The Avengers

Series 1, 1961 Episode Guide

Clicking the randomly-selected images above takes you directly to the episodes pictured.

Episodes are listed in transmission order.
Legend for this table — all dates are in dd/mm/yy format

You may also download a spreadsheet of all series transmission and production dates.

The table below is expandable to show other ITV regions. show all regions

# Episode BF Video Lead Produced ABC Anglia ATV South TT TWW UTV WTV STV BTV GTV
01 Hot Snow1 1 V§R - 2 - 30/12/1960 7/01/1961 10.00pm - 18/03/1961 10.00pm 18/03/1961 10.00pm 18/03/1961 10.00pm 18/03/1961 10.00pm 18/03/1961 10.00pm - - - -
02 Brought to Book 1 - 4 - 12/01/1961 14/01/1961 10.00pm - 1/04/1961 8.35pm 1/04/1961 8.35pm 1/04/1961 8.35pm - - - - - -
03 Square Root of Evil 1 - 0 Steed 21/01/1961 (Live TX) 21/01/1961 10.00pm - - - - - - - - - -
04 Nightmare 5 - 1? Keel 28/01/1961 (Live TX) 28/01/1961 10.00pm - - - - - - - - - -
05 Crescent Moon 5 - 0 Steed 4/02/1961 (Live TX) 4/02/1961 10.00pm - - - - - - - - - -
06 Girl on the Trapeze 5 V§ - 0 Keel 11/02/1961 (Live TX) 11/02/1961 10.00pm - - - - - - - - - -
07 Diamond Cut Diamond 5 - 1 Steed 18/02/1961 (Live TX) 18/02/1961 10.00pm 18/02/1961 10.00pm - - - - - - - - -
08 The Radioactive Man 2 - 1? Keel 25/02/1961 (Live TX) 25/02/1961 10.00pm 25/02/1961 10.00pm - - - - - - - - -
09 Ashes of Roses 2 - 1 Carol 4/03/1961 (Live TX) 4/03/1961 10.00pm 4/03/1961 10.00pm - - - - - - - - -
10 Hunt the Man Down 4 - 38 - 12/03/1961 18/03/1961 10.00pm 18/03/1961 10.00pm - - - - - - - - -
11 Please Don’t Feed the Animals 2 - 1? - 30/03/1961 1/04/1961 8.35pm 1/04/1961 8.35pm - - - - - - - - -
12 Dance with Death 2 - 0? - 12/04/1961 15/04/1961 10.00pm 15/04/1961 10.00pm 15/04/1961 10.00pm 15/04/1961 10.00pm 15/04/1961 10.00pm 15/04/1961 10.00pm 15/04/1961 10.00pm - - - -
13 One for the Mortuary 1 R 80 1 - 26/04/1961 29/04/1961 10.00pm 29/04/1961 10.00pm 29/04/1961 10.00pm 29/04/1961 10.00pm 29/04/1961 10.00pm 29/04/1961 10.00pm 29/04/1961 10.00pm 29/04/1961 10.00pm - - -
14 The Springers 3 R 84 0 - 11/05/1961 13/05/1961 10.00pm 13/05/1961 10.00pm 13/05/1961 10.00pm 13/05/1961 10.00pm 13/05/1961 10.00pm 13/05/1961 10.00pm 13/05/1961 10.00pm 13/05/1961 10.00pm - - -
15 The Frighteners 6 V§ 82 0 - 25/05/1961 27/05/1961 10.00pm 27/05/1961 10.00pm 27/05/1961 10.00pm 27/05/1961 10.00pm 27/05/1961 10.00pm 27/05/1961 10.00pm 27/05/1961 10.00pm 27/05/1961 10.00pm - - -
16 The Yellow Needle 3 R 82 0 - 8/06/1961 10/06/1961 10.00pm 10/06/1961 10.00pm 10/06/1961 10.00pm 10/06/1961 10.00pm 10/06/1961 10.00pm 10/06/1961 10.00pm 10/06/1961 10.00pm 10/06/1961 10.00pm 10/06/1961 10.00pm - -
17 Death on the Slipway 6 R 90 0 (Steed) 22/06/1961 24/06/1961 8.50pm 24/06/1961 8.50pm 24/06/1961 8.50pm 24/06/1961 8.50pm 24/06/1961 8.50pm 24/06/1961 8.50pm 24/06/1961 8.50pm 24/06/1961 8.50pm 24/06/1961 8.50pm - -
18 Double Danger 3 R 80 52 - 6/07/1961 8/07/1961 8.50pm 8/07/1961 8.50pm 8/07/1961 8.50pm 8/07/1961 8.50pm 8/07/1961 8.50pm 8/07/1961 8.50pm 8/07/1961 8.50pm 8/07/1961 8.50pm 8/07/1961 8.50pm - -
19 Toy Trap 3 R 83 138 - 20/07/1961 22/07/1961 8.50pm 22/07/1961 8.50pm 22/07/1961 8.50pm 22/07/1961 8.50pm 22/07/1961 8.50pm 22/07/1961 8.50pm 22/07/1961 8.50pm 22/07/1961 8.50pm 22/07/1961 8.50pm - -
20 Tunnel of Fear 6 V§R 78 67 - 3/08/1961 5/08/1961 8.50pm 5/08/1961 8.50pm 5/08/1961 8.50pm 5/08/1961 8.50pm 5/08/1961 8.50pm 5/08/1961 8.50pm 5/08/1961 8.50pm 5/08/1961 8.50pm 5/08/1961 8.50pm - -
21 The Far Distant Dead 7 R 79 57 Keel 14/08/1961 19/08/1961 8.50pm 19/08/1961 8.50pm 19/08/1961 8.50pm 19/08/1961 8.50pm 19/08/1961 8.50pm 19/08/1961 8.50pm 19/08/1961 8.50pm 19/08/1961 8.50pm 19/08/1961 8.50pm - -
22 Kill the King 4 R 72 307 (Steed) 30/08/1961 2/09/1961 8.50pm 2/09/1961 8.50pm 2/09/1961 8.50pm 2/09/1961 8.50pm 2/09/1961 8.50pm 2/09/1961 8.50pm 2/09/1961 8.50pm 2/09/1961 8.50pm 2/09/1961 8.50pm 2/09/1961 8.50pm -
Break in broadcast to allow “Deadline Midnight” to conclude with a weekly schedule.
Series then reduced from 39 to 26 episodes by the 1961 Equity strike which prevented further production.
23 Dead of Winter 4 R 79 116 - 18/10/1961 9/12/1961 10.00pm 9/12/1961 10.00pm 9/12/1961 10.00pm 9/12/1961 10.00pm 9/12/1961 10.00pm 9/12/1961 10.00pm 9/12/1961 10.00pm 9/12/1961 10.00pm - 9/12/1961 10.00pm 9/12/1961 10.00pm
24 The Deadly Air 7 R 78 110 - 4/10/19612 16/12/1961 10.00pm 16/12/1961 10.00pm 16/12/1961 10.00pm 16/12/1961 10.00pm 16/12/1961 10.00pm 16/12/1961 10.00pm 16/12/1961 10.00pm 16/12/1961 10.00pm - 16/12/1961 10.00pm 16/12/1961 10.00pm
25 A Change of Bait 4 R 80 77 - 20/09/1961 23/12/1961 10.00pm 23/12/1961 10.00pm 23/12/1961 10.00pm 23/12/1961 10.00pm 23/12/1961 10.00pm 23/12/1961 10.00pm 23/12/1961 10.00pm 23/12/1961 10.00pm - 23/12/1961 10.00pm 23/12/1961 10.00pm
26 Dragonsfield 7 R 82 151 Steed 13/09/1961 30/12/1961 10.00pm 30/12/1961 10.00pm 30/12/1961 10.00pm 30/12/1961 10.00pm 30/12/1961 10.00pm 30/12/1961 10.00pm 30/12/1961 10.00pm 30/12/1961 10.00pm - 30/12/1961 10.00pm 30/12/1961 10.00pm
C The Drug Pedlar - - - 44 - 23/09/1962 - - - - - - - - - - -

  1. Only Act 1 of Hot Snow has been found, stored in the UCLA library along with the whole of Girl on the Trapeze.
  2. The production date for The Deadly Air is speculative, based on other production schedules, as no documents has been found for this episode; it may have been filmed a week earlier or later, all the other three of the last production block were recorded on Wednesdays and we have at least one item for the other three which confirm their dates.

Episodes are in transmission order which is identical to production order except for the last four episodes. Stories in bold are available today at least partly in their original form.

Legends & Media and archive status
  • BF column lists the volume number that has the episode as an audio adaptation released by Big Finish, these volume numbers are linked to the volume information on the Big Finish website.
  • Video column:
    • V : indicates the episode is available as video to the general public, either as DVD or digital download.
      As noted above, only Act 1 of Hot Snow has been recovered. All episodes with video available are illustrated (§) with screen shots from the existing video footage.
    • R : indicates that the episode has a video Reconstruction using still images (a combination of Tele-Snaps and publicity and rehearsal photographs) and narration. These were made available on the StudioCanal sets.
  • The next two columns refer to Pictures:
    • : indicates the episode has Tele-Snaps and lists the number known to exist. They were made available by producer Leonard White and are available on the Series 1&2 DVD set, in print and pdf format, reduced in size.
      in this column indicates the episode has a title card recreated by Richard McGinlay based on the original episode paperwork.
    • : indicates the number of production or publicity stills in existence (these have been supplied by private collectors or Canal+ Image and Optimum Releasing and are on the DVD sets, reduced in size and branded).
  • Episodes have full synopses based on (depending what’s available) video footage, original scripts, previously published synopses including TV Times listings, production or publicity stills, Tele-Snaps, newspaper articles and the research of other authors. If there’s no extant script or footage for an episode, they have a shorter synopsis based primarily on the existing Tele-Snaps and other photographs, augmented by previously published synopses including TV Times listings, newspaper articles and the research of other authors; those early episodes that also lack Tele-snaps, of course, have much shorter synopses.
  • The cast and crew lists are as complete as possible, and readers should note that they are often more informative than the originally broadcast credits; that is, I have included complete character names, if known, in place of a single name — the addition in italics — (e.g. “Vera Korsova” instead of “Vera”); and uncredited characters are also listed. Some of these have been identified by a combination of script listings, call sheets, research and good luck; if you see a mistake or can identify someone, let us know.
Leads

During the live to air era, the producers decided on an alternating story focus, so each of the lead actors could have a down week where they did not have as many lines. Accordingly, there were “Steed stories” and “Keel stories” — and one “Carol story”, these are marked above in the Lead column. This ended when the series changed to a fortnightly schedule in March 1961 as it was broadcast across the ITV network and alternated with the ATV serial Deadline Midnight but several later episodes were written to allow Ian Hendry and Patrick Macnee to take holidays. Patrick Macnee was the only principal cast member to appear in Dragonsfield.

Photographs

Leonard White, the producer for this series, hired John Cura to make his “Tele-Snaps” for the show starting with episode 13, “One for the Mortuary”. Tele-snaps are off-screen photographs of television broadcasts taken on a half frame of 35mm film at a 1/25th of a second exposure and they provide imagery of many television shows which are now otherwise lost.

Episodes which are no longer available are illustrated with Tele-Snaps or production stills where available.

Cast lists for the missing episodes have the guest actors’ portraits in sepia or marked with the symbol ® to indicate those illustrated from other sources. As I work through the 60th anniversary revisions I am replacing the sepia images with black and whites marked with the symbol ® and listing their sources in the cast sections. Actors portrayed from publicity material, Tele-Snaps or screenshots from the episodes themselves are not marked with any symbol, they are easily recognised by the higher resolution of the image.

Broadcast
  • Broadcast of The Avengers was initially limited to the “ABC Network” area of ABC Midlands and ABC North with Anglia being the first other ITV region to start showing the series.At this point the closing ident was changed to no longer refer to the “ABC Network”. In March 1961, five more regions joined in but they showed episodes 1 and 2, then skipped nine episodes in order to synchronise broadcast across the UK. Ulster Television and Television Wales & West failed to show episode 2.
  • Episodes 3–9 were broadcast live to air and recorded off transmission. Many commentators had previously believed these episodes to have been wholly live and not recorded at all, but the paperwork disproves this. Other paperwork suggests both overseas sales and includes a catch-up London run for the episodes memo for ITV stations that missed the early episodes was sent to Brian Tesler on March 30 1962. This was for the episodes that were skipped in the original run (including the seven recorded-from-live episodes and the four pre-recorded episodes that bookended them). The repeat season does not seem to have occurred and nor do any overseas sales. The rumours of a cache of them held at ABC Sydney’s Gore Hill studios seem to not be true. Still, one lives in hope that the lost episodes may one day be found.
  • Westward Television started showing the series from their first weekend of broadcast, as did Border. Scottish Television picked it up with episode 16 but did not broadcast the last four, perhaps because Grampian had started broadcasting and both Border and Grampian were showing the series; perhaps audiences in Scotland just didn’t like it.
  • Production dates have been updated based on Alan Hayes’ recent discovery of a shooting script for “A Change of Bait” which was shot a week earlier than previously believed, and also numbers the episode as number 24. I have also recently uncovered Herbert Nelson’s contract for Dragonsfield, which lists that as episode 23 with a 13 September recording date. With these new discoveries, the production order of the last four episodes is completely reordered from what was previously the consensus opinion.
The Actors’ Equity strike of 1961

The 1961 Actors’ Equity strike against ITV channels started in November and continued for five months. Production was suspended completely and the television stations, after an almost complete shutdown, started broadcasting previously recorded material and feature films from the United States and the BBC.

The last four episodes of the first series of The Avengers had been held back following an agreement between ATV and ABC to allow each of their drama series to return to weekly schedules. Deadline Midnight, a series about the publishing industry, ran until December 2 1961 after which The Avengers was to resume. The original plan was to extend to a 39 episode series but with the Equity Strike continuing these plans were shelved and the last four episodes were screened, the last of them being recorded two weeks before the strike started.

The press announced on December 29 1961 that the series would end early due to the strike, the producers finally conceding that the early return they had hoping for wasn’t going to happen. They didn’t know it then but the strike would continue for another four months.

The catch-up London run for the episodes memo for ITV stations that missed the early episodes was sent to Brian Tesler on March 30 1962, several weeks before the end of the strike, so London may have been going to see those episodes if the strike continued any longer than it did.

By the time the strike lifted in April 1962, Ian Hendry had decided to leave the show and pursue a feature film career. The general consensus about the unmade thirteen episodes is some were rewritten to fit the new characters in Series 2 — you can certainly detect Keel-like dialogue with Martin King and Cathy Gale — while others were scrapped. The Jon Rollason episodes were a simple lift and shift: Gale Force was reworked as Mission to Montreal, The Plane Wreckers became Dead on Course, and The Sell-Out had character and text changes.


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