Episode 28: Cathy Gale Era
Page 28 of 192
 |
||||
 |
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
A.K.A.
|
||||
|
||||
Other Viewpoints |
Mort en vol
Muerte En Camino
Sabotaggio
|
Production completed: 26 May 1962
UK Premiere (London, Season 2): 29 December 1962
US Premiere (A&E cable):ca. 13 February 1991
It was fortunate for the few
survivors of a suspicious passenger jet crash that the accident took place near a
convent—or was it? The real puzzle is that there was more than one crash at the same
location in Ireland. Hmmm, it wouldn't have anything to do with the bank consignments being
carried on the planes, would it?
IMHO |
Steed is surprisingly more the hard-working professional in this outing than he is usually—and he's just as serious about womanizing, too. The episode's greatest handicap is Steed's new side-kick, Dr. Martin King, for me a regrettably unmemorable character.
Trivia |
Strictly speaking, this is not a "Cathy Gale" episode, even though it was broadcast as part of the UK's second season. After Ian Hendry left, Jon Rollason was brought in as a replacement for three leftover Keel scripts, before Honor Blackman was signed on.
Jon Rollason had a tough route to TV. Four years before his Avengers role, he was penniless. "I had auditioned for a small part in a West End play," he told TV Times magazine in November 1962. "I desperately needed the job for I had a wife and two children to support." He was told that he was too good for the role, and reluctantly he went to look for other work. The low point of his early career was playing Shakespeare in repertory theatre... "I played the dead Henry V who is carried on at the beginning of Henry VI," he said.
According to Television's Greatest Hits, this was the top-rated episode for this year, and ranked seventh of all Avengers episodes according to viewer ratings at the time it aired. See what the other top-rated episodes were.
The studio paperwork for this episode identifies it as "Project 3501."
*This unofficial subtitle is by Yours Truly.
Best Scene |
With their plot revealed, one of the nuns produces a machine gun from her habit in a welcome bit of absurdity.
Essential Reading |
- The Avengers Declassified by Alan Hayes
- Mrs. Peel... We're Needed by Piers Johnson