The New Avengers, Series 2 — Episode 8
K is for Kill - Part 1: The Tiger Awakes

Production details

Produced:June, 1977

Regional broadcasts

Broadcaster	Date	Time
Thames Television	27/10/1977	8:00pm
ATV Midlands	28/10/1977	8:00pm
Granada Television	27/10/1977	8:00pm
Anglia Television	27/10/1977	8:00pm
Border Television	28/10/1977	8:00pm
Channel Television	27/10/1977	8:00pm
Grampian Television	28/10/1977	8:00pm
Southern Television	27/10/1977	8:00pm
Scottish Television	27/10/1977	8:00pm
Tyne Tees Television	28/10/1977	8:00pm
Ulster Television	27/10/1977	8:00pm
Westward Television	27/10/1977	8:00pm
Harlech Television	28/10/1977	8:00pm
Yorkshire Television	28/10/1977	8:00pm

TV Times listing

I do not have a TV Times / TV Weekly or other contemporary British listing for this episode, if you have one, please get in touch.

International broadcasts

ABN2 Sydney, Australia	13/03/1978	8:30pm
ABV2 Melbourne, Australia	13/03/1978	8:30pm
ABC New York, USA	23/03/1979	11:30pm
TF1 France	4/08/1979	8:40pm
Suisse Romande, Switzerland
French title	Le long sommeil (1re partie : Le réveil de l’ours)
ZDF Germany
German title	Der Drache erwacht
KRO Netherlands	14/11/1977	8:25pm
Dutch title	De M van Moord
Italy	27/04/80?	?
Italian title	K come killers
Spain
Spanish title

K is for Kill parts 1 and 2 were shown in one night by CBS stations as a long-form special finale for the American market. It appears from the New York Times, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times that the two episodes were shown back to back as those newspapers have two entries for the night (11.30pm and 12.45am in New York, 11.30pm and 12.30am in LA, and Baltimore listed part 2 as starting at 12:40am), these areas all finished at 2am, whereas the Chicago Tribune simply listed The New Avengers at 10.30pm and a rock concert starting at 1am. Technically, the USA debut for part 2 is on March 23 1979 as Chicago ran an hour earlier and would have started the second part between 11:40 and 11:45pm, so as to be synchronised with East Coast broadcasts.

Dutch newspapers simply advertised each part of K is for Kill by the same title, “De M van Moord”.

Spain chose not to broadcast this episode.

Continuity and trivia

The jeep the hippies are driving, and is presumably destroyed by grenade blasts, is later driven by les Paras, by Colonel Martin, and by Steed!

Tony Then (the Tibetan monk) may well be the only Avengers guest cast member to have appeared in The Rocky Horror Picture Show - he was one of the transylvanians; come to that, why did Charles Grey never star in an Avengers episode? He appeared in nearly everything else!

Krishna Clough, who plays the solo Russian who attacked the garage, is now an eminent breast surgeon, based at the Institut Marie Curie in Paris.

The on-screen caption for the attack on the French village is August 14 1977 but the copy of The Guardian which reports the event is dated May 3.

The Transport

Marque	Colour	Number Plate
Bentley 3 1/2 litre	British racing green	YT 3942
Jeep	olive drab	785 CA14
Rover 3500 SD1	taupe	4253 RU 95
French Army truck	olive drab	-
French Army truck	olive drab	4938.14
French Gendarmerie 500cc motorcycle	navy	-
French Gendarmerie 500cc motorcycle	navy	-
French Gendarmerie 500cc motorcycle	navy	-

Who’s Killing Whom?

Victim	Killer	Method
Salvation Army Major (and his 9-member band)	Russian soldier (1965)	submachine gun
Hippy	Russian soldier (1977)	submachine gun & grenades
Hippy	Russian soldier (1977)	submachine gun & grenades
Hippy	Russian soldier (1977)	submachine gun & grenades
Russian soldier (1977)	Gambit	knocked out of tree by karate kick
Vassili	Gambit	pistol
(several russians)	(French paratroops)	(small arms fire)
Russian	Gambit	pistol
Russian	Gambit	pistol

The Fashions

Gambit’s fashions

1. beige jacket with epaulettes, white shirt
2. mustard leather jacket epaul, pleated patch pockets, white shirt, brown trousers

Purdey’s fashions

1. red dress
2. brown cord vest & flared trousers, checked brown & white blouse

Steed’s fashions

1. grey suit, grey bowler
2. brown jacket, beige trousers, br tie with white spot, white shirt
3. grey 3-piece suit, white shirt, blue tie with white spot