"Tara - Ra-boom-di-ay." |
- W.J. Flywheel, Webporium
Curator |
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SERIES 6 - THE TARA KING EPISODES |
Tara
King is a fictional character of British 1960s adventure television
series The Avengers, played by Canadian actress Linda Thorson. Sixth
partner of agent John Steed (and fourth female partner), she appeared
in season 6 of the series (1968-1969), playing in 33 episodes. She is
Emma Peel's successor.
Unlike Steed's other
partners, we know few things about her. She enlisted at an early age
in the Intelligence Service as a trainee, under the number 69.
Her first contact with the bowler-hatted
agent is described in the first episode of season 6: The
Forget-me-Knot. This was a rather spectacular meeting: thinking Steed
is the "enemy" of her training, she pounces on him before
she realizes she has made a mistake.
Shortly after, she makes
Steed's acquaintance. During their talk, we learn John Steed is
considered as an idol by all agents, Tara included. She then helps
him to resolve the episode's investigation.
Episode ending: Emma Peel
leaves Steed and her life as a "talented amateur" to go
back to her husband, Peter Peel, who has been miraculously found in
the Amazonian jungle, two years after his plane crashed. This means
Steed needs a new partner: he phones his boss Mother, who tells him
he "knows his tastes". Mother appoints Tara King to replace
Emma. Tara comes to Steed's flat just in time to pass Mrs Peel on the
stairs. Emma (whom she has never met before) gives her a piece of
advice: how to stir Steed's tea (anticlockwise). This scene, where
Emma passes the torch to Tara, is one of the best-known sequences of
the series. Tara arrives at Steed's flat and, although he is saddened
by Emma's departure, he is delighted to see his new partner, greeting
her with the words "Tara - Ra-boom-di-ay". The clear
implication is that she will not only replace Mrs. Peel in Steed's
professional career, but also in his personal life, and possibly his
bed. For the remainder of the series, his relationship with her was
more overtly romantic and physical than with Mrs. Peel, and it was
much more strongly hinted that they were sexually intimate, though
not necessarily exclusive. |
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0.
The Forget-Me-Knot |
September
25, 1968 |
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"Ra boom di ay!" |
- Tara
King |
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Steed's colleague Sean
Mortimer comes to see him in a very confused state. He knows there is
a traitor in the organization but he has been drugged to put him in
an amnesiac state and he can remember little else. Mrs. Peel
investigates but she too falls prey to the drug as she and Sean are
abducted by bikers. It is down to trainee agent 69, Tara King, to
whom Steed is introduced by spymaster 'Mother' to help him save the day. |
Director: James Hill,
Writer: Brian Clemens |
Guest starring: Linda
Thorson, Patrick Newell, Alan Lake, Douglas Sheldon, Tony Thawnton,
Edward Higgins, Jeremy Young, Beth Owen, John Lee |
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"I would if I were you." |
- John
Steed |
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The sudden deaths of
several of Steed's former army colleagues are revealed to be part of
an elaborate engine of destruction, devised by a man court-martialled
by them all. And now he is playing a deadly game. |
Director: Robert Fuest,
Writer: Richard Harris |
Guest starring: Peter
Jeffrey, Garfield Morgan, Anthony Newlands |
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2.
Super Secret Cypher Snatch |
October
9, 1968 |
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"What?" |
- John
Steed and Tara King |
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Problems of a secret
leakage from Cypher HQ and the disappearance of agent Jarret are
first handed to rival Department MII2, and then to Mother's group.
But why does everybody at Cypher HQ claim never to have seen Jarret
and state that the only thing worthy of note that happened yesterday
was that it rained? |
Director: John Hough,
Writer: Tony Williamson |
Guest starring: Allan
Cuthbertson, Patrick Newell, Angela Scoular |
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Is this is the only episode in which
Mother's assistant Rhonda speaks? It seems she has the one line
"What?", spoken simultaneously with Steed and Tara. While
her head does turn in reaction, we only hear two voices (Tara &
Steed) speaking. Rhonda is still silent, though in the episode
"False Witness" she does whistle and in "Homicide &
Old Lace" she laughs, but silently. |
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3.
You'll Catch Your Death |
October
16, 1968 |
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Ear, nose and throat
specialists are sneezing themselves to death, each after receiving a
mysterious empty envelope. When Tara is kidnapped, Steed takes great
care over his morning mail. |
Director: Paul Dickson,
Writer: Jeremy Burnham |
Guest starring: Fulton
Mackay, Patrick Newell, Roland Culver, Sylvia Kay |
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4.
Split! |
October
23, 1968 |
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When an agent at the
Ministry of Top-Secret Information is murdered, Steed and Tara have
little difficulty in locating the man responsible. But when a
handwriting test indicates that he is Boris Kartovski, someone Steed
thought he had killed in Berlin 5 years before, our heroes find
themselves drawn into the dangerous experiments of Dr. Constantine. |
Director: Roy Ward Baker,
Writer: Brian Clemens / Dennis Spooner |
Guest starring: Nigel
Davenport, Julian Glover, Bernard Archard |
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"Split!" was a leftover Emma
Peel script from the previous season that was never done. It was also
the first Avengers episode made following the return of producers
Albert Fennell and Brian Clemens, after John Bryce had been sacked by
A.B.C. Fennell and Clemens were not happy with the casting of Linda
Thorson. Fresh out of drama school they felt she lacked television
experience, but as there was no time to recast the role of Tara King
so she stayed. |
The episode has a title sequence that was
never used again; Steed and Tara are chased round an empty studio by
a telescopic sight, which the former swats away using his bowler. It
was directed by Harry Booth, who also made the children's show 'Here
Come The Double Deckers!' and two of the three 'On The Buses' movies.
Robert Fuest was asked to come up with a different set of titles, and
did - the one with Steed in a field full of suits of armour and Tara
running across a bridge. |
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5.
Whoever Shot Poor George Oblique Stroke XR40 |
October
30, 1968 |
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Somebody is out to get
super-computer George/XR40. He is shot, given false data, attacked
with acid, and nearly gets his power supply cut. But until George
works properly the name and nature of the culprits cannot be established. |
Director: Cyril Frankel,
Writer: Tony Williamson |
Guest starring: Dennis
Price, Judy Parfitt, Clifford Evans, Anthony Nicholls |
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Undercover as an American, Tara speaks
with a North American accent, which came easily to Linda Thorson as
she is Canadian. |
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6.
False Witness |
November
6, 1968 |
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"This
is very unimportant! I don't want to warn you!" |
- Tara
King |
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Trusted agent Melville has
lost three partners in quick succession, and seems to be lying at
every opportunity. Is he really the man to partner Steed in an
attempt to convict Lord Edgefield, noted blackmailer? And what is the
odd connection between this whole affair and daily milk deliveries? |
Director: Charles Crichton,
Writer: Jeremy Burnham |
Guest starring: John
Bennett, Barry Warren, Tony Steedman, Patrick Newell |
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"False Witness", contains
several goofs. When Tara escapes from the fight in the milk vat, as
she runs away her clothes appear to be dry. After the getaway, she
stops at a phone kiosk to call Steed, and she is completely dry,
despite the fact that moments before she was swimming in milk. Later,
she returns to the dairy and starts smashing bottles of milk and
tipping over milk cans. When Steed arrives on the scene, the floor
isn't wet and there are no broken bottles visible. Finally, with Tara
in the butter maker, we can see her from the waist up, and she
doesn't appear to be swimming in milk. Yet, when Steed frees her, she
is embedded up to her neck in a giant block of butter. |
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7.
All Done with Mirrors |
November
13, 1968 |
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The leaking of secrets at
Carmadoc Research Establishment throws suspicion on to Steed, who
must suffer the torment of house arrest while Tara goes in with a new partner. |
Director: Ray Austin,
Writer: Leigh Vance |
Guest starring: Peter
Copley, Dinsdale Landen, Edwin Richfield |
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"All Done with Mirrors" was
Linda Thorson's 12th episode filmed, and the first in which she
sported her own hair. This would also be Tara King's first solo adventure. |
Going by production order, this is the
first episode that Rhonda appears. According to the official story,
Patrick Newell, who plays "Mother" was not happy about
having to maneuver his wheelchair around and spotted Rhonda Parker
(being 6 foot tall, she was hard to miss) as one of the
"beauties" and asked if she could be his assistant. She was
hired on the spot and did 17 more episodes. Going by show order,
Rhonda actions seem rather out of character as she smiles at Steed as
if she has never met him before (in production order, she hasn't). In
all of her other appearances she rarely smiles at all and doesn't speak. |
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8.
Legacy of Death |
November
13, 1968 |
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"Oh, thank you,
sir. Another few minutes and I would have told them everything I know." |
- Tara
King |
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Anticipating the arrival of
his enemies to kill him, millionaire Henley Farrer sets a deadly trap
for them involving an Oriental dagger and, inevitably, Steed and Tara. |
Director: Don Chaffey,
Writer: Terry Nation |
Guest starring: Stratford
Johns, Ronald Lacey, Ferdy Mayne, John Hollis |
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This is one of the few episodes in which
Steed uses a gun. |
Guest star John Hollis was in Star Wars:
Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Superman (1978) and
Superman II (1980). He played Lando Calrissian's aide in The Empire
Strikes Back, one of the most famous non-speaking characters in the
history of the movies. |
Hollis was also the bald, wheelchair-bound
villain in the opening sequence of For Your Eyes Only, and was, quite
obviously suppose to be Ernst Stavro Blofeld. However, he remained
uncredited because of legal disputes over the rights to the character
from the previous Bond film, Thunderball. |
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9.
Noon Doomsday |
November
27, 1968 |
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Tara visits Steed in a
special hospital following an injury to his leg. This is just the
backdrop needed by Gerald Kafka, ex-head of Murder International, as
he plans his revenge against Steed, who sent him to prison exactly
seven years ago. At noon, Steed will die. |
Director: Peter Sykes,
Writer: Terry Nation |
Guest starring: Peter
Bromilow, Griffith Jones, T.P. McKenna, Ray Brooks |
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10.
Look- (stop me if you've heard this one) But There
Were These Two Fellers... |
December
4, 1968 |
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"You are a public office?" |
- Tara King |
"Yes, that's the trouble!" |
- Marcus |
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The directors of the
Capital Land and Development Company are being murdered and the only
clues Steed and Tara have are a massive footprint and a red nose. |
Director: James Hill,
Writer: Dennis Spooner |
Guest starring: Gaby
Vargas, Richard Young, Jimmy Jewel, Julian Chagrin, John Cleese |
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Clown makeups are copyrighted, and
painting them on eggshells is actually one way that is used to
document them for copyright purposes. |
The set and the business (write gag, read
it, laugh, then frown, shake head, crumple it up and toss it onto the
huge pile of paper) with Bernard Cribbins as the gag writer is almost
identical to the set and business used a few years later for the
beginning of the Monty Python skit about "The Funniest/Deadliest
Joke in the World". This Avengers episode was completed in March
1968, 18 months before Monty Python's debut. |
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11.
Have Guns - Will Haggle |
December
11, 1968 |
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The spectacular theft of
3,000 top-secret FF70 rifles from a Government establishment brings
Steed and Tara. Steed meets an old 'friend' and is invited to an
auction. Tara has other reasons for being there. |
Director: Ray Austin,
Writer: Donald James |
Guest starring: Johnny
Sekka, Nicola Pagett, Jonathan Burn |
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"Have Guns-Will Haggle" was one
of three rejected Tara King episodes shot prior to "The
Forget-Me-Knot," all of which were reworked before eventual
broadcast. This one began life under the title "Invitation to a Killing." |
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12.
They Keep Killing Steed |
December
18, 1968 |
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To infiltrate a peace conference, Arcos, a
brilliant plastic surgeon, uses a new moulding technique to transform
an agent into a duplicate Steed. But when the transformation proves
to be unstable, Arcos decides they need the real Steed. |
Director: Robert Fuest, Writer: Brian Clemens |
Guest starring: Ian Ogilvy,
Ray McAnally, Patrick Newell, Bernard Horsfall |
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In 1978 guest star Ian Ogilvy
star in the "Return of the Saint". The 24 episode series
was the last TV version of Leslie Charteris' classic story following
Roger Moore's supreme version of the character in the long running
60's TV show "The Saint". |
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13.
The Interrogators |
January
1, 1969 |
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When agents find themselves in Colonel
Mannering's interrogation centre, they think it's a test of their
abilities, and relax with drinks when the sessions are over. But
who's fooling who. Steed plays catch the pigeon. |
Director: Charles Crichton, Writer: Brian Clemens
/ Richard Harris |
Guest starring: Christopher
Lee, David Sumner, Philip Bond, Patrick Newell |
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Guest star Philip
Bond is the father of actress Samantha Bond, best known as Miss
Moneypenny in the Pierce Brosnan James Bond films. |
Director Charles Crichton helmed five
episodes of The Avengers. His other numerous TV directing credits
include: two episodes of Danger man, two episodes of The Return of
The Saint and 14 episodes of Space: 1999. He also co-directed A Fish
Called Wanda with a uncredited John Cleese. |
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14.
The Rotters |
January
8, 1969 |
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"I do so hate the working classes!" |
- Kenneth |
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Members of the Institute of
Timber Technology are being killed by a pair of caddish assassins,
their advantage being an ability to destroy wood in seconds. |
Director: Robert Fuest,
Writer: Dave Freeman |
Guest starring: Gerald Sim,
Patrick Newell, Jerome Willis, John Nettleton |
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'The Rotters' was the only 'Avengers'
episode to be written by Dave Freeman, a comedy writer who worked
with Benny Hill, penned two of the 'Carry On' series and sitcoms such
as 'Terry & June' and 'Bless This House'. |
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15.
Invasion of the Earthmen |
January
15, 1969 |
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The death of agent Bernard
Grant, while investigating the strange goings-on at the Alpha Academy
where teenagers are being prepared for inter-planetary conquest,
leads Steed and Tara into the generation war. |
Director: Don Sharp,
Writer: Terry Nation |
Guest starring: Christian
Roberts, Lucy Fleming, Warren Clarke |
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"Invasion of the Earthmen" was
the earliest completed episode featuring Linda Thorson's Tara King,
and the American broadcasts accurately followed the production line,
as this was shown the week following Tara's official introduction in
"The Forget-Me-Knot" (the first episode shot with a
brunette Tara). Like "Have Guns-Will Haggle" and
"Homicide and Old Lace," you can tell the original footage
from the reshot fottage due to Tara's quickly discarded blonde wig.
In these earlier shot episode the production team were still
labouring under the misapprehension that Linda Thorson would look
better as a Blonde. This idea was abandoned once creative control was
returned to Brian Clemens. |
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16.
Killer |
January
22, 1969 |
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Remak is a killer, one the
department are desperate to find. But a succession of agents on the
trail of Remak are turning up dead, wrapped in polythene. And with
Tara on holiday, Steed must go into this case with a new partner. |
Director: Cliff Owen,
Writer: Tony Williamson |
Guest starring: Jennifer
Croxton, Grant Taylor, William Franklyn |
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17.
The Morning After |
January
22, 1969 |
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Steed, attempting to
capture super-spy Merlin, is knocked out by a sleeping capsule, and
wakes to find London deserted and under martial law. Firing squads
are at large, and a nuclear bomb is holding the government to ransom. |
Director: John Hough,
Writer: Brian Clemens |
Guest starring: Peter
Barkworth, Joss Ackland, Brian Blessed |
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18.
The Curious Case of the Countless Clues |
February
5, 1969 |
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Rich men are being
blackmailed by two crime experts who plant clues to them all over the
scenes of the crimes that they themselves commit. However, when they
try to allege that Steed would murder Tara.... |
Director: Don Sharp,
Writer: Philip Levene |
Guest starring: Tracy Reed,
Anthony Bate, Kenneth Cope, Tony Selby |
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19.
Wish You Were Here |
February
12, 1969 |
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Tara's uncle is being held
against his will in a country hotel. So Tara books in, and finds
herself equally discouraged from leaving. Could the place also be
home to the agent that Mother is missing? |
Director: Don Chaffey,
Writer: Tony Williamson |
Guest starring: Brook
Williams, Robert Urquhart, Liam Redmond |
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'The Avengers' often went in for gentle
mockery of other spy shows. Sometimes it would be reflected in the
story titles, such as 'The Girl From Auntie' and 'Mission: Highly
Improbable', while 'The Winged Avenger' cheekily spoofed the 'Batman'
series. 'Wish You Were Here' was originally titled 'The Prisoner',
and was a send up of the famous Patrick McGoohan I.T.C. series. |
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20.
Love All |
February
19, 1969 |
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Security lapses seem to
point to top civil servants suddenly falling in love and giving
secrets to an enemy agent disguised as a char lady. Steed
investigates, but first has to save Tara from killing herself out of
unrequited love. |
Director: Don Chaffey /
Peter Sykes, Writer: Tony Williamson / Jeremy Burnham |
Guest starring: Patsy
Rowlands, Veronica Strong, Terence Alexander |
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21.
Stay Tuned |
February
26, 1969 |
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Steed, packing for a
holiday, is knocked unconscious. When he wakes, he continues to pack
but is confused when Tara arrives and tells him that he has been away
for three weeks. Could it have anything to do with the mysterious man
following him whom everybody else but Steed can see? |
Director: Robert Fuest /
Don Chaffey, Writer: Terry Nation / Tony Williamson |
Guest starring: Kate
O'Mara, Gary Bond, Patrick Newell, Iris Russell |
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22.
Take Me to Your Leader |
March
5, 1969 |
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The discovery of a talking
attache case passed from courier to courier until it finally reaches
'Mr. Big' takes Steed and Tara on a dazzling and surreal romp around London. |
Director: Robert Fuest /
John Hough, Writer: Terry Nation / Jeremy Burnham |
Guest starring: Patrick
Barr, Patrick Newell, John Ronane, Penelope Keith |
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When a member of the
International Disarmament Committee is stabbed with a swordstick on a
foggy night, it looks like the Gaslight Ghoul, murderer of the
1890's, has set up in business again. Can Steed and Tara catch him
before the committee is severely lacking in personnel? |
Director: John Hough,
Writer: Brian Clemens / Malcolm Hulke |
Guest starring: Nigel
Green, Guy Rolfe, Patrick Newell, Terence Brady |
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24.
Who Was That Man I Saw You with? |
March
19, 1969 |
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Tara has been employed to
test the security on the top-secret war-room computer 'The Field
Marshall'. But when a strange foreign man starts sending her flowers,
Mother suspects that she's doing her job a bit too efficiently. |
Director: Don Chaffey /
Peter Sykes, Writer: Jeremy Burnham |
Guest starring: William
Marlowe, Ralph Michael, Alan MacNaughton |
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25.
Homicide and Old Lace |
March
26, 1969 |
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It's Mother's birthday and
he is visiting two of his aunts, Harriet and Georgina. To celebrate
he tells them a hair-colour changing story, 'The Great Great British Crime'. |
Director: John Hough / Don
Sharpe, Writer: Brian Clemens / Malcolm Hulke |
Guest starring: Patrick
Newell, Joyce Carey, Mary Merrall |
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This is the only episode of the sixth
season in which Linda Thorson (Tara King) does not appear in the last scene. |
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26.
Thingumajig |
April
2, 1969 |
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The Reverend Shelley, a
wartime pal of Steed's, seeks his help when archaeologists beneath
his church are murdered mysteriously. Do the killing have anything to
do with small malevolent mobile metal boxes? |
Director: Leslie Norman,
Writer: Terry Nation |
Guest starring: Dora
Reisser, Jeremy Lloyd, Iain Cuthbertson |
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27.
My Wildest Dream |
April
7, 1969 |
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When one of the Acme
Precision Combine is brutally stabbed, Steed and Tara are on hand to
witness the crime, thanks to a telephoned warning. But why does
somebody want them to see so many killings, and what does it have to
do with Dr. Jaeger's aggresso-therapy clinic? |
Director: Robert Fuest,
Writer: Brian Clemens / Philip Levene |
Guest starring: Peter
Vaughan, Edward Fox, Susan Travers, Derek Godfrey |
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Like Diana Rigg (as Olenna Tyrell), guest
star Peter Vaughan appears in the HBO megahit, Game of Thrones as
Aemon, the maester at Castle Black. |
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28.
Requiem |
April
16, 1969 |
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"No need to be frightened now, Miss
Loxton. Look, why don't you make yourself more comfortable? Take off
your nose." |
- John Steed |
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When Steed takes prime
witness Miranda Loxton to a safe house to protect her from
Murder-International hitmen, Tara is kidnapped. She escapes to find
herself in her worst nightmare. A booby-trap in Steed's apartment
kills Mother and Tara may be the only one with the hidden knowledge
of where Steed has gone. |
Director: Don Chaffey,
Writer: Brian Clemens |
Guest starring: John Paul,
Angela Douglas, John Cairney, Patrick Newell |
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29.
Take-Over |
April
23, 1969 |
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The home of Steed's friends
Bill and Laura Bassett is invaded by a group of ruthless criminals
who implant explosives in their throats. Unfortunately, this is the
weekend that Steed is coming to stay. |
Director: Robert Fuest,
Writer: Terry Nation |
Guest starring: Elizabeth
Sellars, Tom Adams, Michael Gwynn, Hilary Pritchard |
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30.
Pandora |
April
30, 1969 |
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Tara is kidnapped, and
wakes to discover that it is 1915, and she is apparently called
Pandora. Could this be because of the little matter of a dowry and a
missing bride? Steed struggles to solve a very old mystery. |
Director: Robert Fuest /
Don Chaffey, Writer: Brian Clemens / Jeremy Burnham |
Guest starring: Julian
Glover, Kathleen Byron, John Laurie, Patrick Newell |
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31.
Get-A-Way |
May
14, 1969 |
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Two invincible foreign
agents escape from the ultimate prison, a monastery run by the
security services. They resume their mission, to kill one important
person each. Steed and Tara set out to catch them, and to find out
how they escaped, before their leader follows suit. |
Director: Robert Fuest /
Don Sharpe, Writer: Philip Levene |
Guest starring: Peter
Bowles, Michael Elwyn, Andrew Keir, Peter Bayliss |
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"I will arrange for you to leave this
life, dispense with it, shuffle off this mortal coil. If you were
dead, Mr. Steed - if you were dead, the world would not pursue you
any further. The heat would be off, eh? I would arrange your death
for you." |
- The Master |
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When a woman is found
walking barefoot in a snowy field, complaining of a dead man who
wasn't dead, Steed investigates the Happy Meadows funeral parlour,
which doesn't seem to be keeping its clients down under. What
connection could that business possibly have with Mystic Tours? |
Director: Leslie Norman,
Writer: Brian Clemens |
Guest starring: Roy
Kinnear, Fulton Mackay, Sally Nesbitt, Patrick Newell |
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My Neat Stuff Hall of Fame Look
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Untitled
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