Series 5 — Episode 1
From Venus With Love

Plot summary

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 Dr. 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.
After dispatching Primble with his own laser, The Avengers are invited to “have dinner on Venus” but Steed is reminded his Claret not travelling well.

show full synopsis

show plot summary

Prologue

Ernest Cosgrove (Paul Gillard) receives a call in the early hours — co-ordinates, declination and right ascension — of Venus¹ — and he sets to photographing the planet with the camera attached to his telescope. While he works, his glass of beer starts bubbling furiously as an ominous, throbbing noise fills the air, and he rises, dripping sweat, from the telescope. He goes for the glass and a burst of white light and an electric crash send him reeling to the floor, dead with his hair bleached white as snow.

Act 1

John Steed (Patrick Macnee) drags Emma Peel (Diana Rigg) away from fencing practice² to investigate; Cosgrove was an up and coming War Ministry bureaucrat of 37, despite now looking 60.

STEED: From his notes he was observing Venus. He took these.
(HANDS EMMA SOME PHOTOS)
EMMA: They’re fogged.
STEED: Hmm, so am I. It’s a curious death, Mrs. Peel.
EMMA: The first?
STEED: So far…³

Sure enough, that night when Sir Frederick Hadley (Michael Lynch) makes his observations of Venus, an identical fate is in store for him. The Avengers investigate again, Steed taking the film from the telescope and Mrs. Peel the advertisement of a chimney sweep, Bert Smith, which had a note to the dead man written on the back.

Dear Freddie,
Had a message from Venus. Next meeting, Friday the 13^th.

She visits the sweep while he’s working⁴ and discovers he’s an upper-class sweep, dressed in a morning suit and top hat — Bertram Fortescue Winthrop Smith (Jeremy Lloyd).

BERT: Yes, they’ll have me in for cocktails, but if I so much as go near their chimneys…
EMMA: You’re out, ostracised!
BERT: Social death. Exactly, and terribly unfair too. You see, sweeping chimneys is all I’m really fitted for. It’s the only thing I know. Now, fact: family tradition, man and boy, we’ve been chasing up chimneys since William the Conqueror. Sir Matthew Fortesque Winthrop Smythe was actually knighted for services rendered to Queen Anne’s flue.

When she mentions Frederick Hadley he’s delighted to be in the company of a fellow astronomer and asks her is she is going to join the British Venusian Society.

Emma ring Steed to tell him Bert is one of the rich patrons of the British Venusian Society — as were Cosgrove and Hadley. While she’s imparting this news and Steed counters by saying Hadley’s camera captured a “fireball charging though outer space”; there’s a terrific noise and Smith is struck down as well, the soot around him an alabaster halo. She hears a strange noise and rushes outside to see a glittering vehicle disappearing, and gives chase.

Act 2

Steed meanwhile visits the BVS where he’s greeted warmly by the money-seeking Venus Browne (Barbara Shelley) — and somewhat coldly by the scientific Crawford (Derek Newark). They oppose the (lack of) British space programme and would send rockets to Venus instead of the Moon, thinking there are being on the planet.

Mrs. Peel meanwhile is tearing through the countryside but is dazzled with light from the craft and has to duck a blast from it which sets fire to a scarecrow. She tracks her quarry to a barn and enters to investigate a bright light but it’s just a mirror catching the sun.

Back at the BVS, Steed is astonished to learn they plan to launch a private space programme but Venus explains she was trained at Jodrell Bank, Crawford is a radio astronomer, and they have a host of others. Venus has gained the backing of the Cuthbert Foundation to help fund the programme and they would be glad to accept his contribution to the programme … but only after his election, and send him to have an eye test with one of their members, Dr. Primble.

Back at the barn, Mrs. Peel investigates a strange keening noise which increases in intensity but is knocked backwards when the hay bales are pushed onto her and catch fire, the ball of light escaping into the distance… so she goes to call in to Steed from her car CB radio.

STEED: Oh, Mrs. Peel, now where have you been?
EMMA: Chasing an unidentified object. That’s the vernacular, isn’t it?
STEED: An unidentified object?
EMMA: A sphere … a ball of bright light … a thing.
STEED: Oh, from outer space?
EMMA: Ah, you’re not trapping me into an opinion. It’s very, very strange, unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.

Steed tells her that Smith’s death leaves only two other members and she should get to them before anyone else does⁵ while she is astonished to hear he is off to have an eye test.

Steed arrives at Primble’s surgery⁶ and discovers that Dr. Primble (Phillip Locke) is an extremely short-sighted eccentric ophthalmic surgeon who refuses to see him without an appointment, then happily accept an appointment request from him for that exact hour!

Meanwhile Mrs. Peel goes to visit another BVS astronomer, Lord Mansford (Kenneth Benda). When she arrives, his butler Jennings (Adrian Ropes) says she’s just missed him — he’s locked inside his vault, perusing his art treasures, “until the clock strikes three”.

Steed undergoes his eye test, using hats instead of letters :

PRIMBLE: From the top if you please.
STEED (initially confused): Trilby, homburg, bowler, cap; jockey, port-pie, topper; boater, Busby⁷, fez.

Steed shows Dr. Primble the photos from Hadley’s camera and Primble suggests Earth has already been invaded by firey, gaseous Venusians, saying he warned Venus and Crawford it might happen. At the same time, odd things are happening to Mansford’s vault — Mrs. Peels cocktail dtraw starts vibrating, drinks bubble, the vault heats up, and when the time lock opens Mansford is dead, white as a sheet.

Act 3

They investigate the vault, perusing more fireball photos and wondering what could burn through 6" of solid steel and bleach the painting Mansford has been looking at. Steed admits that Brigadier Whitehead, last of the BVS enthusiasts, has had his phone off the hook and he hasn’t contacting him yet.

Brigadier Whitehead (Jon Pertwee) is busily recording his war memoirs for a long playing record, re-enacting the battles with sound effects and much leaping around. Venus arrives and interrupts him to ask for another donation, which he refuses as he’s already given her £20,000.⁸ He says she shan’t have a penny more until he’s seen the accounts, suspicious of where the money is going. Venus quickly decides to leave rather than discuss money.⁹

WHITEHEAD: Look, I, er… can’t manage duty watch tonight. Battle of Palermo; nearly bought it there. Had the luck of the Devil.
VENUS: Well I hope it stays with you — the second time around?

Venus stalks off up the driveway, Steed seeing her has he approaches the house. A sudden burst of machine gun fire sound effects makes him leap for cover over the railing of the steps. Moments later, however, the Brigadier stops abruptly when he hears a keening noise and dazzled by a bright light — he too is struck with the bleaching blast¹⁰, his tape deck recording the strange sound of the attack.

Steed plays it to Mrs. Peel as she walks in her front door, making her also dive for cover, just as he had done, as he starts it with some of Whitehead’s machine-gun sound effects.

EMMA: What on earth was that about?
STEED: The swan song of one Brigadier Whitehead. Officer, Gentleman, Deceased. Exit Brigadier Whitehead.
EMMA: White headed?

Mrs. Peel marvels at the strange sound of whatever killed Whitehead and observes it’s narrowed down the list of people watching Venus. Steed says he volunteered for that night, just as she’s volunteered to take the recording to Venus…¹¹<

Afterwards, she takes the recording to Venus Browne, claiming to be from a newspaper. Venus is deeply interested, but doesn’t recognise the sound and notes that it’s very hot in her office all of a sudden. She calls Crawford to hear it but he can’t identify it over the phone. Suddenly, the house is attacked by the glowing ball, setting the curtains on fire and exploding a Venus de Milo statue. Mrs. Peel crashes through the burning French doors in time to see the glowing sphere departing.

Act 4

Steed visits Dr. Primble, making it known he’s from Security and is investigating the deaths. He describes them as having died of shock, their hair bleached white by an intense light and Primble declares he was right, the Venusians have invaded. On the way out, Steed mentions he’s on duty watching Venus that night.

Mrs. Peel waits for Crawford to arrive at Miss Browne’s office to hear the tape while Steed sets up a wax dummy of himself and retires to a safe corner of the observatory with Venus’ book, Venus — Our Sister Planet. Seconds later, his beer bubbles and the dummy’s head is obliterated.

Dr. Primble bursts in,¹² claiming he saw the light come from the cemetery. Steed goes over to poke around the graves and is once again shot at with the beam, Primble again appears, crawling into the cemetery to declare the invasion underway.¹³

Ministry scientist Professor Clarke (Arthur Cox) visits the site and notes the scorched earth but discards his soil sample when he hears of the mirrored vehicle. He identifies the recording -

CLARKE: It’s the sound of light amplification of stimulated emission of radiation.
STEED: In a word of two syllables — a Laser Beam.

Crawford is just that moment telling Mrs. Peel the same thing — and one of their primary uses is in eye surgery!

Mrs. Peel breaks into Primble’s garage and finds a heavily modified silver sports car, with an after-market forward-facing retractable laser gun option installed. She is attacked by a mechanic wearing a silver suit and gloves — Martin (Joe Powell) — whom she overcomes but when she tries to escape Dr. Primble trains the laser’s beam on her and she surrenders.

PRIMBLE: And who is this?
MARTIN: The one at the farm, her name’s Mrs. Peel, friend of Steed’s.
PRIMBLE: And what are we doing here, Mrs. Peel?
EMMA: Well, I haven’t come here for an eye test.
PRIMBLE: And does Steed know you’re here?
EMMA: I consider that a highly personal question.

Mrs. Peel’s strapped to a tilted dentist’s chair¹⁴ to get her to talk, Primble firing his laser through a series of metal eye charts to get her to crack. As he does so, he explains his motivation — he couldn’t bear to see the Cuthbert Foundation divert funds from medical research into the Society’s space project so he set out to destroy the BVS. Mrs. Peel is shocked by the power of the beam but holds out.

PRIMBLE: Feeling more co-operative?
EMMA: No, I feel positively stubborn.
PRIMBLE: Your last chance, Mrs. Peel. You’ve seen what it does to people.
EMMA: Well, it’s quicker than a peroxide rinse.

At this point Steed bursts into the room and knocks Martin and Primble to the ground. As he goes to free Mrs. Peel, Primble recovers and starts powering up the laser. Steed leaps over a desk and uses a medical head mirror hidden behind his bowler hat to kill Primble by reflecting his laser back at him.

Steed untrusses Mrs. Peel and they go to leave. Steed picks up his hat and Mrs. Peel is impressed by Steed’s modish white bowler!

EMMA: Hey!! … Might catch on.

Epilogue

Steed and Mrs. Peel are getting ready to go out and he surprises her by saying they’re having dinner on dinner on Venus — Venus Browne of the BVS that is, not the planet. Emma says she “saw her oeufs in orbit”¹⁵ and Steed imagines an intergalactic dinner amid the stars, until she brings him back to earth:

EMMA: But none of your favourite wine.
STEED: No wine??
EMMA: Not up there. You know your claret doesn’t travel.

---

1. Surely no astronomer would have difficulty finding Venus in the night sky. ⭮
2. Just as he did in in The Town of No Return, thus starting Series 5 the same way they started Series 4. ⭮
3. Setting the formula for this series. ⭮
4. A lovely piece of misdirection; you don’t see Mrs. Peel at first, just the poker she’s holding, and the sting of ominous music suggest Bert is about to be attacked. ⭮
5. Another part of the Series 5 formula, which was self-referentially made fun of in Something Nasty in the Nursery. ⭮
6. The scene starts with a directorial homage to Peter Hammond, Patrick Macnee’s face distorted as we see him through the spectacles he is examining in a display case. ⭮
7. It’s not a busby, although many people think that kind of hat is a busby, it’s actually a bearskin. Busbys are cylindrical fur caps with a coloured cloth bag hanging from the top. ⭮
8. £20,000 in 1966 is between £310,000 and £450,000 as of 2023. ⭮
9. Making her a suspect with a financial motive. ⭮
10. Unfortunately the aerosol foam they use for this effect is thick and lumpy and not massively convincing as bleaching. ⭮
11. Classic Steed coercion of his companion. ⭮
12. And rather showing his hand, I think. ⭮
13. Steed clearly no longer believes a word Primble says, he is very flippant when he says the Venusians have landed. ⭮
14. The return of bondage to The Avengers: a combination of her being trussed up in The Town of No Return with being tied to a dental chair in The Hour that Never Was. ⭮
15. A delightfully subtle play on the words “earths in orbit”. ⭮