• title card: white all caps text reading ‘THE WHITE ELEPHANT’ superimposed on an extreme close-up of George
  • Noah sits at his desk, a parrot on his shoulder
  • Steed is impressed by the craftsmanship of Gourlay; M<r Fitch looks on approvingly
  • Madge reaches behind a mannequin wearing an iron collar and chains
  • Brenda stands in foreground right, looking worried in the light while Conniston stands in the shadows behind her on the left
  • Steed and Conniston wrestle for the gun amongst the cages of animals

Series 3 — Episode 15
The White Elephant

by John Lucarotti
Designed by Philip Harrison
Directed by Laurence Bourne

Production No 3616, VTR/ABC/3168
Production completed: November 22 1963. First transmission: January 4 1964.

Production Schedule

Episode 69
Production Number : 3616
VTR/ABC/3168 and 3168A+B
Teddington Studio 1

Tuesday 21st November 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
Line Up 19.00–19.30
VTR Inserts 19.30–21.00

Friday 22nd November 1963

Camera rehearsal 10.00–13.00
Lunch break 13.00–14.00
Camera rehearsal 14.00–15.30
Tea break, line up,
normal scan and make-up
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

Running time

Expected: 51′25″ excluding commercial breaks
Actual running time with bumpers: 51′41″

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 credits (normally 0′16″ with a 2″ fade) and closing credits (anywhere from 0′41″ to 1′20″, hard cut or 1″ fade or mix).

Equipment

Cameras: Five Pedestals
VTR Insert: 3 Pedestals, Mole Crane with Zoom
Sound: 3 booms, Grams, Tape, FX
Telecine: ABC Symbol/Avengers Opening
VTR Inserts: VTR/ABC/3168 A+B

VTR Inserts:

  • 3168A - 33:30–34:13 — Steed breaks into the foundry, fights with the welder and then discovers Snowy in the back room.
  • 3168B - 47:29–49:49 — Steed and Cathy fight Conniston and Brenda in the zoo grounds.

Transmission

BroadcasterDateTime
ATV London4/01/196410.05pm
ABC Midlands4/01/19649.10pm
ABC North4/01/19649.10pm
Anglia Television4/01/19649.10pm
Border Television4/01/19649.10pm
Channel Television4/01/19649.10pm
Grampian Television4/01/19649.10pm
Southern Television4/01/196410.05pm
Scottish Television4/01/19649.10pm
Tyne Tees Television4/01/19649.10pm
Ulster Television4/01/19649.10pm
Westward Television4/01/19649.10pm
Television Wales & West4/01/19649.10pm
Teledu Cymru (WWN)4/01/19649.10pm
ABN2 Sydney2/02/19658.00pm
ABV2 Melbourne21/02/19668.00pm

TV Times listing

TV Times listing for January 4 1964, 10.05pm (London edition)
Sydney Morning Herald listing for February 2 1965, 8pm
The Age listing for February 21 1966, 8pm

10.5 The Avengers
starring
Patrick Macnee
Honor Blackman

in

The White Elephant
By John Lucarotti

Cast

George Martin Friend
Noah Marshall Godfrey Quigley
John Steed Patrick Macnee
Catherine Gale Honor Blackman
Brenda Paterson Judy Parfitt
Fitch Bruce Barnabe
Joseph Gourlay Toke Townley
Madge Jordan Rowena Gregory
Lawrence Edwin Richfield
Lew Conniston Scott Forbes

Directed by Laurence Bourne
Produced by John Bryce

In which Steed tracks a white elephant and Cathy hunts big game

ABC Television Network Production

Note that the TV Times refers to “Bruce Barnabe” rather than Bruno Barnabe.

Murders

Victim Killer Method
George Lew Conniston blunt instrument
Click a name to see the face

Continuity and trivia

  1. Martin Friend, last seen as the bullied Hammond in The Gilded Cage, returns two episodes later as the amiable George. They were recorded a month apart but broadcast 8 weeks apart as episodes 7 and 15 so maybe audiences didn’t notice.
  2. 1:23 — there’s a heart shaped smear on the lens of camera 1A, just to the right of dead centre in Hammond’s CU.
  3. 1:27 — The opening credits feature a fade out under the titles, then a fade in to the daffodil on which Steed is practicing yogic concentration.
  4. 2:23 — there’s a smudge on the lens of camera 4B, vertically middle, 1/8 in from right.
  5. 5.43 — you can see some equipment move out of shot as the camera returns to Noah.
  6. 8:22 — soft ivory : an average pair of male elephant tusks can weigh up to 50 lbs.
  7. 8:44–9:58 (8:30) - a fly made it way into the transfer booth when the film was being remastered for DVD, and buzzes alarmingly around Steed’s head - it remains on screen for over a minute. The recent “remastering” sadly didn’t correct this, and the fly remains.
  8. 10:17 — the origin of Little Britain’s “Margaret” joke? Fitch calls for Gourlay and there’s a distant “Yes?” in reply. Steed even glances at the camera like Walliams did all those years later.
  9. 16:44 — there’s an enormous crash off camera as Gourlay and Lawrence are talking, I assume one of the other cameras crashed into a set when being moved into position for the next shot.
  10. 18:15 — two episodes in a row (production wise), Cathy finds a man hanged in a cupboard - she last found Edwards in The Medicine Men. The episodes were broadcast 6 weeks apart as episodes 9 and 15 so maybe audiences didn’t notice.
  11. 29:40 — Steed rings Mr. Walmsley of the National Anthropological Society to ask that an inquiry be made into the disappearance of Professor Thaddeus Lawrence.
  12. 29:50 — Steed’s phone number is WHItehall 0011.
  13. 35:00 — you can clearly see Brenda through one of the windows of Noah’s office - you’d think he would have spotted her as he peered out the window on the landing.
  14. 39:10 — Cathy tricks Lawrence into using a garotte instead of a gun, and easily overpowers him.
  15. 47:40 — The fight between Steed and Conniston at the end resulted in a cruelty probe into ABC Television, as many of the animals on set are clearly agitated by the noise. There were reports at the time that a hornbill died during filming. Their cage is right where Conniston keeps firing his revolver; both are still standing at the end of the scene, but still turning their heads.
  16. 48:00 and throughout - the cameramen keep losing focus during the dimly-lit fight scene, notably at 49:10.
  17. 50:19 — as Cathy berates Steed, you can see a camera moving into position through the open bookshelves behind Steed.

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