The New Avengers, Series 2 — Episode 8
K is for Kill — Part 1: The Tiger Awakes
by Brian Clemens
Directed by Yvon Marie Coulais
Production details
Produced:June, 1977Regional broadcasts
Broadcaster | Date | Time |
---|---|---|
Thames Television | 27/10/1977 | 8.00pm |
ATV Midlands | 28/10/1977 | 8.00pm |
Granada Television | 27/10/1977 | 8.00pm |
Anglia Television | 27/10/1977 | 8.00pm |
Border Television | 28/10/1977 | 8.00pm |
Channel Television | 27/10/1977 | 8.00pm |
Grampian Television | 28/10/1977 | 8.00pm |
Southern Television | 27/10/1977 | 8.00pm |
Scottish Television | 27/10/1977 | 8.00pm |
Tyne Tees Television | 28/10/1977 | 8.00pm |
Ulster Television | 27/10/1977 | 8.00pm |
Westward Television | 27/10/1977 | 8.00pm |
Harlech Television | 28/10/1977 | 8.00pm |
Yorkshire Television | 28/10/1977 | 8.00pm |
TV Times listing
I do not have a TV Times / TV Weekly or other contemporary British listing for this episode, if you have one, please get in touch.





International broadcasts
ABN2 Sydney, Australia | 13/03/1978 | 8.30pm |
---|---|---|
ABQ2 Brisbane, Australia | 13/03/1978 | 8.30pm |
ABV2 Melbourne, Australia | 13/03/1978 | 8.30pm |
ABS2 Adelaide, Australia | 13/03/1978 | 8.30pm |
CBS New York, USA | 23/03/1979 | 11.30pm |
TF1 France | 4/08/1979 | 8.40pm |
Suisse Romande, Switzerland | - | - |
French title | Le long sommeil (1re partie : Le réveil de l’ours) | |
ZDF Germany | - | - |
German title | Der Drache erwacht | |
KRO Netherlands | 14/11/1977 | 8.25pm |
Dutch title | De M van Moord | |
Italy | 27/04/80? | ? |
Italian title | K come killers | |
Spain | - | - |
Spanish title | ||
CXY Winnipeg, Canada | 16/08/1978 | 10.00pm |
Televisyen Malaysia PR1 | 18/05/1978 | 7.28pm |
TV Singupura 5 | - | - |
Adelaide and Melbourne broadcast date is assumed as all states followed the same schedule but the local listing does not name the episode.
K is for Kill parts 1 and 2 were shown in one night by CBS stations as a long-form special finale for the American market. It appears from the New York Times, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times that the two episodes were shown back to back as those newspapers have two entries for the night (11.30pm and 12.45am in New York, 11.30pm and 12.30am in LA, and Baltimore listed part 2 as starting at 12.40am), these areas all finished at 2am, whereas the Chicago Tribune simply listed The New Avengers at 10.30pm and a rock concert starting at 1am. Technically, the USA debut for part 2 is on March 23 1979 as Chicago ran an hour earlier and would have started the second part between 11:40 and 11.45pm, so as to be synchronised with East Coast broadcasts.
Dutch newspapers simply advertised each part of K is for Kill by the same title, “De M van Moord”.
Germany, Switzerland, Spain and Singapore chose not to broadcast this episode.



Continuity and trivia
The jeep the hippies are driving, and is presumably destroyed by grenade blasts, is later driven by les Paras, by Colonel Martin, and by Steed!
Tony Then (the Tibetan monk) may well be the only Avengers guest cast member to have appeared in The Rocky Horror Picture Show — he was one of the transylvanians; come to that, why did Charles Grey never star in an Avengers episode? He appeared in nearly everything else!
Krishna Clough, who plays the solo Russian who attacked the garage, is now an eminent breast surgeon, based at the Institut Marie Curie in Paris.
The on-screen caption for the attack on the French village is August 14 1977 but the copy of The Guardian which reports the event is dated May 3.
The Transport
Marque | Colour | Number Plate |
---|---|---|
Bentley 3 1/2 litre | British racing green | YT 3942 |
Jeep | olive drab | 785 CA14 |
Rover 3500 SD1 | taupe | 4253 RU 95 |
French Army truck | olive drab | - |
French Army truck | olive drab | 4938.14 |
French Gendarmerie 500cc motorcycle | navy | - |
French Gendarmerie 500cc motorcycle | navy | - |
French Gendarmerie 500cc motorcycle | navy | - |
Who’s Killing Whom?
Victim | Killer | Method |
---|---|---|
Salvation Army Major (and his 9-member band) | Russian soldier (1965) | submachine gun |
Hippy | Russian soldier (1977) | submachine gun & grenades |
Hippy | Russian soldier (1977) | submachine gun & grenades |
Hippy | Russian soldier (1977) | submachine gun & grenades |
Russian soldier (1977) | Gambit | knocked out of tree by karate kick |
Vassili | Gambit | pistol |
(several russians) | (French paratroops) | (small arms fire) |
Russian | Gambit | pistol |
Russian | Gambit | pistol |

The Fashions
- Gambit’s fashions
- Purdey’s fashions
- Steed’s fashions