• title card: white all caps text reading ‘HONEY FOR THE PRINCE’ superimposed on a stuffed bear standing close-up in the foreground, we can see Vincent standing in the room beyond it on the right
  • Steed peers into the last jar of honey after emptying them all while searching Reed’s flat
  • Steed, wearing a tuxedo, sits on a bench between men dressed as Napoleon and a cowboy. A levantine wooden screen stands behind them
  • Hopkirk and Emma puff away on hookahs while they chat
  • Prince Ali plays cricket in his throne room
  • Arkadi lies on a tanning bed as his shapely masseuse attends to him, they are both wearing sunglasses and she fans him with an ostrich feather fan
  • Emma performs the dance of the seven veils in appropriately Arabian attire
  • Steded and Emma fly away on a carpet - on the back of a van!

Series 4 — Episode 26
Honey for the Prince

by Brian Clemens
Directed by James Hill

Production No E.64.10.26
Production completed: March 4 1966. First transmission: March 22 1966.

Production

Production dates: 20-Feb — 4/03/1966

James Hill returns to direct another Brian Clemens script, this one with better one-liners than the last, and they turn in a fun ending to the fourth series.

There are no production memos for the last few episodes so there is no record of how the episode was received by the production office or the ABC overlords. However a report in the Daily Express for 23rd February 1966 suggested the episode had run afoul of censorship issues, partly for Carmen Dene’s sultry performance dressed in a very short bath gown while wielding a tiger’s claw glove and partly for Mrs. Peel’s Dance of the Seven Veils being too risqué. I suspect the reportwer was simply being dim and taking at face value a beat up by the studio to increase interest in the episode, as the dance with six veils affords them a joke or two and Diana Rigg is wearing a large jewel in her navel so as not to offend any puritanical Americans.

Location filming starts the episode, with our heroes crossing the bridge at Tykes Water Lake and the only other location shot is the obligatory ending tag scene at Silver Hill. The view through Mr. Bumble’s windows looks like an Elstree set and the view through Steed’s window and that of the QQF, showing Big Ben are backdrop photos.

Regional broadcasts

BroadcasterDateTime
Rediffusion London25/03/19668.00pm
ABC Midlands26/03/19669.20pm
ABC North26/03/19669.20pm
Anglia Television26/03/19668.15pm
Border Television26/03/19669.20pm
Channel Television26/03/19669.20pm
Grampian Television25/03/19668.00pm
Southern Television26/03/19669.20pm
Scottish Television22/03/19668.00pm
Tyne Tees Television25/03/19668.00pm
Ulster Television25/03/19668.00pm
Westward Television26/03/19669.05pm
Television Wales & West26/03/19669.05pm

TV Times listing

TV Times listing for March 25 1966, 8pm (London edition) with inset picture of Diana Rigg
TV Weekly listing for March 26 1966, 9.20pm

8.0 The Avengers
starring
Patrick Macnee

as John Steed
and
Diana Rigg

as Emma Peel
in
Honey for the
Prince

By Brian Clemens

In which Steed becomes a genie — and Emma joins a harem …

Cast also includes

Ponsonby Hopkirk Ron Moody
Prince Ali Zia Mohyeddin
Arkadi George Pastell
Vincent Roland Curram
Grand Vizier Bruno Barnabe
B. Bumble Ken Parry
Ronny Westcott Jon Laurimore
Postman Reg Pritchard
Bernie Peter Diamond
Eurasian girl Carmen Dene
George Reed Richard Graydon

Music by Laurie Johnson
Directed by James Hill
Produced by Julian Wintle

Diana Rigg’s wardrobe designed by John Bates

ABC Television Network Production

Sydney Morning Herald listing for August 9 1966, 8pm
The Age listing for August 19 1966, 8pm
Courier-Mail listing for August 23 1966, 7.30pm
The Advertiser listing for August 15 1966, 8.30pm

International broadcasts

BroadcasterDateTime
ABN2 Sydney, Australia9/08/19668.00pm
ABQ2 Brisbane, Australia23/08/19667.30pm
ABV2 Melbourne, Australia19/08/19668.00pm
ABS2 Adelaide, Australia15/08/19668.30pm
ABC New York, USA---
ORTF2 France20/7/91 FR3
Suisse Romande, Switzerland4/02/19679.20pm
French titleDu miel pour le prince
ZDF Germany4/07/19679.15pm
German titleHonig für den Prinzen
KRO Netherlands8/08/19689.15pm
Dutch titleHonig voor de prins
Italy25/11/80 C51
Italian titleMiele per il principe
Spain
Spanish titleMiel para el príncipe

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 and France did not include it in contemporary broadcasts.

This was the first episode of the second series of The Avengers in Germany, and was marked as “Für Jugendlich nicht geeignet” (Not suitable for young people). The second series was a combination of 23 episodes — the first four from series 4 and the remaining nineteen from series 5, shown mostly fortnightly until May 1968.

Netherlands: Dagblad de Stem listing for August 8 1968, 9.15pm
Switzerland: Journal de Genève listing for February 4 1967, 9.20pm
Germany: Hamburg Abendblatt listing for July 4 1967, 9.15pm
Nude scene in TV show, screams the Sydney Morning Herald on March 13 1966, five months before this episode was broadcast

Episode Rating

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

We end the season with a bang — a middle eastern fantasy on many levels. Fantasies within the fantasy devolve to reveal the ways and means, and the evil hand behins the scenes. Great stuff.

The Fashions

Emma’s Fashions Steed’s Fashions
  1. Sleeveless evening dress, all the material above the waist finished in a hearts and flowers embroidery pattern, at the waist a bow in plain cloth, with the skirt of the dress also plain, reaching to the ankles, worn with white shoes and a matching shawl.
  2. (1) without the shawl
  3. White double-breasted jacket with a thin square pattern, six large black buttons, two very short vents, slanted hip pockets covered with flaps; worn with a white rollneck shirt with large double cuffs, semi-open, white hipster pants with a black belt and Edward Rayne’s white boots with the black stripe down the middle.
  4. (3) without the jacket
  5. (3)
  6. (4)
  7. black sleeveless top with a handkerchief over her face (rest of clothes not visible)
  8. Harem pants and bustier, veils (of Turkish design)
  9. White jacket like (3), but without the thin plaid, worn with checked pants and the black top of (7)
  1. Tuxedo (shawl collar in silk, trousers piped, no vents in the jacket), white-collared pinstriped shirt with double cuffs and cufflinks, black bow tie, black silk waistcoat with silver buttons, silk waistless overcoat with raglan sleeves, dress shoes, black leather gloves
  2. (1) without the overcoat
  3. (2) without the jacket and gloves
  4. (1) without the gloves
  5. (4) without the overcoat
  6. Polo shirt (long-sleeved, raglan cut) and dark trousers
  7. brown three-piece suit, two vents, high waistcoat with dark buttons; with dark tie, light shirt, matching bowler and umbrella
  8. Black polo shirt and matching trousers
  9. pale grey three-piece suit with grey bowler and umbrella, white shirt and metallic tie
  10. (9) without the bowler
  11. black rollneck skivvy (rest of clothes not visible)
  12. (2)
  13. brown country suit with a dark waistcoat (6 buttons), light shirt and cravat, worn with a matching stovepipe hat.

The Cars

Marque/Model/Type Number Plate
Mini 37 ONU
Mini -
Ford Prefect utility -

Who’s Killing Whom?

Victim Killer Method
George Reed Vincent East V* machine gun
Ronny Westcott Vincent East V* machine gun
B. Bumble Vincent East V* pistol shot
Ponsonby Hopkirk Vincent East V* pistol shot
Bernie V* himself V* & Emma fell on discharging pistol
Click a name to see the face

Continuity and trivia

  1. 2:39 — Steed and Emma return drunkenly from an all night party over Tyke’s Water Bridge.
  2. 3:27 — Those aren’t bloody handprints, they’re paint-dripping handprints!
  3. 4:54 — Steed tells Emma to ring Colonel Robertson, let him know what’s happened and arrange for the body to be removed. When he returns to his flat later and sees Bernie’s feet sticking out from behind the sofa, he calls Robertson again (18:32/19:10), angry that the body is still “making the place very untidy”. Robertson appears to be someone Steed reports to, and is probably the same Colonel he rings in

    How to Succeed …. At Murder and is also mentioned by the same name in The House That Jack Built. Brian Clemens inserts him, only ever contacted by phone, into these three episodes at the end of series 4 and may have been toying with adding a “Mother” boss figure two years earlier than he did..
  4. 6:20 — Macnee does some of his own stunts here, although in the long shots it’s Joe Dunne standing-in, and I think Mike Stevens for Roland Curram.
  5. 7:49 & 10:00 — Is that honey? The liquid is sloshing around inside the jar like no honey I’ve ever seen, and I’m a beekeeper!
  6. 12:00 — the address of the QQF is 10 Belvoir Street (or maybe 10 Beaver Street).
  7. 12:50 — When Steed gets no response from the man dressed as Napoleon, he addresses him in French: “Je vous en prie, monsieur; pardon mon général, mon brave général… je cherche M. Hopkirk” — brave général elicits a smile from him but nothing more.
  8. 13:39 — Hopkirk tells Napoleon, “Won’t keep you long Napoleon, Wellington’s just getting his boots on.”
  9. 15:00 — the stairs outside Steed’s flat are extremely shabby!
  10. 15:28 — Peter Diamond may be a great stuntman but he’s terrible at dying on stage without melodramatics.
  11. 18:18 — Hopkirk tell Steed, “I know, you’re a secret agent. Licenced to kill, pitting your wits against a diabolical mastermind;” Steed initially thinks his cover is blown but then Hopklirk continues, “It would make a change from your everyday humdrum existence”.
  12. 20:33 — product placement for a Philips reel to reel tape machine.
  13. 23:02 — Yet another silenced revolver offered by Hopkirk — which is actually a camera. Another one, this time a gun, is used by Vincent later on. Silencers don’t work on most revolvers due to the gap between the barrel and the cylinder.
  14. 25:54 — in a rare glimpse of the view out Steed’s front windows you can see his baclony has a fine view of buidling which look suspiciouly like the Houses of Parliament.
  15. 25:57 — when they go to look at the newspaper, Mrs. Peel is so close to Steed that her breast is rubbing his upper arm.
  16. 25:57 — the Daily Mail News Chronicle is dated Friday, December 10, 1965.
  17. 34:03 — the prop money is clearly hand drawn and marked as One Rend on one side and ONE ROOID from the BANK OF ENOLRND on the other, presumably to steer clear of counterfeiting legislation.
  18. 36:09 onwards — the reverse shots of Steed and the Prince while the Vizier is taste-testing the food are slightly out of focus.
  19. 37:25 — Steed give Prince Ali a full commentary of the last Test Match — a fictitious recording involving the players Scott Gordon and Farnes-Barnes. Charlie FarnsBarns/Farnes-Barnes is a placeholder character name for unimportant or non-existent characters in British comedies from the 1930s to the 1950s, much like Joe Bloggs or John Doe today.
  20. 40:34 onwards — Emma performs the Dance of the Six Veils, with Steed joking afterwards whn Ali queries the number that she was poorly educated. There was a claim in the Daily Express at the time that this episode was censored, with Carmen Dene’s tiger claw scene trimmed and the dance originally being all seven veils, but I suspect the reporter was being dim and not appreciating the joke. The seventh veil is on her face and she briefly considers plucking it off, which makes Ali smile. To counteract any wowserism in the United States, she wears a jewel in her navel.
  21. 43:49 — Diana Rigg hurriedly hitches up her pants which are in danger of revealing more than she intended.
  22. 44:17 – 49:00 — There’s a duty roster for the wives, Emma being added by Henry as she start to search for the assassin:

    SUN. No. 51 — Jessica No. 186 — Jose No. 104 — Carol No. 53 — Babie
    MON. No. 76 — Rose No. 45 — Naja No. 72 — Zena
    TUE. No. 42 — Sharron No. 238 — Miffy
    WED. No. 61 — Freda No. 78 — Zoie
    THU.
    FRI. No. 119 — Mary
    SAT. No. 321 — Emma
    The rooms in the harem are arranged thus:
    --------
    238 — Miffy
    119 — Mary
    76 — Rose
    ?? — ??
    ?? — ??
    45 — Naja
    --------
    78 — Zoie
    72 — Zena
    61 — Freda
    93 — Babie
    51 — Jessica
    ?? — ??
    --------

    There’s no sign of Florrie, Ethel or the unnamed wives 4 and 33, or the rooms for the other wives on the roster.

  23. 47:26 — It’s Diana Rigg doing the throwing, but it’s regular stuntman Mike Stevens being thrown as a stand-in for Roland Curram.
  24. 47:57 — When Steed turns at the sound of the sword fight in the harem, the shadow of the boom microphone passes across the back wall.
  25. 47:26–49:00 — When Emma runs down the hall to save the Prince, it’s outside the rooms of Freda & Babie (Vincent already having been shown to be hiding in Freda’s room but he’s emerging from Babie’s room). After Vincent is thrown across the hallway, they’re fighting outside the rooms of Zoie and Zena, which is further down the corridor but he looked to have been thrown up the corridor.
  26. 49:10 — Emma turns over the QQF fantasy to read the subject, but in the long shot it’s turn back over again.
  27. 50:30 — you can see the wires holding up the back of the “flying carpet”.
  28. 50:55 — The Avengers depart down Silver Hill as usual, but this time it.
  29. Ron Moody returns in The Bird Who Knew Too Much as the feather-brained Professor Jordan.
  30. The set of Prince Ali’s palace was used for the filming of the short promotional film for the upcoming colour season, The Strange Case of the Missing Corpse.
  31. Running time: 51′50″ (the dialogue sheets from 1966 record the length as 4,719 feet of film which is 52′26″, including Avengers I.D. cards at the beginning and end of the commercial breaks which would easily come to 34″).

A note on the timecodes

Timecodes for episodes are problematic as each release has its own quirks so the 2009–11 Optimum Releasing/Studio Canal DVD sets have different run times compared to the A&E and Contender DVD sets from a decade beforehand. The newer Studio Canal & Via Vision blu rays seems to be back in line with the earlier releases, except they often have StudioCanal idents lasting 20 to 22 seconds added to the beginning.

The Optimum Releasing/Studio Canal DVD releases were remastered and their frame rate has been changed, resulting in a shorter running time. However, the picture quality has increased markedly. I assume this is because they used a simple 2:2 pulldown (24 @ 25) when converting from the original film masters (film runs at 24 frames per second, while PAL runs at 25fps, the new DVDs are in PAL format).
This pulldown was also the cause of audio errors on many episodes, especially for Series 5, as the audio sped up to match the new rate (4% faster), rather than being properly pitch-shifted. Checking the dialogue sheets, which list the feet and frames of the reels, it looks like the speed change is around 5.04%, so there may be some cuts as well — probably from around the commercial breaks and ends of reels, as they amount to about 25 seconds. All my assumptions are based on the episodes having been filmed on standard 35mm film, which has 16 frames per foot and runs at 24 frames per second, so a minute of footage uses 90 feet of film (1,440 frames).

The audio errors have been corrected in the currently available DVDs, but the 2:2 pulldown remains. There is also the addition of a Studio Canal lead-in, converted to black and white to match the episode for Series Four, but colour for Series Five, adding an extra 18 or 19 seconds to the running time and making it harder to match timecodes with previous releases. It’s annoying that it has been slapped on every single episode, Series 1–3 didn’t suffer this indignity.

The previous Contender and A&E DVD releases didn’t seem to suffer from these problems, so I assume they either used soft telecine and preserved the original 24fps rate of the film (my preferred option in DVDs) or they used 24 @ 25 pulldown (2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:3 Euro pull-down).

Thankfully, the new blu ray releases for series 4–6 appear to use native 24fps with soft telecine so the running times and pitch all seem to be correct again along with a much greatly improved picture quality, most notably in the Tara King episodes which are finally (mostly) back to their original glory.


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