"Tunnel of Fear" is the 20th episode of the first series 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 ...

Patrick Macnee Daniel Patrick Macnee (6 February 1922 – 25 June 2015) was a British film and television actor. After serving in the Royal Navy during World War II, he began his acting career in Canada. Despite having some small film roles, Macnee spent much ...

and

Ingrid Hafner Ingrid Hafner (13 November 1936 – 20 May 1994) was a British actress, born in London. Her father was Raoul Hafner, an Austrian helicopter pioneer, and her mother Eileen Myra McAdam was a descendant of Scottish-born John Loudon McAdam, the roa ...

, and guest starring

John Salew John Rylett Salew (1902 (some sources state 1 January 1897)14 September 1961) was an English stage film and TV actor. Salew made the transition from stage to films in 1939, and according to Allmovie, "the manpower shortage during WWII enabled ...

Anthony Bate Anthony Bate (31 August 1927 – 19 June 2012) was an English actor. He is possibly best known for his role as Oliver Lacon in the BBC television adaptations of the John le Carré novels ''Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'' and ''Smiley's People'' and ...

and

Miranda Connell Miranda Connell (born 3 August 1938, Stansted, Essex, England) is an English actress. Early life and education She attended Elmhurst Ballet School and the Cheltenham Ladies' College, then appeared on stage in Stratford-upon-Avon and the West E ...

. It was recorded on 405-line monochrome videotape on 3 August 1961 and was first broadcast by

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

on 5 August 1961. It is one of the three known complete series 1 episodes to have survived being purged from the ABC archives and was rediscovered in 2016 when it was found in a private collection. The episode was directed by

Guy Verney Guy or GUY may refer to: Personal names * Guy (given name) * Guy (surname) * That Guy (...), the New Zealand street performer Leigh Hart Places * Guy, Alberta, a Canadian hamlet * Guy, Arkansas, US, a city * Guy, Indiana, US, an unincorpo ...

and written by

John Kruse John Kruse (1921–2004) was an English film and television screenwriter, director and novelist. He is mostly remembered for his work on ITC classic TV series ''The Saint'', as well as several films of the franchise, and as the author of the b ...

Plot

Top secret information is leaking into Europe from a funfair somewhere in Southend, and Harry Black, a recent escapee from prison, is rumoured to have worked there. Closer examination reveals that the

ghost train In ghostlore, a ghost train is a phantom vehicle in the form of a locomotive or train. The ghost train differs from other traditional forms of haunting in that rather than being a static location where ghosts are claimed to be present, "the appa ...

is more scary than it looks and the owner of the funfair, Jack Wickram, is arranging the kidnappings. Trick cigarettes allow Steed to bluff the enemy into submission and Harry Black is proved innocent as he was hypnotised and framed.

Cast

as Dr. David Keel *

as John Steed *

as Carol Wilson *

as Harry Black *

as Claire * Doris Rogers as Mrs. Mary Black *

as Jack Wickram * Douglas Muir as One-Ten *

Douglas Rye Douglas Rye is an American voice actor who has done Narration for such notable companies as Bank of America, The Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel, NBC, The Playboy Channel, Qwest, Carl's Jr. and DaimlerChrysler. Rye has been acting since ...

as Billy * Stanley Platts as Maxie Lardner * Bill Maxam as George Milner * Nancy Roberts as Madame Zenobia *

Morris Perry Frank Morris Perry (28 March 1925 – 19 September 2021) was a British actor, best known for his roles on television. Perry was born in Bromley, Kent, England. His TV credits include '' City Beneath the Sea'', '' The Avengers'', ''Z-Cars'', '' ...

as Police Sergeant *

Julie Samuel Julie may refer to: * Julie (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the name Film and television * ''Julie'' (1956 film), an American film noir starring Doris Day * ''Julie'' (1975 film), a Hindi film by K. S. Sethumadhava ...

as Rosie *Juno as Puppy

Recovery

On 3 October 2016, it was announced that a pristine condition 16mm film telerecording of the episode had been recovered from a private collector and was later screened in London on 12 November. As of 2022 it is the latest known surviving episode to feature the character of David Keel.

References

{{The Avengers The Avengers (season 1) episodes