Series 4 — Episode 24
A Sense of History

Plot summary

A progressive economist is stopped by some students dressed as Robin Hood’s men for Rag Week and he’s shot with an arrow. Someone at the University of St Bode’s is trying to stop the Europia Plan and return Europe to a fascist dictatorship. Suspicion falls on the brilliant young student Duboys, a fascist who rules the university with insolence, but he’s a front for Nigel Farrage … er, Grindley, the mad, embittered, goggle-eyed archivist. Maybe it is Farrage after all! Emma as a scantily-clad Robin Hood and Steed as a more traditional Sheriff of Nottingham round up the villains and thwart the fascists, go Antifa! Their job done, the Avengers depart on a motorcycle, Steed enjoying the fresh air from the comfort of an enclosed sidecar.

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Prologue

James Broom (Kenneth Benda), a leading economist on his way to a university has to stop when he sees a man lying in the road as he drives through the woods. He gets out of his car and sees the man is in mediæval clothing with an arrow in his back. Suddenly, men dressed as Robin Hood’s merry men wearing rubber masks emerge from the woods, causing Broom to back away nervously. The man lying in the road then gets up and rattles a tin for donations to the Rag Fund — they’re just engaging in Rag Week antics.¹ Smiling, Broom pays the toll for the road and they scurry off again but when he turns back to his car he is shot in the back by a real arrow.

Act 1

Emma Peel (Diana Rigg) arrives at a mechanic’s garage where John Steed (Patrick Macnee) fires a toy arrow at her — he tells he it’s a clue, along with its more lethal cousin, which was in Broom’s back. Emma is stunned; Brooms plans for “Europia”, in which the combined economic force of Europe would banish poverty for ever is in jeopardy.

She notices a hand emerging from the boot of Broom’s car and Steed introduces her to Richard Carlyon (Nigel Stock), Broom’s right-hand man, who had been retrieving Broom’s briefcase from its hiding place. Carlyon tells them Broom was heading to a meeting with a man diametrically opposed to his ideas but had not confided the man’s name; only that he was connected to a university. Steed holds out some papers from St Bode’s College to prove the point.

EMMA: St. Bodes and James Broom. Seems logical. They have the finest economics department in the country.
STEED: Really my dear. Isn’t it time you furthered your education?
EMMA: One and one are two, two and two are… (LOOKS PUZZLED) I think you’re right!

At St Bode’s, Dr. Gordon Henge A.D.Phil. (John Barron) struggles to keep control of a lecture, the rowdy students led by the fascistic but other brilliant student Duboys (Patrick Mower), who rules the university with insolence.

Mrs. Peel looks on as Duboys nudges John Pettit (Robin Phillips) to ask a question. Henge maintains that the great events of history have been the result of chance or coincidence, so Pettit asks him if one man can change the course of history, citing Professor Acheson’s views, and stating they can’t both be right. Duboys wades in and insults Henge openly:

DUBOYS: I think what Pettit was trying to suggest, sir, is that for the past … fifty-three minutes you have assaulted our ears with a load of stupid, pretentious old rubbish.
HENGE: Mr. Duboys you have the manners of a guttersnipe!
DUBOYS: You are entitled to your views sir, as I am to mine.

This causes the professor to gather his books and storm out. Mrs. Peel chases after him but is stopped by Professor David Acheson (John Ringham), whose lewd isometric exercises get in her way. He tells her Henge asks for it from the students by being so pompous and indicates where she can find Duboys but when she reaches the door, she’s waylaid by masked students then held at sword-point by Duboys.

Steed meanwhile has set up camp in the woods nearby with Carlyon, who shows him the thesis found in Broom’s briefcase, “Economics and a Sense of History” which has no author credited.

CARLYON: It’s not an economic thesis, it’s a political document. And it reeks of ideals and dogma.
STEED: With the faintest whiff of jackboots.

Duboys meanwhile has apologised to Emma and given her a cup of coffee; he says they jump first year students to donate to the charity and would not normally tackle a lecturer. He claims his band of merry men — Millerson (Peter Blythe), Pettit, Allen (Peter Bourne), and Marianne (Jacqueline Pearce) — do not despise Henge, they just have a “negative appraisal of him” and call him “Stone Henge” because he has outdated opinions. Emma says Henge is highly regarded by his friends, citing Broom; Duboys sneers that Broom was a very intelligent man. After she leaves, Duboys tells his band to watch her.

Steed departs for the university where he walks in on Acheson doing lewd, groin-thrusting isometrics in Mrs. Peel’s tutorial room. Steed grumbles that he expects his professors to be stooped and dusty; Emma replies she likes her students to be wide-eyed and innocent — then finds a pin-up inside a desk.²

He tells Emma he’s there to do advanced research into the co-relationship of the lesser crested newt and Mrs. Sybil Peabody — an aunt of his who drinks like a fish.³ But his real purpose is to find the writer of the thesis. Dr. Henge enters and they ask him if he knows the thesis but he haughtily rambles about how many papers are in St Bode’s archives —

STEED: — an awful lot of theses!⁴

Dr. Henge suggests they ask Grindley, the archivist if he can help. Steed visits Grindley (John Glyn-Jones), the rather dusty and untidy archivist who tells him there’s no filing system at St Bode’s dusty and untidy archives.⁵ Dr. Henge arrives as Steed is leaving and warns Grindley that Steed is not a member of the faculty and he shouldn’t help him find the paper. Grindley tells him he didn’t find the thesis but says, “I know what to do about it”.⁶

A short time later, Grindley collects his notes for a lecture and he is startled by Millerson, who comes down a ladder in the archives. Millerson goes to a lecture room and exchanges hand signals with Duboys then departs while Duboys coerces the students into thumping the desks and shouting “We want Grindley” because he’s running late.

Grindley passes Millerson in the quad, who raises a bow and arrow as he greets him; moments later, Grindley staggers into the lecture room and collapses, an arrow in his back.

Act 2

Thinking Grindley had discovered who wrote the thesis and was murdered before he could tell them, Steed leaves Emma to sort through the dusty volumes in the archives while he returns to Carlyon. Duboys may have an alibi but he has his minions, and Henge, an economist, is just as likely a suspect.

On his way out, Steed is waylaid by the students. Duboys tells Steed they bore Grindley’s body away as St Bode’s tradition dictates and accuses Steed of not being an ex-student for not knowing the tradition.

Duboys is surprised when Steed proves too strong for him, pinning his hand excruciatingly; Duboys orders his minions to get him but Acheson enters the quad and stops the confrontation, ordering the students — including Duboys — to disperse. He tells Steed they’re a bit hysterical with the end of term and Grindley’s death, and Steed says he understands.

ACHESON: You do? That’s jolly decent of you. They’re basically a decent set of chaps.
STEED: Oh I like them enormously.
ACHESON: Yes, well, if Duboys gives you any more trouble just report him to the Proctor.
STEED: I’ll do better than that. I’ll break his arm.

Steed leaves a shocked Acheson in his wake while Emma is paid a visit by Henge, who creeps in, holding a paper knife like a dagger, and tells calmly her he’s in charge of the archives now.

Steed reaches Carlyon’s caravan and learns from Carlyon that the thesis is the work of a mature mind, probably a senior member of the faculty. Steed counters that maybe an exceptionally brilliant student like Duboys could be the author. Steed hears an owl call and stops to look around. Listening to other bird noises in the darkness Steed informs Carlyon he’s the key man now, and his life is in danger. Steed realises the owl calls are signals — they are surrounded by students armed with bows and arrows.

The students attack and Steed and Carlyon take cover under the caravan as flaming arrows start to fly in. When one student attacks Steed with a knife,⁷ they know the attack is no Rag Week jape. Steed fights them off and they retreat; he knocks one down with the lid of Carlyon’s cooking pot and grabs him — the boy escapes but leaves behind a wallet with a photo of Marianne in it.

The next day, Steed finds Marianne in a classroom and confronts her. Pettit comes to her defence and admits it’s his wallet. He twists Steed’s arm behind his back and orders him to keep away from them but Steed turns the tables easily and stands over him menacingly. Pettit admits there’s someone even Duboys is afraid of but he doesn’t know who.

Steed gives him the thesis and Pettit says Grindley lied, anyone who knew the archive could find it in five minutes. Steed orders him to do so and Pettit, despite Marianne’s shaking head, agrees. Duboys enters just as Pettit agrees to search the archives late that night and arrogantly orders Pettit and Marianne off to a Rag Week meeting.

Acheson blunders into the archives to find that Mrs. Peel has established a semblance of order, but when he offers her at hand at finishing up, he knocks a whole shelf of papers to the floor, setting back her work.⁸

Back at the caravan that night, Carlyon hides under his caravan wearing a colander on his head as a helmet and frets about being in danger.

CARLYON: It’s not that I’m frightened you know. It’s not that at all.
STEED (smirking): No no.
CARLYON: (Breath) To tell you the truth I’m absolutely petrified. I mean, I’m not cut out for this sort of stuff.
Murder … mayhem… lurkings after dark — attacks by young savages… Not to mention the damp.

Having to placate Carlyon’s Minister to explain his extended absence, Steed dictates a florid memo after which he returns to the university, leaving Carlyon to crawl back under his caravan.

A storm is brewing as Duboys interrogates Pettit, who claims Steed only asked him about the student activities. Millerson and Duboys know he’s lying but Millerson refuses to do any more dirty work; he suggests the “big man” show he is equally committed by getting his hands dirty for a change. Duboys is delighted with this “astute idea” and calls the ringleader.

Some time later, Pettit creeps into the archive under cover of the storm but someone else sneaks in behind him. Pettit sees his assailant’s untidy trousers through the shelves.⁹ just before he crushes him under a bookcase, then snatches the thesis from his dead hand. Steed sees the archives door swing open a moment later and rushes over, bumping in to Dr. Henge who comes out and tells him there’s been a terrible accident.

Act 3

Steed and Emma restore order to the archive¹⁰ and presume the thesis is now destroyed. Hearing church bells tolling outside, Steed reflects on the college’s tradition dating back to the Plague — “Bury ’em quick. Forget ’em quick”. Steed then relates Henge’s story of noticing the door open and going in to discover Pettit already dead. Millerson enters and hands them invitations to the Rag Week rave the next night, seemingly oblivious to Pettit’s death and happily observing that it’ll be great fun and anything could happen.

EMMA: They certainly do, don’t they? Bury and forget … Anything can happen…
STEED: And probably will. Wonder who else has been invited?

Carlyon has also been invited and is pondering the invitation at his camp…
Meanwhile, Duboys asks Millerson and Allen to reaffirm their vows¹¹ and cuts both their chests with the point of his sword, Millerson returning the favour and cutting Duboys; unlike the other two, Duboys does not flinch when the sword pierces his skin.

DUBOYS: With blood we bind and in blood we advance.

All three of them place their blood-smeared fingers on the sword and rub the blood on the blade. A knock at the door suddenly interrupts them; it’s Marianne delivering a reply from Carlyon — he has accepted, and Duboys declares the sword will taste blood again.

Steed and Emma are walking in the cloister when an arrow shoots past right in front of them. Professor Acheson runs up and apologises, saying he wanted to try it out before tomorrow night, explaining that the rave is a fancy dress affair based on Robin Hood.

Allen starts the celebrations with a flaming arrow, and Marianne glares at Duboys when he snatches food from her hand. She overhears him tell Millerson that Carlyon must be lured to the lecture room. Meanwhile, Mrs. Peel enters another room where Steed is getting dressed and they compare costumes — she in a skimpy Robin Hood outfit and he as the Sheriff of Nottingham complete with beard and rubber sword.

EMMA: (grasps sword) That looks a bit droopy.
STEED: Wait till it’s challenged! (She chuckles)

Carlyon arrives, dressed as Richard the Lionheart, and Millerson asks how The Plan is going. Duboys interjects that they admire his audacity in thinking it could succeed — “would be allowed to succeed”. They are leading him off to the lecture room when Steed and Mrs. Peel stop them; Steed greets Carlyon as an old friend and steers him away, much to Duboys’ disgust. He’s even more annoyed a moment later when he realises that he and Emma are both dressed as Robin Hood, although her version is much sexier at 13″ above the knee.¹² Duboys observes that Carlyon has given them a useful target — the heart on his surcoat.

Emma and Steed gather around Carlyon as he helps himself to the spit roasted chicken; he thinks the watchdog bit overdone until informed that Duboys helped murder Broom, and Carlyon is the live bait to flush out the big man.

Marianne finds Emma in the crowd and says she knows they killed John; she adds that the big man will be in the lecture room and Emma is to look for Friar Tuck. Emma reports back and they apprehend a man dressed as the Friar when he arrives, knocking him out in the archives with a book of Historical Memoirs.¹³ He’s revealed to be Dr. Henge and they rejoin the party.

Steed is telling Carlyon his troubles are over when Emma spots another Friar; this one is similarly dealt with, by the Encyclopædia Erotica, and revealed to be Professor Acheson but Steed is worried they can’t both be the man they want. Carlyon meanwhile is grabbed by the students and taken off to meet their leader. Marianne sees them leading him away and warns Emma and Steed were they went, and they’ve knocked out the wrong men.

In the lecture room, Duboys says they are about to change the course of history, but triumph and the coup de grace belongs to their leader and hands the sword to Friar Tuck. The Friar removes his hood and is revealed to be Grindley — his death a little pantomime when things started to heat up. Grindley admits writing the thesis and Carlyon says he’s read it.

DUBOYS: Then you appreciate its genius. The pure simplicity of its basic premise.
CARLYON: What — that history can be created to order?
GRINDLEY (unsure): Yes, well, an understatement, but quite near enough.
CARLYON: Poppycock!

Grindley is riled and says they will prove it now, in that room, with Carlyon’s death. They will create an economic snowball, guide it downhill, and change the economic face of Europe forever.

Before he can stab him, Steed and Emma burst in, Emma shooting the sword from Grindley’s hand with an arrow from her bow. She then hits Allen with the bow and chases Duboys down in the archives while Steed vanquishes Millerson and Carlyon clobbers Grindley with a book. Emma returns to the lecture room and wonders if history will be kind to Grindley.

Epilogue

The Avengers depart on a BSA motorcycle and sidecar, Steed keen to “feel the wind in their faces”. He then closes the cover of the sidecar and shuts the window, prompting Mrs. Peel to declare that he’s an unmitigated fraud.

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1. Rag Week is an annual fund raising activity for local charities conducted by the student body which commonly involves ridiculous stunts and activities. “Rag” is derived from the phrase “Raise and give”. Under the guise of this philanthropy it’s basically an excuse for the students to get drunk and have crazy parties. ⭮
2. The Avengers has a long history of semi-pornographic pin-ups in the background of sets to bring in a salacious angle but this one if centre stage. You wonder if it was cut from the episode in the United States. ⭮
3. Steed often seems to invent fictional relatives that are the butt of stupid jokes. ⭮
4. i.e. faeces; Steed is being rude and suggesting the papers are all shit. ⭮
5. Surely, as archivist, this is his fault. ⭮
6. Clouded red herrings, with this scene alternately suggesting both men as the diabolical mastermind. ⭮
7. It’s series regular stuntman Rocky Taylor, Patrick Macnee knocking his usual stunt-double flying. Rocky had already been sent flying earlier by Mrs. Peel, and bashed in the nose when he tried to get Steed to point money in a Rag Week tin. ⭮
8. And now all the lecturers are suspects. ⭮
9. We are misdirected by a cutaway shot of Professor Acheson crossing the quad beforehand, then all you see is the shabby trousers of the attacker, which is a bit of a giveaway if you’ve been paying attention. ⭮
10. Well, she does, he just piles the books on the shelf, upside down and in no particular order, not even checking the spines. ⭮
11. Duboy’s flat is dominated by a large bust of Napoleon to signal his fascist tendencies and it is the focus of the close-up that starts this scene. ⭮
12. i.e. the skirt does not quite cover the crotch, there are tiny hot pants built into the costume under the microskirt of the tunic. I am of course referencing the puritanical practice of measuring women’s skirts to ensure they do not offend decency. ⭮
13. With the first Friar Tuck, Emma searches for a book to whack him with:

    EMMA: What do you want … Historical Memoirs or Encyclopædia Erotica?
    STEED: Memoirs, they’re heavier.
    EMMA: Right. (She hits Friar Tuck on head)

    Encyclopædia Erotica is employed for the second friar. ⭮