• title card: white all caps text reading ‘THE GOLDEN EGGS’ superimposed on two gold eggs in a glass box
  • Diana reassures DeLeon with a cup of tea
  • Hillier sets up a set of fake headlights to force the ambulance to crash
  • Steed on the left and Cathy centre question Dr. Ashe about his experiments
  • Redfern, in the foreground, meticulously examines an antique box while Elizabeth and Hiller stand behind him
  • Ashe says goodbye to Cathy and Steed in his greenhouse

Series 2 — Episode 19
The Golden Eggs

Teleplay by Martin Woodhouse
Directed by Peter Hammond

Production No 3518, VTR/ABC/2321
Production completed: January 31 1963. First transmission: February 1 1963.

Production details

Episode 45
Production Number : 3518
VTR/ABC/2321
Teddington Studio 1

Wednesday 30th January 1963

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

Thursday 31st January 1963

Camera rehearsal 10.00–12.30
Lunch break 12.30–13.30
Camera rehearsal 13.30–15.30
Tea break, Line up,
Normal scan, Makeup
15.30–16.15
Dress rehearsal 16.15–17.30
Notes 17.30–18.00
Line up 18.00–18.30
VTR 18.30–19.30

Equipment

Cameras: 5 Pedestals - one to be on rostrum.
Telecine: A.B.C. symbol, 35 mm dubbed sound sequence. caption scanner and slides.

Running time

Expected: 51′25″
Actual running time with bumpers: 51′21″

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

BroadcasterDateTime
ATV London3/02/196310.35pm
ABC Midlands2/02/196310.05pm
ABC North2/02/196310.05pm
Anglia Television2/02/196310.05pm
Border Television--
Channel Television2/02/196310.35pm
Grampian Television3/02/196310.35pm
Southern Television2/02/196310.05pm
Scottish Television23/05/196310.45pm
Tyne Tees Television2/02/196310.05pm
Ulster Television3/02/196310.35pm
Westward Television3/02/196310.35pm
Television Wales & West3/02/196310.35pm
Teledu Cymru (WWN)1/02/196310.45pm
ABN2 Sydney24/02/19647.30pm
ABV2 Melbourne17/09/19647.30pm

TV Times listing

TV Times listing for February 3 1963, 10.35pm (London edition)
Sydney Morning Herald listing for February 24 1964, 7.30pm
The Age listing for September 17 1964, 7.30pm

10.35 The Avengers
starring
Patrick Macnee
in

Bullseye
Teleplay by Eric Paice
Also starring
Honor Blackman

Cast

Dr. Ashe Donald Eccles
Elizabeth Bayle Pauline Delany
DeLeon Gordon Whiting
John Steed Patrick Macnee
Catherine Gale Honor Blackman
Diana Irene Bradshaw
Hillier Robert Bernal
Redfern Peter Arne
Campbell Louis Haslar
Hall Charles Bird

The Avengers theme composed and
played by Johnny Dankworth
Settings by Douglas James
Directed by Peter Hammond
Produced by John Bryce

Steed and Cathy hunt for two eggs that must never be allowed to hatch

ABC Television Network Production

Episode availability

Murders

Victim Killer Method
Campbell Hillier causes car to
run off road
Hall Hillier causes car to
run off road
DeLeon Hillier causes car to
run off road
Rankin Franks stabbed
Click a name to see the face

Transport

Marque/type Plate
Austin ambulanceUXP 633

Continuity and trivia

  1. 2:22 — Blatant product placement: Steed is cutting a cowboy off the back of a packet of “Wild West Cornflakes” as the titles dissolve - Cathy joins him for breakfast, but the whole scene is played for product placement, the packet taking up the entire screen for several seconds, and remains clearly in view for nearly a minute, until Steed has demolished the box and thrown cornflakes everywhere. It’s not a last-minute inclusion either, as it’s in the camera script.
    Box back, Box front, Steed with box
  2. 5:45 — Dr. Ashe lives at Albermarle House, number 96.
  3. 7:20 — The cameraman makes a fast, clumsy pan from Dr. Ashe to Cathy, it looks like he missed his cue and rushed to catch up before Cathy spoke.
  4. 8:34 — the painted backdrop behind the scrap yard is well illuminated but it doesn’t disguise its nature.
  5. 13:40 onward - you can see the shadow of the boom microphone in these scenes with Elizabeth.
  6. 20:08 — the strobing CU of Hillier continues under the “End of Part 1” caption for a second
  7. 23:33 (21:00) - Steed accidentally calls Leo ‘Leon DeLeon’ then later correctly refers to him as Leo.
  8. 25:15 — The cameraman pans upwards as Cathy and Mrs. de Leon struggle, and we see the lamps in the studio ceiling for a moment. You can see some of the lights again behind Cathy when she’s at the top of the stairs (27:06)
  9. 32:49 (32:16) - the closeup of the case hidden in the drain reveals all too clearly that the snow is balls of polystyrene. The snow effect for the rest of the scene (from 33:02) is video mixing of a loop over the action.
  10. 36:40 — Act 3 starts with a thread stuck to the transfer plate in the bottom righthand corner, it remains until the end of the episode.
  11. 38:40 — the cameraman pans from the projector screen to Cathy and Dr. Ashe, but misses completely and goes straight past them, then pans back to them.
  12. 39:30 — Verity Prime is highly infectious and resistant to chlorine, so can be transferred in the water supply - and can survive in dead tissue for up to four weeks.
  13. 43:41 — the boom microphone dips into shot, making sure it gets the telephone ring loud and clear.
  14. 45:38 — the lights are dimmed and the whole picture goes black for a moment - it seems like the effect they use at 46:14 when Cathy turns off all the power is used at the wrong time.
Times are from the re-mastered 2009 Optimum Releasing DVD set, any times in brackets are from the previously released DVD sets which had frames with interference or banding deleted, resulting in shorter running times.

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