Episode 83: Emma Peel Era |
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Produced: 18 February to ca. 1 March 1965
This one is at the top of my "Top Ten List" primarily because of the tender rapport between
Steed and Emma. There are countless little scenes where their closeness really shines through—I
live for the tag! Emma playing Oliver Twist is not to be missed ("My, you have filled
out!"), and the exchange between her and Steed about the bed in his room is one of the all-time
best.
This perennial fan favorite is also a favorite of Patrick Macnee's. Steedophiles will enjoy this composite of Steed. There is a sly reference to Honor Blackman in this episode: as Steed and Emma open his Christmas cards ("And who is 'Boofums'?"), she announces that one of them is from Cathy, and hands it to Steed, who remarks, "Mrs. Gale! Oh, how nice of her to remember me. What can she be doing in Fort Knox?" Mark H. Stevens notes that a recent episode of the new Outer Limits has a familiar-sounding plot: a secret government organization uses a group of telephaths to combine their psychic power and destroy targeted individuals... Liz notes that Brandon Storey, the publisher with the Dickens obsession, was played by Mervyn Johns, who also played Bob Cratchit in the 1951 film version of Dickens' A Christmas Carol with Alistair Sim as Scrooge and a very young-looking Patrick Macnee as the young Jacob Marley! Recycled prop: Beth thinks the bed that Emma fancies looks to be the one that almost kills Steed in "Castle De'ath." This is the one and only episode of the fourth season for which Harry Pottle was not the Art
Director. Robert Jones had the honor on this occasion.
The Tag.
Touring Steed's bedroom, Emma admires the four-poster and remarks, "I've always rather fancied myself in one of these." Steed: "So have I—I mean, I have, too." Margaret Warren reminds me of another great line: when Steed and Emma are on their way to the
mirror room and Steed is ruminating about people "poking around in one's inmost thoughts," Emma
agrees, then they both stop and stare upwards with frowns, and Steed remarks, "And you can put
that in your crystal ball!"
Steed and Emma take a romantic ride home in a horse-drawn carriage. He lifts a mistletoe over their heads and... Wow! |
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TOO MANY CHRISTMAS TREES |
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Teleplay by |
Tony Williamson |
CAST |
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John Steed |
Patrick Macnee
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Robert James |
Hot Snow |
Mervyn Johns |
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Edwin Richfield |
Girl on the Trapeze |
Alex Scott |
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Barry Warren |
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materials copyrighted per their respective copyright holders. |