Mrs Peel, We're Needed - news updates

Happy birthday, Steed

Mon, 6 Feb 2012 07:25:00 +1100

Happy 90^th birthday, Patrick Macnee. This site wouldn't exist without you.

Credit where credit's due

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:55:00 +1100

In honour of his impending 90^th birthday, I've dedicated the website to Patrick Macnee and returned to the brown colour scheme.

Uncredited - until now

Mon, 9 Jan 2012 12:25:00 +1100

Thanks to the kind folk of the Britmovies forum, some extras have been identified for several Tara King episodes - Game (Max Faulkner), Super Secret Cypher Snatch (Paddy Ryan and Arthur Howell), and You'll Catch Your Death (Eden Fox).

"Always keep your bowler on in times of stress"

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 09:35:00 +1100

"...and watch out for diabolical masterminds". Emma gives Steed some good advice before saying farewell in The Forget-Me-Knot - and we, too, bid farewell to Series Five as the updates are now complete.
Four more episodes get their own makeover:

The Positive Negative Man (15 more trivia items)
Murdersville (added a villager and 12 more trivia items)
Mission... Highly Improbable (added 10 guards and VIPs and 10 more trivia items)
The Forget-Me-Knot (18 more trivia items)

All the mugshots are 500x400 (or smaller for some of the bit parts). The series nows has 105 additional walk-on and bit-part actors, and 373 additional continuity and trivia items, a 246% increase.

"Whoever heard of a nine-hundred-and-ninety-nine-thousand-nine-hundred-and-ninety-niner-aire?"

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 19:50:00 +1100

Steed finds himself one short of a million - ha'pennies - in You Have Just Been Murdered.
Four more episodes get their own makeover:

Death's Door (added 47, yes 47!, reports, delegates and spies and 10 more trivia items)
The £50,000 Breakfast (added 8 party guests and 18 more trivia items)
Dead Man's Treasure (added 26 rally participants and 13 more trivia items)
You Have Just Been Murdered (added 24 party guests and 15 more trivia items)

All the mugshots are 500x400 (or smaller for some of the bit parts). The series nows has 318 additional continuity and trivia items, a 248% increase for the epsiodes re-edited so far. So far I've added around a hundred additional walk-on actors as well.

"I'm Head of Intelligence, do you take me for a perfect idiot?"

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 22:30:00 +1100

The outburst of a frustrated Major B. in Who's Who???
Five more episodes get their own makeover. The series nows has 262 additional continuity and trivia items, a 245% increase for the epsiodes re-edited so far.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Station (36 - yes, 36! - additional bit part actors (mostly passengers on trains) and 18 more trivia items)
Something Nasty in the Nursery (12 more trivia items)
The Joker (16 more trivia items)
Who's Who??? (20 more trivia items)
The Return of the Cybernauts (14 more trivia items)

All the mugshots are 500x400 (or smaller for some of the bit parts).

"Half an oaf is better than low bred"

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 08:35:00 +1100

So quips Steed in The Correct Way to Kill and it seems fitting to announce more improved cast photos and new trivia for four of my favourite episodes:

The Correct Way to Kill (3 additional bit part actors and 16 more trivia items)
Never, Never Say Die (4 additional bit part actors and 19 more trivia items)
Epic (14 more trivia items)
The Superlative Seven (12 more trivia items)

All the mugshots are 500x400 (or smaller for some of the bit parts).

Headline act

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 20:10:00 +1100

Headlines, table headings and definition terms across "Mrs Peel, We're Needed" are now all in Bureau Grotesk One Three, the official "The Avengers" font.

Pussies Galore!

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 13:48:00 +1100

No, not a Bond film or something from the flesh studios of Europe; it's improved cast photos and new trivia for The Hidden Tiger. (Now you where they got the name for that film from!) All the mugshots are 500x400 (or smaller for some of the bit parts) and there are 22 additional continuity and production errors.

Once more unto the breech

Sat, 15 Oct 2011 23:00:00 +1100

The rebuild of Series Five begins. Improved cast photos are now online for the first seven episodes, giving you glorious 500x400 shots of nearly every actor - the leads have 800x640, some extras are too far away to do better than 400x320.
I have added 4 more bit-part players to The Living Dead.

Elsewhere, there are 94 more new continuity and trivia items for these episodes, and all the others expanded and corrected: From Venus with Love (17), The Fear Merchants (12), Escape in Time (18), The See-Through Man (11), The Bird who Knew too Much (10), The Winged Avenger (15), The Living Dead (11).

A rush and a push and the land that we stand on is ours

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 08:00:00 +1000

The rebuild of Series Four is now complete. The improved cast photos are now online, giving you glorious 500x400 shots of nearly every actor - the leads have 800x640, some extras are too far away to do better than 400x320.
I have added 84 more bit-part and walk-on players for the series and cleaned up a few duplications along the way.

Elsewhere, there are yet more new continuity and trivia items, and all the others expanded and corrected, for the Emma Peel episodes The Quick-Quick Slow Death (10), The Danger Makers (16), A Touch of Brimstone (8), What the Butler Saw (18), The House that Jack Built (15), A Sense of History (12), How to Succeed... at Murder (5), and Honey for the Prince (15).

The continuity items are now three times more extensive than before, even though a couple of episodes seem to have suffered a pan and scan crop in the remastering process. My ten year old NTSC DVDs occassionally have more of the stage visible, despite the picture quality being much worse.

Random jottings

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 20:30:00 +1000

In my rescreening of Series Four I have so far added 77 more bit-part and walk-on players, I expect the final count to top 100 when I launch the improved cast photos.
Elsewhere, there are yet more new continuity and trivia items, and all the others expanded and corrected, for the Emma Peel episodes Castle De'ath (8), The Thirteenth Hole (8), Small Game for Big Hunters (6), and The Girl from Auntie (24).

Did Dave Clark date Emma Peel?

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 21:50:00 +1000

It would a mod marriage made in heaven is they had, but how else do we explain* Mrs Peel driving Dave Clark's Mini Moke, BOX 656C, in A Surfeit of H₂O?
Dave and the Five drive it to the meat market at the beginning of their film, "Catch Us if You Can", en route to appearing in a commercial for meat - "Meat for Go!". Fab.

* Assuming we suspend disbelief, of course.

Internet Explorer less popular - official

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 09:00:00 +1000

I check my stats this morning and I discover IE usage of my site has dropped over the past few months to just over 36% or users. Isn't it installed on 90% of the world's computers? It just goes to show... actually, what it does show is that Safari and Chrome are the current beneficiaries, both up 10%.

Luckily, good sense if prevailing and usage of IE6 is now down to 0.2% of traffic.

Elsewhere, and more importantly, I have more new continuity and trivia items - 61 of them - and all the others expanded and corrected, for the Emma Peel episodes Silent Dust (23), Man-eater of Surrey Green (18), and The Hour that Never Was (20).
I also may have tipped Anthony Mackay off for a new location for two of those episodes.

Trivia night

Thu, 4 Aug 2011 08:00:00 +1000

More new continuity and trivia items - 31 of them - added, plus two major corrections, to the Emma Peel episodes Room without a View (10), A Surfeit of H₂O (11), and Two's a Crowd (10).
Did you know that "Greesha" was Russian slang for a stand-over man?

Happy Birthday, Diana

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 10:00:00 +1000

A belated birthday update : New continuity and trivia items - 28 of them - added to the Emma Peel episode The Gravediggers (you just know I'm recapturing all the cast mugshots, don't you?) and there are extra links to the Avengers Calendar, in honour of Diana's 73rd brithday on 20 July.

A flurry of bubbles, then silence

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 20:45:00 +1000

It may sound like I'm drowning, but I think I've just dragged myself out onto the bank, gasping for breath and stuck with mud and pondweed.
The site has just had some major reshuffling, in preparation for the inevitable migration to jQuery. You shouldn't notice much beyond the extra 60 continuity and trivia items added to the first seven Emma Peel episodes: The Town of No Return, The Murder Market, The Master Minds, Dial a Deadly Number, Death at Bargain Prices, Too Many Christmas Trees and The Cybernauts.

It's impolite to dicusss money

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 11:20:00 +1000

I received an email complaining about making the website "pay for view" which surprised me a bit, as I hadn't. I suspect my correspondent misconstrued the Paypal support buttons, so I've clarified the site's position here - it is purely as your whim dictates although I will of course hire Martin Trasker and Janice Crane to influence you (that's a joke, in case I've offended anyone again).
Oh well, you can't please all the people all the time.

Elsewhere, I've toned down the gold theme as I was hankering for the original backgrounds, the episode subnavigations have been standardised as well, so you'll always know where to click.

Becoming more socially acceptable

Fri, 1 Jul 2011 14:20:00 +1000

You may notice as of today that Mrs Peel, We're Needed! now has Google +1 buttons on every page as Google stumbles into the social networking world. I'm always at the top of Google search results for the site but a bit of extra publicity doesn't hurt... and AddThis seems decidely unpopular with my readers.

"The Avengers" Season 1 re-illustrated

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 20:55:00 +1000

Season One has bee re-illustrated. As of today, mugshots in the guides for this season are now 250x250 and the cast list lightbox photos are mostly either 500x400 or 400x500, depending on the image. Some extras have smaller images due to the resolution of the source material.

I've returned to the archives and watched miles of footage reconfirming many of the bit players, adding 33 new mugshots and making 13 corrections. There are now 339 cast member mugshots for the season. Many thanks to Alan Hayes (as ever), Cornershop and all at Britmovies for their help.

p.s. If you find my research useful or like the site, you can now support me via Paypal, using the links on the site.

Carrots are good for your eyes

Mon, 16 May 2011 20:30:00 +1000

...or so they say. Complete nonsense, of course; invented by I-Corps (in which Steed served) during the Second World War in an attempt to explain away the RAF's uncanny ability in intercepting German raids (which of couse was due to the newly-invented radar). Here, I'm not talking about carrots at all, but the introduction of new cast member "mugshots".
The use of a lightbox to display the mugshots means I am no longer constrained to the 150x150 size I've been using for the last three years. So, Season Two and Season Three have had a facelift. As of today, mugshots in the guides for these seasons are now 250x250 and the cast list lightbox photos are mostly either 500x400 or 400x500, depending on the image. Some extras have smaller images due to the resolution of the source material.

All of this is possible because the revision of Season Three is now complete. Along the way, I've added 126 new mugshots and removed 11 errors - there are now 530 cast member mugshots for the season. I've also added all the available original production data and an additional 327 trivia and continuity items - 427 in all, four times as many as before.

Lobster Thermidor?

Sun, 15 May 2011 21:30:00 +1000

Lobster Quadrille has been updated with full production information, updated mugshots - including ten new extras. There are also eighteen new trivia and continuity items, with the others expanded.

Venus Smith sings on telly

Fri, 13 May 2011 09:00:00 +1000

For a site about a television show, we seem to be very light on footage (mainly for copyright reasons). To rectify this, I have just added videos of all of Venus' songs, and her backing bands' other numbers. These now sit alongside the audio versions, so you have a choice of listening or watching them. Episodes updated are listed below:

Esprit de Corps re-enlisted

Wed, 11 May 2011 11:00:00 +1000

It's been a long time between drinks but I've finally conquered Project X - phase 1 and gone back to updating episodes. Esprit de Corps has been updated with full production information, updated mugshots - including eighteen new extras from the party scenes, some of whom I have identified. There are also thirteen new trivia and continuity items, with the others expanded.

Project X will go live when I finish Lobster Quadrille.

Goodbye, Google Ads

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 12:00:00 +1000

The Google Ads have gone - they never raised any money and Google now claim there have been invalid clicks, so they won't pay even if the revenue ever got above the payment threshold (and I'm talking 2-5 years here).

The Charmers reworked

Mon, 4 Apr 2011 08:00:00 +1100

No, I'm not talking about The Correct Way to Kill, which was Brian Clemens' reworking of the episode; I've updated The Charmers with full production information, updated mugshots, and, once again, twenty-one new trivia and continuity items (the others have been expanded and amended as required, and timecodes supplied for all).

Elsewhere, Project X has uncovered an error in the cast list of Death Dispatch, which has been corrected.

Revisionism

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 19:52:00 +1100

I've revisited some more episodes as part of Project X and produced better mugshots of some cast members along the way:

Death à la Carte (Dr Spender, two chefs and a kitchenhand)
Man with Two Shadows (two extras)
Don't Look Behind You (added seven passers-by)
The Grandeur that was Rome (Sir Bruno and three extras)
Death of a Batman (Lady Cynthia and three extras, including a new one)
Build a Better Mousetrap (Caroline and Stigant)
November Five (Swinburne, Dove, St.John, Fiona, the returning officer, and two extras plus the deltion of a duplicate)
The Secrets Broker (two extras)
The Gilded Cage (the wardress)
The White Elephant (Lew Conniston, Madge Jordan, and the welder)
Dressed to Kill (the policeman, pussycat and Newman)
The Wringer (Lovell)
The Little Wonders (Fingers, The Coalman and the customs officer, who is almost certainly Benn Simons)

Return to the scene of the crime

Wed, 9 Mar 2011 16:10:00 +1100

In preparation for a long-term and possibly insane project for the site, I revisited some episodes and produced better mugshots of some cast members along the way.

Concerto (Stefan and two extras),
Brief for Murder (three extras, and the deletion of a duplicate),
The Nutshell (Disco and two of the guards), and
The Golden Fleece (Major Ruse and an extra)

benefit from the process.

The Outside-In Man

Sat, 5 Mar 2011 22:00:00 +1100

The Outside-In Man has been updated with production information, updated mugshots (included 8 extra mugshots), and an astonishing twenty-one new trivia items (the others have been expanded and amended).

The weekly display of the Avengers diary has also been corrected.

Mandrake

Tue, 1 Mar 2011 21:00:00 +1100

Mandrake has been updated with production information, updated mugshots, and a phenomenal 25 new trivia items (yes, 25! - the others have been expanded and corrected). The Little Wonders also gets an extra trivia item.

The wonderful folk of the Britmovie forum have also given me a few extras in Emma Peel episodes, meaning I have updated:

The Master Minds (Nigel Lambert and Frank Mills)
The Hour that Never Was (Jim Tyson)
Quick-Quick Slow Death (Phillip Stewart and the elusive "Pauline")

The Avengers International Fan Forum tipped me off that June and Paul Kidd's "Herby the Horse" was the panto horse in Look... (stop me if you've heard this one) But There Were These Two Fellers.

The Little Wonders

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 21:45:00 +1100

The Little Wonders has been updated with production information, 11 new trivia items (and the others expanded and corrected), and updated mugshots.

The Wringer

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 08:55:00 +1100

The Wringer has been updated with production information, 14 new trivia items (and the others expanded), and updated mugshots.

Prod. No. 3607 - VTR/ABC/2869

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 20:30:00 +1100

More minor production updates. Episodes updated are: Brief for Murder, Death à la Carte, The Grandeur That Was Rome, November Five, The Wringer and Trojan Horse.

Elsewhere, I've corrected a few incorrect links.

VTR/ABC/3168A+B

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 11:30:00 +1100

I've gone back through a few recent updates and augmented the production data to include timecodes and more information around telecine and VTR inserts. Episodes updated are: Second Sight, The Secrets Broker, The Gilded Cage, The Medicine Men, The White Elephant and Trojan Horse.

My Bloody Valentine

Mon, 14 Feb 2011 10:35:00 +1100

Dressed to Kill has been updated with production information, 18 new trivia items (yes, eighteeen! - and the others expanded), and updated mugshots. I've done the same to Trojan Horse (4 new trivia items and 11 additional mugshots) - skipping a couple of episodes as it helped me identify one of the extras in Concerto, which has also been updated (and I've identified yet another extra in that episode, courtesy of Morecambe and Wise).

The White Elephant

Tue, 1 Feb 2011 22:00:00 +1100

The White Elephant has been updated with production information, 7 new trivia items (and the others expanded), and new mugshots - including a possible name for the welder.

Alf Joint's Legacy of Death

Fri, 28 Jan 2011 08:45:00 +1100

Doomed stuntman Frank Barringer was not Cosher Klaus in Legacy of Death after all - the new Marcus Hearn book reveals the stuntman to have been perennial Bond favourite, Alf Joint.

The Medicine Men

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 20:16:00 +1100

A busy three days! I must be on holidays...
The Medicine Men has been updated with production information, 4 new trivia items (and the others expanded), and new mugshots - including two new extras.

Special Event - The Avengers 50th Celebration at the University of Chichester

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 20:00:00 +1100

The University of Chichester is putting on a two day event to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of The Avengers. It's taking place on the 25th-26th of June, 2011 and they already have 20 original cast members and crew confirmed as guests - including Julie Stevens and Jon Rollason! It will be hosted by Britain's highest-profile "The Avengers" fan, Paul O'Grady.

I'd attend it if I could, but I'm six months in a leaky boat away, and an airfare seems unjustifiable.
If you're closer or less impecunious, I suggest you run, not walk, to book tickets.

Make sure you visit the official website, follow it on Twitter, or check out the Facebook Group.

The Gilded Cage

Sun, 23 Jan 2011 21:35:00 +1100

The Gilded Cage has been updated with production information, 15 new trivia items, a duplicated mugshot removed and the likely identification of two of the extras (one is definitely Howard Kingsley, the other is probably Frank Peters).

The Golden Cornflakes

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 07:35:00 +1100

The "Wild West Cornflakes" product placement occurred at the beginning of The Golden Eggs, starting as the opening titles dissolved and lasting about a minute. Strange, given how careful they were later to cover up labels (except for all the champagne, which was probably also a paid endorsement).

The Trail of the Lonesome Cornflakes

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 07:35:00 +1100

The Secrets Broker has been updated with 1 new mugshot, the deletion of a duplicate mugshot, and all the others updated; it also now has production information and 21 new trivia items. The blocking out of the wine labels and boxes has jogged my memory of a blantant piece of product placement in another episode, where Steed holds a box of cornflakes to the screen for several seconds, so I'm in search of where that happened.

Also, 2009 updates in this feed have been rolled into the news archive.

Second Sight

Sat, 8 Jan 2011 21:35:00 +1100

Second Sight has been updated with 2 additional mugshots, production information and 4 new trivia items.

Fifty years to the day

Fri, 7 Jan 2011 14:00:00 +1100

10.00pm, 7^th January, 1961 saw a new show broadcast on ABC Midlands and North; "The Avengers" débuted with Hot Snow, the first part of a two-episode story. Most of this First Season is now lost, having been recorded on videotape, although recent discoveries suggest there is still some slender hope of more coming to light.
ITV briefly considered running a catch-up season on ITV London & Southern to show all the episodes that had been already shown to Northern audiences, missed in the South by the slow take-up of the show. In the end, they decided to screen the first two episodes, then synchronise with regional to screen all remaining episodes on the same week.

These rescreening took place on Saturday 18th March 1961, 10.00pm (Hot Snow - ATV London, Southern, Tyne Tees, Ulster, Television Wales & West) and Saturday 1st April 1961, 8.35pm (Brought To Book - ATV London, Southern & Tyne Tees only). Anglia had already started broadcasting the show and never saw these first two episodes; other regions didn't pick up the show until much later.

This proves that the episodes were not broadcast live and were definitely recorded, as had already been hypothesised by this site when the first reel of Hot Snow and all of Girl On The Trapeze were rediscovered.

In honour of this momentous date I have the most meagre of offerings - Steed's bikini-clad date from Death Dispatch has been identified as actress/model Caron Gardner, and I've redone the skinning of the front page to be more dramatic.

I recommend that interested readers have a look at Alan Hayes' The Avengers Declassified which has more information about regional broadcasts and the show's early years.

Golden Anniversary

Sun, 2 Jan 2011 22:45:00 +1100

In honour of the fiftieth anniversary of the first broadcast of The Avengers the website has been reskinned in a gold motif.

December 25? November Five!

Sat, 25 Dec 2010 08:00:00 +1100

November Five has been updated with 17 additional mugshots, production information and 12 new trivia items.

Season Three - more updates

Thu, 16 Dec 2010 22:00:00 +1100

More episode revisions - rewritten, given production information, plus new mugshots and extra trivia items, as follows:

Don't Look Behind You - 1 trivia item updated with location information
Death Of A Batman - all mugshots updated, 8 new extras, 11 new trivia items
Build a Better Mousetrap - all mugshots updated, 4 new extras, the removal of 2 duplicates, and 14 new trivia items

The diary becomes a filofax

Tue, 14 Dec 2010 20:30:00 +1100

The Avengers diary now lets you choose a particular month as well as seeing the current one, and you can choose to see just one year you're interested in as well. I've also gone through and added more Season Four broadcast information - Scottish Television broadcast it a day or two earlier than London for all except the first episode, so our northern kin saw 'em all first. The month and year layout also now look like a calendar, with big, friendly boxes for each date.

Another entry in the journal

Thu, 9 Dec 2010 08:30:00 +1100

Seasons Three and Four production and broadcast information - including Australian & US TX - have been added to the Avengers diary.

Keeping a diary

Wed, 8 Dec 2010 08:30:00 +1100

Seasons One and Two production and broadcast information - including Australian TX - have been added to the Avengers calendar, which has also been cleaned up a bit and given a 'diary' page of its own. I'll add the rest of the seasons once I've verified their dates against Alan's new research, I know Season Six has errors.

Cliff Diggins

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 08:20:00 +1100

I knew I'd seen that face before - a chance ebay encounter has revealed Cliff Diggins as the stuntman fighting Terry Plummer in the opening scene of The Superlative Seven. Once I've finished updating all the seasons with the new extras information, I'm going to have to revise the cross-references properly...

I undertake another revision

Sat, 20 Nov 2010 22:00:00 +1100

The Undertakers has been rewritten, given new musgshots and 13 extra trivia items (the existing 4 have also been rewritten). I've gone back and provided all the production and crew details to the first 9 episodes of Season Three (except for Concerto, for which we don't have a camera script).

The Glory that was Poe

Mon, 15 Nov 2010 15:16:17 +1100

The Grandeur That Was Rome - I've corrected Sir Bruno's name across the site (Luker, not Lucer) and added an additional trivia point, linking the E.A. Poe reference to Wikipedia.

Chopin's Preludes, Op. 28

Fri, 12 Nov 2010 08:00:00 +1100

Work has commenced on Season Three.

Extras added and updated for Concerto (thus the name for this update), Brief for Murder, The Nutshell, The Golden Fleece, Death à la Carte, Man with Two Shadows, Don't Look Behind You, and The Grandeur That Was Rome - 151 mugshots in all, marking the addition of 28 new mugshots and the deletion of 6 duplications. The new mugshots are recut from the new DVDs, although I have kept 18 of the originals from Concerto (I may recut these soon).

There are also 93 new trivia items for the episodes as well - six times as many as before - and four others have been amended.

Season 2 recompleted

Tue, 5 Oct 2010 22:26:00 +1100

Extras added and updated for Killer Whale (adding 7 and updating 5) and A Chorus of Frogs (adding another 2) - 14 mugshots in all. This brings my reworking of Season 2 to a close (for now); unless I find more information along the way...

A Chorus of Silent Hands

Mon, 4 Oct 2010 22:22:00 +1100

Extras added and updated for Conspiracy of Silence (adding 5 and updating 7), A Chorus of Frogs (adding 3 and updating 7) and Six Hands across the Table (adding 4 and updating 5) and - 31 mugshots in all.

School for Dwarves

Sun, 3 Oct 2010 23:11:00 +1100

Extras added and updated for School for Traitors (adding 15 and updating Davies, who doubles as a student), The White Dwarf (updating 4 extras and 7 credited players) and Man in the Mirror (adding 1 and updating 3) - 31 mugshots in all.

Tricky Warlocks

Thu, 30 Sep 2010 19:50:00 +1000

Extras added and updated for Box of Tricks (removing 3 duplicates and adding 8 new mushots as well as updating another 8) and Warlock (adding 15) - 33 mugshots in all.
The Golden Eggs is another one of those rare episodes with absolutely no extras so there's no change there.

Spring cleaning

Wed, 22 Sep 2010 10:00:00 +1000

Extras added and updated for Death on the Rocks, Traitor in Zebra, and Immortal Clay - 65 mugshots in all.
Intercrime is one of those rare episodes with absolutely no extras so there's no change there.

Well, that didn't take long!

Fri, 17 Sep 2010 08:00:00 +1000

The missing female extra from Death of a Great Dane has been added.
I've also updated and corrected The Springers and The Yellow Needle with new cast information (including five new mugshots) provided by the indefatigable Alan Hayes. This has had the happy side-effect of identifying the actor playing Todhunter in Dial a Deadly Number.

A troika of updates

Thu, 16 Sep 2010 08:00:00 +1000

More extras for The Mauritius Penny (26 new and 1 updated - plus a note about Steed's umbrella in the trivia), The Big Thinker (2 new and 6 updated) and Death of a Great Dane (9 new and 1 updated, but I'm missing a female extra at the wine tasting).

This puts me in mind of a conversation I had with WearySloth, who runs the excellent The Actors' Compendium website. He suggested my mugshots were too small (which initially made me bump them up to 150 square). I suggested he replace his gifs with jpegs, for greater clarity and smaller file size, which I see he has started to do. Anyway, the upshot is I'm contemplating making 150x150 my minimum size and if I have better, I'll use it. How the Winter nights must fly by...

That bell rings a name

Thu, 9 Sep 2010 08:00:00 +1000

I've added all 20 extras for The Removal Men, for which we only have 17 names in the script. Six are identified; I may be able to identify Paul Duval in the coming days. Elsewhere, Stanley Ayers is confirmed as the bully in The Decapod and I've reworked the extras in Mission to Montreal to remove some inadvertent duplication (thanks to Alan Hayes again for his assistance). The masters used by Optimum also have a different slide for "Also Starring Julie Stevens" for The Decapod which has now been introduced to the site.

The Labours of Hercules

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 08:00:00 +1000

I've somehow managed to match and add 48 extras (forty-eight!!) to The Decapod (mostly in the wrestling scenes, they're ordered by the seating plan, except for the bully, who I think is Stanley Ayers), and replace 12 more mugshots. How I wish I had a camera script for that episode!

Elsewhere, Bullseye has had the extras revised, with one correction. I still have one extra too many in the boardroom scenes, and three missing from the stock market scenes, but it's possible the director modified the stage directions at the time of filming.
You'll also find clearer mugshots for selected cast members of Dead on Course and Mission to Montreal.
Mitzi Rogers also gets a new mugshot for Toy Trap, again from Bullseye, but less obviously so.

Putting a face to the name

Sat, 14 Aug 2010 21:20:00 +1000

I've finally obtained a copy of "Terror of the Tongs", so I now have a photo of the stunning Bandana Das Gupta, who played Carmelita Mendoza in Crescent Moon.
Elsewhere, I've managed to complete the extras (13 new, 7 replacements) for The Sell-Out (aided by "Maroc 7" in which Diane Bester appeared). It's also meant an extra continuity error coming to light.

Friday 13th? We're in Luck

Fri, 13 Aug 2010 08:00:00 +1000

Alan Hayes, the master episode reconstructor, has supplied new information for Toy Trap which has been updated accordingly. (I'm still trying to source a different photo of the deliciously curvy Mitzi Rogers from 1962 - her appearance as a "half-naked dancing girl" in "Danger on my Side" interests me strangely - but a shot from Bullseye will have to do for now.)
Along the way, I've added newly-unearthed crew details to Double Danger (I'll add the production info in the next day or two) and made a minor change to A Change of Bait.

On a Mission

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 08:00:00 +1000

Extras added and, where needed corrected, (18 replaced, 6 new) for Mission to Montreal.

Extra! Read all about it!

Sun, 8 Aug 2010 20:35:00 +1000

Extras added and, where needed corrected, (23 replaced, 44 new) for the following episodes:

I'm still working on Mission to Montreal and The Sell-Out, while The Decapod frankly daunts me beyond all measure; I'm tempted to do everyone except the wrestling audience, there are too many of them. The Sell-Out may take a while as I have the names of so many of them and wish to properly match them to the script-credited actors.

On the Buses!

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 11:48:00 +1000

The benefit of a long commute - I've added time codes and new continuity items to more episodes:

Propellant 23 - 7 new items
The Decapod - 2 new items
Bullseye - 1 new item and one correction
The Removal Men - 1 new item, the music section re-arranged
The Mauritius Penny - 5 new items
Death on the Rocks - 9 new items
Death of a Great Dane - 2 new items
Traitor in Zebra - 4 new items

That means we now have 153 more continuity items than a year ago (nearly double), 313 in total. (I'm tempted to search for 7 more to make it exactly double).
I think I'm now done with Season 2 except for the additional mugshots, so I might go and buy the new Season 3 and Season 4 sets... you should too!

Back to work

Sun, 18 Jul 2010 21:25:00 +1000

I've just had a fortnight's holiday, during which I've rewatched several episodes and added time codes and extra continuity items:

Mission to Montreal - 2 new items
Dead on Course - 7 new items
The Sell-Out - 1 new item
Mr Teddy Bear - 8 new items and 1 corrected

Six more to finish off and then I need to add all those extras I've previously ignored.

Death, dispatched

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 21:20:00 +1000

I've just added nine new continuity errors to Death Dispatch, making Season 2 now have 107 more trivia items than previously - 267 in total. I still have to add a few time codes here and there, so that number might go up again, I just saw a few seconds of Dead on Course and marvelled at how scratchy the tape is compared to episodes later in the season.
I've also added more information to each episode about the actual running times and corrected the running times for Mission to Montreal, Dead on Course, The Sell-Out and Death Dispatch.

Season 2 recompleted

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 08:00:00 +1000

More updates for Season 2 including cast revisions and new trivia, covering A Conspiracy of Silence, A Chorus of Frogs, Six Hands Across the Table and Killer Whale. The season now has an additional 98 trivia items, all the production stats available and improved cast details (although I'm going to rewatch Death Dispatch as I'm sure I missed something there).
I've also re-recorded the Venus Smith, Dave Lee Trio and Kenny Powell Trio songs, and added an additional instrumental tune to both School for Traitors and A Chorus of Frogs the improvement in them has to be heard to be believed!

Astor Sklair

Sat, 19 Jun 2010 00:10:00 +1000

I managed to contact Astor and he kindly allowed me to use a studio portrait of himself from around 1961 to illustrate his role of Sgt Rogers in Hot Snow, so that's another hole in Season 1 filled.

Season 4 extras identified

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 08:00:00 +1000

Jaz has been in touch again, with names for three extras in Room without a View and a correction for the cast of Dial a Deadly Number.

Trivial Pursuit

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 09:00:00 +1000

More updates for Season 2 including cast revisions and new trivia, covering The White Dwarf and Man in the Mirror; I've also cleaned up some of the other trivia pages for the season. With four episodes to go, the season has so far been augmented with an additional 76 continuity and trivia items and 4 corrections to others.

Burn, Baby, Burn

Mon, 7 Jun 2010 14:00:00 +1000

This feed is now available and subscribable through FeedBurner.

Bumper Winter Addition

Fri, 4 Jun 2010 20:00:00 +1000

A bumper edition of updates for the Australian winter (and I can tell you it's torrential out there tonight) - Season 2 heavily updated, including cast revisions and new trivia, covering The Mauritius Penny, Death of a Great Dane, Death on the Rocks, Traitor in Zebra, The Big Thinker, Intercrime, Warlock, Immortal Clay, Box of Tricks, The Golden Eggs and School for Traitors (working through them in production order, as per the new DVD set, and representing two months of long bus trips).

Over the last week I've also updated many of the titles of pages across the entire site.

Dragonsfield - new mugshot

Tue, 18 May 2010 13:00:00 +1000

Alan Hayes has unearthed possibly the only shot of Kevin Barron in Dragonsfield, replacing the incorrect mugshot I had for him. Many thanks, Alan.
I've also retitled all my updates, apologies to anyone who gets duplicates, I shan't do it again.

Another extra identified

Sun, 16 May 2010 18:00:00 +1000

Jaz Wiseman has let me know one of the stuntmen in The Master-Minds was Paddy Ryan, the page has been corrected accordingly.

Anthony Bate replaces Murray Hayne

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 08:00:00 +1000

Alan Hayes has discovered that, contrary to all the published cast lists and TV Times articles to the contrary, Murray Hayne did not appear in The Tunnel of Fear as Harry Black - the part was instead played by Anthony Bate. Given the amount of press given to Hayne appearing in the episode, we can only assume he fell ill or was otherwise unavailable when it came to filming - there is no extant camera script which might have shed any light on the substitution. See below for mugshots of the players.

Murray Hayne in 1962 (Dangerman)

Anthony Bate as Harry Black

Anthony Bate in
The Curious Case of the Countless Clues

Murray Hayne in
My Wildest Dream

I fess up

Tue, 6 Apr 2010 16:00:00 +1000

Yes, I'm sorry, but the Season 1 overseas sales were an April Fool's joke - here's the real article.

New trivia and a surprise discovery

Thu, 1 Apr 2010 08:00:00 +1000

More updates for Season 2 including cast revisions and new trivia, covering Death Dispatch, Propellant 23, Mr Teddy Bear, The Decapod, Bullseye, and The Removal Men (working through them in production order and skipping Warlock, as per the new DVD set).

Elsewhere, I've uncovered evidence that some of Season 1 was sold to the Australian ABC network - click to see the article, screened with the first run of Season 2. So, there's a chance, if slender, that copies of these 'lost' episodes exist in an archive in Artarmon, here in Sydney! More news as it comes to hand...

In praise of Dr King

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:00:00 +1000

I've just greatly enjoyed watching the Dr King episodes on the new re-mastered set and I'm saddened by the thought that there are only three. Jon Rollason played the part with a stiff upper and lower lip, granted, but you can see the simmering anger behind his eyes - this boils over, of course, in The Sell-Out when he tells Steed from now on he'll be an ordinary doctor. Dead on Course has a great plot and gives Dr King a chance to investigate on his own while Mission to Montreal sees him set up on the trip of a lifetime, accompanying a neurotic film star across the Atlantic. His resentment of Steed's callousness is a precursor for Cathy and while he's not the most emotive actor he brings a sincerity to the rôle.

All three episodes have updated trivia and I've re-illustrated and corrected the cars data; my next task is to produce mugshots for all the extras I'd previously left out, as the scripts have furnished us with names for many of them.

Season 2 updates

Tue, 2 Mar 2010 13:00:00 +1000

Season Two updated with the actual running times (including ad. bumpers) as reported by the current set of DVDs. I'm slightly upset to discover the new re-mastering is from the same glass plate transfer, so we still have pesky flies and strands of thread interfering here and there. On the other hand, they've left every frame of the original in; previous releases trimmed damaged frames, resulting in shorter running times. I've also started working through the extras for the same season, based on the additional credits found in the camera scripts. So far I've found three new regulars - Paul Blomley, Colin Fry and Richard Pescud - and will be adding other genre show appearances as I go.

Season 1 corrections

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 20:00:00 +1000

Continuity errors added to Girl On The Trapeze and the site search is now on the menu bar of every page except the home page. I've also corrected the details of Spicer's car (a mid-Fifties Humber Hawk) in Hot Snow.

An extra identified and controversy around Season 1

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 08:00:00 +1000

Alan Meacham has been identified as the theatre-goer in A Touch of Brimstone and auction hand in The Girl From Auntie (thanks to the Britmovie forum).

I've added production information to Brought To Book, based on the rehearsal script, and I'm ready to declare that I no longer believe in this "live to air" malarkey about Season One. Only seven episodes (episodes 3 to 9) had the same production date as transmission date, and one of those is Girl On The Trapeze which we know was taped. Some episodes from Season Two were broadcast on the night of production, and they're all still available to us. Furthermore, the production schedule we know for A Change of Bait is nearly identical to those for Season Two, with recording done from 6-7pm for a later broadcast. I suspect the real reason why these episodes have disappeared is they were never properly syndicated and, with no extra copies in different regional studios, the chance of their demise was greatly heightened.

Google Ads

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 14:00:00 +1000

Google Ads have been added as tastefully as possible to the site in an attempt to make this site come out of the red. They'll appear in the site's navigation area and on the homepage.

Richard Lucas

Sat, 6 Feb 2010 02:00:00 +1000

I'd completely forgotten that Jaz told me back in October that Richard Lucas is a pseudonym for Richard Bates, not Brian Clemens; I have now finally corrected Lobster Quadrille.

Season 2 gets more credit

Thu, 4 Feb 2010 20:00:00 +1000

Season 2 now has extended credits for the crew and all the production details add, as specified in the camera scripts available on the Optimum Releasing DVD set.
The Decapod and The White Dwarf only had rehearsal scripts, so less information is available for them.

Of note in this information is that the generally accepted production date for The Decapod is wrong - it's 13th September 1962, not 12th August 1962.
The scripts also provide credits for Dr Brensall in The Big Thinker (Johnson Bayly), the apparition and man with dog in Warlock (Bill Bradley and Bill Reid), and two boxers in Killer Whale (Terry Brewer and Val Musetti) as well as listing extras by name in a few instances.

Season 1 updates

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:00:00 +1000

Alan Hayes has kindly supplied some additional information and corrections for Double Danger and Dead of Winter plus I've fixed a cast member image inKill the King.

Treacherous car in Zebra

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:00:00 +1000

I was always suspicious of the identification of Steed's car from Traitor in Zebra; a Lagonda LG25 Rapide didn't seem his style and the boot was the wrong shape. Sure enough the script on the recent Optimum DVD set confirms it was an Alvis, and it looks like a 1935 Speed 20 Tourer to me - either Vanden Plas or Cross & Ellis coachwork, but I'm no expert.

Extras identified

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 14:00:00 +1000

I am a fool; all these years I have never before noticed that little Art Thomas from A Touch of Brimstone played Major Vazin in The See-Through Man and the killer in The Girl from Auntie. Elsewhere, I've identified the omnipresent Harry Fielder in Split! and Gerry Judge in Quick-Quick Slow Death.

Archiving of updates

Fri, 8 Jan 2010 08:00:00 +1000

After deciding most readers don't want to see the updates all the way back to 1994, I've split off the older updates into a separate newsfeed, available either from the RSS feed or viewed via AJAX on the news archive (which combines the most recent updates with the older ones and required some AJAX recoding).

Welcome to the 21st Century

Wed, 6 Jan 2010 18:00:00 +1000

Site updates have been converted into an xml newfeed, which is available by subscription as an RSS feed or viewed via AJAX on the news page.