prologue © Canal+

feature item © Canal+

epilogue © Canal+

The Wringer

by Martin Woodhouse
Designed by Philip Harrison
Directed by Don Leaver

Production Schedule

Episode 71
Production Number : 3618
VTR/ABC/3231
Teddington Studio 1

Thursday, 19th December, 1963

VTR Inserts:

• 42:03-43:30 - Scene 43 & 4 (shots 189-190) - Steed and Cathy in the culvert & bushes, escaping the interrogation facility.
• 50:04-51:34 - Scene 51 (shots 248-251) - tag scene - Steed keeps fussing over Cathy trying to make the coffee with one hand while he's being fitted by Lovell, her other in a sling, but it's he who spills the coffee.

Taping was stopped for approximately 5 minutes between the scene in Lovell's shop and the fire tower scene as they turned around the cameras:

BREAK - APP. 5'00"
CAM. 1 MOVE TO POS. C - EXT. FIRE TOWER
CAM. 2 MOVg TO POS. E - INT. FIRE TOWER
CAM. 3 MOVE TO POS. B - INT. FIRE TOWER
CAM. 4 MOVE TO POS. D - INf. FIRE TOWER
CAM. 5 MOVE TO POS. B - INT. FIRE TOWER
CAM. 6 ON ROSTRUM - POS. A - INT. TOWER.
BOOM A MOVE TO POS. 2 - M.I.5. OFFICE
BOOM B MOVE TO POS. 2 - INT. FIRE TOWER
BOOM C MOVE TO POS. 2 - INT. FIRE TOWER

Friday, 20th December, 1963

Running time

Expected: 51'25" excluding commercial breaks
Actual running time with bumpers: 51'58"

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
Frederick Sempel	?	? (prior to episode)
Arne Langstrom	?	? (prior to episode)
George Arnold Meyer	?	? (prior to episode)
Ann Lisa Praviqz	?	? (prior to episode)
Herman Ludner	?	? (prior to episode)
Arthur Leacock	?	? (prior to episode)
click a name to see the face

Minutiæ

1. 1:57 - They don't mention it on screen, but the script explicitly mentions Oliver and Charles briefing Steed at an M.I.5 Office.
2. 5:10 - Cathy queries Anderson's procedure and Steed replies,"You've been reading the official handbook again".
3. 5:50 - Steed describes Anderson: "He's reliable. By all the books he shouldn't be - lousy shot, can't swim, writes poetry. But! He's reliable".
4. 8:36 - Steed calls Primrose 0042 to speak to Cathy.
5. 14:00 (13:40) - Shades of The Prisoner when Steed tells fellow operator Anderson "Nobody retires, ever."
6. 19:25 - slight loss of focus on the change of shot to Steed sniffing the cup of coffee.
7. 24:52-25:02, 26:52-55 (24:33) onwards - Return of The Fly : yet more remastering problems with flies in the Canal+ studios landing on the transfer box.
8. 26:13, 33:35 - telecine insert on monitors - Steed in cage.
9. 26:48 - Charles has something stuck to his bottom lip.
10. The Wringer tries to brainwash Steed with:
    • 27:22, 34:25 - film of a tropical beach.
    • 28:18 - drugged coffee.
    • 28:34, 34:05 - psychedelic swirling hypnosis patterns and loud white noise [Steed counters this (30:08) by focusing on his watch]
    • 29:40 etc. - time dislocation (randomly resetting the clocks)
      • 29:40 - 2:30 compared to 8:15
      • 31:28 - 1.00 on both (but Steed lost his watch outside the cage just before this point so it may have been altered)
      • at this point he's given lunch, just one hour after breakfast
      • 33:20 - The Wringer even tries time dislocation on Cathy when she arrives.
      • 34:58 - they both say 4:25 (confirmed by Cathy)
    • 30:48, 34:37 - film of WWII British artillery batteries, at very high volume.
    • 32:17 - autosuggestion by voice over and sound effects.
    • 34:09 - clock pendulums and the appropriate sound effects, mixed over the swirling patterns.
    • 34:13 - photographs of faces, mixed with the pendulums and swirls.
    • all of the above, mixed and faded in together.
11. 34:43, 35:59 - telecine of Steed & Cathy in the cage on the monitors
12. 36:02 - compression artefacts on a bad frame
13. 37:51-38:03 - Douglas Cummings struggles with the lock and takes 8 seconds to open the gate to let Cathy out.
14. 40:10 - the end of Steed's cage is clearly missing, revealing the film screen, but Cathy still goes to open the door.
15. 45:33 - small smudge up and left of centre in Charles' medium shot
16. 46:05 - £2 14/6 owing on the library book Proust that Steed lent Anderson
17. Barry Letts (Oliver) is most famous for producing many, and directing several, of the Jon Pertwee Doctor Who stories; he did the BBC directors' course shortly after this episode and subsequently moved to the other side of the camera.
18. Peter Sallis (Hal Anderson) is best known these days as the voice of Wallace from the Nick Park "Wallace and Gromit" animations.
19. Douglas Cummings (Murdo) was last see as the sleazy Fatty Barker in The Gilded Cage.