Series 4 — Episode 15
Room Without a View
by Roger Marshall
Directed by Roy Baker
Production No E.64.10.9
Production completed: April 29 1965. First transmission: January 4 1966.
Regional broadcasts
| Broadcaster | Date | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Rediffusion London | 7/01/1966 | 8:00pm |
| ABC Midlands | 8/01/1966 | 9:05pm |
| ABC North | 8/01/1966 | 9:05pm |
| Anglia Television | 6/01/1966 | 8:00pm |
| Border Television | 9/01/1966 | 9:35pm |
| Channel Television | 8/01/1966 | 9:05pm |
| Grampian Television | 7/01/1966 | 8:00pm |
| Southern Television | 8/01/1966 | 9:05pm |
| Scottish Television | 4/01/1966 | 8:00pm |
| Tyne Tees Television | 7/01/1966 | 8:00pm |
| Ulster Television | 7/01/1966 | 8:00pm |
| Westward Television | 8/01/1966 | 9:05pm |
| Television Wales & West | 8/01/1966 | 9:05pm |
TV Times listing
8.0 The Avengers
starring
Patrick Macnee
as John Steed
and
Diana Rigg
as Emma Peel
in
Room Without a View
By Roger Marshall
In which Steed becomes a gourmet — and Emma wakes up in Manchuria …
Cast also includes
| Chessman | Paul Whitsun-Jones |
| Varnals | Peter Jeffrey |
| Dr. Cullen | Richard Bebb |
| Carter | Philip Latham |
| Pasold | Peter Arne |
| Pushkin | Vernon Dobtcheff |
| Dr. Wadkin | Peter Madden |
| Anna Wadkin | Jeanne Roland |
Music by Laurie Johnson
Directed by Roy Baker
Produced by Julian Wintle
ABC Weekend Network Production
International broadcasts
| Broadcaster | Date | Time |
|---|---|---|
| ABN2 Sydney, Australia | 29/03/1966 | 8:00pm |
| ABV2 Melbourne, Australia | 22/03/1966 | 7:30pm |
| ABC New York, USA | 27/06/1966 | 10:00pm |
| ORTF2 France | 27/7/91 FR3 | |
| Suisse Romande, Switzerland | 14/01/1967 | 8:35pm |
| French title | Avec vue imprenable | |
| ZDF Germany | 8/08/1967 | 9:15pm |
| German title | Geschlossene Räume | |
| KRO Netherlands | 28/01/1967 | 8:55pm |
| Dutch title | Kamer zonder uitzicht (N2) | |
| Italy (RAI 1) | 10/10/1969 | 10:00pm |
| Italian title | Stanza 621 | |
| Spain | 4/04/1967 | 10:15pm |
| Spanish title | Un cuarto sin vista | |
In the Netherlands, this episode was not in the television listings as it was the stand-by programme in case the footage for the MIX concert special did not arrive at the studio in time for broadcast. As the footage was delivered too late, this episode of “De wrekers” was broadcast in the timeslot.
Episode Rating
| Subject | 0–5 |
|---|---|
| Direction | 4 stars |
| Music | 3½ stars |
| Humour | 2 stars |
| Intros/tags | 3½ stars |
| Villains | 4½ stars |
| Plot | 4½ stars |
| Emma | 3½ stars |
| Sets/Props | 3½ stars |
| Overall (0–10) |
7½ stars |
Not funny. But it’s not meant to be - Chessman and his pawns play the Ministry for fools until the final denouément.
The Fashions
| Emma’s Fashions | Steed’s Fashions |
|---|---|
|
|
The Cars
| Marque/Model/Type | Number Plate |
|---|---|
| Bentley | - |
| Laundry van | 469 FLH |
| Rickshaw | - |
Who’s Killing Whom?
| Victim | Killer | Method |
|---|---|---|
| Pasold | Gas masked guard? V* | poison gas? |
Click a name to see the face
Continuity and trivia
- Jeanne Roland is unbilled as Anna which is surprising, considering how in demand she was at the time for both film and television.
- 1:30 — the zoom in on the hand clutching at the curtain is initially too high, and is out of focus.
- 3:16 (3:05) and throughout - Steed and Mrs. Peel keep on calling Wadkin “Watkin”.
- 6:27 — Steed reveals a personal knowledge of Nee San prison camp in Manchuria, suggesting he was once captured by the Chinese.
- 24:45–50 — When Pasold gets out of the lift, it’s a different attendant from when he was inside.
- 32:18 — there’s a tiny thread caught on the very edge of the bottom of the transfer plate (it can’t be on a camera lens as it remains as the shots change). It remains until 33:33.
- 32:35 — Chessman’s empire of hotels is far flung - He mentions overlooking the Acropolis and Repulse Bay, (Athens and Hong Kong) but he also has other hotels. The map on his wall shows London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Rome, Lisbon, Athens, Cairo, Cape Town, Karachi, Madras (Chennai these days), Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Buenos Aires, St. John’s (Newfoundland), Boston, New York, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, and Honolulu.
- 32:56 — A member of the crew is in shot for a second, bending over to keep low and he dives under the table, trying to keep out of shot.
- 35:52 — Steed cuban, sun dried, hand rolled - rolled against the thigh of a jeune fille - echoes of 50k breakfast.
- 47:04 — Terry Plummer is stunt double for an extra in this episode, the sadistic guard played by Anthony Chinn. Billy Westley does Diana Rigg’s fight scene but I haven’t identified who’s doubling for Patrick Macnee yet.
- 47:20 — Phillips product placement
- 48:59 — Sped up footage of Steed towing the rickshaw
- 49:00 — that’s not Macnee and Rigg in the long shot
- Running time 49′55″
A note on the timecodes
Where I have listed two sets of timecodes, the first is from the 2009–11 Optimum Releasing/Studio Canal DVD sets, any other timecodes are from the A&E and Contender DVD sets from a decade beforehand.
The new releases have been remastered and their frame rate has been changed, resulting in a shorter running time. However, the picture quality has increased markedly. I assume this is because they used a simple 2:2 pulldown (24 @ 25) when converting from the original film masters (film runs at 24 frames per second, while PAL runs at 25fps, the new DVDs are in PAL format).
This pulldown was also the cause of audio errors on many episodes, especially for Series 5, as the audio sped up to match the new rate (4% faster), rather than being properly pitch-shifted. Checking the dialogue sheets, which list the feet and frames of the reels, it looks like the speed change is around 5.04%, so there may be some cuts as well - probably from around the commercial breaks and ends of reels, as they amount to about 25 seconds. All my assumptions are based on the episodes having been filmed on standard 35mm film, which has 16 frames per foot and runs at 24 frames per second, so a minute of footage uses 90 feet of film (1,440 frames).
These audio errors have been corrected in the currently available DVDs, but the 2:2 pulldown remains. There is also the addition of a Studio Canal lead-in, converted to black and white to match the episode for Series Four, but colour for Series Five, adding an extra 18 or 19 seconds to the runnning time and making it harder to match timecodes with previous releases. It’s annoying that it has been slapped on every single episode, Series 1–3 didn’t suffer this indignity.
The previous Contender and A&E DVD releases didn’t seem to suffer from these problems, so I assume they either used soft telecine and preserved the original 24fps rate of the film (my preferred option in DVDs) or they used 24 @ 25 pulldown (2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:3 Euro pull-down).
Thankfully, the new blu ray releases for series 4–6 appear to use native 24fps with soft telecine so the running times and pitch all seem to be correct again along with a much grreatly improved picture quality, most notably in the Tara King episodes which are finally back to their original glory.
Where I have listed two sets of timecodes, the first is from the 2009–11 Optimum Releasing/Studio Canal DVD sets, any other timecodes are from the A&E and Contender DVD sets from a decade beforehand.
The new releases have been remastered and their frame rate has been changed, resulting in a shorter running time. However, the picture quality has increased markedly. I assume this is because they used a simple 2:2 pulldown (24 @ 25) when converting from the original film masters (film runs at 24 frames per second, while PAL runs at 25fps, the new DVDs are in PAL format).
This pulldown was also the cause of audio errors on many episodes, especially for Series 5, as the audio sped up to match the new rate (4% faster), rather than being properly pitch-shifted. Checking the dialogue sheets, which list the feet and frames of the reels, it looks like the speed change is around 5.04%, so there may be some cuts as well - probably from around the commercial breaks and ends of reels, as they amount to about 25 seconds. All my assumptions are based on the episodes having been filmed on standard 35mm film, which has 16 frames per foot and runs at 24 frames per second, so a minute of footage uses 90 feet of film (1,440 frames).
These audio errors have been corrected in the currently available DVDs, but the 2:2 pulldown remains. There is also the addition of a Studio Canal lead-in, converted to black and white to match the episode for Series Four, but colour for Series Five, adding an extra 18 or 19 seconds to the runnning time and making it harder to match timecodes with previous releases. It’s annoying that it has been slapped on every single episode, Series 1–3 didn’t suffer this indignity.
The previous Contender and A&E DVD releases didn’t seem to suffer from these problems, so I assume they either used soft telecine and preserved the original 24fps rate of the film (my preferred option in DVDs) or they used 24 @ 25 pulldown (2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:3 Euro pull-down).
Thankfully, the new blu ray releases for series 4–6 appear to use native 24fps with soft telecine so the running times and pitch all seem to be correct again along with a much grreatly improved picture quality, most notably in the Tara King episodes which are finally back to their original glory.