• title card: white all caps text with black dropshadow to the left reading ‘FROM VENUS WITH LOVE’ superimposed on a close-up of Cosgrove lying dead on the floor with his hair turned grey. The O in LOVE is a heart with an arrow through it
  • subtitle card: white all caps text with black dropshadow to the left reading ‘STEED IS SHOT FULL OF HOLES
			EMMA SEES STARS!’ superimposed on a close-up of Cosgrove lying dead on the floor with his hair turned grey
  • Video of Steed interrupting Mrs. Peel’s fencing practice: Emma wears a navy catsuit while practicing her fencing, turning towards us with the rapier held vertically, almost touching the tip of her nose. Behind her, a red baby grand piano fits neatly into a red-painted alcove. When she turns back to attack the target hanging from her front door, Steed parries with his umbrella on which is impaled his signature calling card reading ‘Mrs. Peel, WE’RE NEEDED!’
  • Upper class chimney sweep Bert Smith smiles inanely at Mrs. Peel, whose back is to us. His face, top hat and morning suit are covered in soot and grime
  • Steed peers to look at some of the spectacles on a shelf, his eye distorted and enlarged as we see them through the lenses
  • Primble wheels in his eccentric eye test — a white board with different hats arranged on it
  • Primble, on the right, gloats at Mrs. Peel who has been strapped to an examining chair by leather belts
  • Mrs. Peel is impressed with Steed’s bleached white bowler hat
  • Video of Steed playing the piano while Emma prepares to ‘have dinner on Venus’, she tells him his Claret doesn’t travel well

Series 5 — Episode 1
From Venus With Love

by Philip Levene
Directed by Robert Day

Steed is shot full of holes
Emma sees stars!

Production No E.66.6.4
Production completed: November 1 1966. First transmission: January 9 1967.

Production

Production dates: 10–11/1966

Most of the production paperwork for Series 5 is missing so there are no confirmed dates for most of production.
Philip Levene’s script for “The Light Fantastic” was originally supposed to be part of Series 4 but when Julian Wintle sent it to the ABC Programme Controller Brian Tesler, who hated science fiction, on December 24th 1965 it was predictably rejected on 31 December as being “too kookie too much of the time”.

Filming was due to start in early August but the Elstree studios were fully booked so the first two episodes were filmed at Pinewood instead. This, the third episode filmed, was the first Elstree episode and the garage for the Ford GT-40 was one of the workshops there. Primble’ s surgery exterior was part of the Elstree backlot town which will be familiar to viewers of British television of the period, and the cemetry set was one of the first outings for the “set within the set” aesthetic that The Avengers established, cementing that the whole show was a farce by having a level of unreality at all times.

Robert Day makes a huge splash for the switch to colour film, with extensive location filming and brightly lit sets, heralding the Swinging era of The Avengers. The countryside driving sequences were mostly done around Deeves Hall Lane, Mimms Lane and Earls Road, near the village of Ridge, and the nearby Packhorse Lane. The manor High Canons on Buckettsland Lane, Well End was pressed into service again as Venus Browne’s house and Radlett Prep School was used for the stately home where Mrs. Peel encountered Bert Smith. Stanmore Hall, on Wood Lane, Stanmore, was used for Brigadier Whitehead’s house.

This was not the first episode produced, but it continues to use the first version of the set for Mrs. Peel’s flat, with the gloss red wall holding white roses behind the piano and the industrial sculptures. A lovely touch of the first sequence with Emma Peel is its echo of the sequence when Steed first visits her in The Town of No Return, as in both she is practicing her fencing.

Regional broadcasts

BroadcasterDateTime
Rediffusion London13/01/19678.00pm
ABC Midlands14/01/19679.10pm
ABC North14/01/19679.10pm
Anglia Television13/01/19678.00pm
Border Television15/01/19678.10pm
Channel Television13/01/19678.00pm
Grampian Television22/11/19678.00pm
Southern Television9/01/19678.00pm
Scottish Television14/01/19679.10pm
Tyne Tees Television14/01/19679.10pm
Ulster Television30/11/19677.30pm
Westward Television13/01/19678.00pm
Television Wales & West11/01/19678.00pm

TV Times listing

TV Times listing for January 13 1967, 8pm (London edition)
Sydney Morning Herald listing for April 18 1967, 8pm
Courier-Mail listing for May 22 1967, 7.30pm

8.0 The Avengers
return for a new series
starring
[photo]
Patrick Macnee

as John Steed
and
[photo]
Diana Rigg

as Emma Peel
in
From Venus With Love
By Philip Levene

In which Steed is shot full of holes — and Emma sees stars …

Cast also includes

Venus Barbara Shelley
Primble Philip Locke
Brigadier Whitehead Jon Pertwee
Crawford Derek Newark
Bertram Smith Jeremy Lloyd
Jennings Adrian Ropes
Clarke Arthur Cox
Cosgrove Paul Gillard
Hadley Michael Lynch
Mansford Kenneth Benda

Designed by Wilfrid Shingleton
Music by Laurie Johnson
Directed by Robert Day
Produced by Albert Fennell
and Brian Clemens
Executive Producer
Julian Wintle

ABC Television Network Production

Courier-Mail ad for May 22 & June 5 1967, 7.30pm
The Advertiser listing for May 30 1967, 7.30pm

International broadcasts

BroadcasterDateTime
ABN2 Sydney, Australia18/04/19678.00pm
ABQ2 Brisbane, Australia22/05/19677.30pm
ABV2 Melbourne, Australia17/04/19678.00pm
ABS2 Adelaide, Australia30/05/19677.30pm
ABC New York, USA20/01/196710.00pm
ORTF2 France2/07/19689.15pm?
Suisse Romande, Switzerland11/03/19689.55pm
French titleBon baisers de Vénus
ZDF Germany24/10/19679.15pm
German titleEinmal Venus — hin und zurück
KRO Netherlands12/07/19699.10pm
Dutch titleMet de groeten van Venus
Svizzera Italiana16/11/19739.00pm
Italian titleda venere con amore
Spain23/10/19674.10pm
Spanish titleDesde Venus con amor

From Venus With Love is also listed in French listings for 4th June 1968 at 10.20pm, and probably 18th June 1968 at 10.25pm, not shown in these original time slots due to the strikes in France which affected ORTF. As the strike was still affecting newspapers and magazines on July 2nd it has proved hard to determine, but Télé 7 JOURS published the confirmation in their listing for 2 juillet 1968. We're not sure of the timeslot at the moment but it was probably 9.15pm or 8.30pm.

USA: New York Times listing for January 20 1967, 10pm
Spain: ABC Madrid listing for October 23 1967, 4.10pm
Germany: Hamburg Abendblatt episode summary for October 24 1967 The Avengers at 9.15pm
France: L’Impartial listing for June 4 1968, 10.20pm
France: Télérama listing for June 18 1968, 10.25pm
France: Télé 7 JOURS summary for July 2 1968, 10.20pm
Netherlands: Provinciale Zeeuwse Courant listing for July 12 1969, 9.10pm
Netherlands: Zierkzeesche Nieuwsbode episode summary for July 12 1969, 9.10pm
TV Svizzera Italiana: Radiocorriere listing for November 16 1973, 9pm
USA: Chicago Tribune listing for January 20 1967, 9pm
Switzerland: L’Impartial listing for March 11 1968, 9.55pm
USA: Chicago Tribune advertisement for The Avengers
USA: New York Times photo from January 8 1967: “The Avengers” —
Diana Rigg plays a sexy sleuth on the British spy series that returns to ABC on Friday, Jan. 20, at 10.
Switzerland: L’Impartial episode summary for March 11 1968, 9.55pm

Episode Rating

Subject 0–5
Direction 4 stars
Music
3½ stars
Humour 4 stars
Intro/tag
2½ stars
Mastermind
3½ stars
Plot 3 stars
Emma 4 stars
Set Design
3½ stars
Overall
(0–10)
7½ stars

This episode has much promise and mostly delivers, but there’s something missing. Wonderfully silly sci-fi sets the tone for the season — there’s better episodes to come.

Mrs. Peel is called away from her fencing practice by Steed’s arrival.
They have to investigate when astronomers start turning white while observing Venus. Have the Venusians invaded earth, as Primble suggests to Steed? Are aliens killing the rich patrons of the British Venusian Society?
Steed is unconvinced and when they discover a tape recording of the aliens is in fact a laser warming up it’s clear that Primble is behind it all. A deadly fight ensues and Emma is strapped in for corrective eye surgery.
The Avengers are invited to “have dinner on Venus”, after dispatching Primble with his own laser, but Steed worries about his Claret not travelling well.

The Cars

Marque/Model Colour Number Plate
Lotus Elan S3 glacier blue SJH 499D
Bentley Speed Six 1926 British racing green RX 6180
International Harvester Crawler Tractor dark orange -
Land-Rover SWB soft-top (canvas tarpaulin) dark green -
Ford GT40 Mk II silver -

Who’s Killing Whom?

Victim Killer Method
Ernest Cosgrove Primble or Martin V* Laser beam
Sir Fredrick Hadley Primble or Martin V* Laser beam
Bertram Fortescue Winthrop Smith Martin V* Laser beam
Lord Mansford Martin V* Laser beam
Brigadier Whitehead Primble or Martin V* Laser beam
Dr. Henry Primble V* Steed & himself V* Deflected laser beam
Click a name to see the face

The Fashions

Emma’s Fashions Steed’s Fashions
  1. blue catsuit with orange trim. zippered, ring at neck
  2. lavender dress, mini length, straight hem and cleavage, blue trim, with matching cardigan
  3. orange a-line dress
  4. blue coat with lavender skivvy
  5. tan skirt & jacket with high collar, scooped waist
  6. orange & white catsuit with wide belt, ring at high neck, zippered.
  7. (1)
  8. towel or sheet (?)
  9. chinese red silk pyjamas
  1. charcoal chalk striped single-breasted suit, white shirt, burgundy tie, brown bowler, black umbrella
  2. black/midnight blue tuxedo with silk facings and piping on trousers, pale blue ruffled shirt, blue velvet bow tie, black dress shoes
  3. burgundy silk tuxedo
  4. brown and green hunting blazer with matching waistcoat, hunting cut, pale green shirt, dark green silk tie, black & white houndstooth trousers, brown chelsea boots
  5. the above with a brown bowler and black umbrella
  6. grey herringbone single-breasted suit, waistcoat, pale blue shirt, blue tie black bowler and umbrella
  7. the above with a black bowler and umbrella
  8. venus-grey-herringbone with the bowler turned white
  9. black/midnight blue tuxedo with silk facings and piping on trousers, pale blue ruffled shirt, blue velvet bow tie, black dress shoes

Continuity and trivia

  1. 1:46 — Cosgrove is some astronomer! He doesn’t bother to write down the co-ordinates or declination and then casually swings his telescope into position and starts taking pictures.
  2. 2:43 — The glass of beer is suddenly 3/4 full but at 2:27 it was half full (or is that half empty?), at 2:50 when it starts to bubble, it’s half full again.
  3. 3:35 — The scene of the remote camera shutter control swinging and Cosgrove lying dead on the floor was slate 67, it took four takes to get it right and was filmed on 2 November, 1966.
  4. 6:00 — The scene of Frederick Hadley spinning around in the chair to reveal he’s been bleached white was slate 68 and was filmed on 2 November, 1966.
  5. 10:35 — Recognise those doors? They turn up in Thyssen’s house in Escape in Time.
  6. 10:40 and throughout — Emma’s Lotus is an S3 1966. The S2 she drove in Series 4 had a chrome label saying Elan S2 where this one just has Elan in chrome on the upper body. The rear lights are the elongated ovoid shape of the S3.
    The logo on the lower body (bottom right) is probably either the World Champions or Indianapolis Champions logo.
  7. 11:30 — One of the papers on Venus Browne’s desk is a sketch of Professor Popple’s clue (also the floor pattern from Pinter’s Store) in Death at Bargain Prices.
  8. 11:40 ? 13:00 etc. — Steed’s arrival at the BVS was slate 69 and was filmed on 2 November, 1966.
  9. 13:13–13:38 — Another messed-up close-up , Barbara Shelley keeps the pose of clenched hands in prayer position, despite the long shots mostly having them held over her stomach.
  10. 15:10 — Diana Rigg runs part of the way across the field but then Cyd Child stands-in for the fast bit.
  11. 15:34 — Outside the barn is the same wagon as was used in Epic.
  12. 19:45–20:15 — There’s a hair caught at the bottom centre of the screen — it’s probably on the camera lens, it reappears at 21:26 whenever there’s a shot of Primble and Steed, but not when the other camera is used.
  13. 21:18–21:38 — A muffed close-up — the clock on the safe says 8 seconds before 2:45, but 20 seconds later, when Jennings taps the clock in the long shot we’ve lost 8 seconds, as it’s 4 seconds past 2:45.
  14. 21:39 and throughout — The painting that Mansford is appreciating just before he leaves this mortal coil turns up again backstage in Epic. Not only that, but both copies of it — with and without the silhouette — turn up in two episodes of The Saint ("A Portrait of Brenda" and “The Power Artist”). The non-silhouette version reappears in an episode of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased).

    Venus

    Epic
  15. 21:21 — Steed’s eye test require him to identify these hats:

    trilby
    homburg bowler
    cap jockey porkpie
    topper boater busby fez
  16. 23:43 — Jennings’ watch says 2:54:53 but the clock on the safe says it’s 2:56:35.
  17. 24:50 — Primble’s spectacles have little holes in them so he can see properly.
  18. 23:49 — The hair on the camera appears to have migrated to the bottom righthand corner.
  19. 25:39 — Manford’s corpse breathes in.
  20. 26:20 — Brigadier Whitehead turns off a gramophone on his left which he hadn’t turned on.
  21. The Brigadier has a lot of medals: Order of the British Empire, Companion of the Order of the Bath, Italy Star, Distinguished Service Order, Companion of the Order of the Bath, Military Cross, France & Germany Star, 1914–15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal, India General Service Medal (1936), 1939–45 Star, Africa Star, Croix de Guerre 1914–16. The Italy Star and France and Germany Star are not in the correct order of wear. He is dressed like Field Marshall Montgomery, with a Royal Tank Corp beret and wears many of the same medals.
  22. 29:34 — Venus departs out a door and walks down the driveway but Steed, who passes her upon arrival, heads up a jumble of stone steps to reach a door.
  23. 30:51 — Elsewhere, you’ll find claims that Whitehead wasn’t holding a record when shot by the laser, but is holding one when found by Steed. This is wrong, as this picture shows — he picks it up off the table just out off shot, after setting another disk going (it’s lying in from of the gramophone at 30:43). When Steed finds him, the record is no longer in front of the gramophone, and is white in his hands.
  24. 32:57 — The close-up of the Renkson Transistor 6 reel to reel player is misplaced, with Steed’s left arm not in shot, and the player rotated about 50°.
  25. 32:57, 33:43 and 34:52 — Every time the recording of the sound of the laser in played, it’s a different reel of tape.
  26. 35:19 — Cyd Child had to battle her way through the flames onto the balcony, a stunt she hated having to perform.
  27. 35:35, 41:45 etc. — The props department misspelled ‘ophthalmic’ on Primble’s surgery lamp.
  28. 36:15 — the phone in Cosgrove’s observatory is rather strangely labelled KAKNA 0510
  29. 36:00 etc. — The shots of Steed crouched by the filing cabinet were slate 63. It was filmed in one take on 2 November, 1966, including his reading the book, staring incredulously at the foaming beer and reacting to the flash of light.
  30. 37:45–37:55 — Another messed-up close-up, this time due to edits. The dummy’s head has already collapsed in the long shot of Steed approaching it, but the next close-up shows it in the act of collapsing again.
  31. Passim but especially 39:00–41:20 — There’s a curved overscan crop in the top left and bottom left corners of the screen, it had appeared earlier in the episode and returns around 43:15. It varies in size.
  32. 40:00 & 40:07 — the close-ups of Arthur Cox are slightly out of focus.
  33. 41:58 — That’s a stand-in arriving in the Lotus and approaching the surgery, possibly Annabelle Heath.
  34. 42:15-43:09 — there’s a thread caught at the bottom of the screen in the garage sequence, from the breaking of the window onwards.
  35. 43:03 onwards — The ‘alien’ vehicle is a Ford GT-40.
  36. 43:46 — The door of the car closed but didn’t fully shut at 43:22, but from this point, when we get the wider shot, until Mrs. Peel gets out at 44:03 it’s completely shut.
  37. 44:24–44:28 — Mrs. Peel leans over the side of the car to examine the laser which has emerged but when Martin grabs her in the reverse shot, she’s directly in front of the car, facing it.
  38. 44:32 — Cyd Child takes over from Diana Rigg for most of the fight scene (except the close-ups, of course).
  39. 45:58 — One of Steed’s headlights isn’t working, and it’s probably Rocky Taylor driving, it’s definitely not Patrick Macnee. The second unit would film scenes like these after the stars had moved onto filming the next episode.
  40. 48:08 — You don’t see his face but that’s Rocky Taylor leaping over the desk to take cover.
  41. 48:50 — Did they cut a shot of the bowler being shot? One second it’s in Steed’s hand, the next he’s just holding the mirror, so how did the hat become white?
  42. 49:38 onwards — The bird sculpture from Art Incorporated is one of Mrs. Peel’s decorations.
  43. 50:12 — Patrick Macnee pretends to play the piano as a piano version of “Emma’s Theme” starts playing on the soundtrack.
  44. Running time: 51′19″ (The Telemen dialogue sheets record the episode as being 4,663 feet and 8 frames, i.e. 51′49″, which includes the avengers I.D. cards and commercial bummpers).

Cast notes

  1. Jeremy Lloyd went on to great heights of fame, not that he wasn’t already a household name in Britain in the Sixties. He had a cameo appearance in “The Assassination Bureau”, was one of the company of “Laugh-In” that sealed “The Avengers” fate in the US, and ended up writing comedy — “Are You Being Served?” and “’Allo ’Allo” being his most successful productions.

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.


fan forum Donate Become a Patron!