Series 5 — Episode 6
The Winged Avenger

Regional broadcasts

TV Times listing

International broadcasts

I have not located this episode in the initial run of the series in Australia in 1967 but it appears, marked as a repeat, in the late night rerun series in 1975. It’s possible that April 14 1975 was in fact it very much belated premiere.

ORTF2 did not include this episode in their 1968 series - whether if fell victim to the strikes or was not picked up by the network is unclear. The French premiere appears to have been at 8.35pm on September 28 1973, on TF1.

Episode Rating

9/10! There’s not much that would improve this episode, it’s just about perfect. Oodles of wit and style combined with great direction and props make this a real viewing pleasure. Make sure you see it!

Mrs. Peel is busy painting when she’s distracted by discovering Steed has just signed her masterpiece.
Ruthless businessmen are being killed by a comic-strip character come to life.
Good on him, I say.
The illustrator, Arnie, has turned fiction into fact using special climbing boots invented by Professor Poole - with them, you can walk up the side of a house. A battle ensues on the ceiling before Steed uses Batman tactics to bring the Winged Avenger down to earth. POW! WHACK! BLAM!
Back at Mrs. Peel’s apartment Steed draws dinner, then serves it with a ping! of tureen lids.

The Cars

Who’s Killing Whom?

Click a name to see the face

The Fashions

Continuity and trivia

1. The illustrations seen throughout this episode are by Frank Bellamy, best known for his Fraser of Africa strip in Eagle and for drawing Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons for TV Century 21, and Joe 90. It was during a break from Thunderbirds in Autumn 1966 that Frank created the illustrations for this episode. He also designed the artists’ studio set and the Winder Avenger costume.
   Some of the mocked-up comic books are American comics with custom covers drawn by Frank pasted onto them.
2. 
   ©1961–9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved
   1:48 — The ‘Simon Roberts & Son - Publishers’ sign from this episode turns up in the back lot in "Epic". David Lodge, playing a policeman, falls on it.
3. 4:49 — Smirnoff and Johnny Walker product placement.
4. 2:32/8:35/43:48 — Every time the Avenger climbs a wall, we see his claws going up notched stone or concrete blocks, despite the fact that no building he ever climbs resembles them. Anyway, why is he using the claws when he could just walk up the wall?
5. 6:05 — A major continuity error in the intro! (see above) The entirety of the canvas is in full view at all times - even just at the point where Mrs. Peel starts in amazement - the crimson Mrs. PEEL is not on the corner of the canvas until after Steed walks around the back, wiping his brush.
6. 7:30 — Steed and Mrs. Peel consult an illustrated “Birds of the World”.
7. 8:20 — How is the The Winged Avenger parked in some woods near Simon Roberts & Son?
8. 11:18 — Grundig product placement.
9. 14:16 — Overdub, fluffed line, or melodrama?
   Sir Lexius is having tea with Emma and says “...tried to [gap] do me out of the profits!” Jenna Clayton thinks he said something else, I think he paused for effect (or maybe stumbled over his lines).
10. 15:14–15:30 — the bird in the air is different to the bird on the wrist - and Sir Lexius has a large hole in his leather gauntlet.
11. 15:45 — Arnie Packer’s telephone number (as dialled by Tay Ling) is 463–337.
12. 18:16 — Stand-ins for Miss Rigg: Billy Westley leaps over the hedge, wearing a wig... and Diane West walks through the garden (19:08).
13. 23:50 — Professor Poole’s house (Stanmore Hall) is the same as Brigadier Whitehead’s from From Venus with Love. Stanmore Hall was a popular shooting location for many shows of the time.
14. 24:01 — Stand-ins do the stair-climbing duties.
15. 24:32 — Diana Rigg makes the unfortunate choice of a white bra under a black knitted rollneck.
16. 25:34 — The (prop) staircase in Poole’s mansion shakes terribly whenever anyone’s on it; when Steed and Emma follow Poole up them, It looks as though the whole thing will collapse beneath them!
17. 27:47 — Emma spots an article about E.J. Dumayn in the Wednesday November 30 1966 edition of “The Daily Mail”
18. 28:57 — When Dumayne is killed, not only does he obviously catch himself and cushion his fall, but he also visibly inhales and exhales one time after he lands!
19. 32:18 — The Lotus headlights fail to close, and it’s Cyd (or maybe Billy!) who gets out.
20. 33:14 — Why would Poole have rows of book cover Parlimentary debates?
21. 33:50 and elsewhere - How do Poole, Emma and The Winged Avenger keep their bodies horizontal while climbing up the walls? They’re somehow managing it almost entirely through the use of their ankle muscles!
22. 33:50 and elsewhere - How do Poole, Emma and The Winged Avenger keep their bodies horizontal while climbing up the walls? They’re somehow managing it almost entirely through the use of their ankle muscles!
23. 
    ©1961–9 CANAL+IMAGE UK Ltd All Rights Reserved
    35:19 — The address of Winged Avenger Enterprises is 163 Boxley Road, .... Heath (according to Professor Poole’s cuff-note).
24. 38:00 — Steed and Emma fail to realize that finding the published The Winged Avenger comic with the picture of Dumayn’s body makes Packer at least a co-conspirator; they wonder aloud whether Packer or Stanton - or both - is the Winged Avenger.
25. 42:10 — more stair-climbing duties for a stand-in - possibly Diane West.
26. 42:28 — Steed’s near-side headlight still doesn’t work.
27. 42:29 — The perennial problem of colour-shift appears when Stanton & Steed are in the Bentley with the projected background of moving scenery.
28. 43:00–44:38 — When chasing Emma, The Winged Avenger climbs out the second story window, climbs up at least one story, then crashes through the window onto... the second story!
29. 
    ©1961–9 CANAL+IMAGE
    44:30 — Just before Stanton and Steed arrive at Poole’s house, Steed asks Stanton ‘How are we doing?” Stanton replies “Not too good!”and shows Steed a drawing, which in the longshot is nothing like the drawing of the Winged Avenger at the window that we are given as the close up.
30. 46:08 — During the fight with Emma, just after scratching the table, one of the hooks from the right claw falls off the Winged Avenger’s costume - and it falls up to the ceiling!
31. 46:32- - During the final fight scene, when Steed and Stanton break in, Emma and the Winged Avenger are 5 or 6 feet above them; but when Steed whacks him with the signs, he’s is little more than one foot above him!
32. 47:36 — The bird sculpture from Art Incorporated is in Mrs. Peel’s living room.
33. Running time: 49′23″

Cast notes

1. Ann Sydney was Miss World 1964 and a pop star of the time, often appearing on Shindig (in much the same way, Danger Man had a guest actor in Patsy Ann Noble for the episode “Not So Jolly Roger”).
2. John Garrie was obviously thought to look Asian to casting agents of the time - he turns up in the final Danger Man production Koroshi as a Japanese character.