Series 1 — Episode 25
A Change of Bait

Production details

VTR (AMPEXING): Wednesday, 20th September 1961 18.00 — 19.00
PRE-AMPEXING: Tuesday, 19th September 1961 11.45 — 12.00

Rehearsals: From Monday, 9th September 1961 to Monday, 18th September 1961 at The Tower, Hammersmith.
Camera Rehearsal: Tuesday, 19th September 1961 11.00 — 21.00 and Wednesday 20th September 1961 10.00 — 18.00
Studio details: Teddington Two
Production No. 3421
Tape No. VTR/ABC/1445
Transmission: Saturday, 23rd December 1961, 10 p.m.

Schedule

Tuesday, 19th September 1961
Camera Rehearsal	11.00 — 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
Wednesday, 20th September 1961
Camera Rehearsal	10.00 — 12.30
Lunch Break	12.30 — 13.30
Camera Rehearsal	13.30 — 15.00
Tea-Break, Line Up, Normal Scan & Make-up	15.00 — 15.45
Dress Rehearsal	15.45 — 17.00
Notes	17.00 — 17.30
Line-Up	17.30 — 18.00
AMPEX RECORDING	18.00–19.00

Equipment

Cameras: 4 Pedestals
Sound: 3 booms
Telecine: A.B.C. symbol, 35mm mute insert, slides

Total running time: 57.35 = Play portion: 52.55 + 2.05 & 2.35 Commercial Breaks

Regional broadcasts

ITV Broadcaster	Date	Time
ABC Midlands	23/12/1961	10.00pm
ABC North	23/12/1961	10.00pm
Anglia Television	23/12/1961	10.00pm
ATV	23/12/1961	10.00pm
Southern Television	23/12/1961	10.00pm
Tyne Tees Television	23/12/1961	10.00pm
Television Wales & West	23/12/1961	10.00pm
Ulster Television	23/12/1961	10.00pm
Westward Television	23/12/1961	10.00pm
Scottish Television	-	-
Border Television	23/12/1961	10.00pm
Grampian Television	23/12/1961	10.00pm

TV Times listing

The Northern edition ended with ABC Network Production while the London edition was illustrated with a photo of Steed gingerly lifting the fuse of the arson device, cropping out Ian Hendry and Arthur Barrett. It was captioned “Patrick Macnee plays John Steed in A Change of Bait, tonight’s episode of The Avengers at 10 p.m.” The picture is available in full on this page in the carousel at the top, and just below and, being a rehearsal still, shows the lights and camera as well as the top of the set. There is a corresponding Tele-Snap of the shot as well:

Episode availability

• Video - no original footage is known to exist; a video reconstruction is available on the Studio Canal series 1&2 DVD set
• Audio - reconstruction in The Lost Episodes vol. 4, by Big Finish
• Script - Barbara Foster’s copy of the camera script and scene breakdown, annotated with blue biro, red pencil, and lead pencil; plus an artiste call sheet and a props list
• Publicity Stills - 77
• Tele-Snaps - 80, 10 of the small Tele-Snaps are repeated at a larger size

Continuity and trivia

1. Alan Hayes recently unearthed the original camera script which has revealed new information about the episode. From it we have learned the extras and production crew details above, and the details in this page. The PDF is now included on the Optimum DVD set for Seasons 1 & 2; it has formed the basis for a reconstruction of the episode which will be included as part of the extras on an upcoming Optimum release.
2. This episode’s prologue was a single shot of Archie approaching the door to Pott’s office, the episode title appearing on screen as he knocks on the door.
3. The episode was filmed in studio with three 35mm film inserts. The inserts are on pink pages of the script (see below), except for the last one, and were:
   1. a shot of the docks with ships unloading bananas, lasting 1:20
   2. A shot of Keel leaving his surgery, 0:10 long
   3. A shot of a police car racing by, in response to Andre calling the police, duration unlisted
4. Barbara Foster’s camera script lists the cameramen as Mike Baldock on camera 1, supported by (2) David, (3) Brian, (4) Dave (no last names given). The slate number was 3421 — VTR/ABC/1445.
5. The camera schedule has an entry, “PRE-AMPEXING: Tuesday, 19th September 1961 11.45 — 12.00” which suggests the recording of a trailer or advertisement, perhaps a Christmas holiday message from the principal cast given the time of year.
6. There are a few “pink pages” in the camera script. Traditionally, late changes to the script were typed on pink paper so the cast and crew would see them easily during final run-through. The rest of the script would be white or blue paper and they will have learned all of those lines and stage directions already, so could focus on the changes marked by the coloured pages. The pink pages in the script are as follows:
   • Page A: Cast & crew list, and recording schedule - Norma Pitt’s character name has changed from “Bryan Wallace” to “Bryan Stubbs” but there may have been other changes.
   • Page 22: At the end of Act 1, Potts is on his phone in his office, thinking he’s speaking to Fletcher’s office but Steed, outside on the dock, is intercepting the call. I assume some of the dialogue changed.
   • Page 23/24/25: Positions for cameras coming in to Act 2 must have been changed as this is all that is listed on the page.
   • Page 26:Fade-up of telecine film insert - [F/U T/C FILM: 1.20 FILM -SHIPS UNLOADING, LORRIES, ETC. Bananas, boats, etc.] and then a cut to a M.C.U. shot of overripe bananas and a pan to Fletcher seeing them and reacting.
   • Page 44: At the end of Act 2, a 10 second telecine film insert is mixed in [MIX T/C (If available) 10″], showing Keel leaving his house as the Avengers theme is faded up, the vision then fades to black and switches to the slide announcing the end of part 2.
   • Page 45: Start of Act 3, Keel and Steed arrive at the antique store and hide in a cupboard.
   • Page 66: Closing slide routine. This would indicate, as page A above, that a credited cast or crew member changed late in production.
7. There are numerous annotations on Barbara’s camera script which did not warrant pink pages, such as page 60 where she notes in pencil the insertion of film showing a police car - in response to Dr. Keel telling Andre to dial 999. She has also marked camera numbers for each shot in red pencil.
8. This was the 24th episode produced, with rehearsals scheduled for 19th September (11.00 a.m. - 9.00 p.m.) and 20th September (10.00 a.m. - 5.00 p.m.) and recording to AMPEX tape on the 20th September, 1961, 6.00 p.m. - 7.00 p.m. This contradicts the generally held view of the schedule, which has it as 25th, as broadcast. An artiste call sheet lists read-through and rehearsal dates for the period September 9 — September 20 1961. Graham Rigby joined the rest of the cast very late, not being in rehearsal until 17 September so he must have been in another production at the time. Harry Shacklock was not at the first two days of rehearsals, and Patrick Macnee was not available on 12-September 13 1961.
9. A Leonard White memo written on 27th July notes there will be two episodes broadcast on 23rd and 30th December, and he suggests “we should consider scripting these stories to give some recognition to Christmas and the end of the year respectively”. He suggests they be more sentimental but not so different as to make them stand apart. This did not come to pass, but this episode is much more light-hearted than other episodes from series 1, along with the “April Fools’ episode” that was Please Don’t Feed the Animals. It might also explain the “PRE-AMPEX” session mentioned above.
10. The three Acts were expected to run for 18.39, 15.45 and 18.31 respectively. In the script, we see Barbara Foster has annotated that Act 1 ran for 20.15, a 1:46 over-run (unless they were accounting for the commercial break, in which case they had a 24 second under-run). By the end of Act 2 they’ve run to 39.15 but as it’s marked on the page listing the camera movement orders, that may include the 4.40 of commercial breaks. If so, they were now at a 9 second over-run (and if not, they had blown out to a 4:49 over-run). At the end of the script there are annotations for 57.35, 52.55 and 51.55, which might suggest a final under-run of one minute as the other numbers concur with page A of the script.
11. Despite being a light-hearted episode, a civil complaint was made about this episode and the Home Office investigated, requesting to see the episode to determine whether it would allow a member of the public to “commit a reproducible crime”. The viewing was held in June 1962, proving that this episode was still held in the ABC archives nine months after production, and was apparently greatly enjoyed by the assembled police officers, who decided it did not constitute a risk to the public.