Series 1 — Episode 3
Square Root Of Evil
by Richard Harris
Production No 3367, VTR/ABC/1089
Production completed: January 21 1961. First transmission: January 21 1961.
Production details
Studio details: Teddington Two
Production No. 3367
Tape No. VTR/ABC/1089 (Rec. off T/X)
Transmission: 21st January 1961, 10.00–11.00 p.m.
Schedule
| Friday, 20th January 1961 | |
|---|---|
| Camera Rehearsal | 10.00 — 12.30 |
| Lunch Break | 12.30 — 13.30 |
| Camera Rehearsal | 13.30 — 18.00 |
| Supper Break | 18.00 — 19.00 |
| Camera Rehearsal | 19.00 — 21.00 |
| Saturday, 21st January 1961 | |
| Camera Rehearsal | 14.30 — 18.15 |
| Supper Break | 18.15 — 19.15 |
| Normal scan, line-up and Make-up | 19.15 — 20.00 |
| Dress rehearsal | 20.00 — 21.30 |
| Line-up | 21.30 — 22.00 |
| TRANSMISSION | 22.00 — 23.00 |
Equipment
Cameras: 4 Pedestals
Sound: 3 booms, slung mics
Telecine: ABC symbol, 35mm & 16mm mute inserts, Slides
Total running time: 57.10 = Play portion: 52.30 + 2 commercial breaks: 2.05 and 2.35
Regional broadcasts
| ITV Broadcaster | Date | Time |
|---|---|---|
| ABC Midlands | 21/01/1961 | 10.00pm |
| ABC North | 21/01/1961 | 10.00pm |
| Anglia Television | - | - |
| ATV | - | - |
| Southern Television | - | - |
| Tyne Tees Television | - | - |
| Television Wales & West | - | - |
| Ulster Television | - | - |
| Westward Television | - | - |
| Scottish Television | - | - |
| Border Television | - | - |
| Grampian Television | - | - |
TV Times listing
10.0 THE AVENGERS
starring
IAN HENDRY
in
SQUARE ROOT OF EVIL
Teleplay by Richard Harris
Also starring
PATRICK MACNEE
Cast in order of appearance:
| John Steed | Patrick Macnee |
| “5” | Heron Carvic |
| Secretary | Cynthia Bizeray |
| Bloom | Michael Robbins |
| Hooper | George Murcell |
| Warren | Vic Wise |
| The Cardinal | Alex Scott |
| Lisa | Delphi Lawrence |
| Carol Wilson | Ingrid Hafner |
| Dr. David Keel | Ian Hendry |
“The Avengers” theme composed and
played by Johnny Dankworth
Designed by Patrick Downing
Produced by LEONARD WHITE
Directed by DON LEAVER
The corpse and the “Cardinal” turn Steed
into someone whom the lovely Lisa may
prefer dead
(Carol White appears by permission of
Independent Artists)
Errata
The cast list above has Michael Robbins playing Bloom but he was unavailable when recording took place and John Woodvine played the part. The TV Times listing also mentions permission for Carol White to appear, which should have been for the previous episode, see the notes below.
Episode availability
- Video - none
- Audio - reconstruction in The Lost Episodes vol. 1, by Big Finish
- Script - clean archive copy of the original camera script, from a private collection
- Publicity Stills - none
- Tele-Snaps - none
Continuity and trivia
- This is the third episode in a row that features a shadowy, unknown boss behind the gang at the centre of the action. This boss presumably gets away again at the end of the episode but it’s unclear as the episode ends with Steed musing that they might be able to capture him.
This seems to be a vestige of a possible early writers’ directive to have a Moriarty figure in each episode and it may have been dropped after this episode. - The camera script notes that the episode is to be recorded off transmission.
- A memo dated March 30 1962 proposed a replay season for the nine episodes not broadcast by ATV and Anglia and also the first two episodes, which had been seen on ATV but not Anglia. This proves that all live episodes had been recorded any may yet be out there somewhere.
This episode was proposed to be run fourth, slipping down the order behind other episodes but still well regarded even though it was in the second category of viewer ratings. - The TV Times accidentally printed the notice “(Carol White appears by permission of Independent Artists)” against this episode’s listing; it should have been printed a week earlier for Brought To Book.
- This is one of three episodes in series 1 which had a pre-titles teaser in the script - Square Root of Evil, The Springers and Double Danger - but none of them are recorded in Tele-Snaps or production stills so there’s no proof that they were broadcast in that manner.