5.20 - The £50,000 Breakfast

[MaxRebo120]

I can appreciate them wanting a more grounded story, but I was pretty bored (and more than a little confused in places) by this one. Still, the contrast between the two main villains' motives is interesting; one is a woman who spent years in a male-dominated world trying to prove herself equally-capable. The other is some old fart who wants to be "nasty to women". The scene with Anneke Wills was easily the highlight; wish her and Rigg had more scenes together. The less said about Steed's "jungle music" line...the better...

I haven't seen Death of a Great Dane in 9+ years, so I can't really compare. Why was that one selected to be remade, when there were a lot of other Gale-era stories (namely The Grandeur That Was Rome) I feel would have suited this season better?

6/10

[Frankymole]

I think because Roger Marshall owed one more script as part of the deal to serve out his contract and leave the series. As he wrote on The Avengers Forever site: "I wrote six episodes for the first Diana Rigg series—Clemens and I wrote 50% of the series between us—only two of which... three at the most... I can view with pride and pleasure. Working on the show had started to become a chore. No longer was a writer able to write what he wanted and in the way he wanted. Wit and style were being squeezed out. It was time to say goodbye. I offered to break my contract. That wasn't deemed convenient, so I rewrote 'Death of a Great Dane' as 'The £50,000 Breakfast.' It is an acceptable episode but, Cecil Parker apart, nowhere near as stylish as the original."

[dissolute]

Plus The Grandeur That Was Rome is dogs' bollocks. No-one should ever remake that.

[Frankymole]

Plus The Grandeur That Was Rome is dogs' bollocks. No-one should ever remake that.

It's bad enough having to rewatch it!

[mousemeat]

I think because Roger Marshall owed one more script as part of the deal to serve out his contract and leave the series. As he wrote on The Avengers Forever site: "I wrote six episodes for the first Diana Rigg series—Clemens and I wrote 50% of the series between us—only two of which... three at the most... I can view with pride and pleasure. Working on the show had started to become a chore. No longer was a writer able to write what he wanted and in the way he wanted. Wit and style were being squeezed out. It was time to say goodbye. I offered to break my contract. That wasn't deemed convenient, so I rewrote 'Death of a Great Dane' as 'The £50,000 Breakfast.' It is an acceptable episode but, Cecil Parker apart, nowhere near as stylish as the original."

i'VE READ several other accounts of Roger's dissatisfaction with the way the series was evolving...and was the engine that drove this, Clemens ? or would ABC be the culprit ?

[Allard]

I missed out on 50,000 in my first round of viewing the Peel colours, so I can't help but see this one with different eyes. Which is serendipitous as this one does stand out from it's season. Really a kind of filler of an episode, had they made 24 this one wouldn't exist. I never dread watching it, but never really works as well as the rest of the Peel colours. I do love it for featuring Yolande Turner, I always wonder whether she's been a good partner for Steed. Something very different from Blackman as Gale and Rigg as Peel.

[frank]

I always liked this episode. Is it a classic? No. However how they get involved in the case makes way more sense than a lot of the episodes and the plot is logical.

I actually like it better than Death of a Great Dane and that's because of changing Goth to Miss Pegram. For me she's a much more interesting villain and her motivations make more sense. She's the anti-Mrs Peel. Yolande Turner played her perfectly

The one scene that is superior in Dane is the wine tasting scene. But we know he lifted that scene and placed in Dial A Deadly Number. That episode to me is rather dry except for the wine scene and it makes no sense Steed would be investigating those deaths.