Series 6 — Episode 15
Invasion of the Earthmen

Regional broadcasts

Broadcaster	Date	Time
Thames Television	15/01/1969	8.00pm
ATV Midlands	17/01/1969	7.30pm
Granada Television	27/04/1969	8.25pm
Anglia Television	4/06/1969	8.00pm
Border Television	22/01/1969	8.00pm
Channel Television	17/01/1969	7.30pm
Grampian Television	17/01/1969	7.30pm
Southern Television	19/03/1969	8.00pm
Scottish Television	17/04/1969	8.00pm
Tyne Tees Television	15/01/1969	8.00pm
Ulster Television	17/01/1969	7.30pm
Westward Television	17/01/1969	7.30pm
Harlech Television	17/01/1969	7.30pm
Yorkshire Television	17/01/1969	7.30pm

TV Times listing

International broadcasts

Broadcaster	Date	Time
ABN2 Sydney, Australia	6/12/1968	8.00pm
ABQ2 Brisbane, Australia	10/01/1969	8.00pm
ABV2 Melbourne, Australia	26/11/1968	8.30pm
ABS2 Adelaide, Australia	12/12/1968	8.00pm
ABC New York, USA	27/03/1968	7.30pm
ORTF2 France	26/10/1973	8.35pm
Suisse Romande, Switzerland	29/04/1969	8.20pm
French title	L'invasion des Terriens
ZDF Germany
German title	Invasion der Erdenmenschen
KRO Netherlands	21/05/1971	8.21pm
Dutch title	De Alpha academie
TTI Italy	???
Italian title	Mimetizzazione
Spain	6/04/1970	11.10pm
Spanish title	Invasión de los terricolas

This episodes was not broadcast in Germany until 1999 and may not have ever been broadcast in Italy.

Continuity & Trivia

1. 2:07 — That’s a laughably fake python.
2. 3:30–4:00 — Steed is instructing Tara here, but the episode was shown (depending on your region) quite late in the run.
3. 4:10 — Tara dons a blonde wig as a disguise — to make the reused location footage and other inserts from the early shooting useable.
4. 4:25 — Notice it’s Steed driving the AC 428 — John Bryce had originally intended to do away with the vintage cars and have Steed drive the sportscar.
5. 5:20 — A clear sign it was an early episode: Tara apologises for not having found the Alpha Academy brochure in a concealed compartment of Grant’s suitcase and Steed blithely says, “No reason you should know; Regulations.”
6. 16:54 — Some more reused footage, Linda is almost unrecognisable when going through the wire.
7. 24:26 — It looks like the same cavern staircase set as Quilbey’s laboratory The See-Through Man.
8. 31:05 — The fervent optimism of the Sixties : “But it may be fifty years before space travel’s made that easy.” That would put it in 2018.
9. 37:42 — The skinny dark haired boy is at top of stairs in long shot but when we cut to the mid shot of Tara attacking, he’s become a bulky fair stuntman, who falls down the stairs (upon which the dark boy replaces him).
10. The Tunnel is an interesting concept, but it’s fairly poorly executed.

    Tara encounters:

    • 38:12 — spider webs and a lion roar sound effect
    • 38:41 — rats (amusing accompanied by the music from The Fear Merchants)
    • 39:55 — trapped in a metal tube
    • 40:27 — obviously fake spiders which are dropped and pushed into the tube

    Steed encounters:

    • 41:30 — a steel bear trap
    • 42:00 — a pool of acid
11. 41:00 — When Tara lifts the metal plate in the tube, you can see the straight edge near the camera, revealing it to have not sealed the tube at all.
12. Running time: 49′19″.
13. This episode has a video Q&A and commentary with Christian Roberts, Chris Chittell and Philip Hawkins, and an introduction by Linda Thorson, on the Lives in the Pictures YouTube channel.

Cast notes

1. Stuntman Paul Weston recently revealed that his fellow stunt performer Cliff Diggins was the man in the space suit.
2. Warren Clarke, playing Trump here, is better known to modern audiences as Inspector Dalziell in the long-running series Dalziell and Pascoe; he’s also done Down to Earth.
3. This is a left over John Bryce produced episode, resurrected and re-edited by Clemens, which is why Tara dons the blonde wig disguise at the beginning of the episode — back in early 1967 she had been filmed with bleached hair and this transparent device was the easiest way to overcome this hurdle.
4. It’s odd to get this episode so late in the season, as so much of the script has Tara being a starry eyed newcomer, startled at Steed’s blasé attitude to death. Clemens should have taken a broader knife to the script when he resurrected this John Bryce episode, or scheduled it earlier in the season — at 5:30

The Transport

Marque	Colour	Number
AC 428 Frua Drophead Convertible Coupé 1965 Prototype (CF1)	maroon	LPH 800D
Land Rover SWB soft top	navy	695 EAC

Who’s Killing Whom?

Victim	Killer	Method
Grant	Boa constrictor	squeezed and eaten

The Fashions

Tara brown halter-neck minidress, later with a beige plaid double-breasted coat and blonde wig lime green towelling robe and white towel cream pleated blouse worn with a light brown calf leather waistcoat with brass buttons and chain belt, matching leather trousers and boots bond street druid — bright blue monastic robe with hood, lined with blue sequins

Steed green/brown blazer, buff shirt, green tie, brown bowler, beige trousers and brown slip-on shoes ugly pale green and black paisley shirt with green/brown blazer, houndstooth trousers and brown slip-on shoes