Series 6 — Episode 12
They Keep Killing Steed

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.

Continuity & Trivia

1. 1:25 — In the extreme long shot, Arcos has already started running towards the taxi, but in the extreme close-up, he’s just turned to look.
2. 1:41 — They finally managed to reuse the set from The Living Dead - recognise those walls and pipes?
3. 3:25 — Mother and Rhonda are in a rowing boat, same location as BIRD? , Mother answers the phone as Rhonda drops the anchor. She then cuttles the boat so they can descend to the submarine below.
4. 5:14 — Boddy Fuest betrays his Peter Hammond influences in this episodes with shots in reflection, through curtains etc.
5. 7:45 — The camera zooms in, then bounces out and back in again.
6. 9:24 — Steed asks to be driven to 14 Wheelwright Street
7. 11:06 — Gadgetry of the secret services : Steed starts cutting his ropes against the sharp edge of his bowler’s rim. He gets through at 12:32.
8. 20:32 — Surely that’s the other side of the door of the butter churn from False Witness!
9. 22:30 — Is that a slow reprise of theme from Something Nasty In The Nursery?
10. 31:03 — That’s a terrible sculpture! Was Steed being sarcastic when he told Arcos he had great skill?
11. 31:10 — Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin product placement (instead of the the usual Meudon et Heim).
12. 32:25 — The same people are walking up the stairs toward sthe house as were doing so at 30:12 — did they leave something in the car? Did they pop out for a gasper? Is this classic recycled footage?
13. 33:10 — Macnee’s eyes flicker when Horsfall touches him with his hand, even though he’s supposed to be playing a now-dead doppelganger.
14. 35:24 — The chairman of the conference is in the conference room, but a split-second earlier he was in the crowd through which Tara and von Curt were passing, along with some of the delegates. (This is more recycled footage, the sequence at 26:22, with Steed moving through the crowd, is almost identical to that at 35:24 when Tara does the same, as well as the sequence at 32:27.
15. 36:05 (40:00) - the shot of the exploding bomb uses footage of the exploding ammunition shed from Have Guns - Will Haggle.
16. 40:25 — music from A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Station
17. 41:30 onwards (44:30) - the music during the car chase is from A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Station.
18. 43:06 — Just before Steed reaches the quarry, he turns the same corner he turned back at 42:00.
19. 44:10 — There’s bad camera work in the close up; both Steed and the mask go out of focus, and we have a shot of the out of focus wall between them for a few seconds.
20. 45:40–45:55 — There’s a patch of clay that keeps appearing and disappearing on one of Tara’s (Cyd Child’s) thighs.
21. 46:05 — Sadly, given the subject of this episode, the stuntmen playing the two Steeeds are not much like Patrick Macnee.
22. 48:40 — This shot makes no sense. Why would Arcos turn back into himself?
23. Mike Olliffe shared a copy of a movement order (JPG 112KB) from when he was on the third until under John Hough. Mike told me John went on to be director on the strength of his work with the second and third units and, as we all know, there are many great The Avengers episodes with his direction.
24. Running time: 50′14″

The Transport

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The Fashions