• title card: white all caps text with black dropshadow reading ‘FORWARD BASE BY DENNIS SPOONER’ superimposed on Czibor leaping out on an unsuspecting Bailey
  • Puredey and Gambit sit in one of the swan boats on Lake Ontario as they examine some documents
  • Purdey smiles broadly as she holds up the circuit board hooked to the end of her fishing line
  • Hosking finds his bicycle suddenly foot deep in the lake
  • Milroy and Steed stand behind a map painted onto a sheet of glass, much as happened in Dead on Course
  • The Russian spies surrender on the lake shore, Purdey covering them with her pistol

The New Avengers, Series 2 — Episode 12
Forward Base

by Dennis Spooner
Directed by Don Thompson

Production details

Produced:August, 1977

Regional broadcasts

BroadcasterDateTime
Thames Television24/11/19778:00pm
ATV Midlands25/11/19778:00pm
Granada Television24/11/19778:00pm
Anglia Television24/11/19778:00pm
Border Television25/11/19778:00pm
Channel Television24/11/19778:00pm
Grampian Television25/11/19778:00pm
Southern Television24/11/19778:00pm
Scottish Television24/11/19778:00pm
Tyne Tees Television25/11/19778:00pm
Ulster Television24/11/19778:00pm
Westward Television24/11/19778:00pm
Harlech Television25/11/19778:00pm
Yorkshire Television18/11/19778:00pm

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.

The Irish Times listing for November 21 1977, 8pm
Sydney Morning Herald listing for April 17 1978, 8.30pm
The Age listing for April 17 1978, 8.30pm

International broadcasts

ABN2 Sydney, Australia17/04/19788:30pm
ABV2 Melbourne, Australia17/04/19788:30pm
ABC New York, USA3/11/197811:30pm
TF1 France1/09/19798:40pm
Suisse Romande, Switzerland
French titleBastion pirate
ZDF Germany
German titleAbenteuer in Kanada
KRO Netherlands12/12/19778:25pm
Dutch titleDe geheime basis
ItalyNOT 13/04/80?
Italian titleIn prima linea
Spain5/07/817:40pm
Spanish titleBase avanzada
USA: Chicago Tribune listing for November 3 1978, 10.30pm
France: L’Impartial listing for September 1 1979, 8.40pm
Spain: ABC Madrid listing for July 4 1981, 7.40pm

Continuity and trivia

When Halfhide escapes from the hotel and is chased by the Corolla, we see Gambit driving the Corolla instead of Purdey - in the other shots, Purdey is in the car and Gambit on foot, chasing Takar [32:20].

This episode has a video Q&A and commentary with David Calderisi and Philip Hawkins on the Lives in the Pictures YouTube channel.

The Transport

Marque Colour Number Plate
Cessna seaplane lime green and white C-GPYO
Steed’s Toyota Landcruiser green with wihte roof MKZ 300
Swan boat white 13
Swan boat white -
Inflatable dinghy orange -
bicycle dark red -
Purdey’s Toyota Corolla liftback yellow LRM 022
Plymouth police car black and white ?
Honda police motorbike silver ?
Cadillac silver ?
Ambulance blue with white roof ?
Destroyer sea grey ?

Who’s Killing Whom?

Victim Killer Method
Bailey (unknown) pistol
Halfhide Malachev pistol
Click a name to see the face

The Fashions

Gambit’s fashions
  1. brown cardigan & trousers, white checked shirt
Purdey’s fashions
  1. multicolour tracksuit
  2. blue wetuit
Steed’s fashions
  1. pale grey 3-piece single-breasted suit, pale blue shirt, purple tie with white spot, grey bowler and umbrella
  2. slate grey 3-piece single-breasted suit with pale blue shirt, navy tie with white spot

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