"Hot Snow" is the debut episode of the 1960s cult British spy-fi television series '' The Avengers'', starring

Ian Hendry Ian Mackendrick Hendry (13 January 1931 – 24 December 1984) was a British actor. He worked on several British TV series of the 1960s and 1970s, including the lead in the first series of '' The Avengers'' and '' The Lotus Eaters'', and played ...

and Patrick Macnee. It originally aired on ABC on 7 January 1961. Only about 20 minutes, the first of three acts, remain. The episode was directed by Don Leaver and generally acknowledged to have been written by Ray Rigby, but

Brian Clemens Brian Horace Clemens (30 July 1931 – 10 January 2015) was an English screenwriter and television producer, possibly best known for his work on '' The Avengers'' and '' The Professionals''. Clemens claimed to be related to Mark Twain (Samuel ...

claimed to have written it.

Plot

Dr. David Keel's (

) fiancée and surgery receptionist Peggy ( Catherine Woodville) is murdered by a ruthless gang of drug dealers. By accident he receives a consignment of heroin at his surgery. Believing it to have been sent by the gang who killed his fiancée, he seeks revenge and with the help of a mysterious figure

John Steed Major The Hon. John Wickham Gascoyne Beresford Steed usually known as John Steed, is a fictional character and the central protagonist on the 1960s British spy series '' The Avengers'' and its 1970s sequel '' The New Avengers'', played by Pa ...

( Patrick Macnee) they hunt the gang down. They find the gang leader Spicer and set a trap for him but he escapes and is finally caught in the next episode. Keel decides he enjoys playing amateur detective and decides to form a duo with Steed.

Cast

as Dr. David H. Keel * Patrick Macnee as

Philip Stone Philip Stone (14 April 1924 – 15 June 2003) was an English actor, well known for portraying film characters such as "Pa", the father of Alex DeLarge, in ''A Clockwork Orange''; General Alfred Jodl in '' Hitler: The Last Ten Days''; Delbert ...

as Dr. Richard J. Tredding * Catherine Woodville as Peggy Stevens *

Godfrey Quigley Godfrey Quigley (4 May 1923 – 7 September 1994) was an Irish film, television and stage actor. He appeared in Stanley Kubrick's films ''A Clockwork Orange'' and ''Barry Lyndon''. Biography Quigley was born in Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine, ...

as Spicer *

Murray Melvin Murray Melvin (born 10 August 1932) is an English actor. He is best known for his acting work with Joan Littlewood, Ken Russell and Stanley Kubrick. He is the author of two books: ''The Art of Theatre Workshop'' (2006) and ''The Theatre Roya ...

as Charlie *

Charles Wade Sir Charles Gregory Wade KCMG, KC, JP (26 January 1863 – 26 September 1922) was Premier of New South Wales – 21 October 1910. According to Percival Serle, "Wade was a public-spirited man of high character. His ability, honesty and cou ...

as Johnson *

Alister Williamson Alister Williamson (17 June 1918 – 19 May 1999) was an Australian-born character actor, who appeared in many British films and television series of the 1960s and 1970s. A big, craggy-faced man, he would usually be found playing gruff police ins ...

as Detective Superintendent Wilson *

Moira Redmond Moira Redmond (14 July 1928 – 16 March 2006) was an English actress. Biography She was born in Bognor Regis, Sussex, England. Her parents were actors and director managers, although she was also cared for by other relatives. Her grandfath ...

as Stella * Astor Sklair as Detective Sergeant Rogers * June Monkhouse as Mrs. Simpson * Robert James as The Big Man/Ronnie Vance

Production

The episode was originally intended as a direct follow-up to '' Police Surgeon'' starring

as Geoffrey Brent, but in November 1960, producer Leonard White issued a memorandum which made it clear that "a new name is being found for Hendry's character, and that ''The Avengers'' will now have absolutely nothing to do with ''Police Surgeon''". He continued to produce ''The Avengers'' and working with Hendry in a whole new concept, with Hendry playing the new character of Dr. David Keel. The episode is usually considered to have been written by Ray Rigby, based on a story by Patrick Brawn; however, in an interview with Wheeler W. Dixon in May 1999,

, the creator of the series, claims to have written it. The episode sets were designed by Alpho O'Reilly. Production by ABC Weekend Television was wrapped up on 30 December 1960. The episode premiered on ABC in the Midlands and North of England on Saturday 7 January 1961 at 10pm. Only the first 15 minutes of the first act of the episode survive; the remaining two acts are thought to be lost. The extant footage ends with the sequence in which Keel's fiancée Peggy is shot, before the introduction of John Steed. It has been released on DVD as a bonus feature by A&E Home Video in its ''

Emma Peel Emma Peel is a fictional spy played by Diana Rigg in the British 1960s adventure television series '' The Avengers'', and by Uma Thurman in the 1998 film version. She was born Emma Knight, the daughter of an industrialist, Sir John Knight. She ...

Megabox'' collection, alongside the two complete surviving episodes from Season 1. Catherine Woodville, who plays Dr Keel's fiancée, later became Patrick Macnee's second wife.

Reception

The episode and series is described by

Anthony Aldgate Anthony or Antony is a masculine given name, derived from the ''Antonii'', a ''gens'' ( Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were Heracleidae, being descendants of Anton, ...

as being "conceived within the discourse of psychological realism that informed most contemporary television drama. It set up a motivation for the hero-figure of Keel, described by Hendry as 'a most attractive character hocombines toughness with compassion and serves as the conscience of the team'. Steed, in contrast, is portrayed as a more cynical figure for whom the most obvious influence was

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

. However, whereas Bond traveled to exotic foreign locations in his pursuit of international super-criminals such as '' Dr. No'' or '' Goldfinger'', The Avengers was concerned mainly with home-grown criminals whose ambitions (at least to begin with) were somewhat less grandiose."

Toby Miller Toby Miller (9 August 1958) is a British/Australian-American interdisciplinary social scientist with areas of concentration including cultural studies and media studies. He is also the author of several books, numerous articles, and is a guest c ...

remarked that "Far from being rustic, ''The Avengers'' was a landmark in the cultural division of labour". The episode has been described as "dark, realistic, and, because it was shot on videotape and live-on-camera, very stagy. Its subject matter was most un''Avengers'' like, dealing with drug-smugglers, bereavement, and the seedy underside of British crime." The Avengers Forever! website technically regards the episode as at least as good as any

Cathy Gale Dr. Catherine "Cathy" Gale is a fictional character played by Honor Blackman, on the 1960s British series '' The Avengers''. She was the first regular female partner of John Steed, following the departure of Steed's original male co-star, Dr Davi ...

episode, with some "excellent camera work, including very creative special-effects", but spotted deficiencies in the "repetitive use of certain music cues, and a slightly awkward sequence when Dr Keel's fiancée is shot." They remarked that the episode shows a "high degree of professionalism and skill: good writing, good acting, great direction (no surprise, really, with Don Leaver at the helm), and, in particular, a fine lead. Ian Hendry demonstrates exactly why

Sydney Newman Sydney Cecil Newman (April 1, 1917 – October 30, 1997) was a Canadian film and television producer, who played a pioneering role in British television drama from the late 1950s to the late 1960s. After his return to Canada in 1970, Newman w ...

was so very anxious to get him in front of television viewers: he is a natural. His acting is easy, smooth and captivating."

Other media

In January 2014 Big Finish Productions released an audio adaption of "Hot Snow" as the first part of a series of audio reconstructions of the missing stories from season 1, following the original scripts as closely as possible.

References

External links

*
Episode overview on The Avengers Forever! website
{{The Avengers The Avengers (season 1) episodes Lost television episodes