Episode 24 - Mission... Highly Improbable

Jane Merrow was a popular choice of casting directors of the time - she appeared in lots of different television and film productions, and was reportedly one of Patrick McGoohan's favourite supporting players, great praise indeed from such a noted perfectionist. She was also screen tested for Diana Rigg's replacement, but lost out to Linda Thorson. Todd Mills has created a wonderful in-depth look at Jane and all her work at http://www.regiments.org/merrow/ - check it out now! (It's actually been online nearly as long as this site has.)

Professor Rushton has the same vintage car prints in his office as Sir George had in Dead Man's Treasure.

Some saucy dialogue in this episode:

• When Emma is released by a shrunken Steed, she smiles impishly at him and asks "Is everything to scale?"
• When she is restored to full size, she asks Steed worriedly, "Is everything back to normal?"
  Steed: "Everything"
  Emma turns around to show him her bottom. "Everything?" Steed: "Everything!"

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

Chivers discovers Captain Gifford inside the experimental shed because of some broken glass on the ground below the window, but Gifford punched the pane from the outside, so the glass would have fallen into the shed, how then did it crack under Chivers' feet?

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

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

If the MT4 military truck they're all looking for has a worn offside tyre, why does everyone keep checking the nearside tyres of the trucks they happen upon? Both Steed and Captain Gifford check the near fore wheel of the MT4s they encounter. ('nearside' means lefthand, in the same way 'port' does for a boat - i.e. the left side of the object, no matter which way it's oriented. 'Offside' is the right, where the driver sits in British cars).

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Death's Door ©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved	The desk that the miniaturised Steed and Mrs Peel crawl around on has the same out-sized desktop calendar prop that was used in Death's Door.	Mission... ©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved
When he uses Shaffer's telephone, Steed reveals that Mrs Peel's telephone number is 629-6291, and must be in the Greater London 01 area (0171 these days, I guess). Shaffer's number is 01-325-471, according to the label on the dial. Why Mrs Peel has a seven-digit number in 1968 is anyone's guess, and is 629 the right prefix for Primrose Hill? Surely she's moved from NW1 to W1 with that number. Also, his umbrella moves slightly when Shaffer enters the room, compare the above right with the immediate right.		©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved

Steed's umbrella was returned to full size with him when he was restored in the summer house, he's holding it when he emerges from the sack, and again when he walks outside and is captured by Josef and Chivers. So how is it re-miniaturised for the tag scene?
The cat's out of the bag...	and emerges from the hut	...but it shrank again!
©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved ©1961-9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved

When Emma is escaping from Shaffer's study, Karl is guarding the hallway, reading a book with a slightly torn dust jacket, revealing it to be Jane Austen's "Emma" (clever, that).

'Emma' in his arms

This episode may also be found bearing the title The Disappearance of Admiral Nelson. I can't think why, when there's no character of that name.

All the scenes featuring Nicole Shelby as 'Brunette' ended up on the cutting room floor, but she still appears in the cast list. Here she is as Miranda, the brunette pursuer of Baron von Curt (Ian Ogilvie) in the Tara King episode, "They Keep Killing Steed".
The Powell brothers, Nosher and Dinny [not Denny as the credits read], play the goons Karl and Henrik, but at one point Shaffer calls to them (off camera) using the names Sergei and Ivan; a mistake or were they just cheaply giving the illusion of more characters?

Some of the footage of the testing of the FV 603 appears in the series Department S in an episode called "Who Plays the Dummy?".
[ Department S was directed at times by Ray Austin, Stunt Coordinator for The Avengers, and starred Peter Wyngarde as Jason King (he appeared in Epic as Stewart Kirby). It was an ITC production, but obviously shared a great many resources with ABC productions - the guest cast is almost identical to the Avengers.]

George 'Nosher' Powell and his brothers (including Dinny, credited as Denny in this episode, and elsewhere as Dinney) were some of Britian's leading stuntmen; Nosher has also had two sons, both of whom are stuntmen as well.