Series 4 — Episode 4
Death at Bargain Prices

Production

Production dates: 25/01/1965 – 17/02/1965

Except for a few external establishing shots which may have come from stock libraries, this episode was shot on a large studio set designed by Harry Pottle, with all the departments of the store ranged out across it, as seen in some publicity photographs. Careful camera angles maintain the illusion of a large store across six floors although there are the occasional glimpses of other departments. Pottle also designed the standing set of Emma’s flat, first used in the production of this episode although it ended up debuting in The Cybernauts.

Filming started near the end of January and concluded on February 17, 1965.

Regional broadcasts

Broadcaster	Date	Time
Rediffusion London	21/10/1965	8.00pm
ABC Midlands	23/10/1965	8.25pm
ABC North	23/10/1965	8.25pm
Anglia Television	21/10/1965	8.00pm
Border Television	24/10/1965	9.35pm
Channel Television	23/10/1965	8.25pm
Grampian Television	23/10/1965	8.25pm
Southern Television	21/10/1965	8.00pm
Scottish Television	19/10/1965	8.00pm
Tyne Tees Television	23/10/1965	8.25pm
Ulster Television	22/10/1965	8.00pm
Westward Television	23/10/1965	8.25pm
Television Wales & West	23/10/1965	8.25pm

TV Times listing

International broadcasts

Broadcaster	Date	Time
ABN2 Sydney, Australia	26/04/1966	8.00pm
ABQ2 Brisbane, Australia	3/05/1966	7.30pm
ABV2 Melbourne, Australia	19/04/1966	7.30pm
ABS2 Adelaide, Australia	23/05/1966	8.00pm
ABC New York, USA	11/04/1966	10.00pm
ORTF2 France	13/06/1967	8.00pm
Suisse Romande, Switzerland	28/01/1967	9.20pm
French title	Mort en magasin
ZDF Germany	21/03/1967	9.15pm
German title	Auzverkauf des Todes
KRO Netherlands (N2)	2/11/1968	9.00pm
Dutch title	Moord tegen opruimingsprijzen
Italy	17/10/1969	10.00pm
Italian title	Corsa contro il tempo
Spain	28/02/1967	10.15pm
Spanish title	Muerte a plazos módicos

Episode Rating

Subject	0–5
Direction	3½ stars
Music	3 stars
Humour	3 stars
Intros/tags	3½ stars
Villains	4 stars
Plot	3½ stars
Emma	4 stars
Sets/Props	3 stars
Overall (0–10)	7 stars

Second week in a row we have a villain in a wheelchair, and this one pales in comparison. Excellent set-up but not the best execution.

The Fashions

Emma’s Fashions

Steed’s Fashions

single breasted thick black jacket with large black buttons, furred collar, briefly with a bowler hat soft crepe blouse with low cleavage, soft pleats of crepe around the neck, long puffed sleeves with tight cuffs, worn with a black skirt (length to just below the knee), thin black belt with a double silver buckle, black bra white blouse with high ruffled/scalloped neck, diagonal seams on breast, long sleeves with cuffs like the neck, worn with a brown waistcoat (including fob chains) and black trousers (3) with thick black textured double-breasted jacket with six silver buttons on front leather catsuit with high strap collar, held with buckle, zips on front raglan seams, zip-up pockets on either buttock, and front hip, belt and buckle at waist, worn with silver gauntlets, silver knee-high boots and a thick silver sash with large round discs. Briefly worn without the sash and gloves, then with them again, then without the gloves straw boater held on with head scarf, with ruffled and pleated Victorianesque blouse, fours sets of three buttons spaced evenly apart down breast, worn with black trousers, long woollen scarf around the neck and black closed-toe shoes

navy serge suit with black bowler and umbrella, white shirt and navy tie with white dots, briefly with a Russian fur hat. navy chalk stripe three-piece suit with three buttons on jacket, long skirt with single vent, no visible pockets, white shirt, dark silk tie with diamond tiepin, black bowler and umbrella three-piece suit — single vent, white shirt, dark tie grey single breasted three-piece suit, two vents, flap pockets, lapels on the waistcoat. Worn with a dark bowler hat, white shirt and a pale knitted tie. tan overcoat over dark suit, white shirt and dark tie, black bowler, chelsea boots

The Cars

Marque/Model/Type	Number Plate
Penny Farthing bicycle	-
Oldsmobile curved-dash	AR 244
wheelchair	-
bicycles	-

Who’s Killing Whom?

Victim	Killer	Method
Moran	Wentworth V*	shot
Jarvis	Wentworth? V*	sickle in back
Wentworth? V*	Mrs. Peel	shot
Kane? V*	Wentworth V*	pushed down stairs

Continuity and trivia

1. 3:43 — Wentworth uses a revolver with a silencer, but silencers don’t work on most revolvers due to the gap between the barrel and the cylinder.. He kills Moran by firing all six bullets (which Emma later states to have been ostentatious).
2. 5:53 — the receipt is dated 7th February 1965; Pinter’s Stores was at 114 New Oxford St London W1
3. 5:53 & 6:11 — Steed remarks, “It may help us find out what Moran was buying”, but the receipt clearly states “One Pram, Hood, & Canopy — £12/5/0”.
4. 6:55 — “That’s funny, this isn’t Old Bates at all; it’s Royal Crichton”. Mrs. Peel remarks that the dresser for the china department can’t distinguish between two fictitious brands — a reference to either John Bates (Diana Rigg’s costumier) or Richard Bates (the former story editor for The Avengers), and Charles Crichton, who directed this episode.
5. 8:28 — Steed sidles up to Emma and purrs, “I asked the chief predator where to find you and he said, ‘Our Mrs. Peel is in ladies underwear’. I rattled up the stairs three at a time”. “Merry quips department on the fifth floor, sir”, Emma replies.
6. 39:52 — the regular iron spiral staircase returns, they have to run down it three times.
7. 40:30 etc. — with the low-angle shots while Kane is menacing Steed and Mrs. Peel, you can see the gaps in the ceiling for the lighting gantries.
8. 45:03 — Steed reuses his steel-topped bowler.
9. It looks like Tony Allen standing in for George Selway and Bill Westley Jr for Diana Rigg in one dramatic tumble. Joe Cornelius and Ray Austin were also on set, as seen in publicity photographs, with Ray choreographing Diana Rigg’s dance-inspired fight with Massey, and Joe instructing Diana on martial arts.
10. 46:15 — the old soldier Wentworth proves to be a coward and turns tail and runs after being hit in the shoulder.
11. This and the previous episode sit strangely together, as they both have a wheelchair-bound diabolical masterminds, although their motives are diagonally opposed.
12. The lift in the Elstree studio only went down one level, so when they filmed the shots from inside the lift, they had to stop over and over again to redress the shop set to look like a different department, much like the tunnels in The Town of No Return.
13. There is a lot of product placement throughout the episode, with Brades Skelton garden tools, Wilkinson & Sword garden tools, Slazenger cricket bats, Summit Mark-I Ball Guns and Summit Shooting Gallery toy guns all prominently displayed.
14. Running time 51′38″