Series 4 — Episode 2
The Gravediggers

Production

Production dates: 15/03/1965 - 14/04/1965

Malcolm Hulke’s script was well liked by the production office and turned into a final script by 10 March 1965. Shooting began in the fourth week of March. To satisfy Mrs. Peel being tied to a railway track, the use of a private railway was sought and scouts found Lord Gretton’s railway at Stapleford Park to be ideal.

Location shooting started at Stapleford Park in the first week of April 1965 and the press were on hand on 4 April to record Diana Rigg being tied to the tracks, which was widely reported the next day in newspapers across the country.

Kingsford Motors were unable to supply Steed’s normal Bentley, so a 1924 Vauxhall 30/98 was his car of choice for his trip on location to New Southgate Cemetery, Brunswick Park, Southgate N11.

Filming continued until 12 April, with some additional post-production and pick-up shots done on 14 April 1965.

Regional broadcasts

TV Times listing

International broadcasts

Italy did not show this episode in the 1960s, the Italian titles are from the Tele Torino International broadcast in the 1980s, and DVD releases.

This episode was not broadcast in Switzerland or France in contemporary broadcasts.

Episode Rating

A bumbling bunch of saboteurs are nabbed red-handed. All the hallmarks of an Ealing Film.

The Fashions

The Cars

Who’s Killing Whom?

Click a name to see the face

Continuity and trivia

1. I always think of the radar station as being somewhere North but it can’t be as Mrs. Peel goes from the station to Pringby, then straight to Steed’s flat in London without any apparent delay — It’s not very clear, given the camera angle, but the map at the station suggests the installation is in Lincolnshire, but Pringby must be East or South-East of it, given the warning light.
   The shooting location actually was North, as the station used footage of RAF Fylingdales, Snod Hill, North Yorkshire.
2. While filming at The Stapleford Miniature Railway, they actually used two different engines, ‘Blanche of Lancaster’ (No. 750) and ‘John of Gaunt’ (No. 751). 751 appears on film, but 750 is in most of the promotional stills*.

   John of Gaunt is still at the railway, now renamed John H Gretton in honour of the late Third Lord Gretton, but Blanche has been sold to the Trago Mills shopping centre railway in Devon. The Stapleford Miniature Railway is still running today, after a shaky period following the untimely death of the Third Lord Gretton in 1989. Their website has a comprehensive history of the railway and a short section about The Avengers.

   * I suspect the green livery ‘lit’ better than the blue of Blanche, much as Cathy Gale’s leather fighting suit was made of green leather so it looked better in black and white footage.

3. 2:30 — there’s a clear distinction between the grainy stock footage and the studio film.
4. Marlow’s file seems to be a plot synopsis or treatment about a fire at a circus in Brazil. It’s partially obscured by Marlow’s photo but the text we can see reads:

   ./ her chain and she bulldozed through the wreckage. Hundreds of
   children followed in her wake.
   
   … outside, the flames roared and people died. But
   Liza …through hell with burning wreckage bouncing
   off her …
   
   A boy … away, unharmed, out to the sun. He
   gasped for breath … looked round for his cousin, a boy
   from the country … staying in Rio for his holidays.
   The country cousin … outside the tent.
   
   The boy ran inside again to find them. A man
   called him, found him a[nd dragged him] out. He had only been
   back inside for three or four [seconds?] — but it was long enough
   for the fire to do its work. He suffered burns from head to
   foot.
   
   Rob… policeman, had been on duty outside
   the Big Top. H … burning mass, shouting the
   names of the two boys … most to him in the world —
   his son and nephew.
   
   By a freak chance …
   blaze. He grabbed …
   he went …
   

5. 8:44 — a thread is stuck to the bottom centre-right of the camera lens as Steed walks down the path. It reappears (17:10–17:17) in the exterior shot of Steed in the woods.
6. 8:50 — the shot of the sign for the hospital is completely out of focus.
7. 9:38–10:08 — a thread is caught at the top right corner of the camera lens in the reverse angle behind Wanda Ventham (see 16:30). It wasn’t on the camera at the beginning of the scene, but appears when the vision cuts back after Nurse Spray checks the filing cabinet. These hospital scenes must have been filmed together, much as the exteriors were, as the thread reappears throughout the episode: (16:30–16:57) in the long shot of Emma and Nurse Spray walking down the hallway; (25:15–25:40) when Emma unpacks the flowers and discovers one of the boxes is surprisingly heavy.
8. 10:08 — Paul Massie’s native Canadian accent appears as he reprimands Marlowe. He slips back into it at 16:57 and 36:40.
9. 11:46 — Steed steals a carnation for his buttonhole
10. 12:02 — ABC’s favourite iron spiral staircase prop makes yet another appearance.
11. 12:30 — Steed claims to be from the Foot-platemen’s Friendly Association. Later he says it’s the Foot-platemen’s Friendly Society.
12. 13:50 — Looks like it’s Cliff Diggins doing some of Steve Berkoff’s stunts
13. 14:40 — Miller & Son ("Undertake with decorum") is at 22 Carling St, Pringby.
14. 15:15 — Steed is playing with a toy gun — the “Kenner Gun That Shoots Around The Corner” that came out in 1964. It might be one that was manufactured under licence by Meccano/Tri-ang in France.
15. 27:10 — you can just see the shadow of the microphone on the wall above Sir Horace’s head.
16. 32:00–32:10 — scratches on the film
17. 39:38 — The Avengers first overt bondage scene, softened later on when Emma is tied to the railway tracks. The scene is more extremely reprised in A Surfeit of H₂O. Cathy Gale had been bound and gagged before but never in the suggestive manner used here as Clemens pushes the boundaries of acceptable televison for the Sixties. These days, we wouldn’t even blink.
18. 41:50 — Sir Horace declares that the Winslips have served in 5 wars, for 4 kings and 2 queens
19. 43:59 — Emma tied to the tracks, silent movie style, supreme parody as dramatic silent film music starts as the train approaches her at 46:42.
20. 44:10 — sped up footage for Steed running through the woods.
21. 44:39 — a delightful piece of comic relief as Steed bends his knees while waiting for the train, acting like a commuter who’s been standing on the platform for a long time.
22. 45:05 — more sped up footage as Steed runs after the train at the station
23. 45:11 — excellent editing as a stuntman (Mike Stevens) leaps onto the train and then we cut to a closer shot of Macnee in the carriage he just leapt into.
24. 45:15–45:25 — Steven Berkoff does his own stunts, leaping on and off the train, but he’s replaced by a double at 45:30 as he’s thrown from the train by Macnee’s stunt double.
25. 45:33 — Berkoff’s double rolls on the ground, head closes to the bushes, but the cut back to Berkoff has his head away from them.
26. 45:40 — black spot on film, left of centre.
27. 46:15 — Berkoff isn’t one for climbing fences — he struggles to get up, and catches his foot in the wire after he comes down.
28. 46:38 — It looks like Cliff Diggins standing in for Berkoff for the leap over the train as he fails to tackle Steed.
29. 
    ©1961–9
    CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved
    46:48 — Macnee climbs between the carriages but it’s his double, Mike Stevens, who struggles with Ray Austin (46:54).
30. 46:57 and throughout - we keep catching glimpses of the camera crew’s shadows on the ground on the grass embankment alongside the train.
31. 47:05 — Expert editing as Austin raises the laundry basket over the stunt double and we cut to Macnee sliding under him to avoid it.
32. 47:48 — More great editing as we get the mid shot of Macnee switch the train to the other train, intercut with the stuntman in the long shot.
33. 48:20 — Massie is completely out of focus as he is thrown into the pond.
34. 48:29 — the matte in-studio close-up is a bit obvious.
35. Running time: 51′55″
36. Brian Tesler, Production Controller for ABC Television, asked Julian Wintle to cut the railway sequences by 30 seconds for the transmission print.