Series 4 — Episode 23
The House That Jack Built

Production

Production dates: 9–18/01/1966

Another videotape era director was called in for this episode, following Bill Bain on the last. Don Leaver, who had directed ten episodes of series 1 and 7 in series 2, returned for his second episode of this series to make what is essentially a science fiction reworking of Peter Hammond’s classic Don’t Look Behind You (which would be remade again in the next series as The Joker). Don Leaver was an accomplished director who evoked the Hammer horror style with angled shots, an ominous soundtrack and periods of dead quiet.

The script was received by the office of Brian Tesler, Programme Controller for ABC, in August 1965 and he found it to be "absolutely first class and should make a magnificent episode"* although the motivation of the villain was unclear. Anthony John, the legal adviser, suggested it might be too scary for a primetime slot but Tesler was unconcerned. The final script was sent to Tesler on 15 December for approval which was given straight away.

Location filming for the episode was mostly at Ridge Hill Farm and Shenley Lodge and the surrounding area, with the Lodge being used for the house and the farm being passed by both Emma and Steed on their way. The tag scene was once again filmed at Silver Hill.

Most of the episode was studio-bound, with the art director Harry Pottle and the construction team, probably led by Charles Hammerton, producing really iconic sets. A lot of standing sets, such as hallways and stairs, and the familiar spiral staircase were once again pressed into service.

* Quotations referenced in Bowler Hats and Kinky Boots, Michael Richardson, 2014.

Regional broadcasts

Broadcaster	Date	Time
Rediffusion London	4/03/1966	8.00pm
ABC Midlands	5/03/1966	9.05pm
ABC North	5/03/1966	9.05pm
Anglia Television	5/03/1966	8.25pm
Border Television	5/03/1966	9.05pm
Channel Television	5/03/1966	9.05pm
Grampian Television	4/03/1966	8.00pm
Southern Television	5/03/1966	8.25pm
Scottish Television	1/03/1966	8.00pm
Tyne Tees Television	4/03/1966	8.00pm
Ulster Television	4/03/1966	8.00pm
Westward Television	5/03/1966	9.05pm
Television Wales & West	5/03/1966	9.05pm

TV Times listing

International broadcasts

Broadcaster	Date	Time
ABN2 Sydney, Australia	2/08/1966	8.00pm
ABQ2 Brisbane, Australia	9/08/1966	7.30pm
ABV2 Melbourne, Australia	22/07/1966	8.00pm
ABS2 Adelaide, Australia	5/09/1966	8.30pm
ABC New York, USA	16/05/1966	10.00pm
ORTF2 France	6/7/91 FR3
Suisse Romande, Switzerland
French title	L’héritage diabolique
ZDF Germany
German title	Das Häuschen im Grünen
KRO Netherlands	20/08/1968	9.40pm
Dutch title	Het huis van oom Jack
Italy	17/11/80 C51
Italian title	Benvenuti a casa del povero Jack
Spain
Spanish title	La casa que jack construyó

Italy did not show this episode in the 1960s, the Italian titles are from the Tele Torino International broadcast in the 1980s, and DVD releases. Spain, Germany, Switzerland, and France also did not include it in contemporary broadcasts, I suppose the horror aspect put broadcasters off.

Episode Rating

Subject	0–5
Direction	5 stars
Music	4 stars
Humour	2 stars
Intros/tags	4 stars
Villains	5 stars
Plot	5 stars
Emma	4½ stars
Sets/Props	4½ stars
Overall (0–10)	9 stars

A remake of a Cathy Gale episode, but no worse for that. Diana Rigg shines in this solo vehicle. Great sets and wonderful direction makes this a masterpiece.

The Fashions

Emma’s Fashions

Steed’s Fashions

White double-breasted jacket with thin black piping around the collar, hem and hip pocket flaps, six large black buttons, two very short vents, hip pockets covered with flaps; worn with a white rollneck shirt with large semi-open double cuffs, white hipster pants with a black belt and Edward Rayne’s white boots with the black stripe down the middle. (1) worn with two-tome chamois driving gloves and a honeycomb head scarf. (1) (2) without the jacket

Dark polo shirt and trousers three-piece brown suit with dark tie (flower motif) white shirt with cuff-linked cuffs, suede back to collar, waistcoat with cloth covered buttons (2) with bowler, umbrella and tan single-breasted overcoat (three covered pockets, all on the right side) Dark three-piece suit, waistcoat with hard shiny buttons, mid tone tie with flower pattern, white shirt, black bowler.

The Cars

Marque/Model/Type	Number Plate
Lotus Elan S2	HNK 999C
Bentley	UW 4887
Tandem bicycle	-

Who’s Killing Whom?

Victim	Killer	Method
H.M. Prisons Officer ?	Burton V*	broken neck
Withers	Burton ? V*	bayonetted
Burton V*	Professor Keller V*	suicide box (done by machinery)

Continuity and trivia

1. 1:13 — the stock footage of the prison siren is badly scratched.
2. 3:45 — the footage of the lion comes from the Patrick Macgoohan film Nor the Moon by Night; footage from the film is also used in The Hidden Tiger.
3. 5:37 — Mrs. Peel has a compass attached to her dashboard, which is affected by the magnetic key.
4. 6:09 — A rare outing in The Avengers for the famous Elstree street set which appeared in so many film and television shows. It turns up again in several episodes of Series 6.
5. 9:17 — Emma brakes suddenly to avoid Pongo and puts her other foot on the clutch, which would reduce the effectiveness of the braking!
6. 10:39 and throughout — the director, Don Leaver, often uses low angles and angled shots, often mixing the angles jarringly, to introduce a note of unease, of impending horror. This episode is a sort of reworking of the Peter Hammond directed episode Don’t Look Behind You which used a lot of the same film techniques. It was also written by Brian Clemens.
7. 10:42 & 12:23 — Those are stand-ins riding in the Lotus, it’s not Diana Rigg & Michael Wynne.
8. 16:48 — Pongo & Steed report to Colonel Robertson, who is also mentioned in How to Succeed …. At Murder and Honey for the Prince .
9. 19:05 — The director cuts to a different camera as Emma passes through the door but the cameraman doesn’t have focus yet — did Diana step off her mark when staggering back in shock?
10. 22:16–23:00 — A dramatic reappearance of our favourite prop, the spiral staircase.
11. 21:50 — Why would Burton still have mud on his trousers and boots and be leaving web muddy footprints? It ought to all be dry by now.
12. 27:03 — In the mid shot Emma presses the plunger with her thumb but in the close-up it’s her index finger, and the plunger is covered in cloth.
13. 28:10 — A rare sighting of Patrick Macnee driving the Bentley! At 28:20 & 28:34, it’s a stand-in, as usual.
14. 29:01 — They damaged the Bentley when they drove it through the road closure sign, the far side headlamp is in pieces. Moments later they let down all the tyres (I sincerely hope they didn’t actually burst them all with the metal spikes).
15. 30:35 onwards — The shots of Emma’s family in the museum are clearly not hers — they’re wearing Sixties clothes and hair styles in photographs that ought to date from the Thirties or Forties. The picture of Emma’s mother is a publicity still of Enice Bennett.
16. 32:16 etc. — The pictures of Emma in the newspaper clippings are early publicity shots for “The Avengers” — Dial a Deadly Number in particular. The newspaper is supposedly the January 18 1966 edition of The Evening News and Star but the combination of articles with snippets of music reviews and horse racing tips shows it’s a cut and pasted prop. The Keller newspapers are from November 1965.
17. 33:40 — the obituary notice is actually that of Mr. James Frederick Harper, chairman and managing director of British Aircraft Corporation (Filton) Ltd. Harper worked on the Bristol Bloodhound and Concord then died young, aged 50, from a crippling disease.
18. 33:19 — The same publicity shot of Diana Rigg as used in What the Butler Saw, this time enlarged to enormous size and Emma cuts her way through it.
19. 35:11 — The cut as she steps through the photo in the reverse angle doesn’t match the one she just cut from the other side (and it’s cloth instead of paper).
20. 35:38 — How had Burton got inside the inner room without damaging Emma’s photo as she had just done?
21. 37:02 onwards — that’s not Patrick Macnee on location!
22. 43:33 onwards — Keller’s suicide box last appeared as the lift to Armstrong’s office in The Cybernauts.
23. 48:56 — The computer read-out displays BANG! (backwards), amongst all the garbled text.
24. Running time: 51′52″