Series 1 — Episode 20
Tunnel of Fear

Production details

Studio details: Teddington Two
Production No. 3417
Tape No. unknown
Transmission: 5th August 1961, 8.50–9.47 p.m.

Schedule

Camera rehearsals were held on 2nd and 3rd August, 1961, in a schedule similar to the other episodes of this time. The VTR recording took place on the evening of 3rd August from 6pm to 7pm.

Regional broadcasts

ITV Broadcaster	Date	Time
ABC Midlands	5/08/1961	8.50pm
ABC North	5/08/1961	8.50pm
Anglia Television	5/08/1961	8.50pm
ATV	5/08/1961	8.50pm
Southern Television	5/08/1961	8.50pm
Tyne Tees Television	5/08/1961	8.50pm
Television Wales & West	5/08/1961	8.50pm
Ulster Television	5/08/1961	8.50pm
Westward Television	5/08/1961	8.50pm
Scottish Television	5/08/1961	8.50pm
Border Television	-	-
Grampian Television	-	-

TV Times listing

The London edition ended with An ABC Weekend Network Production as usual, and also has a large photo of Murray Hayne, who had originally been cast as the guest star (see below).

Errata

The TV Times listing for all regions incorrectly named the episode as “The Tunnel of Fear” but it was broadcast with the episode title super reading “Tunnel of Fear”.

The cast list above has Murray Hayne playing Harry Black and Nancy Roberts playing Madame Zenobia; Anthony Bate and Hazel Coppen replaced then in the final production, see notes below. As is common with the listings, many of the minor rôles — and a couple of fairly central ones! — were not listed in the magazine even though they were in the broadcast credits.

The listing also only credits James Goddard for design.

Episode availability

• Video — the full episode, from a private collection, is available on DVD and Digital download, released by Studio Canal; prior to the rediscovery of this episode, a video reconstruction was produced and is available on the Studio Canal series 1&2 DVD set
• Audio — reconstruction in The Lost Episodes vol. 6, by Big Finish
• Script — none
• Publicity Stills — 67
• Tele-Snaps — 78, 10 repeated at a larger size

Transport

Marque/type	Plate
Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II	MVB 55G
unknown car	LPE 547
unknown car, maybe a Singer?
Mini Minor
Ford Thames 5cwt van

Continuity and trivia

1. One-Ten is shown getting ready for a white tie dinner and is wearing a Legion d’Honneur, but it’s an old one from before 1870 as it has a crown instead of a laurel wreath.
2. Steed drives a 1956 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud I Standard Saloon, chassis number SYB104, in Shell Grey over Tudor Grey, number plate WYD 550. This car also appeared in “A Stitch in Time” and “The Cracksman”. It’s quite likely it was used in other episodes of series 1 as Steed is often referred to in the scripts as driving a Rolls-Royce.
3. Mrs. Black calls Madame Zenobia by her real name, Katie, and tells Dr. Keel that Katie has been in the fortune telling business so long she can’t order a pint without making a riddle of it.
4. Steed gives the codeword “Delta” when he rings One-Ten from the fun fair.
5. Under hypnosis (no doubt faking, despite Billy’s protestations that he would know if he were), Steed reveals that Keel is a dog-sitter and doctor, lives in Pimlico, and “will go to heaven”; he wears a 15½ collar, is 5′ 11½″ and was a wing three-quarter when he played Rugger; he has a golfing handicap of four; he is well-read with a pedestrian appetite and is fond of children.
6. Murray Hayne was originally cast to play Harry Black (and appears in all the cast lists published by the press and in most reference books); he dislocated his back prior to filming and was replaced by Anthony Bate who does a remarkable job with what must have been a short rehearsal time. (Many thanks to Denis Rigg for the information about the injury).
7. Nancy Roberts was originally cast to play Madame Zenobia and was billed in TV Times but the final episode features Hazel Coppen in the part. One presumes that Nancy also fell ill, but probably not from a dislocated back!
8. The TV Times generally listed actors in order of appearance and left out some minor rôles, whereas the end credits of the episode list them in order of importance. The cast section shows the episode credit order, but the TV Times listing above has the order of appearance. Note that it has Nancy Roberts and Murray Hayne, as mentioned above.
   Last minute cast changes seem to have happened frequently in this first year of The Avengers. The TV Times was printed on Fridays, covering the following Sunday to Saturday programmes, so a Saturday night programme had its listing published eight days prior to broadcast and the magazine reportedly had a two week turnaround to publication so any cast changes that happened in the three weeks leading up to transmission could not be announced.
9. The nosy bloke that Mrs. Black is suspicious of (played by Walter Sparrow) and the wide boy sent to get the police by Maxie (played by Max Faulkner) may have been innocent bystanders rather than henchmen.
10. Ian Hendry displays a dubious side by looking up Mavis’ skirt as she leaves the yacht; earlier in the episode he had checked out Carol salaciously twice as well.