3.19 - The Wringer

[darren]

Written by Martin Woodhouse

Directed by Don Leaver

Production completed: 20 December 1963

[cyberrich]

10/10! One of the very best Cathy episodes. Terrific sets and equally terrific script and acting. This type of episode typifies season 3, and is to the Harry Palmer films what the Emma Peel episodes were to the Bond films. Rich.

[Lhbizness]

Such a rough episode, but probably one of the best of this era. Top-notch acting from all involved, but especially Blackman and Macnee. Watching Steed break down is most painful, and Cathy's care for him is quite touching.
Steed often appears flippant and invulnerable, yet here he shows the naked emotion and vulnerability that he works so hard to conceal. Macnee so completely inhabits the role of Steed that it seems he’s feeling what his character feels.

[Dfrise]

This must be the darkest episode of The Avengers. Steed is falsely accused of treason and must prove his innocence in a secret hearing. Failing to prove his innocence he is sent to a secret government facility where those in charge put him in solitary confinement. Then he is subjected to several methods to disorient his mind. A mention of "disposal" is made about his fate.

Contrast that to the real life British traitor Alan Nunn May. He was unmasked as an atomic spy for the Soviet Union by a defecting Soviet cypher clerk. He confessed and was convicted in court of treason in 1946. He was sentenced to 10 years and was out in less than seven.

Or contrast that to Klaus Fuchs, a naturalized British citizen who also confessed to being an atomic spy for the Soviet Union in 1950. He was sentenced in court to 14 years in prison and was out in nine. He was allowed to emigrate to East Germany, where he went to work to aid Soviet nuclear research.

The Wringer is a top-notch piece of fiction. But why the author of this episode created such an awful fate for Steed is beyond me. He must have been aware of the fates of real-life British traitors, who never had to face a secret hearing, and never had to fear "disposal."

[dissolute]

I think some spies did disappear quietly at that time.

[Dfrise]

I think some spies did disappear quietly at that time.

But that is speculation. What is fact is that these 2 atomic spies for the Soviet Union lived out their lives in peace after early release from prison. One got to continue helping the Soviets. If anyone was a candidate during the Cold War for being "disappeared," these 2 would have to head the list.

The author of this well-written episode portrayed British justice as a clone of justice in Stalin's Soviet Union. It just wasn't so.

[Ian Wegg]

I'm wondering what the job of "story editor" was in this series, there seems to be very little consistency of style at this time. This is a very different story to the Agatha Christie like "Dressed to Kill" that precedes it, and both are different again to the almost surreal "The Little Wonders" that follows. I wonder what the audience of 1964 made of these weekly shifts in style, but perhaps that is part of its attraction.

A terrific, straightforward spy story here; sort of John le Carré meets The Prisoner and well executed. It kept me engaged throughout (where some earlier episodes have failed to keep me awake).

It would be captious of me to mark this down for not being Avenger-ish as the term isn't yet fully defined.

9/10

[dissolute]

It's interesting isn't it? They try a different genre every other week, it feels like a new show feeling its way rather than an established show. Of course, the show was reinvented in the next two series so maybe this presages that.

[Ian Wegg]

As someone who grew up in the Emma Peel and Tara King eras I thought I had a clear idea of what constitutes an Avengers episode. Coming to the Cathy Gale series for the first time I initially found it difficult to rate some episodes which didn't seem to be The Avengers at all, but were nevertheless cracking stories.

I've realised that the only way to do it is to score how much I enjoyed watching each show in isolation and putting aside the concept of "Avengerness".

[Rhonda]

8 for me. Although a darkish one its a nice adventure and the excursion to Scotland feels very believable. Very much for Steed to lead here.