Series 5 — Episode 4
The See-Through Man

Production

Production dates: November to December 1966

Robert Asher makes his Avengers debut with this episode - he would go on to make two of the best episodes of series 5, You Have Just Been Murdered and Murdersville, and had previously directed comedy films such as some of Norman Wisdom's series, and an episode of The Baron for ITC. He was a well-liked and calm director but he incurred the wrath of producer Albert Fennell when he was discovered to be rewriting parts of the script. At this stage of production, if a script had been approved by ABC Programme Controller Brian Tesler then it was not to be changed if at all possible.

Bob Asher was a good choice for an episode that was driven by the comic relief offered by Warren Mitchell and Roy Kinnear with a strong supporting cast that Asher would have known well. Asher made full use of location filming and it's a dynamic episode, slightly let down by the rather hammy Mitchell who overplays Brodny. the closing tag scne was one of those directed by Roy Rossotti at Beaulieu.

Location work was done mainly around the familiar rural lanes around Deeves Hall, and Brodny's embassy was once again filmed at Edge Grove School near Aldenham. The location scout's favourite spot of the Harris Lane & Rectory Lane junction with the grass triangle features prominently, as does another turning area on Hexton Road, outside Lilley, Bucks. where Vazin has to swerve to miss an oncoming truck.

Watford provided many locations as well: The MoD Records Office exteriors were filmed at Watford Central Baths; Shenley Lodge returned as the home of Professor Quilby; the British Rail Study Centre returned as Daviot Hall and the playground at Oxhey Park was used for Steed's encounter with the treacherous Ackroyd.

The props department clearly plundered the old props behind Stage 4 as the robot from Old Mother Riley Meets the Vampire is in Quilby's lab.

Regional broadcasts

Broadcaster	Date	Time
Rediffusion London	3/02/1967	8.00pm
ABC Midlands	4/02/1967	9.10pm
ABC North	4/02/1967	9.10pm
Anglia Television	3/02/1967	8.00pm
Border Television	5/02/1967	8.10pm
Channel Television	3/02/1967	8.00pm
Grampian Television	20/12/1967	8.00pm
Southern Television	30/01/1967	8.00pm
Scottish Television	4/02/1967	9.10pm
Tyne Tees Television	1/02/1967	8.00pm
Ulster Television	21/12/1967	7.30pm
Westward Television	3/02/1967	8.00pm
Television Wales & West	1/02/1967	8.00pm

TV Times listing

International broadcasts

Broadcaster	Date	Time
ABN2 Sydney, Australia	2/05/1967	8.00pm
ABQ2 Brisbane, Australia	5/06/1967	7.30pm
ABV2 Melbourne, Australia	1/05/1967	8.00pm
ABS2 Adelaide, Australia	13/06/1967	7.30pm
ABC New York, USA	3/02/1967	10.00pm
ORTF2 France
Suisse Romande, Switzerland	13/05/1968	8.35pm
French title	L’homme transparent
ZDF Germany	21/11/1967	9.15pm
German title	Die Durchsichtigen
KRO Netherlands	2/04/1968	9.10pm
Dutch title	En de onzichtbare man / De onzichtbare man
Svizzera Italiana	11/01/1974	9.00pm
Italian title	l’uomo invisibile
Spain	4/09/1967	4.10pm
Spanish title	El hombre invisible

Episode Rating

Subject	0–5
Direction	3 stars
Music	2½ stars
Humour	2½ stars
Intro/tag	3½ stars
Mastermind	2 stars
Plot	2 stars
Emma	3 stars
Set Design	2½ stars
Overall (0–10)	5½ stars

Well, they really did miss the mark on this one, didn’t they? Nothing really engaging — I would think not one viewer would buy the invisible man story for more than a minute. Not as funny as it should have been (or they thought it was??) and not villainous enough either.

Mrs. Peel is surprised to find a message on one of her microscope slides, saying she’s needed to investigate an apparently invisible man.
Ambassador Brodny is convinced that Major Vazin, a top agent recently arrived in England, has acquired the secret of invisibility. A front for their government, The Eastern Drug Corporation, recently purchased the formula from Quilby — a mad professor expertly played by Roy Kinnear. It is all a plot to fool the British government into diverting much needed resources into pointless research but the Avengers see through the scheme.
They dispatch the villains, and flummox Brodny, before going out for something to eat, if they can catch up to the old Rolls that has a will of its own!

The Cars

Marque/Model	Colour	Number Plate
Mini	red	735 CMD
Lotus Elan S3	glacier blue	SJH 499D
Bentley Speed Six 1926	British racing green	RX 6180
Austin Taxi (late 40s/early 50s)	fawn, purple curtains	PXL 748
Jaguar Mk II 3.8	bronze/brown	711 TPC
DAF 44	dark green	KLW 363D
Bedford tiptruck	beige	-
Austin A110 Westminster	grey	-
Rolls-Royce 40/50 Siver Ghost, 1909 Owned by Lord Montagu and on display at Beaulieu — National Motor Museum. This particular car was originally a limousine supplied to Colonel Fergusson of Dundee. It was found in the mid-1950s as a breakdown truck at Berwick-on-Tweed. The reproduction bodywork was constructed by Leslie Willis in the style of a Barker Roi des Belges.	white/silver	R 1909

Who’s Killing Whom?

Victim	Killer	Method
Lord Daviot [big]	Alexandre Vazin V*	Shotgun
Ackroyd	Alexandre Vazin V*	Strangled?
Professor Quilby	Alexandre Vazin V*	?

The Fashions

Emma’s Fashions

Steed’s Fashions

pink sleeveless sundress (see also above) white jacket, high collar, flaps on breasts & black skivvy, trousers, gloves & ankle boots orange print dress (2) striped sundress & pale pink stockings purple catsuit with blue trim mid blue catsuit, pale blue trim, with jacket and fob watch & blue boots

blue shirt, copper tie, grey 3 piece single-breasted suit grey single-breasted 3-piece suit with triangular flap pockets, light brown shirt, gold tie, black bowler hat & umbrella, boots grey single-breasted 3-piece suit with triangular flap pockets, pale brown shirt, pale gold tie pale grey double-breasted suit, felt collar, flap pockets, 2 very long vents, wide skirt, grey chelsea boots, umbrella and bowler, pale grey shirt, dark grey tie with white spot, pale grey bowler hat & umbrella, boots charcoal pinstripe overcoat on top of above, later with dove grey gloves black/midnight blue tuxedo with silk facings and piping on trousers, pale blue ruffled shirt, blue velvet bow tie, black dress shoes mid brown single-breasted 3-piece suit with felt collar, 1 button at waist, matching bowler black umbrella, white shirt, gold tie

Continuity and trivia

1. 4:11 — Patrick Macnee rather obviously reveals the maker’s label (Herbert Johnson & Sons Ltd.) in his bowler hat for a bit of product placement.
2. 5:02 — Surely Sir Andrew’s office is the same set as the first archive office.
3. 6:50 — Stand-ins for Steed and Mrs. Peel as they leave the Ministry. It’s the same stand-in driving the Bentley a short time later (7:10) and is likely to be Jim Mitchell, who use to drive the car for its owner.
4. 8:01 and throughout — The robot in Quilby’s lab was originally made for the film, “Mother Riley Meets the Vampire” (1952). It’s had the glass dome replaced with a more bulbous version and the dials on the stomach panel seem to have changed.
5. 9:00 — Professor Quilby is wearing a length of string around his waist as a belt, in what may be a reference to Roy Kinnear’s previous appearance as Hickey in The Hour that Never Was:

   HICKEY: Useful stuff string. I’ve got the best collection in the South-East!

6. 12:57 — Brodny’s entry into the Vazin’s quarters was filmed as slate 25.
7. 13:27 — The Get Smart episode Now You See Him, Now You Don’t has a very similar plot to this episode but in that the shower trick doesn’t fool the victim as the water is noted to be flowing straight. That story was broadcast in October 1965 and predates this episode’s production by about a year.
8. 14:10 - The scene where Brodny accompanies Elena back in and queries the expenses the Vazins are incurring was filmed as slate 28.
9. 15:52 - His later tiptoeing through the suite was filmed as slate 26, it took two takes.
10. 17:27 — The (possibly) Constable painting that hangs in Steed’s flat in the Tara King era is hanging in the main office of the Embassy. Did he steal it?
11. 
    22:45–24:20 — Reference is made to Brodny’s appearance in Two’s a Crowd in more ways than one — even the props department played a hand, putting a bottle of Crème de Violettes (Colonel Psev’s favourite) on his desk, next to the bottle of Karodny vodka. Unfortunately, they weren’t so attentive to his name — Brodny says (24:10) his names are Vladimir Jaroslav but in Two’s a Crowd he claimed his mother called him Sergei.
12. 22:48 and throughout — Karodny vodka (is that a real brand?) and Courvoisier brandy product placement.
13. 24:41–5, 27:10 and 28:26 — back projection colour shift of Elena and Emma in their cars.
14. 24:50 — Cyd Child in a blonde wig standing in as Elena for the location driving.
15. 26:28 — It’s the same Renkson Transistor 6 reel-to-reel tape player as in From Venus With Love.
16. 29:03 — the studio shot of Mrs. Peel getting out of her car is in the exact same spot as when she was supposed to be pulled up at the roadside, watching Elena and Ackroyd at 27:40.
17. 
    31:09–31:14 — When Steed shows Quilby Elena’s photograph, the long shots of the photo are different to the closeup, which is the same photo they pulled from Elena’s dossier.
18. 32:15 — Steed is suddenly sitting at Quilby’s desk, behind him, where a moment earlier he was across the lab at another workbench.
19. 34:22 — the turnstile in the park is rather obviously a studio set.
20. 36:24 — Mrs. Peel says, “Yeuch!” looking at the blue chemicals, then promptly drops some of it on her hand!
21. 38:16 — Mrs. Peel is chloroformed by Vazin.
22. 38:32 — Roy Kinnear is breathing as he lies on the floor, so does that mean Quilby was just knocked out?
23. 46:38 and elsewhere — there’s a Russian warning sign “опасно!— 5,000 вольт” (Dangerous! 5,000 volts)
24. 48:50 — Brodny, trying not to get sent back behind the Iron Curtain, declares “I have tickets for the next Beatles concert”. However, this was filmed in November 1966 and broadcast in 1967; the Beatles had stopped touring by then — their last English concert (not counting the impromptu gig on top of Apple Corp in 1969) was at Empire Pool, Wembley (now Wembley Arena) on 1st May, 1966. Their last ever commercial concert was at Candlestick Park Stadium in San Francisco on 29th August 1966. Of course, the scriptwriter and producers couldn’t have known that at the time.
25. Running time: 51′12″