Series 5 — Episode 10
Never, Never Say Die

Plot summary

Steed interrupts a rerun of The Cybernauts, because he needs Mrs. Peel’s help with a corpse that will not die.
The body keeps on walking off and destroying radios. Professor Frank N. Stone of the Neoteric Research Unit is a dead ringer for the body, and Steed’s suspicions are aroused. Mrs. Peel and the local doctor are abducted and trapped within Stone’s laboratory but Steed detects the fake doctor and rushes to the rescue. The replicant of the Professor is discovered to be the genuine article by his three-day growth, and the Avengers attempt to fight their way out. Dr. James uses Steed’s transistor radio to disable the replicants, and the Avengers discover doubles of themselves, Steed’s being marked REJECT.
The Avengers return to their television — and discover you would never be able to tell a plastic politician from a real one.

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An imposing man, Professor Stone (Christopher Lee), marches down a country lane, and is struck down by a driver, distracted by his radio playing up. He’s taken to the hosiptal and pronounced dead on arrival by Dr. Betty James (Patricia English). She tells the driver, Whittle (Christopher Benjamin), and the nurse (Karen Ford) is calling the morgue when the corpse gets up and leaves.

Emma Peel (Diana Rigg) is watching a rerun of The Cybernauts when John Steed (Patrick Macnee) interrupts the broadcast, saying “Mrs. Peel, we’re needed”.
They visit the hospital where Dr. James confirms the man was dead. Whittle takes his leave, happy that the man’s up and about again, but unfortunately promptly runs him down again. He rushes back to the ward, shouting “I’ve killed him, I’ve killed him again!” An ambulance arrives, it’s not Dr. James’ but contains a group of white-coated men led by Dr. Penrose (Jeremy Young). they lock the man in the back and take off, seconds before the hospital ambulance arrives. Emma finds a piece of paper marked ‘MOT-NRU’ and goes to London to investigate while Steed remains in the village. The ‘dead’ man goes on a rampage after escaping from the ambulance, smashing radios and attacking their owners — a young man (David Gregory) having a picnic, an elderly gent (Arnold Ridley) playing with a radio-controlled boat and a sergeant and private on manœveurs. The sergeant (John Junkin) tells Steed he emptied an entire magazine into the man’s chest without affect, and he had gone into the forest. Steed heads for the forest at the same time as the mysterious ablunace leaves the Ministry of Technology — Neoterric Research Unit (MOT-NRU!) and they converge on a cottage in the woods. Steed arrives first and finds a note in the diary of a Professor Frank N. Stone, regarding radio interference from George Eccles of Aerial Cottage. He’s attacked by the ‘dead’ man and saved from certain death by the arrival of the scientists; he slips away as they truss him up and follows the ambulance to the research unit, where Penrose stops Selby (Alan Chuntz) from entering the experimental section, saying Professor Stone will look after things.

Steed tells Emma the NRU is a mile away, and Dr. James chips in that it’s a research facility run by Professor Stone. Steed gives the diary note to Emma to investigate while he visits the NRU, where he’s brought to Penrose by Carter (Geoffrey Reed). They discuss the unit, Penrose refusing to discuss his research with Steed when the Professor walks in - he’s the man who’s been causing all the trouble!
Emma visits George Eccles (David Kernan), a harmless shortwave radio enthusiast, who tells her Stone had complained about him using high frequencies — they tune in to see what’s there and the professor immediately suffers a migraine. Penrose terminates the interview with Steed, rushing the professor out to the experimental section. Steed notices the radio equipment in the office registering activity, and a sign forbidding transistor radios outside.
Stone smashes his way out of the unit, pursued by Penrose and his men. Eccles is explaining that tuning in to high frequencies can interfere with scientific instruments when there’s a crash outside. Emma investigates but when she returns Eccles is dead and his radios destroyed. She decides to visit Stone’s cottage while Steed revisits the NRU, forcing Stone to reveal his research and admit to the problems. Stone shows him a ‘duplicate’ of himself — a plastic-skinned replica which is self-repairing and self creating, infused with all his thoughs and memories via a brain transfusion process — great minds need never die! He says the duplicate has had its memory wiped following the problems, but the Mk 2, currently under wraps, will be perfect. When they leave, the duplicate slowly opens its eyes...

Penrose and Stone discuss their problems with radio interference, and Stone suggests the answer may lie in their earlier papers, which Emma has just unearthed at the cottage. She rings the hospital, looking for Steed but Dr. James is cut off when some NRU staff turn up — with her duplicate! Penrose appears at the cottage and holds Emma at gun point, taking the plans and locking her in the NRU experimental section’s cage. In the cage, Emma notices Stone’s duplicate has stubble on his chin, and Penrose and Dr. James are also the real thing. Steed meanwhile arrives at the hospital looking for Mrs. Peel and is told she returned to towm. He sees a smashed radio and locks James’ duplicate in a cupboard before rushing over to the NRU, where he confronts Stone about Dr. James. Stone tells him Penrose models the faces and Steed deduces Penrose has been replaced by his duplicate. Stone calls Penrose in, strapping him to the brain transfuser, and drains his memory and they go to release Mrs. Peel — but Penrose isn’t fully drained, and manages to reverse the process. Stone lets Emma and Dr. James out of the cell when Mrs. Peel reveals that Stone is a duplicate as well, and they make a break for the door. Penrose traps them and Steed whips out a small radio to jam the duplicates’ circuits but drops it when they attack. Dr. James finally manages to reach it and tune it in, stopping the robots in their tracks.
A door opens, revealing a duplicate Emma and Steed, which they appraise. “Do you find her attractive?” “Not a patch on you; how about him?” — Mrs. Peel removes the duplicate’s bowler and reveals the word ‘REJECT’ written across its forehead.

At her flat that night, Steed and Emma watch TV — a pop programme, a cop show. Steed turns off in disgust, lamenting the lack of anything of any depth, warmth, humanity — with a touch of humour. Emma switches on a political broadcast and they realise with horror that no-one would ever notice the difference between a politician and a plastic duplicate.

Production

Production dates:		14/02/1967	Drinks
Transmission dates:		Foreign title	champagne (Bollinger Maison Speçial Cuvée Brut)
UK	18/03/1967
Sydney	6/06/1967
Melbourne	5/06/1967
USA	31/03/1967
Germany	10/10/1967	(Duplikate gefällig?)
France	13/10/1968	(Interférences)
Italy	28/06/1974	(gli indistruttibili)
Spain	---	(Nunca digas morir)
The Netherlands	6/07/93	(Onsterfelijk)