Escape in Time
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"Escape in Time" is the third episode of the fifth series of the 1960s cult British spy-fi television series ''
The Avengers Avenger, Avengers, The Avenger, or The Avengers may refer to: Arts and entertainment In the Marvel Comics universe * Avengers (comics), a team of superheroes ** Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe), a central team of protagonist superheroes o ...
'', starring
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 Diana Rigg, and guest starring Peter Bowles, Geoffrey Bayldon, Judy Parfitt, and Imogen Hassall. It was first broadcast in the
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region of the ITV network on Monday 23 January 1967.
ABC Weekend Television ABC Weekend TV was the popular name of the British broadcaster ABC Television Limited, which provided the weekend service in the Midlands and Northern England regions of the Independent Television (ITV) network from 1956 to 1968. It was one ...
, who commissioned the show for ITV, broadcast it in its own regions five days later on Saturday 28 January. The episode was directed by
John Krish John Jeffrey Krish (4 December 1923 – 7 May 2016) was a British film director and screenwriter. He directed and filmed much archive footage and in particular ''Our School'' in 1962, showing the changing ways of Britain's school and the last ...
, and written by
Philip Levene Philip Levene (9 June 1926 – 25 March 1973) was an English television writer, actor, and producer. He trained as an actor at the Webber Douglas School of Dramatic Art and subsequent work included a small role in Brian Rix's long running Whiteh ...
.


Plot

Clyde Paxton, a Ministry agent, is found dead in the
River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...
, having been shot by a centuries old bullet. John Steed and Emma Peel reflect on the bizarre nature of the murder whilst investigating the disappearances of several wanted criminals, including crooked financier Carl Blechner and disgraced President Bibigyn, who all vanished without trace having stolen large sums of money. Tubby Vincent, another Ministry agent and old friend of Steed, arrives undercover at a house owned by Waldo Thyssen. After stumbling into a machine, he is seemingly transported back to the Stuart period. Vincent is confronted by a man resembling an ancestor of Thyssen’s and mortally wounded. However, Vincent manages to escape and get to Steed’s apartment. Before dying, he hands Steed a note, revealing that Colonel Josino, a former South American dictator who fled with swathes of money from his country’s national bank, is due to arrive that day in Mackidockie Court, a series of backstreets in London. Steed and Peel go to Mackidockie Court and follow Josino through an intricately bizarre series of visits to shops, whereupon each time he is given a new stuffed animal to hand to the next proprietor. They lose track of Josino, and Emma narrowly avoids being murdered by an assassin on a motorcycle. Steed and Peel return to the Court the next day so Steed can follow the same sequence of visits, with Peel watching him, in the hope he can lead them to Vincent’s killers. Steed does so successfully, but Peel is diverted by a decoy Steed and loses track of him. Thyssen greets Steed, who is posing as a criminal. Thyssen reveals that he has constructed a time machine, and in return for 50% of the stolen profits of his customers, sends them into the past to escape justice. He confirms this with footage of Josino seemingly in 1904. Steed participates in a test run of the machine, during which he meets Samuel Thyssen, Waldo’s ancestor in 1790. Returning to the present, Steed goes to find Peel. However, Peel has already gone back to Mackidockie Court and undertaken the sequence of visits herself, bringing her into contact with Thyssen. As Peel enters the machine to be sent to 1790, Thyssen’s henchwoman Vesta alerts him that Peel has been investigating them. Enraged, Thyssen sends her to
Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...
times, into the clutches of his cruel ancestor Matthew Thyssen. Steed arrives at the Thyssen home and proceeds through a series of rooms, each aligned to a different time period, dispatching Waldo’s henchmen along the way. Peel is captured by Matthew and a henchman, but Steed arrives to save her. During the fight, ‘Matthew’ is revealed to be Waldo in disguise before being incapacitated by Steed and Peel. In the aftermath, Steed and Peel conclude that the ‘time machine’ was a con to fool desperate criminals with the test runs. Rather than send them back in time, Thyssen and his associates murdered them for their riches. With the operation successfully dismantled, Steed and Peel relax.


Cast

*
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 ...
as
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 Patr ...
* Diana Rigg as Emma Peel * Peter Bowles as Thyssen * Geoffrey Bayldon as Clapham * Judy Parfitt as Vesta * Imogen Hassall as Anjali *
Edward Caddick Edward Caddick (21 June 1931-9 June 2017) was an English television actor. He appeared in many British and Australian television series and films, which include ''Doctor Who'', '' The Vulture'', '' The Avengers'', '' Department S'', ''Robbery ...
as Sweeney * Nicholas Smith as Parker * Roger Booth as Tubby Vincent * Richard Montez as Josino *
Clifford Earl Clifford Earl (29 August 1933 – 30 July 2015) was an English actor who appeared in numerous television programmes and films. Early years Earl was born Kenneth Clifford Earl on 29 August 1933 in Romney Marsh, Kent, England. He carried out his ...
as Paxton *
Rocky Taylor Rocky Taylor (born Laurie Taylor; 28 February 1945) is an English stuntman and actor. Career His first appearance as a stuntman was an uncredited role in '' Dr. No''. He has since been a stuntman for many famous and successful films including m ...
as Mitchell


References


External links

*
Episode overview on The Avengers Forever! website
The Avengers (season 5) episodes {{Drama-tv-episode-stub