Series 1 — Episode 10
Hunt the Man Down

Production details

Studio details: Teddington Two
Production No. 3374
Tape No. VTR/ABC/1211 (recorded off TX.)
Transmission: 18th March 1961, 10.00–11.00 p.m.

Schedule

Camera rehearsals were apparently done on the previous weekend, 11th and 12th March, 1961, in a schedule similar to the other episodes of this time. The VTR recording took place on the evening of 12th March from 6pm to 7pm.

Regional broadcasts

ITV Broadcaster	Date	Time
ABC Midlands	18/03/1961	10.00pm
ABC North	18/03/1961	10.00pm
Anglia Television	18/03/1961	10.00pm
ATV	-	-
Southern Television	-	-
Tyne Tees Television	-	-
Television Wales & West	-	-
Ulster Television	-	-
Westward Television	-	-
Scottish Television	-	-
Border Television	-	-
Grampian Television	-	-

TV Times listing

The TV Times listing also had an insert deep-etched photo of Melissa Stribling.

Episode availability

• Video - none
• Audio - reconstruction in The Lost Episodes vol. 4, by Big Finish
• Script - none
• Publicity Stills - 38 : night shoot in Wood St EC2
• Tele-Snaps - none

Transport

Marque/type	Plate
Ford Zephyr Mark II 1956 convertible	--- -MU
van

Continuity and trivia

1. Preston can’t have hidden all of the loot because he drives a Ford Zephyr Mark II 1956 convertible which an old lag like him wouldn’t normally have been able to afford. The car would have cost £1193 in 1961 the average wage back then was £750 a year for an unskilled labourer and maybe £980 for a non-manual occupation. Preston, being a petty crook, would no doubt have been earning less than that.
2. The switch to a fortnightly schedule upon the networking of the show across most of the ATV network gave the crew (and cast!) a bit more time to breathe and relaxed the recording schedule, giving them an extra week. From this point on, the idea of “Keel and Steed” episodes was reduced, although it does happen again later in the series, presumably as the leads took holidays.
3. Leonard White sent a memo instructing that this episode and Dance with Death, two episodes later, make reference to the surgery having been redecorated as they built a new set when sales talks with ATV were finalised.
4. 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 so highly regarded that it was suggested to be the first one shown in the replay run, it was in the top category of ratings when first broadcast.
5. This episode bears a similarity to the The New Avengers episode, The Tale of the Big Why - but not so much with the original script for that, which Philip Broadley titled The Tale of the Big Cross. I wonder if his original script was rejected because it was like this one or if Brian Clemens made it more like this one when he rewrote it.
6. This episode also bears a passing resemblance to Double Danger, with a gang after an old lag who’s trying to recover his loot.
7. The actor playing Frank Preston was uncredited in the TV Times listing in 1961. It’s possible the part was cast late. It wasn’t until the discovery of additional publicity stills for this episode that his identity was uncovered. This was due to excellent work by Alan Hayes and his colleagues who matched him to Nicholas Selby’s appearance in an episode of The Saint.
8. The location photographs from 1961 show filming on Wood Street EC2, outside the St Albans church tower. All that remains of the church now is the tower, now a private residence, but it seems that very little remained even in 1961, there was one other structure where there is now a tree. You can see the very corner of the tower with the manhole as it is today. Most of Wood Street now has changed and all the other buildings in the location shots have gone.
9. All the cast were present for the church chase sequence filming (and in the pub afterwards!) as evidenced by the location photos but Melissa Stribling and Susan Castle are not in make-up or costume so it can be reasonably assumed that their characters had no part in those scenes. It’s a shame that Melissa is wearing her spectacles in every photo as she would not have worn them on set, and the promo photo for this episode in the TV Times (see above) is an odd shot of her head - just the head - floating in the white space beside the listing and not really useable for a cast photo.
10. Hot Snow was first broadcast to the ATV London, Southern, Tyne Tees, Television Wales & West, and Ulster regions on 18th March 1961, the same night as ABC Midlands, ABC North and Anglia were showing this episode. Accordingly, to make network schedules stay in line, this episode was deliberately given the exact same running time as Hot Snow.