1.24 - The Deadly Air

Frankymole · Post by **Frankymole** » Sat Dec 18, 2021 1:23 pm

Yes, we'd have got the three "Dr King" scripts, and the remaining ten episodes would've had to be shared with Venus Smith anyway so we might only have got 4 more stories with Dr Keel; Ian Hendry would certainly have left at the end of the 39 episode season, he wanted his movies and Macnee was already clearly the more popular character (and a lot easier to write for). So there wasn't really anywhere else to take him. It's good in a way, as the series moved on and we got the brilliant Cathy Gale - without her it probably wouldn't have survived into season 3 and beyond. Much as I love Patrick Macnee, just him and Venus Smith or a "helper of the week" couldn't carry it on their own.

mousemeat · Post by **mousemeat** » Sat Dec 18, 2021 4:07 pm

Frankymole wrote:Yes, we'd have got the three "Dr King" scripts, and the remaining ten episodes would've had to be shared with Venus Smith anyway so we might only have got 4 more stories with Dr Keel; Ian Hendry would certainly have left at the end of the 39 episode season, he wanted his movies and Macnee was already clearly the more popular character (and a lot easier to write for). So there wasn't really anywhere else to take him. It's good in a way, as the series moved on and we got the brilliant Cathy Gale - without her it probably wouldn't have survived into season 3 and beyond. Much as I love Patrick Macnee, just him and Venus Smith or a "helper of the week" couldn't carry it on their own.

yeah, pretty much..however,the writers might have slowly enlarged Venus's role in the series, giving her a needed evolution..but they did not..and as you stated, it did paved the way for Mrs.Gale..and even then, a took several episodes for Gale to find her imprint...

Frankymole · Post by **Frankymole** » Sat Dec 18, 2021 7:08 pm

She got a revolution rather than evolution when John Bryce took over and they changed her from a torch song singer into a groovy mod teenager with a Sassoon crop haircut and mod clothes, as well as suddenly being from the then-fashionable North of England... I don't think it worked really. If they could've made her more of an equal for Steed, she'd have to be maturer with a past of self-fulfilment; Cathy had that, but it would've been such a change for Venus I think it'd have broken the audience's belief in her character. The series was changing and she wasn't adaptable enough.

mousemeat · Post by **mousemeat** » Sat Dec 18, 2021 11:09 pm

Frankymole wrote:She got a revolution rather than evolution when John Bryce took over and they changed her from a torch song singer into a groovy mod teenager with a Sassoon crop haircut and mod clothes, as well as suddenly being from the then-fashionable North of England... I don't think it worked really. If they could've made her more of an equal for Steed, she'd have to be maturer with a past of self-fulfilment; Cathy had that, but it would've been such a change for Venus I think it'd have broken the audience's belief in her character. The series was changing and she wasn't adaptable enough.

yeah, after thinking about this, and going back to her episodes, I would concur with your assessment on Venus..she was 180 degrees from Gale