Series 4 — Episode 5
Castle De’Ath

Production

Production dates: 2-20/08/1965

After the last two episode (in broadcast order) being studio-bound, this episode saw the return of location filming although it appears only the second unit went to Kent for the filming at Allington Castle. The tag scene filmed at Ruislip Lido also only featured stand-ins, with the close-ups of Macnee and Rigg filmed against a projection screen and added during editing.

Brian Tesler approved the shooting script on or about July 20, 1965 and James Hill, making his first Avengers episode, started filming on August 2^nd. Filming wrapped on August 20^th. After the completion of filming the crew had a welcome two week break before restarting production in September.

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. Contemporary broadcasts in France and Switzerland also did not include this episode.

Episode Rating

The Avengers hare off to Scotland (well, Kent isn’t it?) and return with a well-balanced and pithy piece, which doesn’t quite set the world on fire.

The Fashions

The Cars

Who’s Killing Whom?

Click a name to see the face

Continuity and trivia

1. Is it just me or does the plot make no sense? I know we’re supposed to think Ian is behind it all, but why would Angus invite people to the castle if he wanted to keep things secret? Simply to throw suspicion onto his brother for the diver’s death? It doesn’t make any sense at all. Also, why doesn’t Ian recall there hadn’t been any ghost until quite recently, to cover up the noise made by Angus’ minions under the castle?
2. 1:13 — Castle De’Ath is in fact Allington Castle in Kent, a frequently-used location in British television.
3. 1:25 onwards — the passage of the ghost is done using a hand-held camera, which gives the scene a very modern feeling.
4. 1:28 and throughout — The interior set, including the upstairs hallway, stairs and great hall, was also used as part of Brandon Storey’s house in Too Many Christmas Trees.
5. 3:05 — The iron maiden in the cellar reappears a year or so later, it’s in the museum in Little Storping in Murdersville.
6. 3:49 etc. — Throughout the episode it’s rather obvious when a double is standing in for Diana Rigg for the long shots and action sequences, her hair is lighter and shaggier, and she’s less lithe. She may be the “Emma clone” from The Hour that Never Was.
7. 4:40 — ABORCASHAATA is Mrs. Peel’s cover in the episode, the acronym standing for the Advisory Bureau on Refurbishing Castles and Stately Homes as a Tourist Attraction. Steed has the unlikely cover of “Jock McSteed”, a historian researching the wayward 13th Laird, Black Jamie.
8. 6:245 — You can see the boom microphone wobbling about at the top of the screen as Angus shows Emma the banqueting table.
9. 8:50 — Ian puts Emma up in the Flora Macdonald Room, named after the woman who helped Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnnie Prince Charlie) escape the English.
10. 9:41 — If you look carefully you can just see the string pulling Steed’s paper boat.
11. 10:20 — it’s the same basement set as used in The Girl From Auntie but dressed with woodwork over the metal banisters.
12. 12:56 — It’s clearly stunt feet, given the camerawork, as Steed does the sword dance. It may possibly be a return performance from George Macrae who was in Esprit de Corps.
13. 14:52 — So much for proud Clan history: Angus gets the date of Wallace’s execution wrong; he says William Wallace and Ewan De’Ath, the Fifth Laird, were executed by the English in 1304, but Wallace died in 1305. He then adds that the Sixth Laird, Charles, was with Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn (1314). Ian then says there was a De’Ath at the Battle of Pinkie (1547), at Flodden Field (1513), and at Alamein (1942).
14. 15:07 — if Steed’s brandy is vibrating like that during dinner, why isn’t everyone else’s?
15. 16:38 etc. — the dining hall set is also used in Too Many Christmas Trees.
16. 18:30 — Roberton moves Steed to the Lord Darnley Room, named after Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, the second husband of Mary Queen of Scots, who was probably murdered on her orders. The name is a hint at an impending doom.
17. 26:50 — the ‘morning air’ music, based on Pastorale which we hear during external shots of the castle is reused in Murdersville.
18. 27:58 — Bonnie Prince Charlie asked the twenty-fifth Earl to help him — presumably in 1745.
19. 34:00 — can you really knock someone out by covering the vent of their diving mask and turning off the air? Steed did the same thing to the guard in Room Without a View.
20. 35:30/36:46 — the minisubmarine footage is taken from The Silent Enemy (1958) and depicts manned torpedoes ridden by Italian frogmen, sailing out of the underwater door of the Italian ship Olterra in the neutral Spansih harbour of Algericas to attack Allied ships in Gibraltar harbour. They used British Chariot manned torpedoes for the Italian vessels in the film which starred Laurence Harvey, who appears as Sir Clive in The Master Minds.
21. 47:50 — obvious stunt doubles for both Mrs. Peel and McNab. It’s a stuntwoman I don’t recognise and Billy Cornelius.
22. 48:37 — the ‘stone wall’ moves when Mrs. Peel falls back against it.
23. 49:02 — even more obvious stunt doubles for Angus and Steed during the sword fight. Ray Austin and Arthur Howell stand in for Robert Urquhart, Macnee’s stand-in is Mike Stevens.
24. Running time: 52′05″