Episode 13 - A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Station

Lucas is chased through Wembley Yard, just south of Wembley Central Station.

right: Anyone know who plays Bart?
Left Likewise with the blonde hostess and Georgie. Just who are these people? The blonde girl appeared in the The Prisoner episode, "The General", but received no credit, the actor playing Bart also appeared in The Prisoner, again with no credit.
[enlargement of Georgie & blonde]
©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved

left: The suitcase Lucas is lying in when found (in the close up) is a cut-away, as Michael Nightingale is too tall to lie flat in the trunk, a fact unfortunately captured on film (30:32 & 33:47).

Why does Bart have a ticket to Chase Halt anyway (15:07)?

If Lucas's "Aunt Maud" standard issue army pouch, agents for the use of, is so named for the acronym Microfilm And Unciphered Documents, why does Steed examine its contents and say, "this will take some time to decipher?"

How are the ticket collector and steward overseeing the secretary's visit to commandeer the carriage, when the collector has just been at Chase Halt, telling the groom to take care of the people in the signal box when they discover Lucas has already been found by the security check?

The writer of this episode, Brian Sheriff, is in fact two people: Roger Marshall, who wrote the original script but never finished it; and Brian Clemens who finished it off and prepared it for production after Marshall left the show.

Warren reveals that Steed buys his bowlers from St. James (which is a lie, they're from Howard Johnson)


This episode breaks one of the supposed tenets of The Avengers - no uniformed policemen; and here the two bobbies wandering in and out of shot seem pointless - they're supposed to lend an air of Downing Street security to the Secretary's inspection of the carriage, but you'd have Special Branch doing that anyway...

©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved

©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved		©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved	©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved
The scales on the platform at Chase Halt - obviously as much in disrepair as the rest of the station (speaking of which, is it only me that's reminded of The Goodies by this episode? ) - inform us that Mrs Peel's weight is an unlikely 5 1/2 stone (34.5 kg, for the youngsters). As she says, "Flatterer!"		The newspaper Mrs Peel reads on the train (see the image above and top right) is also read by Sir Andrew Boyd in his limo on the way to the conference in Death's Door. Note that not only the headline is the same, but the sports section (back page) of both says "LUCKY GRAEME"	©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved

Watch for some John Laurie comedy gold - when Crewe is trailing Ticket Collector, he opens a compartment and sits in a woman's lap! She's awake and reading but apparently doesn't even notice!

More bloopers uncovered by Jenna Clayton:

1. Just before Groom shoots Salt in the back, Groom says "You may be telling the truth; you may be right!" and Salt replies, "Well, then, in-in that case, surely--" and Groom interrupts him with "In that case... you're under suspicion!" However, if you watch and listen closely, Groom starts to say his line BEFORE Salt ever says "in that case", then stops himself and waits until Salt finishes!
2. If Admiral Cartney's office is full of top secret, could-be-very-embarrassing information, how does Groom pop in and out so easily?
3. How did Steed get his umbrella up onto the train compartment (4-7-67) shelf without being noticed or arousing suspicion?
4. Bride has a very sharp memory - she remembers Lucas's briefcase and also remembers Steed as the one who found it. However, earlier, Emma stops and looks into Bride's compartment as she sits with Bart, and stays there for several seconds, even tapping on the glass and smiling; yet near the end, when Emma enters Bride's compartment and sits opposite her, Bride doesn't recognize her!
5. When Emma and Groom fight, the train is moving at about 80 MPH. When she opens the window her hair blows all around (very nicely done, BTW!); yet when she opens the door into the 80 MPH wind, the wind doesn't blow the door back at her or even affect it in the least!
6. When trailing Salt, how did Emma get from her apartment to Norborough so incredibly quickly? It's far enough from London to allow for two calls for dinner, at least...
7. Salt and Steed get on the 8:10 to Liverpool; Emma gets on at Norborough. At the end of the trip, when Emma pops into Salt's compartment and grabs Steed's umbrella, they're in London! (If the trips were only to Norborough and back, as would seem to be the case from the punched-through tickets in Salt's desk, then why didn't Salt get off at Norborough when Emma got on?)
8. Crewe tells Emma and Steed that he "missed the last train and had to take a bus... a bus!" But since the trains haven't stopped at Chase Halt for the past nine years, what difference would it have made? (And for that matter, how did he get to the practical joke destination in the first place without taking a bus?)
9. After leaving his compartment on the train, Lucas starts walking down the aisle. Suddenly he stops as he sees Bart. Why didn't he notice him before that exact moment, since he was looking right at him the whole time?
10. Why does derelict, abandoned Chase Halt station have working electricity and gas?
11. In Crewe's signal box, Special Branch man George Warren deciphers the Mark V Tapping Code message recorded by Steed's umbrella, triumphantly announcing "Durbridge!" This means that the Ticket Collector instructed Salt to capture the dangerous man in his compartment (Steed) by tapping out the word "Durbridge"!
12. Also, why don't we hear Salt saying "I--I think it best you don't move!" during the tapping code recording playback in the signal box?

Nigel Wassell chips in with:

1. The trains featured are all electric types as used on the then recently-electrified West Coast Main Line, the London terminus of which is at Euston. - However, the restaurant car attendant clearly calls out "King's Cross next stop" at one point (not that it would have been his job to do so!), and a clock dial written "B.R. Kings Cross" is also seen, implying that Steed started his journey from there. - Kings Cross is the London terminus of the East Coast Main line!
2. Secondly, we see a distant shot of what is presumably meant to be Mr. Crewe's signal box at Chase Halt. - This is clearly meant to be on the same line as Norborough (otherwise the plot doesn't work) and the electrically-hauled train calls there (twice), but there are no overhead wires visible in the shot of the signal box!
3. The interior shots of the carriages (studio sets) do not match the exterior railway sequences, all of which feature BR standard stock of one sort or another, and as for the idea that a mere Travelling Ticket Inspector (or even a Guard) could influence the formation of any train set, let alone the selection of a particular vehicle for a V.I.P. train... - The villains would have been better advised to have tipped the chargehand shunter at Longsight - a couple of grand to achieve the desired result!