Series 6 — Episode 32
Bizarre
Teleplay by Brian Clemens
Directed by Leslie Norman
Production No E.67.9.31
Production completed: March 3 1969. First UK transmission: May 17 1969. First transmission (USA): April 21 1969.
Regional broadcasts
Broadcaster | Date | Time |
---|---|---|
Thames Television | 21/05/1969 | 8.00pm |
ATV Midlands | 18/07/1971 | 11.30pm |
Granada Television | 14/09/1969 | 8.25pm |
Anglia Television | 24/09/1969 | 8.00pm |
Border Television | 18/05/1969 | 7.25pm |
Channel Television | 20/08/1969 | 8.00pm |
Grampian Television | 21/05/1969 | 8.00pm |
Southern Television | 6/08/1969 | 8.00pm |
Scottish Television | ||
Tyne Tees Television | ||
Ulster Television | 23/05/1969 | 8.00pm |
Westward Television | 20/08/1969 | 8.00pm |
Harlech Television | 2/06/1969 | 10.30pm |
Yorkshire Television | 17/05/1969 | 8.00pm |
TV Times listing



8.0 The Avengers
Patrick Macnee
Linda Thorson in
Bizarre
By Brian Clemens
In the final episode of the current series, Steed and Tara encounter a highly commercialised cemetery, where bodies have a habit of popping in and out of their coffins — even after they are buried!
It seems that dirty work is afoot, for most of the missing bodies belong to crooked financiers who died when they were about to be prosecuted for fraud. And before the myster is unravelled, a coffin containing the lifeless body of John Steed is buried too.
John Steed | Patrick Macnee |
Tara King | Linda Thorson |
Happychap | Roy Kinnear |
Master | Fulton Mackay |
Mother | Patrick Newell |
Helen | Sally Nesbitt |
Cordell | James Kerry |
Shaw | George Innes |
Jupp | John Sharp |
Mrs. Jupp | Sheila Burrell |
Tom | Michael Balfour |
Bob | Patrick Connor |
Charley | Ron Pember |
Designer Robert Jones; Director Leslie Norman; Producers Albert Fennell, Brian Clemens



International broadcasts
Broadcaster | Date | Time |
---|---|---|
ABN2 Sydney, Australia | 27/06/1969 | 8.00pm |
ABQ2 Brisbane, Australia | 25/07/1969 | 8.00pm |
ABV2 Melbourne, Australia | 16/03/1970 | 9.00pm |
ABS2 Adelaide, Australia | 3/07/1969 | 8.00pm |
ABC New York, USA | 21/04/1969 | 7.30pm |
ORTF2 France | 19/12/1970 | 8.35pm |
Suisse Romande, Switzerland | 15/07/1974 | 8.55pm |
French title | Bizarre | |
ZDF Germany | ||
German title | Nächster Aufenthalt: Paradies | |
KRO Netherlands | 4/12/1970 | 9.25pm |
Dutch title | De grote lijkenroof | |
TTI Italy | 14/12/1980 C51 | |
Italian title | Prato felice | |
Spain | 25/05/1970 | 11.00pm |
Spanish title | Fantástico |
This episode was one of five that were left out of the initial run of series 6 in Melbourne, Australia, and was eventually rescreened in 1970 after the “Steed’s Choice” series of repeats of seven selected episode from series 5.
This episode was not shown in the initial Swiss run of series 6 in 1969, but was the one of six previously unbroadcast episodes shown there in a new run of the series in 1974.









Continuity & Trivia
- 1:15–1:30 — Shadows pass across Helen’s face, especially at 1:25, but the long shot reveals her to be in the middle of an open field devoid of tree that could have caused the shadows.
- 1:50 — There’s dust on the caption scanner again — you can see all these specks appear momentsbefore the firt title slide is displayed.
- 3:00 — Captain Cordell is wearing a Guards tie.
- 4:05–4:30 — Happychap’s office and front gate are festooned with gauche slogans: “Special terms for parties of more than twenty”, “Hurry hurry hurry get in while the going’s good”, “We give trading stamps / save for that funeral now”.
- 6:40 — There’s an echo in the audio, due to it being filmed in the studio but at odds with the supposed exterior location of the graveyard. (And I have to say it’s a great studio set, although the artificial grass is a bit odd.
- 7:14 onwards — Steed shows Helen some photos, trying to jog her memory. The first is Robert Russell (Lubin in Get-A-Way!, then two other actors, and then John Sharp (playing Jonathan Jupp).
- 16:35 — Mother reports in to his superior, Grandma.
- 27:12 — I wonder if it’s too late to hands this case over to another department.
- 30:05 — Terrible Sixties casual racism — the Master’s fake Indian act is cringeworthy.
- 30:22 — The close-up of the Master is out of focus.
- 33:30 — Paul Weston standing in for Macnee in the street scene except for the close-up.
- 34:05 — Mother’s phone is labelled M6 — is that a “Danger Man” reference?
- 34:47 — When Happychap says, “Dead, so we buried him” the audio is muffled and echoey — and doesn’t even sound like Roy Kinnear! Was it redubbed in post-production?
- 43:00 onwards — Lovely intercutting of Paul Weston’s stunt work with Macnee’s midshots.
- 44:15–44:55 — Cyd does Linda’s more difficult stunts.
- 46:01 — The rounded-up financiers and dollybirds are handcuffed together in a different order as the emerge from the grave, compared to when Steed first marched them through the tunnel below. 46:22 — augmented by Shaw, Charley and Jupp. Although it may be explained by Steed having kept one of the dollybirds down below with him — he’s uncuffed the dolly between the first two financiers.
- 48:30 — Hilarious use of stock Apollo program footage when Steed’s rocket takes off.
- 49:34 — Mother breaks the fourth wall to tell the audience, somewhat optimisitically as it turned out, “They’ll be back, you can depend on it”. He then blusters, “They’re unchaperoned up there!”
- The other financiers are John Ash, George & Anthony (Tony) Barter, and Patrick Vernon — and one other; it’s never made clear which is which.
- Running time: 50′01″
The Transport
Marque | Colour | Number |
---|---|---|
Land-Rover 88″ Series II soft top | green | LYP 794D |
British Rail intercity | blue white and yellow | ? |
Rolls-Royce 40/50 h.p. ‘Silver Ghost’ 1923 H.J.Mulliner tourer (chassis number 46LK) | pale lemon | KK 4976 |
Daimler | taupe | ? |
Humber Hawk Series IV 1965 | blue | ? |
Bedford HA 1967 | pale green | NMY 625E |
Who’s Killing Whom?
Victim | Killer | Method |
---|---|---|
Bradney Morton | Tara | shot by own gun during fight |
Captain Cordell | Charley (?) | revolver |

The Fashions
Tara | Steed |