Series 6 — Episode 3
You’ll Catch Your Death
Teleplay by Jeremy Burnham
Directed by Paul Dickson
Production No E.67.9.9
Production completed: June 5 1968. First UK transmission: October 16 1968. First transmission (USA): October 7 1968.
Regional broadcasts
Broadcaster | Date | Time |
---|---|---|
Thames Television | 16/10/1968 | 8.00pm |
ATV Midlands | 17/10/1968 | 7.00pm |
Granada Television | 2/02/1969 | 8.25pm |
Anglia Television | 17/10/1968 | 7.00pm |
Border Television | 27/10/1968 | 8.10pm |
Channel Television | 17/10/1968 | 7.00pm |
Grampian Television | 16/10/1968 | 8.00pm |
Southern Television | 26/03/1969 | 8.00pm |
Scottish Television | 23/01/1969 | 8.00pm |
Tyne Tees Television | 16/10/1968 | 8.00pm |
Ulster Television | 24/10/1968 | 7.00pm |
Westward Television | 17/10/1968 | 7.00pm |
Harlech Television | 17/10/1968 | 7.00pm |
Yorkshire Television | 16/10/1968 | 8.00pm |
TV Times listing




9.0
The Avengers
Patrick Macnee
Linda Thorson
You’ll Catch Your Death
By Jeremy Burnham
A doctor opens a letter and sneezes himself to death.
Previously shown on ITV
John Steed | Patrick Macnee |
Tara King | Linda Thorson |
Colonel Timothy | Roland Culver |
Butler | Valentine Dyall |
Glover | Fulton Mackay |
Matron | Sylvia Kay |
Mother | Patrick Newell |
Dexter | Dudley Sutton |
Preece | Peter Bourne |
Dr. Fawcett | Charles Lloyd Pack |
Maidwell | Henry McGee |
Camrose | Hamilton Dyce |
Farrar | Bruno Barnarbe |
Janice | Fiona Hartford |
Seaton | Geoffrey Chater |
Georgina | Jennifer Clulow |
Melanie | Emma Cochrane |
Padley | Willoughby Gray |
Herrick | Andrew Laurence |
Postman | Douglas Blackwell |
Producers Albert Fennell, Brian Clemens; Director Paul Dickinson
ABC Television Production



International broadcasts
Broadcaster | Date | Time |
---|---|---|
ABN2 Sydney, Australia | 3/01/1969 | 8.00pm |
ABQ2 Brisbane, Australia | 21/02/1969 * | 8.00pm |
ABV2 Melbourne, Australia | 7/01/1969 | 8.30pm |
ABS2 Adelaide, Australia | 23/01/1969 | 8.00pm |
ABC New York, USA | 7/10/1968 | 7.30pm |
ORTF2 France | 22/11/1969 | 10.35pm |
Suisse Romande, Switzerland | 29/07/1969 | 8.25pm |
French title | À vos souhaites! | |
ZDF Germany | ||
German title | Tod per Post | |
KRO Netherlands | 31/03/1970 | 9.10pm |
Dutch title | Post voor U | |
TTI Italy | 23/12/1981 C5 | |
Italian title | Lettere mortali | |
Spain | 9/02/1970 | 11.10pm |
Spanish title | Muerte por correo |
* The Courier-Mail does not explictly name this episode but as it is the only episode not accounted for for this station it must be this episode.
This episode was not broadcast in Germany and would not screen there until 1999. Italy also didn’t see it until 1981.









Continuity & Trivia
- 2:57 — Dr. H. R. Camrose FRCS had his practice at 1 Cumberland Gardens, London, SW1
- 4:10, 14:20, 14:33, 15:00, 30:19 — Back projection colour shift — sometimes wildly, with Tara’s yellow coat turning lavender in one scene!
- 9:00 (bluray) — Tara sniffs the envelope but is not killed
- 10:16 — Maidwell confesses that the suspect envelope is from their mass market range, “Cream Wove Bond”. He laments that it is “common in every way”.
- 13:38–13:43 — Henry Mcgee is deliciously deadpan as he flips back and forth through the order book when reading out “Tha Anastasia / Nursing Academy”.
- 17:27 — There’s an old man lurking in a doorway across the street from Steed’s flat — he looks like he’s been told to keep out of shot and peeps out from behind one of the statuettes.
- 17:55 — Looks like a product placement for the Pellegrini cola Tara is drinking, but we never clearly see the label...
- 18:40–18:50 — Excellent cutting in and out of Cyd Child’s stunt work.
- 18:45 — Tara is chloroformed by Dexter and Preece.
- 23:57 — The music used in this scene is from Death at Bargain Prices and the sofa is from Steed’s flat in Series 4.
- 28:00 — The “deep freeze rooms” wouldn’t work — people don’t catch colds from being cold, colds are virus infections, although it’s true that cold reduces a person’s resistance to virii they aleady have in their system.
- 29:43 — Sleazy Steed: Glover describes Anastasia Nurses as “only the best” and Steed replies, after looking the departing nurse up and down, “I can see that”.
- 33:55 — Mother reports in to “Grandma” who clearly gives him an earful for mis-managing the case.
- 35:05 — Mother’s red phone requires the user to “speak fluent Swahili” — a hot line to Milton Obote, Julius Nyerere or Mzee Jomo Kenyatta?
- 35:48 etc. — you can see the join in the set floor every time there’s a close-up of the envelope on the floor.
- 42:14 — The letter reveals that Colonel Timothy’s home, Walsingham House, is in Turbridge, Berkshire.
- 42:55 — Tara is not allergic to caviar, champagne, oysters or quail, but is allergic to ragweed.
- 42:56 — Glover is checking Tara’s upper arm in the mid shot, but the close-up has the magnifying glass going along her forearm.
- 45:07 (46:40) — in the long shot, Timothy lowers his gun when first ordered to drop it by Glover, but when we cut to the close-up he has it raised again, and is ordered to drop it again.
- 47:10 — Steed gives Tara Aunty Ermintrude’s patent cold cure remedy — and then reveals that Ermintrude died of a common cold.
- Running time: 49′16″
Cast notes
- Jennifer Clulow, appearing here as the secretary for Padley, Herrick and Seaton, went on to be a LWT continuity presenter.
The Transport
Marque | Colour | Number |
---|---|---|
Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III Sports Saloon H.J. Mulliner Park Ward 1965 | sea grey | CDK 978C |
Bentley R-Type 1953 | pale grey | SXL 999 |
Rolls-Royce 40/50 h.p. ‘Silver Ghost’ 1923 H.J.Mulliner tourer (chassis number 46LK) | pale lemon | KK 4976 |
AC 428 Frua Drophead Convertible Coupé 1965 Prototype (CF1) | maroon | LPH 800D |
Wolseley 18/85 Automatic MkI 1967 | slate grey | MOK 888F |
Who’s Killing Whom?
Victim | Killer | Method |
---|---|---|
Camrose | Preece | virus-filled letter |
Padley | Preece | virus-filled letter |
Seaton | Preece | virus-filled letter |
Herrick | Preece | virus-filled letter |
Glover | John Steed | virus-filled letter |
Click a name to see the face
