• title card: Double Danger superimposed on two cars in a quiet street
  • publicity still: Dr. Keel treats Mace as Brady holds a gun on him while Lola looks on
  • publicity still: Steed visits Bartholomew
  • publicity still: Brady and Bert lie in wait for Dr. Keel and Lola
  • publicity still: Bert ties up Lola while Brady keeps a gun trained on Dr. Keel and Steed
  • publicity still: Steed and Dr. Keel ambush Brady and Bert in the graveyard

Series 1 — Episode 18
Double Danger

by Gerald Verner, adapted by John Lucarotti

Production No 3415, VTR/ABC/1340
Production completed: July 6 1961. First transmission: July 8 1961.

TV Times summary

A few words spoken by a wounded man to Keel involve the doctor and Steed with a group of thieves who are fighting among themselves over a fortune in stolen diamonds

The following episode summary is written from the original scripts and Leonard White’s scrapbook of notes and Tele-Snaps as this episode is now lost. There may have been changes made during filming. As Gerald Verner’s original script varies wildly with John Lucarotti’s rewrite, I have noted all the differences in footnotes and added the original as a second full synopsis on the script page.

Plot summary

Steed arranges to spring a diamond thief from prison so he can recover the loot but gangsters intercept his men, accidentally shooting the prisoner, Mace. Dr. Keel is later kidnapped to treat Mace, who tells Keel “Bartholomew’s Plot” as a clue to the location of the hidden diamonds before he dies. Keel is forced to reveal this clue to the gang or they will kill Carol. Carol escapes and Steed and Keel work out the clue and intercept the criminals when they go to retrieve the diamonds from the graveyard near Bartholomew’s cottage.

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Prologue

Two men wait in a street alongside one of Her Majesty’s Prisons - Mark Crawford (Charles Hodgson) paces up and down nervously, checking his watch, near a rope that is hanging down one wall while his cravat-wearing toff friend Harry Dew (Robert Mill) keeps the engine of their car purring at the corner of the street. A prisoner appears and scales down the rope quickly, then he and Crawford run to the car. Before they get there, another car cuts off their escape and two masked men leap out, firing their revolvers. Dew and Crawford duck for cover as the escapee Ted Mace (Howard Daley) is nabbed. Mace pulls down the mask of his assailant and stares into the cold, blue eyes of local gangster Al Brady (Peter Reynolds) before being bundled into the other car. A screech of tyres and they are gone before Mace’s accomplices can do anything.

Act 1

Some time later, Carol Wilson (Ingrid Hafner) and Dr. David Keel (Ian Hendry) are discussing Mr. McCleary, an annoying patient who keeps trying to get medical certificates to get off work, as they close up the surgery for the night. Suddenly there’s an urgent ringing of the doorbell. A woman in a headscarf comes in, saying her husband has cut himself badly and can the doctor come to help? Dr. Keel goes to fetch his bag as she tells Carol her name and address - Mrs. Marsden of Palmers Drive. Carol tells David she’ll wait for his return as he goes out to the woman’s car. They drive off into the night and arrive some time later at a houseboat on the Thames. 1 Dr. Keel is led below decks where his escape is blocked off by Brady’s henchman, Bert Mills (Ron Pember). Brady greets Keel with his revolver and asks if he’s the doctor. Keel glares at him and replies, “I see. I was just beginning to wonder how you got a boat into Palmer’s Drive.” Brady returns fire, saying, “Very humorous. This way.” and leads him to the cabin where Ted Mace lies on a bunk.

BRADY: There’s your patient, doctor. I’m afraid he stopped a bullet.
KEEL: How long’s he been like this?
BRADY: About three hours. Let’s not waste time, Doc. He doesn’t look so good.

Keel examines Mace quickly and says he needs to be taken to hospital but Brady refuses. Keel insists the bullet needs to be removed immediately and Mace needs a blood transfusion. Brady simply tells him to do the best he can. When Keel protests he doesn’t have the right instruments Brady organises for Keel to make a list and Mills will take it to the surgery. Brady checks the list and queries a couple of items, including “Fonum Equus”, which Keel says is Latin for a sterilising solution.

Dew and Crawford are waiting in a dingy pawnshop cum antique store 2 for their “princely employer” who Crawford declares will “do his tiny nut when he finds out that Mace was snitched from under our very noses”. Dew reflects that he would have asked for twice the fee if he’d know they would be shot at. They have just decided to leave and hide out from the boss to avoid any trouble with the cops when their employer arrives - it’s Steed! John Steed (Patrick Macnee) is most displeased to find that Mace isn’t with them.

Mills meanwhile turns up at the surgery and Carol goes to fill the list. She queries why Dr. Keel would need the items requested for glass cuts, and then she notices the text “Fonum Equus”. Realising it’s code for “Phone Steed” she quickly collects what Keel has asked for and sends Mills on his way before calling Steed’s number. She identifies herself but is disappointed to learn he’s not there and worriedly declines to leave a message. 3

Back at the houseboat a bit later, Keel starts operating on Mace, assisted by the woman, now revealed to be Mace’s wife, Lola Carrington Vanda Hudson. Brady receives a phone call from Leonard Bruton (Kevin Brennan), who asks how Mace is doing. He warns Brady that people sometimes talk when under anaesthetic so to stay with him and adds that Mace has to recover - but only long enough to tell them what they want to know! Keel extracts the bullet and observes that it mushroomed slightly, causing a nasty wound - it also seems to be the same calibre as Brady’s gun but Brady cuts him off, warning that kind of remark is dangerous. Brady asks if Mace will recover and he and Keel argue when the doctor says he might - if he gets taken to hospital. Brady warns Keel that if Mace dies before telling him what he needs to know, he’ll find himself “in the river with him”.

At Keel’s surgery, Carol shows Steed the list of items 4

CAROL: Look at the last item.
STEED: “Fonus Equus”. Hardly Herodotus. “Equus” means horse. 5
CAROL: Or Steed...
STEED: Ah Steed, rather good. But “Fonus”?
CAROL: Isn’t a Latin word at all. Don’t you see? Equus means you...

Carol tells him Keel went out on an emergency for a Mrs. Marsden but she’s looked it up and there’s no Mrs. Marsden or Palmers Drive. She can’t give a good description of Bert Mills and can only say “Nondescript, Cockney”. Just then they hear a car pull up and through the window Carol sees it’s Bert returning, Steed advises her to pretend no-one’s in and slips out the back way to follow him. Waiting in the dark, Carol sees a letter appear as Bert slips it under the front door. She waits for him to drive off then turns on the light, opens it and reads it. 6

Back at the houseboat a while later, Bert and Brady play cards while Lola frets over the situation. Keel is unsympathetic towards her but relents when he detects her concern for Mace. 7 Mace stirs and tries to sit up and Lola goes to fetch Brady. Mace looks at Dr. Keel and says, “My ...” then “The plot... it’s... John... John Batholemew’s... plot”. He sinks back onto the bunk then Brady enters. “She says he’s conscious..” he starts, but Keel cuts him off - “She’s wrong. He’s dead”, Keel intones as he covers Ted’s face with the sheet.

Act 2

Mills returns to the houseboat, followed at a distance by Steed in his Rolls-Royce 8 Inside, Lola is arguing with Brady, saying Ted would have lived if they’d gone to the hospital instead. 9 Dr. Keel sees his chance and grabs her pistol then aims it at them. He backs out of the cabin, towards the companion way but just as he reaches it, Mills appears and tackles him. They fight and Lola kicks the gun out of Keel’s had and grabs it. “All right, break it up!”, she yells and Keel surrenders. Brady asks for the gun and is about to shoot Keel when Lola intervenes, she’s sure she heard Ted mumble something to the doctor before he died. Brady demands to know what it was but Keel refuses to tell him. Mills suggests they “sweat it out of him” which raises the ire of the doctor who reminds them Mace would have lived if they’d done the right thing. Brady gives him ten seconds to speak and then Steed is heard outside, yelling, “Sergeant, bring your men up behind those trees, but keep back - one of them’s got a gun”. 10 The crooks panic and Mills drops into the water to swim across to the car. Lola tries to lead Brady away the other direction as he wildly waves his gun at Keel, letting off two shots that the doctor dives to avoid.

Steed enters the houseboat and ascertains that Keel is okay. When Keel asks if he’s going to let them get away, Steed drawls, “I am not fighting a revolver with an umbrella.” Dr. Keel tells him about the dead man in the cabin. Steed reveals it was he who helped Mace out of jail a few hours earlier then tells the doctor about the Hatton Garden robbery four months earlier - Ted Mace was the expert safecracker who stole £200,000 worth of uncut diamonds from Lowenstein & Bruton. 11 Mace had a trademark style so they picked him up for it immediately but the diamonds were never found. Steed had sprung him from jail to track them down as the insurance company was unhappy with paying the claim. Keel tells him that Mace mentioned “John Bartholomew’s plot” before he died but it means nothing to Steed.

Steed explains that Mace was shot during the ambush of the escape 12, his troops were too green to know what to do and just sought cover - despite being “enlisted” rather than volunteers. He had wondered how his plans leaked out but now he knows - Mrs. Mace, or Lola, as Keel knows her.

Bruton tells Brady off for running away like frightened rabbits and bemoans the loss of the diamonds now Mace is dead. Brady tells him Lola has gone home and Mills has gone back to the houseboat to see what he can find out. They argue and Brady adds that he’ll find the diamonds - but only for a fifty-fifty split as he’s taking all the risks. Brady tells him Mace said something to the doctor before he died and he has a plan how to get it out of him...

Back at the houseboat, the police have arrived and taken over. Steed offers Keel a lift and ribs him about having atrocious Latin but the idea was bright. He goes on to say Carol is brainy as well as beautiful which makes him think of Lola’s tight skirt. That leads him to remember that Ted and Lola used to rent a cottage with a steep staircase and he decides to visit it on a hunch. 13

STEED: I’ve just had an idea. By the way, old boy, Do you mind taking the offer of that lift? I am going to take a spin in the country.
KEEL: At this time of night?
STEED: Of course. I do all my best work at night. You should know that by now.

Mills follows Steed as he departs... 14 Steed arrives at the cottage of an elderly man who is exceptionally deaf and doesn’t hear when Steed asks his name. Steed learns that the old man used to rent the neighbouring cottage to the Maces. He says they were a bad lot and he’ll have to check on Steed before he can let the property. Steed is baffled and asks instead if any letters for the Maces have arrived and the man says a letter arrived for a Lola something did; he points at it sitting on the mantlepiece. When Steed goes to pick it up, Mills tries to shoot him through the window but misses, smashing a vase. Steed dives for cover and asks the man his name again as he rushes for the door. The old man turns and says “Bartholomew” but Steed has gone. Bartholemew (Gordon Phillott) sees the broken vase vase and muses, “Wonder how that got smashed... Clumsy young fellow...” 15

Carol answers the surgery phone and discovers it’s Mr. McCleary, still begging for a medical certificate. She rings off and answers the doorbell, finding Brady there. When he learns the doctor isn’t in yet he enters, saying he’ll wait and then pulls a gun on her, telling her to get her coat and orders her out the back way. Just as they leave, there’s a knock on the front door and Steed enters. Finding the place empty, he uses the phone to report to One-Ten and asks him to search for John Bartholomew in connection with Ted Mace. 16

Keel returns from a patient visit and is annoyed to find Steed has let himself in again. The phone rings - it’s Brady, who tells Keel he has Carol. She’s unharmed - at the moment and if he wants her to stay that way he will tell Brady what Mace said. Dr. Keel, realising he has no choice, says, “All right. He said: ‘It’s John Bartholomew’s plot.” Brady rings off. Steed, who has overheard, says to leave it with him as he has an idea and he departs abruptly.
Brady meanwhile is telling Bruton what Keel just said but neither of them know Bartholomew. Bruton asks Brady where he’s keeping Carol and Brady replies, “Never mind about the girl. What I’ve (sic) got to do is find this Bartholomew character. If there is such a person.” Bruton become suspicious and accuses him of sending him on a wild goose chase while he pockets the stones. Brady gets angry and tells him to find Bartholomew and be quick about it. 17

Steed returns to the antique store where Crawford and Dew are discussing Lola. Crawford give Steed her address and tells her that her boyfriend is Al Brady. Steed tells them to bring her in then adds sarcastically, “And by the way, boys, don’t lose this one”. Brady returns to his lockup where Mills is guarding Carol. Bert doesn’t know Batholomew either, and doesn’t think Bruton has the guts to double cross them. He has the bright idea that the doctor might have talked to Carol and they turn on her menacingly... 18

Act 3

Bruton rings Lola, knowing that Brady isn’t there, and says he has to speak to him urgently. Lola suggests he try the garage and tells him the address of the lock-up - 17A Hart Street. Bruton pretends the details had “slipped his mind” and rings off abruptly when Lola suggests Al is there with Bert and the girl. 19 Steed meanwhile tells Dr. Keel they found her - but he means Lola rather than Carol - and they leave to bring her in. 20 Meanwhile, at the garage, Carol is wakened from a fitful doze by the sound of the garage door splintering and Bruton looms up before her. 21

Steed interrogates Lola at the antique store, offering her as fair exchange for Carol but Lola says she doesn’t know anything. Tiring of her stubbornness when she says he can’t keep her there, he suggests they’ll put her in the cellar below which is infested with very large rats. She tries to hold out as she’s afraid Brady will kill her is she speaks. Steed says “Some species of rodent have two legs, some four. Take your pick” but she still refuses to tell. Dr. Keel suggests they’re less trigger happy than Brady and he doesn’t want to have to take a bullet out of Carol so Lola relents, asking they keep her out of it. 22

Back at the garage, Mills and Brady have returned to find Carol gone. Brady tells Mills off for leaving her but he protests that Bruton rang, saying Brady wanted him over there. They realise Bruton has double-crossed them but then Brady warns Mills to be quiet - someone is coming. Steed, Keel and Lola enter the garage. 23 and Steed is angered when they discover Carol is not there.

STEED: Where’s Brady?
BRADY: Somebody paging me? You double crossing little slut. Did you tell Bruton as well?
STEED: (whistles softly) Dear old Leonard Bruton. I always thought he must have rigged the job with Mace. Poor old Lowenstein.

Brady shuts him up and waves his gun at them. Keel demands to know where Carol is and is surprised when Brady echoes his sentiment. Brady orders Mills to tie them all up as Lola pleads her innocence. “Then you can die with a clear conscience”, he snarls, and coolly informs them he’s going to start the engine of the car and forget to switch it off, killing them with carbon monoxide.

In Bruton’s study, Carol tells him she’s feeling better and asks if he’s one of Steed’s men. He is evasive, saying who he is is of no importance and asks her what the doctor told Brady over the phone. He adds it’s terribly important that he knows what it was. He then asks if Brady mentioned John Bartholomew. Realising he’s not there to help her, she rises, saying she has to go home, but he grabs her and snarls “I don’t think so” - so Carol throws her tea in his face and flees the room. 24

Back at the garage, Brady tells Mills to get a move on if they’re going to find Bartholomew. Lola’s ears prick up and she asks if he means John Bartholomew. She tells him they used to rent a cottage from him and Steed chuckles to himself at his own stupidity. Brady says “Now she tells me!” - then, to Lola’s horror, orders Bert to gag her. Even giving him the information he needed will not save her. They turn on the car and leave to pay a visit to Bruton. 25

When they get there, Bruton is still recovering from the hot tea in his eyes and tells them Carol got away. Brady orders Mills to go to the surgery and confronts Bruton who declares he was only wanted to check on the doctor, make sure he gave you the right message. Brady glares at him then confirms he found out about Bartholomew. Bruton asks is the fifty-fifty basis still holds, his eyes widen as Brady raises his gun and he hoarsely cries, “Brady, Brady, Seventy-five percent. That’s fair.” before Brady shoots him dead. 26

Steed assists Keel in getting free by kicking the woodwork they’re tied to and then they free each other. Keel then crawls towards the car, keeping low to avoid the poisonous fumes, and drags himself inside. 27 Meanwhile, Carol has been brought back to the surgery by a helpful taxi driver (Blaise Wyndham) but when she gets inside to fetch her purse to pay him, Bert is waiting for her. He’s startled when she says she’s been to the police but recovers and informs her that Keel is “Dead by now, I wouldn’t wonder ... and the other geezer and I shouldn’t be surprised if Bruton’s bought it too”. Carol calmly tells him the police know what he looks like; he’s about to kill her when the taxi driver steps inside, turns off the lights, and fights Bert. They struggle until Bert takes flight. Carol asks him how much she owes him then bursts into tears. He smiles and says, “Don’t worry about that now, miss. It’s 9 & 6 on the clock, but we must get on to the police.” 28

Back at the garage, Steed and Keel, having made sure Lola will recover, decide to head to Bartholomew’s cottage, which Steed ruefully says he visited the night before, but the old man was as deaf as a post and he never got his name. Keel carries Lola to the car and they drive off. Brady and Mills have already reached the cottage just after nightfall and Brady demands to know where the diamonds are but the old man says he doesn’t know. Mills has already searched Mace’s old cottage and found nothing. Bartholomew is a tough old bird and stands up to Brady’s threats, telling him to get out. Brady threatens to kill him and Bartholomew simply says he’s too old to worry about dying, and reflects on how nice it will to be with Gladys.

BARTHOLOMEW : Old Gladys, she be gone those last fifteen years, she be. Go on, sonny, use it. Everything’s took care off. All paid for. Not a penny owing. It’s just our plot, waiting for me.

The penny drops and Brady and Mills rush out to the nearby graveyard. 29 In the graveyard they eventually find the plot and Mills digs with his bare hands in some dead grass, unearthing a rusted tin. He struggles to open it so Brady takes it from him and prises it open, finding the diamonds within. 30 Just as they are in his grasp, Steed steps out and orders, “I’ll take those, Brady.” Keel goes to check on the old man as it starts to rain and Steed opens his umbrella. 31 Mills goes to seek shelter and Steed barks, “Where are you going?” When Mills says it’s raining, Steed smiles and replies, “Thank you for the information, but I find this keeps me quite dry, apart from anything else.” 32


  1. Verner’s original script had the gangsters in the car, and Brady forces Keel to wear a blindfold. When they get to the hideout, it’s a bunglaow rather than a houseboat.
  2. The original script has them as East End cockney thugs, spouting stereotypical phrases and dropping their aitches. The rewrite has them as public school toffs turned con men. Mark Crawford was originally named Lew Sleater. In the original they spend their time in the back room of a newsagency and tobacconists in Soho.
  3. There’s a scene cut from the orignal, where Sleater and Dew try to describe their assailants but are not very helpful. Steed ends the scene saying he has “a shrewd idea who was behind that snatch”.
  4. The original script has Carol call Steed’s number again and learn that they had told him she’d called several times, just before he arrives at the surgery. She lets him in, saying, “Oh, I’m so glad to see you!” and Steed smugly replies, “That’s the sort of greeting I like from a pretty girl.” She lets him in as he asks about why she’s been calling all evening and she tells him she’s worried as she doesn’t know where Dr. Keel has gone, then hands him the list.
  5. The re-write oddly changes “Fonum” to “Fonus” here and Steed mentions Herodotus (a Greek rather than Latin writer), and no longer says “Floreat Etona!” - perhaps Lucarotti thought that wishing glory upon Eton College would not go down well with middle class viewers.
  6. Steed and Carol had already left the surgery when Bert’s car appears in the street in the original script, they watch him slip the letter under the door and Steed hides in the back seat of Mills car before he returns to it (rather than following in his own car) while Carol returns to the surgery to read the letter.
  7. In the original, Mills has not returned yet and doesn’t get there until the start of Act 2. Lola is carrying a pistol and refuses to leave in case Mace says something. In the re-write she is more worried about Mace and Keel is correspondingly more sympathetic.
  8. This makes no sense in the re-write as we saw Mills had already returned before Mace died. Has he popped out to the pub for a while?
  9. In the original, Lola just says “He can’t be...” and later says they didn’t kill Mace.
  10. The nadir of this episode, the old fake army cliché. In the original, Steed breaks in through a window as Keel puts Mills in a judo hold. Steed then uses his umbrella handle to knock over a vase to get Brady to come looking and trips him up with his umbrella. Lola comes in and he names her as Mrs. Mace before she and Brady escape through the front door, Brady taking a pot shot with his revolver as he leaves.
  11. In the original it’s Lowenstein and Brune, so Bruton is not a duplicitous partner of the jewellers, but still a member of the firm, in that version of the story.
  12. In the original, Steed thinks Mace was shot by accident by one of his men who shot at Brady’s car - and Bruton’s words a bit of later reinforce that. In the re-write he says, “Oh, the escape car I arranged was ambushed, Mace dragged out of it, shot up and pushed into another one before my men knew what was happening” - and Bruton later threatens Brady over having shot Mace.
  13. The original script has Steed and Keel searching the bungalow as Steed didn’t recognise Brady or Mills. Keel offers to contact the police as they part. The lines about going to the country, “I do all my best work at night” and the dialogue about Keel’s Latin being atrocious and Carol being brainy as well as pretty are in the original script, but the order they’re said is different.
  14. There’s a lengthy scene cut here where Dr. Keel rings the surgery and tells Carol he’s okay and what’s going on, then tells her to go to bed. In the revised script, he rings the surgery and Carol answers the phone with “SLOane 0181”. Dr. Keel replies, “Oh, good heavens, you’re still there. I am terribly sorry. I got rather tied up.” Presumably with a wry smile while tugging at his tie.
  15. This scene is more or less the same in the original except Bartholomew has given the letter back to the postman and when Steed leaves he angrily shouts after him that he’s “not rentin’ to ’im”, and refers to himself as “Old John”. The stage directions oddly refer to him as BYLES instead of BARTHOLOMEW even though the dialogue is marked correctly.
  16. The original script has Brady pull a gun on Carol immediately and marches her out the front door to his car. Steed conducts his call to One-Ten from the newsagency. When Steed hangs up, Sleater has returned with Lola’s address and says she’s with Al Brady so Steed orders Sleater to bring her in without shooting anyone (this scene is moved to after the scene with Bruton). He then visits the surgery where Keel has returned to find Carol missing. There’s a very long and wordy scene where they discuss what Mace said, where Carol could be, and the sticking plaster on Steed’s forehead from Mills’ attempt on his life.
  17. This really makes no sense, the original script had Brady say “Never mind about that. You find Bartholomew.” - the rest of the scene is more or less the same. After this scene in the original, Steed traces Brady’s call to a public call box on Hart Street and Keel says Brady will ring again as he didn’t believe what Keel said.
  18. In the original script, Mills doesn’t think of interrogating Carol and they instead discuss double-crossing Bruton and then getting rid of Carol, Dr. Keel and Steed as they can identify them.
  19. Lola is a bit more circumspect in the original, saying “Mills and - er - the other person” - and Bruton doesn’t pretend he already knew about the garage.
  20. There’s a scene here in the original script where Sleater and Dew capture Lola which is completely missing in the re-write.
  21. In the original script, Bruton says “It’s all right. I’m here to help.” as he unties her. This line is cut in the re-write.
  22. Steed and Sleater conduct this interrogation in the original but most of the dialogue is more or less the same. Lola explicitly gives the garage address and Steed immediately breaks his word, ordering her to accompany him as he picks up Dr. Keel on the way.
  23. In the original script, Mills and Brady are at the public telephone in the street, trying to contact Keel when they see the others arrive and follow them into the garage. Most of the dialogue in the garage scene is along the same lines although Steed does a fair bit of exposition in the original. Happily, the re-write cuts Steed’s rather forced dialogue: “But this is interesting old boy. Mace double crossed Bruton. And Mrs. Mace double crossed her husband. Then you double crossed Bruton. And Bruton double crossed you. It’s almost as complicated as politics.”
    The rewrite about Bruton double-crossing them by drawing Mills away also makes very little sense. If Bruton didn’t know about the garage, how did he contact Mills to draw him away? Did he ring the public call box?
  24. In the original script, Bruton simply questions the references to Steed and when pressed says “I know the man”. Carol realises he’s one of the crooks when he mentions Brady, hurls her tea at him and runs for the door, locking it behind her. (The door locking may have happened in the final version but, as it’s a camera script, the only direction in the script is to tighten in on Bruton).
  25. Brady is even colder in the original, giving Lola false hope if he tells her about John Bartholomew then ordering Mills to gag her even though she told him everything.
  26. In the original Brady says “One hundred percent, Bruton. That’s my share. You’re out of the running” before striking him a vicious blow with his gun. In both versions, he closes the door on the camera so the action is not shown.
  27. In the original, Steed and Keel free each other but then Keel falls limp and Steed must turn off the car ignition and then open the doors. In the re-write it’s not entirely clear but it seems that Keel takes care of the car while Steed does the doors (there are no directions in the script for Steed).
  28. In the original, the taxi driver asks for his fare as he enters the surgery. Otherwise the scene is more or less the same except he fare is only 4/6. There’s no direction for her bursting into tears but as the rest of the scene is so close to the original it seems likely.
  29. In the original script, Steed realises the plot refers to a cemetery plot at the end of the garage scene. The scene at Bartholomew’s cottage is similar, except he tells them the diamonds are behind a large, heavy cupboard just so he can see them struggle with it to no end as he’s been meaning to clean behind for years. The scene also ends with Mills dissuading Brady from killing the old man, and doing a lot of obvious exposition about the diamonds being in the cemetery plot.
  30. The original script had Brady pull a gun on Mills as he opened the tin so he could kill everyone involved and keep all the diamonds.
  31. The bit about keeping dry is not in the original, which has Steed use his umbrella to trick Brady into surrendering as he prods it into Brady’s back and says, “Drop it, Brady”. Keel collects the gun and Steed reiterates his line about doing his best work at night then adds “Particularly with this.” and waves the umbrella at Keel.
  32. The last scene from the original script is cut completely - Dr. Keel and Carol are in the surgery. She relates to him the incident with the taxi driver and he tells her to take the day off. They smile at each other and then he asks who’s first on the list for the morning and is dismayed to hear it’s McLeary again. Carol tells him the man has broken his arm and Keel says he’ll have to give him that certificate at last, and they both laugh.

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