an angled dust jacket photo I think I'll go with that.