Series 6 — Episode 14
The Rotters
Teleplay by Dave Freeman
Directed by Robert Fuest
Production No E.67.9.18
Production completed: October 22 1968. First UK transmission: January 8 1969. First transmission (USA): December 16 1968
Regional broadcasts
Broadcaster | Date | Time |
---|---|---|
Thames Television | 8/01/1969 | 8.00pm |
ATV Midlands | 25/04/1969 | 8.00pm |
Granada Television | 20/04/1969 | 8.25pm |
Anglia Television | 28/05/1969 | 8.00pm |
Border Television | 15/01/1969 | 8.00pm |
Channel Television | 21/06/1969 | 8.25pm |
Grampian Television | 26/02/1969 | 8.00pm |
Southern Television | 12/03/1969 | 8.00pm |
Scottish Television | 10/04/1969 | 8.00pm |
Tyne Tees Television | 8/01/1969 | 8.00pm |
Ulster Television | 16/05/1969 | 8.00pm |
Westward Television | 21/06/1969 | 8.25pm |
Harlech Television | 11/05/1969 | 10.20pm |
Yorkshire Television | 1/02/1969 | 8.30pm |
TV Times listing



9.45
The Avengers
Patrick Macnee
Linda Thorson
Patrick Newell
The Rotters
By Dave Freeman
At the Department of Forestry Research, Sir James Pendred is pursued by gunmen…
Previously shown on ITV
Steed | Patrick Macnee |
Tara | Linda Thorson |
Kenneth | Gerld Sim |
George | Jerome Willis |
Pym | Eric Barker |
Palmer | John Nettleton |
Mother | Patrick Newell |
Rhonda | Rohnda Parker |
Designer Robert Jones; Director Robert Fuest; Producers Albert Fennell, Brian Clemens
ABC Television Network Production


International broadcasts
Broadcaster | Date | Time |
---|---|---|
ABN2 Sydney, Australia | 21/03/1969 | 8.00pm |
ABQ2 Brisbane, Australia | 25/04/1969 | 8.00pm |
ABV2 Melbourne, Australia | 11/03/1969 | 8.30pm |
ABS2 Adelaide, Australia | 13/03/1969 | 8.00pm |
ABC New York, USA | 16/12/1968 | 7.30pm |
ORTF2 France | 21/11/1970 | 8.35pm |
Suisse Romande, Switzerland | 1/07/1974 | 9.00pm |
French title | Du bois vermoulu (TF2:6) | |
ZDF Germany | ||
German title | Durch und durch verrottet | |
KRO Netherlands | 23/10/1970 | 9.30pm |
Dutch title | De rotjongens | |
TTI Italy | 22/12/1980 C51 | |
Italian title | Il mondo marcirà | |
Spain | 11/05/1970 | 11.05pm |
Spanish title | Los corruptores |
This episode was not shown in the initial Swiss run of series 6 in 1969, but was the first previously unbroadcast episode shown there in a new run of the series in 1974.








Continuity & Trivia
- 2:46 — This week, Mother’s office is entirely made of plastic and all of the furniture is inflatable.
- 7:32 (7:45) — Surely destroying the desk with the wood rotting device would also destroy all the paper inside it, including the photographs.
- 8:40 — That’s nice intercutting of Cyd Child & Linda Thorson in the fights scene.
- 13:38 — The music is from The Hidden Tiger.
- 16:14 (16:44) — The church bell has no clapper, why on earth did they film a shot straight into it?
- 17:38 — That external shot of George and Kenneth coming through the gate doesn’t look like an evening shot...
- 19:16 (20:06) — It’s a clear redub of Steed saying, “That’s Pendred and Pym gone, who are the others?”
- 27:33 — The chain disappears as well as the wooden gate but it’s there at 27:42 for Tara to pick up.
- 28:49 — The music is the march from The Hidden Tiger.
- 32:10 — The stuntman is not much like Macnee, and the other two are suddenly wearing their caps.
- 33:39 — Same location as the woods in Super Secret Cypher Snatch, maybe the same as They Keep Killing Steed as well.
- 38:18 (39:13) — Mother says Sawbow was shot point blank, but he wasn’t! Sandford was good 20' away at least.
- 45:33 — There’s colour-shift in the back-projection driving scene.
- 46:50 — Wainwright says he’s going to ransom the world for £1,000,000,000 and Tara quips, “You don’t really believe all this rot do you?”
- 49:00 — The omlette recipe recipe (Steed comments in parentheses):
Plain flour, 2lb. (hand milled on stone), 4 dozen eggs (all laid by pedigree hens within the last 3 hours), salt (from the coast of Brittany, coarse ground), seven rare and exotic herbs, llama milk, wild cane sugar, and pimentos. (Whisky — that’s for me!) Mix together for ten minutes and add the master chef’s touch, then ten minutes after that you have Steed’s crusted omlette of mushroom.
“Oh, mushroom!” Tara exclaims, and she rushes in and picks up an enormous mushroom. - Running time: 50′15″
The Transport
Marque | Colour | Number |
---|---|---|
Morris Minor van | dark green | ? |
Lotus Europa S2 Pre-production [Type 54] 1968 | red | PPW 999F |
Rolls-Royce 40/50 h.p. ‘Silver Ghost’ 1923 H.J.Mulliner tourer (chassis number 46LK) | pale lemon | KK 4976 |
BMC flatbed lorry | burgundy | ? |
MGB | white | ? |
Who’s Killing Whom?
Victim | Killer | Method |
---|---|---|
Sir James Pendred | George | pistol |
Sir James’ manservant | George | pistol |
Professor Palmer | Sandford | thrown knife |
Pym | Kenneth | causes bell tower to collapse on him |
Mervyn Sawbow | Sandford | shotgun |
Jackson | Victor Forsythe | unarmed combat |
Jackson dies according to the synopsis, there’s no other evidence to suggest his death on screen.
