Series 6 — Episode 5
Whoever Shot Poor George Oblique Stroke XR40?

Regional broadcasts

Broadcaster	Date	Time
Thames Television	30/10/1968	8.00pm
ATV Midlands	31/10/1968	7.00pm
Granada Television	16/02/1969	8.25pm
Anglia Television	31/10/1968	7.00pm
Border Television	10/11/1968	8.10pm
Channel Television	31/10/1968	7.00pm
Grampian Television	30/10/1968	8.00pm
Southern Television	8/01/1969	8.00pm
Scottish Television	6/02/1969	8.00pm
Tyne Tees Television	30/10/1968	8.00pm
Ulster Television	17/10/1968	7.00pm
Westward Television	31/10/1968	7.00pm
Harlech Television	31/10/1968	7.00pm
Yorkshire Television	1/11/1968	7.35pm

TV Times listing

International broadcasts

Broadcaster	Date	Time
ABN2 Sydney, Australia	21/02/1969	8.00pm
ABQ2 Brisbane, Australia	31/01/1969	8.00pm
ABV2 Melbourne, Australia	14/01/1969	8.30pm
ABS2 Adelaide, Australia	6/02/1969	8.00pm
ABC New York, USA	9/12/1968	7.30pm
ORTF2 France	8/11/1969	9.55pm
Suisse Romande, Switzerland	8/07/1969	8.40pm
French title	Georges et Fred
ZDF Germany	22/09/1970	9.00pm
German title	Operation George
KRO Netherlands	3/02/1970	10.00pm
Dutch title	Wie vermoordde George?
TTI Italy	20/1/1982 C5
Italian title	Chi ha ucciso il povero vecchio George?
Spain	3/11/1969	11.00pm
Spanish title	El caso de George XR 40

This episode was not broadcast in Italy until 1982.

Continuity & Trivia

1. 1:35 — The sign on the fence has a typo: “Computor”
2. 3:40 — Baines’ reading out of the message is overdubbed, his lips don’t move.
3. 12:51 — There’s a flicker of the shadow of the boom microphone as Steed steps through the archway.
4. 16:49 — A hair or thread appears in the top left corner of the screen as Steed enters the computer facility. It remains until 21:58 so must have been introduced when the episode was edited or remastered.
5. 21:58 — There’s vertical banding in the bright sky part of the picture,
6. 22:20–22:36 — The shadow of the boom microphone on the arch as Jason answers the door. It wavers about all over the wall as he and Steed cross the room.
7. 23:24 — The boom microphone appears in shot at the top of the screen as Steed says, “Sorry to trouble you again, Sir Wilfred, I wanted to be the first to convey the good news...”.
8. 27:22 — Steed kills Jacobs by putting his steel-reinforced bowler over Jacob’s gun. The shot ricochets and kills the man who fired it.
9. 27:34 — The hair at the top left corner returns.
10. 34:20 — Tara has the blue outfit from My Wildest Dream in her suitcase.
11. 44:40 — Is that the same summer house as in Mission... Highly Improbable?
12. 47:54 — George delivers the cocktail recipe in four seconds flat, which Steed estimates would have taken five hundred bartenders four years. “Licencing hours permitting”, observes Tara.
13. George’s messages:
    1. 3:26 — “Attention! — I have a message of the utmost importance ... HELP ....”
    2. 10:43 — “Pelley .... traitor”
    3. 43:47 (actually started to be printed at 42:35 when Ardmore exclaims, “He’s started to talk!”) — (A secret message from Pelley)
       • Help me
       • I am being held a prisoner in my own house
       • I am being drugged and interrogated daily, systematically they are milking every secret from me
       • My staff are being held as hostages, they will kill them if I do not co-operate
       • Tobin is in with them, Tobin is a traitor
       • But the ringleader, the man behind it all is...
       • The man who is posing as Jason, my butler
14. Running time: 49′29″

Cast and production notes

1. Valerie Leon, (just barely) seen here greatly covered up and masked, made quite a name for herself in Hammer sex-horror films such as “Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb” (which she spent most of bare breasted with a heaving bossom) and several Carry On films, notably “Carry On Camping” and “Carry On Spying : Agent Ooh”.
2. Cyreil Frankel recently stated that his style was more theatrical than “The Avengers” and he was surprised to be asked to direct an episode, and sought help from the crew to ensure his episode blended with the rest of the series. On viewing the finished episode he recognised little of it and wonders if another director should not have been credited instead of him.

The Transport

Marque	Colour	Number
Rolls-Royce 40/50 h.p. ‘Silver Ghost’ 1923 H.J.Mulliner tourer (chassis number 46LK)	pale lemon	KK 4976
Rover 3 litre Mark II	dark grey	?
Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III 1965 (chassis SJR199)	masons black over burgundy	GJJ 736C
AC 428 Frua Drophead Convertible Coupé 1965 Prototype (CF1)	maroon	LPH 800D

Who’s Killing Whom?

Victim	Killer	Method
Baines	Jacobs	sawn-off shotgun
Jacobs	John Steed	deflected bullet with bowler hat

The Fashions

Tara black catsuit and gloves, cat mask and green feather boa surgical gown, mask and cap hot pink dress with gathered waist and large flared cuffs, low neckline, worn with a string of pearls and pink shoes maroon suit with pink scarf, black fedora and calf boots orange collarless Fred Perry with white piping, black slacks, tan shoes; later with a lime jacket black evening dress with plunging neckline, large round earrings

Steed brown two piece suit with felt collar, cream shirt and brown paisley tie blue suit, black bowler, black ang green paisley tie and pale blue shirt black golf shirt and trousers blue suit as above as above with black overcoat beige cardigan with black golf shirt and trousers