prologue © Canal+

feature item © Canal+

epilogue © Canal+

Concerto

by Terrance Dicks and Malcolm Hulke
Designed by Robert Macgowan
Directed by Kim Mills

Production Schedule

Episode 54
Production Number : 3601
VTR/ABC/2644
Teddington Studio 1

Thursday 25th April 1963

Friday 26th April 1963

Running time

Expected: 51'25"
Actual running time with bumpers: 51'45"

The bumpers between the acts are generally 10 seconds from fade in to the "End of Act" bumper to the end of audio before the commercial, a 10 second still without audio, then cut to the next act bumper. This would play with the theme for around 10 seconds. Accordingly, with the episodes being in 3 acts, the running time of the action is approximately a minute less than listed above, minus the opening and closing credits (normally 0'16", with a 2" fade, and anywhere from 0'41" to 1'20", hard cut or 1" fade or mix, respectively).

Transmission

Equipment

Murders

Victim	Killer	Method
Polly White	Burns	Strangled
Darleen Lomax	Burns ?	Strangled ?
click a name to see the face

Minutiæ

Time codes here include the Studio Canal logo from the remastered 2010 set, which takes 0:18 seconds.

1. 0:52 - 3:05 - the music under the opening credits and practiced in the background in the opening scene is the A♭ Polonaise by Chopin.
2. 4:01 - slightly out of focus on the change of shot.
3. 5:27 - Steed very obviously appreciates Cathy's backside as she stands up and walks away from him.
4. 5:41 - there's a smudge on the lens of camera 4, most visible at 5:46, it remains until the end of the episode.
5. 7:03 - picture distortion
6. 8:18 - horizontal banding
7. 18:44 - there's a water spot on the lens of camera 1 in the CU of Zelenko which remains for the rest of the episode
8. 18:50 - there's a jump in the vision.
9. 19:04 - Nigel Stock (Zalenko) famously "dries" and forgets his next line, "Did you get any information from that friend of the dead girl?"
   He covers it by pouring himself drinks and toasting Steed repeatedly. Patrick Macnee (Steed) looks increasingly worried (19:12 & 19:16) - you can see him glance at the director and cameraman a couple times - then fills Zalenko's glass from a hip flask in fine ad lib style. He ad libs to prompt Stock at 19:18 by saying,"Now, the dead girl". Eventually, one of the crew prompts Stock - you can just hear the words in the background while Macnee ad libs another line - he is relieved when Stock finally says his line at 19:33 after a blustery ad lib to tie it together and the scene winds to its long-overdue close, 20 seconds later than expected.
10. 21:50 - Act Two starts with some quiet piano music - Stefan practicing - instead of the usual The Avengers bumper crescendo.
11. 22:52 - The "Le Stud" Club is at 3 Soho Court.
12. 27:40 - As Peterson answers the phone, the cameraman changes the focus, blurring the vision for a second.
13. 30:10 - When Zalenko stands up, the camera zoom out and we catch a glimpse of the boom microphone rising out of shot.
14. 36:08 - a hair gets stuck in the plate at the bottom of the screen and stays there until the start of Act Three (38:42).
15. 42:06 - Burns plays Russian Roulette with a tied-up Cathy, telling her, after pulling the trigger once:
    "Now the odds are 4 to 1."
    After a second pull of the trigger he menaces:
    "It'll be 2 to 1." then pulls the trigger again
    Either they cut a few pulls of the trigger (understandable, considering how tedious it would become), or he owns a revolver with two broken chambers.
16. 48:23 - The British Cultural Council's "rare original manuscripts" seems to be the score of a song called "Bless You!"
17. 49:16 - Steed reveals he was living in Herefordshire in 1948.