Series 6 — Episode 1
Game

Regional broadcasts

TV Times listing

International broadcasts

There is a great deal of confusion in Swiss newspapers in 1969. Most newspapers have Game (incorrectly called Yeux — “Eyes” instead of Jeux — “Games”) on June 10 1969 and They Keep Killing Steed — Mais qui est Steed? — on June 17 1969. L’Impartial and La Liberté confuse things as they have an extended summary for Game on June 17 1969, despite the listing saying it is Mais qui est Steed?. The Journal de Jura lists Yeux on 10 June, report on 16 June that Mais qui est Steed? will be shown tomorrow, then on 17 June their listing has Jeux, alongside a summary for the same episode — the same episode summary as in L’Impartial, so I assume it was supplied by TV Romande. Even more confusingly, Journal de Sierre does not show The Avengers on 10 June at all — and all the times for other programmes have changed. Mais qui est Steed? does not appear in the rest of the run that ends in September, so it seems most likely that some newspaper go the order wrong OR TV Romande switched the episodes around at the last moment, just as they may have done with the previous two episodes, Get-A-Way! and The Curious Case of the Countless Clues. This would explain why only some papers had a different listing and the reptition of Game. It is just possible that in some areas such as Vallais Game was pre-empted on 10 June and screened on 17 June instead, and those regions never saw They Keep Killing Steed at all.

This episode was not broadcast in Italy until 1980.

Continuity & Trivia

1. 3:00 — Dexter is suddenly lower down the ladder again.
2. 3:26 — The angle of the ladder as Dexter approaches the “REWARD” doors is completely different to that when he was climbing (unless the wall is supposed to be heavily slanted).
3. 4:14 — Dexter’s body has been left at the children’s playground in Merton Park.
4. 5:44 — Steed’s words, “Check them for me at Jig Creations” have been dubbed in.
5. 6:45–7:00 — The Master doing the jigsaw is one of those cringe-making sped up sequences, this time reversed to throw salt into the wound.
6. 9:51 — The manservant uses chloroform to kidnap Averman.
7. 10:40 — An obvious stuntman for Macnee, it’s probably Paul Weston, judging by his height.
8. 11:54 — An early masking technique to put Averman’s face on the television screen. It’s used again at 39:50 to show Steed in the ‘Game’.
9. 19:18 — The trench looks especially fake in this shot.
10. 19:37 — Anthony Newlands nearly falls into the trench when he tries to leap out and his foot misses the ledge.
11. 21:00 — Linda Thorson looks straight down the camera - is she that embarrassed by her terrible lines, or that she just about fluffed them?
12. 21:18–21:30 — vertical scratch on tape
13. 25:00 — the Brigadier’s medals are:
    CBE, DSO, Military Cross 1939–45 Star, Africa Star, Italy Star, France and Germany Star Defence Medal, War Medal 1939–45, Korea Medal, United Nations Service Medal for Korea, Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal
14. 25:30 — It looks like they’re in the same field as they met Mother in Super Secret Cypher Snatch and had their picnic at the end of All Done with Mirrors.
15. 26:00–26:30 — That’s Joe Dunne standing in for Anthony Newlands and doing the fall over the windscreen.
16. 28:55 — Steed refers to Witney’s “academical” colleagues. Is that even a word?
17. 34:55 — Is that Romo Gorara doing Garfield Morgan’s stunts?
18. 35:03 — The manservant uses chloroform to kidnap Tara, this time leaving behind the pad of gauze and finishing the jigsaw, so Steed would know to come after them.
19. 36:30 — The Master has the book “Missing Pieces” on his table.
20. 39:50 — When the “Super Secret Agent” contest begins, the background music becomes a harpsichord-tinged piece reminiscent of “High Wire”, Edwin Astley’s “Danger Man” theme.
21. 41:00–47:30 — Steed’s tasks in the ‘Super Secret Agent’ Game:
    • 41:08 — You encounter fiendish Japanese wrestler - but he’s not very Japanese! - reward of a key, attached to the wrestler’s earring
    • 41:58 — You must disconnect time bomb - reward of the gun
    • 43:18 — You room is sealed with booby traps - the chamber in which Steed collects the gun seals and he has to choose which of the six doors is safe to go through - reward of magazine for gun.
    • 44:16 — You must penetrate dark tunnel - at 44:40 Steed’s hat is cut in two by a descending sheet of metal - reward of ammunition for the gun, only one bullet of which is live.
    • 45:00 — You are confronted with six thugs - Bristow adds “six assailants at six second intervals”.
22. 45:00–47:30 — Paul Weston and Cyd Child stand-in for the fight as Steed and Tara.
23. 45:20 — there’s a hair stuck to the screen near bottom centre as Steed dispatches the thug with six dots on his jersey.
24. Running time: 49′24″

The Transport

Who’s Killing Whom?

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The Fashions