LOST EPISODE - episode summary from The Avengers Dissolute website:
Whilst trying to help Elaine Bateman, one of his patients, Dr Keel is framed for her murder instead. Steed intervenes and real suspicion falls on Elaine's pianist from her Dancing School - Anthony - who is suspected of many murders. He electrocutes his victims in the bath. Yet the Avengers could be too late, since Anthony has eloped with Valerie and her family diamonds. With the taps already on, Steed and Keel rescue Valerie from certain death and restore the stones to her mother.
1.12 - Dance with Death
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Brand new plot summary and cast photos for the Sixtieth Anniversary!
DANCE WITH DEATH
BY PETER LING AND SHEILAH WARD
Production completed: 13 April 1961. First transmission: 15 April 1961
This episode summary is written from the original scripts as this episode is now lost. There may have been changes made during filming.
ACT 1
Through the mist of a steamy bathroom, we see a girl relaxing in a bathtub. The door opens quietly and we see someone's hand, carrying a portable electric heater. The figure tosses the fire into the bath tub and the girl is electrocuted...
Some months later1, Dr Keel is going out to the cinema to see "The Rebel". Carol remarks it's a good film and he quips that she can tell him how it ends then - every time he goes out he's interrupted. Sure enough, Elaine Bateman (Caroline Blakiston) is working in her office at a dance hall and we see a hand move across and turn on her gas fire without lighting it and the gas hisses into the room...
Dr Keel is summoned to the dance hall where he's met by Trevor Price (David Sutton), who found Elaine and called Emergency.
Elaine comes to and the doctor explains that the gas tap was on and she was only saved because Mr Price came to take her home and had to force his way in to the office. The police arrive to investigate and the Sergeant (Neil Wilson) tells Dr Keel that she had previously reported that someone was trying to kill her but no evidence was found, they had dismissed her as a crank. The sergeant looks set to do so again until he realises there's no key for the door that had been locked.
Elaine visits Dr Keel the next day for a check-up and tells him that two weeks ago someone tried to push her under a bus - but she doesn't know who, or why. Keel wonders if she washed the tea cup she had used the previous night, as it wasn't in the office. He thinks she was drugged before the gas was turned on.
Dr Keel visits the school where the staff are all in disarray as they think Elaine is dead. Beth (Angela Douglas) greets him and introduces him to Major Carswell (Ewan Roberts), who assures Dr Keel the school can continue despite Elaine's sad loss and, when Dr Keel disabuses him about her demise he goes to tell Mrs Marne (Diana King), who is on the phone to her solicitor, trying to draw up new partnership agreements in her favour. When she learns that Elaine is alive, Mrs Marne is decidedly cool in her response...
Dr Keel learns from Mrs Marne's voluptuous daughter, Valerie (Pauline Shepherd), that everyone had been told that Elaine was dead by the school pianist, Philip Anthony (Geoffrey Palmer) but when Keel questions him, he claims a reporter rang up and when told she'd been found in a locked room with the gas on he had assumed she'd committed suicide.
Elaine has a lesson with a teenage student (Ian Hobbs) but Trevor returns and reveals a violently suspicious nature, accusing Elaine of sexual improprieties with the poor boy until Keel intervenes and herds him away. After all the fuss, Dr Keel returns to his surgery and realises he lost his scarf during the scuffle at the school. Meanwhile, after dismissing Beth and Valerie from formation rehearsals for the night, Elaine remian behind to close up and a shadowy figure uses Keel's scarf to strangle her, this time making sure she is dead.
ACT 2
The next day, Steed arrives at Keel's surgery to commiserate about Keel being on the suspect list for Elaine's murder but seems more interested in the surgery's redecoration than the case2. Nonetheless, a bit later he arrives at the dance hall, posing as Mr Rogers, for some dancing lessons. Steed feigns having forgotten his spectacles and asks to be shown around the studio as he can't read the brochure. He is introduced to some of the staff and is especially approving when he sees the shapely Valerie.
Valerie breaks from the tour to tell her mother that a reporter telephoned and is astonished to learn that, despite Elaine's death and Major Carswell wanting to keep things out of the papers, Mrs Marne has agreed to do an interview for a Sunday paper,"Elaine Bateman as I knew her", with pictures, for the publicity. Sensing an opportunity for her own self-promotion, Valerie begs her mother to let her borrow a diamond necklace for the photo shoot for the article and then rushes to excitedly tell Philip she's going to wear them...
Later, at Dr Keel's surgery, Steed is perusing the studio curriculum and realises one of the faces in it is familiar - a face from the department's "CN database" - the Change-of-Name file for people who have been acquitted despite being considered guilty and then disappear, turning up later under a different name.
Valerie meanwhile has a fight with her mother about being allowed to get a place of her own and goes to console herself with Philip. A while later, the reporters show up for the interview and photographs but Beth reports that Valerie and Major Carswell are nowhere to be found...
Steed and Dr Keel meanwhile had decided to lay a trap for their suspect at a bar where the barman (Alan Barry) knew the suspect, who's real name was Clifford Gardiner. A plain clothes detective (Raymond Hodge) arrives to set up the trap and the barman heads for the back, knowing that Gardiner would scarper as soon as he saw him. Keel is shocked when Major Carswell enters the bar - only to tell them that their suspect has done a bunk!
ACT 3
Steed returns to the dance hall, still posing as a clumsy student although Beth sees through his subterfuge. He learns from her that Philip has eloped with Valerie, the couple taking her mother's diamond necklace worth several thousand pounds with them. When he hears they took a radio cab that was booked for four o'clock, he thinks they'll be easier to find and takes the studio phone to make a call to the police, informing them that Philip is "planning another attempt". Beth is worried for her friend and Steed asks her to accompany him as Valerie will "need a shoulder to cry on".
Philip and Valerie arrive at a hotel and check in as Mr and Mrs Phillips. Philip asks about nearby restaurants from the desk clerk (Graeme Spurway) but as Valerie has a headache they just go to their room, leaving the clerk and porter (Norman Chappell) in a flap in their wake, the clerk thinking they've gone out without leaving their key at the desk. Upstairs, Philip asks Valerie if she has the necklace and when he learns it's in her bag, he insinuates that she'd feel better if she had a bath...
Steed meanwhile has rung Dr Keel at the surgery, asking him to come and take care of Mrs Marne who is hysterical at her daughter running away. When Dr Keel arrives, he calms Mrs Marne then speaks to Major Carswell, who tells him Elaine's jealous boyfriend Trevor turned up at the dance hall earlier and is still in the building. Keel goes in search of Trevor, finding him holding a roll of film in the storeroom. Trevor tearfully tells Keel that Philip had been blackmailing him over the film of him and Elaine - he indicates a pile of other films and says, "Elaine got around didn't she? He must have made a lot of money out of her." The doctor offers to burn the incriminating film but Trevor wants to keep it - he'd paid for it and it's the last picture of her he'll ever see. As they leave the storeroom, Carswell appears and tells Dr Keel that "Mr Rogers" rang, asking him to come to an hotel, and hands him the address.
At the hotel, Steed learns that "Mr and Mrs Philips" are in room 14 but the clerk thinks they went out for a meal so they sit down to wait in the lounge. The porter offers to bring in Steed's bags but when Steed replies he doesn't have any as they don't intend on a long stay the porter raises his eyebrows and departs3. Back in room 14, Philip asks again about the necklace, angering Valerie, and he tells her she can't play games with five thousand quid. She tells him it's locked in her jewel case so Philip asks for the key, he wants to take it to the hotel safe.
Steed learns from Beth that Philip got his job at the Academy through Elaine who had known him when she was a dancer at a night club. Dr Keel arrives and Steed imparts what he just learnt from Beth and informs the doctor Philip and Valerie are booked into room 14 but are currently out. Just then, the porter takes a room service call from Philip and Steed realises they've been there all along. Steed hands Dr Keel a phone number to call and grabs Beth, going up to another hotel room.
Beth is grumpy that he booked them in as "Mr and Mrs Smith" and watches interestedly as Steed bores a hole in the bathroon door so he can watch what Philip is up to. She asks him why he doesn't just walk in and arrest Philip, so Steed explains he's not exactly a policeman and they would need evidence to arrest Philip anyway. He asks her to keep watch in the corridor outside but the porter enters from the other side after she goes and catches Steed boring the hole in the door. He tells him he'll have to come and see the manager and is stunned when Steed says, "I can't help that. There's a girl in that bathroom."3 He's about to haul Steed off when Philip enters and asks if Valerie is warm enough, then suggests bringing in an electric fire so she won't be cold when she gets out...
Philip reenters, carrying the fire and Valerie screams his name when she realises his intentions. Steed bursts in from the door, shouting "Gardiner!" and he launches himself at Philip. They wrestle with the fire until Dr Keel enters from the other door and together he and Steed subdue the murderer.
A short time later Beth enters the bedroom to console Valerie and tells her not to cry any more, Philip has been taken away and she promises not to say anything to anyone about what happened. Dr Keel goes to administer a sedative to Valerie while Steed takes Beth's arm, saying, "Come on Mrs. Smith".
DANCE WITH DEATH
BY PETER LING AND SHEILAH WARD
Production completed: 13 April 1961. First transmission: 15 April 1961
This episode summary is written from the original scripts as this episode is now lost. There may have been changes made during filming.
ACT 1
Through the mist of a steamy bathroom, we see a girl relaxing in a bathtub. The door opens quietly and we see someone's hand, carrying a portable electric heater. The figure tosses the fire into the bath tub and the girl is electrocuted...
Some months later1, Dr Keel is going out to the cinema to see "The Rebel". Carol remarks it's a good film and he quips that she can tell him how it ends then - every time he goes out he's interrupted. Sure enough, Elaine Bateman (Caroline Blakiston) is working in her office at a dance hall and we see a hand move across and turn on her gas fire without lighting it and the gas hisses into the room...
Dr Keel is summoned to the dance hall where he's met by Trevor Price (David Sutton), who found Elaine and called Emergency.
Elaine comes to and the doctor explains that the gas tap was on and she was only saved because Mr Price came to take her home and had to force his way in to the office. The police arrive to investigate and the Sergeant (Neil Wilson) tells Dr Keel that she had previously reported that someone was trying to kill her but no evidence was found, they had dismissed her as a crank. The sergeant looks set to do so again until he realises there's no key for the door that had been locked.
Elaine visits Dr Keel the next day for a check-up and tells him that two weeks ago someone tried to push her under a bus - but she doesn't know who, or why. Keel wonders if she washed the tea cup she had used the previous night, as it wasn't in the office. He thinks she was drugged before the gas was turned on.
Dr Keel visits the school where the staff are all in disarray as they think Elaine is dead. Beth (Angela Douglas) greets him and introduces him to Major Carswell (Ewan Roberts), who assures Dr Keel the school can continue despite Elaine's sad loss and, when Dr Keel disabuses him about her demise he goes to tell Mrs Marne (Diana King), who is on the phone to her solicitor, trying to draw up new partnership agreements in her favour. When she learns that Elaine is alive, Mrs Marne is decidedly cool in her response...
Dr Keel learns from Mrs Marne's voluptuous daughter, Valerie (Pauline Shepherd), that everyone had been told that Elaine was dead by the school pianist, Philip Anthony (Geoffrey Palmer) but when Keel questions him, he claims a reporter rang up and when told she'd been found in a locked room with the gas on he had assumed she'd committed suicide.
Elaine has a lesson with a teenage student (Ian Hobbs) but Trevor returns and reveals a violently suspicious nature, accusing Elaine of sexual improprieties with the poor boy until Keel intervenes and herds him away. After all the fuss, Dr Keel returns to his surgery and realises he lost his scarf during the scuffle at the school. Meanwhile, after dismissing Beth and Valerie from formation rehearsals for the night, Elaine remian behind to close up and a shadowy figure uses Keel's scarf to strangle her, this time making sure she is dead.
ACT 2
The next day, Steed arrives at Keel's surgery to commiserate about Keel being on the suspect list for Elaine's murder but seems more interested in the surgery's redecoration than the case2. Nonetheless, a bit later he arrives at the dance hall, posing as Mr Rogers, for some dancing lessons. Steed feigns having forgotten his spectacles and asks to be shown around the studio as he can't read the brochure. He is introduced to some of the staff and is especially approving when he sees the shapely Valerie.
Valerie breaks from the tour to tell her mother that a reporter telephoned and is astonished to learn that, despite Elaine's death and Major Carswell wanting to keep things out of the papers, Mrs Marne has agreed to do an interview for a Sunday paper,"Elaine Bateman as I knew her", with pictures, for the publicity. Sensing an opportunity for her own self-promotion, Valerie begs her mother to let her borrow a diamond necklace for the photo shoot for the article and then rushes to excitedly tell Philip she's going to wear them...
Later, at Dr Keel's surgery, Steed is perusing the studio curriculum and realises one of the faces in it is familiar - a face from the department's "CN database" - the Change-of-Name file for people who have been acquitted despite being considered guilty and then disappear, turning up later under a different name.
Valerie meanwhile has a fight with her mother about being allowed to get a place of her own and goes to console herself with Philip. A while later, the reporters show up for the interview and photographs but Beth reports that Valerie and Major Carswell are nowhere to be found...
Steed and Dr Keel meanwhile had decided to lay a trap for their suspect at a bar where the barman (Alan Barry) knew the suspect, who's real name was Clifford Gardiner. A plain clothes detective (Raymond Hodge) arrives to set up the trap and the barman heads for the back, knowing that Gardiner would scarper as soon as he saw him. Keel is shocked when Major Carswell enters the bar - only to tell them that their suspect has done a bunk!
ACT 3
Steed returns to the dance hall, still posing as a clumsy student although Beth sees through his subterfuge. He learns from her that Philip has eloped with Valerie, the couple taking her mother's diamond necklace worth several thousand pounds with them. When he hears they took a radio cab that was booked for four o'clock, he thinks they'll be easier to find and takes the studio phone to make a call to the police, informing them that Philip is "planning another attempt". Beth is worried for her friend and Steed asks her to accompany him as Valerie will "need a shoulder to cry on".
Philip and Valerie arrive at a hotel and check in as Mr and Mrs Phillips. Philip asks about nearby restaurants from the desk clerk (Graeme Spurway) but as Valerie has a headache they just go to their room, leaving the clerk and porter (Norman Chappell) in a flap in their wake, the clerk thinking they've gone out without leaving their key at the desk. Upstairs, Philip asks Valerie if she has the necklace and when he learns it's in her bag, he insinuates that she'd feel better if she had a bath...
Steed meanwhile has rung Dr Keel at the surgery, asking him to come and take care of Mrs Marne who is hysterical at her daughter running away. When Dr Keel arrives, he calms Mrs Marne then speaks to Major Carswell, who tells him Elaine's jealous boyfriend Trevor turned up at the dance hall earlier and is still in the building. Keel goes in search of Trevor, finding him holding a roll of film in the storeroom. Trevor tearfully tells Keel that Philip had been blackmailing him over the film of him and Elaine - he indicates a pile of other films and says, "Elaine got around didn't she? He must have made a lot of money out of her." The doctor offers to burn the incriminating film but Trevor wants to keep it - he'd paid for it and it's the last picture of her he'll ever see. As they leave the storeroom, Carswell appears and tells Dr Keel that "Mr Rogers" rang, asking him to come to an hotel, and hands him the address.
At the hotel, Steed learns that "Mr and Mrs Philips" are in room 14 but the clerk thinks they went out for a meal so they sit down to wait in the lounge. The porter offers to bring in Steed's bags but when Steed replies he doesn't have any as they don't intend on a long stay the porter raises his eyebrows and departs3. Back in room 14, Philip asks again about the necklace, angering Valerie, and he tells her she can't play games with five thousand quid. She tells him it's locked in her jewel case so Philip asks for the key, he wants to take it to the hotel safe.
Steed learns from Beth that Philip got his job at the Academy through Elaine who had known him when she was a dancer at a night club. Dr Keel arrives and Steed imparts what he just learnt from Beth and informs the doctor Philip and Valerie are booked into room 14 but are currently out. Just then, the porter takes a room service call from Philip and Steed realises they've been there all along. Steed hands Dr Keel a phone number to call and grabs Beth, going up to another hotel room.
Beth is grumpy that he booked them in as "Mr and Mrs Smith" and watches interestedly as Steed bores a hole in the bathroon door so he can watch what Philip is up to. She asks him why he doesn't just walk in and arrest Philip, so Steed explains he's not exactly a policeman and they would need evidence to arrest Philip anyway. He asks her to keep watch in the corridor outside but the porter enters from the other side after she goes and catches Steed boring the hole in the door. He tells him he'll have to come and see the manager and is stunned when Steed says, "I can't help that. There's a girl in that bathroom."3 He's about to haul Steed off when Philip enters and asks if Valerie is warm enough, then suggests bringing in an electric fire so she won't be cold when she gets out...
Philip reenters, carrying the fire and Valerie screams his name when she realises his intentions. Steed bursts in from the door, shouting "Gardiner!" and he launches himself at Philip. They wrestle with the fire until Dr Keel enters from the other door and together he and Steed subdue the murderer.
A short time later Beth enters the bedroom to console Valerie and tells her not to cry any more, Philip has been taken away and she promises not to say anything to anyone about what happened. Dr Keel goes to administer a sedative to Valerie while Steed takes Beth's arm, saying, "Come on Mrs. Smith".
Mrs Peel, you're needed!
http://www.dissolute.com.au/the-avengers-tv-series/
Every episode from 1961 to 1977 plus more trivia than you can shake a brolly at.
http://www.dissolute.com.au/the-avengers-tv-series/
Every episode from 1961 to 1977 plus more trivia than you can shake a brolly at.