Series 2 — Episode 8
Death of a Great Dane

Production details

Episode 38
Production Number : 3511
VTR/ABC/2093 & 2093A
Teddington Studio 1

Wednesday 31st October 1962

Inserts 2093A - Scene 5 Steed and Cathy look at slides of Litoff in her flat and discuss the sudden stop of his charitable donations.

Thursday 1st November 1962

Running time

Expected: 51′25″ + 2 commercial breaks 2.30
Actual running time with bumpers: 53′50″

The bumpers between the acts are generally 10 seconds from fade in to the “End of Act” bumper to the end of audio before the commercial, a 10 second still without audio, then cut to the next act bumper. This would play with the theme for around 10 seconds. Accordingly, with the episodes being in 3 acts, the running time of the action is approximately a minute less than listed above, minus the opening and closing credits (normally 0′16″, with a 2" fade, and anywhere from 0′41″ to 1′20″, hard cut or 1" fade or mix, respectively).

Regional broadcasts

This episode was broadcast in Italy on 14^th January 1966 (10:15pm, RAI 2) under the title of “Il cane danese”. It was one of a limited run of ten episodes from series 2 and 3 that were broadcast on RAI intermittently throughout 1965 and 1966 under the title “Agente speciale”.

TV Times listing

Episode availability

• Video - original footage held by Studio Canal, available on the Studio Canal series 1&2 DVD set
• Script - Tony Pelly’s copy of the camera script and scene breakdown
• Publicity Stills - at least 24

Murders

Click a name to see the face

Transport

Continuity and trivia

1. 1:50–3:12 — Cathy says she used a 250 ISO film at f5.6 with a 500mm lens to take pictures of the pickiforms (woodpeckers), and tells Steed the spots in the pictures are because she shot in the rain. She says she only got three photos in a week, but there are lots of negatives with birds on them (some of them clearly false). Cathy remarks that they don’t just sit still and pose for you and Steed replies, “They do for me!”
2. 5:52 (5:35) - the joke gun jams and Mrs. Miller has to pull it briefly off camera to reveal the flag with BANG! written on it. She then still goes on to say “it’s really very clever”.
3. 11:20 — Steed says he used to have a Great Dane, ‘Racer’ by ‘Martyr’ out of ‘Satyr’. He did have a Great Dane in four episodes of Series 1 but it was always referred to as ‘Puppy’ played by Barbara Woodhouse’s dog, Juno.
4. 11:37, 40:17–20, 44:55, 46:16, 46:40 & 47:40 — visual interference.
5. 20:27 — there’s a smudge on Camera 4’s lens as Steed walks in to see Getz, you can see it again at 22:35 and any time the camera is used (e.g. 25:15). It must have happened after the joke shop scene as it appears in the first penthouse scene at 10:50. The lens must have been wiped during the second ad break, as it’s gone at 37:50.
6. 26:00 — Steed describes Sir James’ car as being “a ’61 Hirondelle, it’s the biggest car on the block”. This is an allusion to “The Saint”; Leslie Charteris invented the marque “Hirondelle” for Simon Templar’s car, which was an amalgam of the best features of a Bentley, Rolls-Royce and Daimler.
7. 27:33 — the view from Litoff’s balcony is clearly a painted backdrop
8. 29:23 — Mrs. Miller refers to Bellhound as “him” but the kennel man around:44:40–45:30 refers to Bellhound as being female.
9. 30:58 — At the wine tasting, Steed identifies:
   • Saint-Emilion - Chateau Petit-Village
   • Pontet Carnet ’52
   • Corque-Michotte ’49
   Sir James identifies:
   • Haut Brion ’47
   • Ausone ’49 — Steed corrects him and says it’s the ’53.
10. 34:06 — Litoff’s medical history: Two thromboses, initial cholesterol on 260, BP over 180, enlarged left ventricle indicated by EKG.
11. c. 44:00 — A small spot appears on the lens on camera 2 at top right.
12. 44:30 — Mrs. Miller has an edition of Aero Modeller magazine lying on top of her body.
13. 47:10–47:15 — the shadow of the boom microphone waves across Getz’s temple for a moment.
14. 49:56 (48:35) - someone in a beige coat at the back of the set can be seen, through the internal window, getting up from a sofa and edging out of shot as Steed and Cathy look out of the window looking to escape.
15. 50:20 (49:02) - John Laurie fluffs a line “Couldn’t we take it with them - them with us”