Series 4 — Episode 20
The Danger Makers

Regional broadcasts

TV Times listing

International broadcasts

This episode saw a time slot change in Melbourne, Australia, with The Avengers moving from 7.30pm Tuesday to the 8pm Friday night slot, replacing Dr. Kildare. The time slot was unchanged in Sydney, continuing on Tuesday nights.

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. Spain and France also chose not to include it in contemporary broadcasts.

There is an episode is listed for broadcast on 12^th December 1967 in the Netherlands under the title “De vreesaanjagers” which could conceivably be The Danger Makers - but is more likely an early version of the title for The Fear Merchants, later shown (9/8/1969) as “Handel in Angst”. Most listings for 12^th December 1967 have “De autorally” (Dead Man’s Treasure instead so The Danger Makers may never have been shown in Holland.

Episode Rating

A great storyline and telling performances by principals and guests. Still, there’s something not quite right, and the episode falls short of the high status it would otherwise deserve.

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Continuity and trivia

1. 1:30 — The motorbike, 452 YMF, must belong to the stuntman, he previously rode it in Dial a Deadly Number and rides it again about two years later in Mission... Highly Improbable.
2. 2:03 — The truck, 2705 VX, which hits the General’s motorbike also appeared in Man-eater of Surrey Green; it appears later on in this episode when it encounters Robertson’s Sunbeam (32:20–32:30).
3. 2:18 — The truck driver’s mate was previously one of the victims of the alien plant in Man-eater of Surrey Green.
4. 3:03 — That’s almost certainly not Macnee and Rigg in the Bentley.
5. 11:20 — The timing is right for the grenade fuses, but only one seems to go off - Robertson’s flew off to the right and there’s no explosion from that direction.
6. 13:11 — The CU of the four white feathers doesn’t match the mid shot at all.
7. 15:15–15:29 — The medal box has the plaque “To Woody from Wing Commander Watson RAF Hamelin”
8. 15:30–16:47 — Wing Commander Watson’s plane glides smoothly from being a Supermarine Swift to being a De Havilland Chipmunk just before it crashes behind the copse.
9. 15:50 — There are two extra airmen in the background of the long shot, but they’re nowhere to be see in the mid shot until 16:34.
10. 20:55 — Robertson appears to call “Apollo” on 25512.
11. 22:00 — Dr. Long’s responses to Steed’s questions are so glib they should have given him away immediately.
12. 
    23:04 — Stanhope’s regimental patch in the close-up reads “ ”MID WESEX" - the patch looks like a doctored “MIDDLESEX” patch (especially as Wessex hasn’t existed for centuries, and is spelt with a double-S). In fact, in the first grenade trench scene (8:38–11:37, esp. 9:00 & 9:50) and elsewhere in the episode (e.g. 22:00, 22:59), Stanhope and Robertson’s shoulder patches DO still read “MIDDLESEX”. They must have altered the patch for the close-up to avoid any potential legal issue.
13. 26:00 — Steed’s Bentley has no numberplate at the front and (26:16) it’s clearly a stuntman driving the Bentley.
14. 26:25 — Colonel Adams OBE’s museum is a celebration of her family:
    • Colonel Jollyon Adams - died at the Battle of Saratoga, 1777, born at Manton House (24:00–24:08)
    • (unknown relative) - Crimean War - Battle of Inkerman (The Soldiers’ Battle), 1854 [26:25 — “9,000 British had kept 40,000 Russians at bay”]
    • General Forsyth Adams - 1841–1909 — Spion Kop, 1900
    • General Sir Archibald Adams, killed on the Somme, 1917
    • Colonel Soames Adams, Waterloo

    Her visitors’ book contains famous names - none revealed directly, but two are:

    • US President Dwight D. Eisenhower
    • Field Marshall Montgomery
15. 29:27 — Watson’s Danger Makers name was “Pegasus”. When pressed for his, Steed says “Bacchus” (30:16), much to Colonel Peters’ surprise.
16. 31:03 — Emma already standing on the ladder when Robertson says, “You seemed to agree with me”, but then we have a CU of her standing up!
17. ©1961–9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved
    31:55–33:00 — Major Robertson’s Sunbeam Alpine has a bit of a double life - it’s a Series V for all the external action shots and a Series IV for the closeups filmed in the studio.
18. 32:25–32:30 — Mrs. Peel puts her hand over her eyes as they dangerously approach the truck, lowering it after they pass safely, but the stuntwoman in the car doesn’t have her hand up in the long shot. It’s also the same truck as the General ran into at 2:03.
19. 35:20 — Emma sums up the Danger Makers: “a bunch of schizoid, paranoid psychopaths”.
20. 43:13 — Robertson puts a silencer on his revolver. Silencers don’t work on most revolvers due to the gap between the barrel and the cylinder.
21. Billy Westley once again performs stunts for Diana Rigg, notably at 45:29/47:07 when he leaps the length of the table in the Black Rose Room fight.
22. Running time: 49′42″