Series 5 — Episode 2
The Fear Merchants

Regional broadcasts

TV Times listing

International broadcasts

There is an episode 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 Dutch translation of the title for this episode, 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 even if it had been The Danger Makers, it may not have been broadcast in Holland anyway.

Episode Rating

Psychological thrillers are right up my alley, so I give this episode the thumbs up. I don’t know if you could exactly call it a likeable episode, but one may appreciate its darkness. Great acting and a strong plot make this a most memorable episode.

A man awakes in the middle of Wembley stadium and goes mad, but he’s not the only one.
Emma receives a box of chocolates - but it’s empty except for a card from Steed declaring they’re needed.
All of Jeremy Raven’s business rivals are going mad or dying, through one fear or another. The Business Efficiency Bureau have a motto: “our merchandise is fear” - they discover people’s fears and frighten them to death. Steed, determined to get to the bottom of their plot, enrols as a client and Mrs Peel becomes his business rival. The Avengers close down the B.E.B. by discovering the evildoers are afraid of the dark.
Mrs. Peel discovers that Steed is afraid she may have run out of champagne.

The Cars

Who’s Killing Whom?

Click a name to see the face

The Fashions

Continuity and trivia

1. Gordon Flemyng was not considered an Avengers director by the producers and may have been replaced during filming. Robert Day directed the tag scene with Alan Hume directing photography in place of Wilkie Cooper. It’s possible they did other scenes as well. Additionally, the call sheet for 18th October 1966 lists the supervising editor Peter Tanner as director for that day’s filming, most of which was exteriors.

2. 6:00 — White and Crawley is (or was) a respectable firm of picture framers, picture restorers and museum providores - they’ve framed much of H.M. Queen Elizabeth II’s collection of renaissance drawings.
3. 6:00 — Did anyone else notice that Gordon White has the same lamp in his office as Steed has in his apartment in other episodes?
4. 7:54 — the close shot of Steed checking the unconscious chauffeur, Williams, shows him at the end of a long red brick porch, completely at odds with the previous shot where he’s in a small blonde brick garage.
5. When Crawley’s chauffeur (the real Williams) is first seen lying unconscious or dead in the garage, he’s lying on his stomach with his arms at his side. However, in the close up when Steed examines him, he’s lying on his side and his arms are up!
6. 8:07 — When Steed takes off in pursuit of Crawley’s Rolls, the Bentley is in a completely different location to the previous shot - even on a different street! - chain fence on one side, building site on the other, whereas previously it had been in a car park of an office building, opposite the yellow brick garage where Williams was lying unconscious.
7. 15:30 — The close-ups of Steed are out of focus.
8. 18:13 — The door of Raven’s automated potter pops back open when he tries to close it.

9. In the office...	...at the home	Anywhere!
   ©1961–9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved

   22:00–22:07 — The feather Emma picks up in the office after Gordon White is murdered is significantly different from that which she shows to Steed back at her apartment, and which he proceeds to tickles her feet with.
10. 26:58 — The chart which Dr. Voss holds bears no relation to those taken while Raven was in the seat - the peaks are much larger.
11. 27:45 — Steed has an answering machine/dictation device (it’s an Ansafone), new technology in 1967! Not to be left out, Emma has one in The Bird Who Knew Too Much.
12. 
    34:33 — That was quite a long meeting Steed has with the BEB! - an 11am start, and he leaves at 3:35pm?
    
13. 38:55 and throughout - the long shots of Steed in the quarry don’t look like Macnee. It’s fairly clear in the MS at 40:07 that it’s Rocky Taylor.
14. 40:14 — Gilbert backs the bulldozer away from the edge of the pit and puts the brake on, but at 40:27 it’s perched right on the edge of the precipice, ready to plunge in and crush all beneath it.
15. 40:33 — Steed is still buyoing his bowlers from Herbert Johnson & Son, as shown by the milliner’s mark inside the crown of the bowler.
16. 41:25 — Rocky stands in for Garfield Morgan in the bulldozer crushing sequence as well.
17. 
    ©1961–9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved
    44:47 — When Dr. Voss takes Mrs. Peel’s results from the computer, the INDEX BEYOND CAPACITY notice is in a different place to where it is when Pemberton reads it.
18. 46:40–47:13 — In the finale, Steed turns off the light, Pemberton yells for emergency lighting, the lights come on, Emma kicks away Pemberton’s gun, and Steed throws his umbrella at the lights, smashing one of them (you can see the glass break!) and knocking them both out of commission. Then, after the fight, Steed clicks the light switch and turns them back on!
19. 47:09 — Dr. Voss fires a shot at Steed before Emma collides with her, but it still misses ... of course, she could just be a lousy shot.
20. 47:18 — At the very end, Steed asks Emma if she was afraid he wouldn’t arrive in time, and she replies that the thought never entered her head. The lie detector, which is activated when the arm rests are pressed down, shows she’s lying. He then asks her “Never, Mrs. Peel?” Emma then sits up, taking her arms off the activator arm rests, and replies, “Never, Mr. Steed”... and the lie detector keeps working, registering the lie!
21. 48:03 — The bird sculpture from The Girl From Auntie is decorating Mrs. Peel’s flat.
22. Running time: 49′35″

Cast notes

1. Annette Carell appeared (misbilled as Annette Carrell) as ‘B’ in episode “A, B and C” of The Prisoner.
2. Several actors get no credit in the cast list, can anyone identify them? Their mugshots are shown here. ADDENDUM - Alan Hayes has suggested that Patrick Macnee has a cameo appearance as John Tyler, disguised by a beard and a strategically placed chair.

   John Tyler	David Wallace	Williams

3. 
   Saunders
   The comedy weight lifter is Declan Mulholland, but why he gets a credit when he doesn’t speak and is on screen for maybe two or three seconds is beyond me.