1.6 - Girl on a Trapeeze

So Girl on the Trapeze is the first full episode of The Avengers that exists and this is when we get to see how the show works. Unfortunately though it doesn’t feature Patrick MacNee so its just Keel so you could say that this is the first opportunity to see what Keel can do. When I watch these episodes then I try and see what Doctor Who links there are. First is the writer, Dennis Spooner who was script editor and writer on the show during 1965. Another is Edwin Richfield who plays Stefan in this and in Doctor Who appeared in the 1972 story The Sea Devils.

The bit where the blonde woman jumps off the bridge and is told by the police to get an ambulance but takes a ridiculously long amount of time in doing it. That said the mystery of the blonde woman is enough to get Keel’s interest and this leads to him trying to find out more about here and with no Steed to get help from he draws the services of Carol to be his sidekick.

From the moment that Keel goes behind the curtain at the circus its clear that he going into a rather dangerous place as everyone in the circus is trying to hide things and the moment that Keel gets too close he instantly finds himself in a world of trouble and we find out about the blonde woman and the truth that they thought she had become corrupt and was being sent home and obviously she didn’t want this and so decided to end it all.

The performances in this episode are quite good. Ian Hendry shows keeps the performance solid and comes across as a rather ordinary person that just happens to have stumbled into such a shady situation. Ingrid Hafner isn’t really allowed to do very much as Carol but is still able to keep up with Hendry in the performances stakes. I stand corrected, she does get to be a bit sneaky and convince someone that she’s someone else and overpowers them. Lewis becomes his connection with the law enforcement and is played rather entertainingly by Howard Goorney. The first appearance of Richfield is quite good because its rather understated. From that moment on he instantly becomes the leader of that group. He is pretty much in every scene from this point and I don’t mind that because his performance warrants it.

The episode builds up to a thrilling climax and I like how its been slowly building up the ending and it didn’t feel rushed or contrived. Whilst I stated earlier that it unfortunately doesn’t feature MacNee in this episode, I cant say that he was entirely missed in the story. I do think that there is something reserved in Ian Hendry’s performance but that along with the story means that it more than does enough to cover up Steed’s absence. Spooner’s track record in Doctor Who shows that he can write an engaging story and he has done that here.

I enjoyed this story and thought that everything worked quite well. Looking forward to more.

1.1 - Hot Snow

Hot Snow marks the first story of the original series of The Avengers and sadly it doesn’t exist in its entirety. In fact there are only two episodes of the entire season with John Keel. I should point out that I have never really watched The Avengers especially the early years. I have listened to the audio version released by Big Finish which is where my intrigue for this show started to go. So there is only 15 minutes of this story that exist.

The first thing that strikes me about this episode is the rather basic opening titles. It looks like someone has just stood in front of a camera with the credits. I know that it’s harsh to compare 1961’s standards by 2015 but two years later Doctor Who does a hugely better opening credits so quite why ITV could stump up the cash for better title credits. You can’t judge a show on the titles thankfully and the fifteen minutes that exist take place pretty much in the GP surgery and feature Keel, Peggy, Doctor Tredding and Quigley.

Spicer (Godfrey Quigley) who is the first person we see in the show spends the entire quarter of an hour dropping of a parcel and hiding from Peggy, Dr Tredding and Keel. It does seem like someone is having a bit of fun with him trying to hide. It does stretch believability as to how he is able to avoid being noticed by anyone. After about ten minutes he leaves. It’s quite a impressive opening ten minutes despite the stretch in credibility.

There is a bit where a mysterious man is stroking a dog which does seem to be similar to Blofeld in the James Bond films.The frustration of this not existing in its full form hits around the 13 minute mark because this is where Quigley, Charlie and the other guy are about to kill Peggy. The final two minutes see Peggy killed on the orders of the mysterious man. The last shot is of Keel looking around. Before Big Finish made this story for audio, it must have been mighty frustrating to have an idea of what went on. How do Steed and Keel first meet and how do they end up working together?

If you listen to the Big Finish version then you will get a pretty good idea of what comes next and it’s a good solid opening story. Sadly Patrick McNee doesn’t feature in this bit but that’s the worst thing I can say about this portion. I think that I will enjoy watching the seven series of the Avengers but I know that the first season is very different to the rest.