"Escape in Time" is the third episode of the fifth series of the 1960s cult British spy-fi television series '' The Avengers'', starring

Patrick Macnee Daniel Patrick Macnee (6 February 1922 – 25 June 2015) was a British-American actor best known for his breakthrough role as secret agent John Steed in the television series ''The Avengers (TV series), The Avengers'' (1961–1969). Starting out ...

and

Diana Rigg Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg (20 July 1938 – 10 September 2020) was an English actress of stage and screen. Her roles include Emma Peel in the TV series ''The Avengers (TV series), The Avengers'' (1965–1968); Countess Tracy Bond, Teresa di ...

, and guest starring

Peter Bowles Peter John Bowles (16 October 1936 – 17 March 2022) was an English screen and stage actor. He gained prominence for television dramas such as '' Callan: A Magnum for Schneider'' and '' I, Claudius''. He is best remembered for his roles in sit ...

Geoffrey Bayldon Albert Geoffrey Bayldon (7 January 1924 – 10 May 2017) was an English actor. After playing roles in many stage productions, including the works of William Shakespeare, he became known for portraying the title role of the children's series '' C ...

Judy Parfitt Judy Catherine Claire Parfitt (born 7 November 1935) is an English theatre, film, and television actress. She made her film debut in the 1950s, followed by a supporting role in the BBC television serial ''David Copperfield'' (1966). She also ap ...

, and

Imogen Hassall Imogen Hassall (25 August 1942 – 16 November 1980) was an English actress who appeared in 33 films during the 1960s and 1970s. Early life Named after Shakespeare's ''Cymbeline'' heroine, she was born in Woking, Surrey, to a financially com ...

. It was first broadcast in the Southern region of the

ITV network ITV, legally known as Channel 3, is a British free-to-air public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television network. It is branded as ITV1 in most of the UK except for central and northern Scotland, where it is b ...

on Monday 23 January 1967.

ABC Weekend Television ABC Television Limited, popularly known as ABC Weekend TV, was a British broadcaster 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 of ...

, 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. Education and career Levene trained as an actor at the Webber Douglas School of Dramatic Art and subsequent work included a small role in Bria ...

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, s ...

, 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 The Stuart period of British history lasted from 1603 to 1714 during the dynasty of the House of Stuart. The period was plagued by internal and religious strife, and a large-scale civil war which resulted in the Execution of Charles I, execu ...

. Vincent is confronted by a man resembling an ancestor of Thyssen's and is 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 South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

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 Roman symbol of Britannia (a female per ...

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

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 Patric ...

Emma Peel Emma Peel is a fictional character 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. ...

as Thyssen *

as Clapham *

as Vesta *

as Anjali * Edward Caddick as Sweeney * Nicholas Smith as Parker * Roger Booth as Tubby Vincent * Richard Montez as Josino * Clifford Earl as Paxton * Rocky Taylor as Mitchell

References

External links

*
Episode overview on The Avengers Forever! website
{{The Avengers The Avengers season 5 episodes