Episode 36: Cathy Gale Era
Page 36 of 192
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Production completed: 1 November 1962
UK Premiere (London, Season 2): 17 November 1962
US Premiere (A&E cable): ca. 5 February 1991
An extremely rare stamp turns up on
a common catalog list, rather like a da Vinci appearing in a sale flier for K-Mart. The
fellow who made this discovery is shot. Fortunately, Steed had the man's phone tapped, and
soon, with the aid of Cathy's philately expertise, they are able to get their feet in the
door of a fanatic political group preparing to simultaneously overthrow the British and
several European governments.
IMHO |
Gets off to a slow start, but once Steed arrives at the dentist's, the pace picks up quickly. High marks for some delightfully fanatical performances and a few excellent touches, such as the dentist explaining to Steed how she knew he was a fake—a wonderfully outrageous bit that one might expect to see in a Monty Python skit!
The stamp catalogs, by the way, were being used to transmit coded information among the various group headquarters, and the Mauritius Penny was the "Hitler" of the organization.
Trivia |
Stephen in the UK notes: The New Rule meeting in this episode was later adapted by Terrance Dicks for "Robot", a mid-70s installment of Doctor Who. It also features a meeting held by the Scientific Reform Society (which has much in common with the organisation in "Penny"), which is infiltrated by the Doctor's journalist companion Sarah, who is soon exposed as a spy. In 2001, Dicks considered these similarities in an introduction to a book containing the script for "Robot": "I was genuinely unaware of the similarities between 'Robot' and 'Penny'. They're undoubtedly there, but the whole process was unconscious at the time. My old friend Mac Hulke [co-writer of 'Penny'] used to say that to write science fiction, or any kind of fiction, you needed a strong original idea. It didn't have to be your strong original idea. On this case, curiously enough, it was my idea - or rather ours. Still, I don't suppose Mac would have minded."
And Lars Walker writes: I was surprised to recognize the organ music being played during the auction. It's a Norwegian hymn, "Den Store, Hvite Flokk,'" which means "The Great White Host," usually translated "Behold A Host." A strange musical choice, it seems to me.
*This unofficial subtitle is by Yours Truly.
