Blog

The Shrinking of The Avengers

Ribbon of Dreams

100 Years of Elstree Studios - Part Nineteen

Visit our current Exhibition

By the Autumn of 1967 (yes, nearly 60 years ago) Diana Rigg was coming to the end of her time in The Avengers.  Her penultimate appearance, and final full episode, was in number 128 Mission... Highly Improbable which was shown in the UK on 18 November.

Filming had moved from Teddington after three series to ABPC in Shenley Road so 35mm colour film could be used for the US market.  In this episode both Steed and Peel are shrunk by a ray so they are smaller than everday objects. The expert prop builders, plasterers, carpenters and scene painters at ABPC created a number of oversized ordinary objects found on a desk to make the actors look extremely small.  In the script Steed has to call for help, so a giant phone was made from fibreglass with a dial that could be turned, and a handset with a sprung cradle. The floor of Studio 3 was turned into a desk top with a blotter, penholder and pens and a calendar, while the metal shop made a giant paper-knife.  It made for an unusual and memorable episode. Diana Rigg made one more short appearance in the first episode of Season 6, and then Linda Thorson took over as Steed's companion.

All this was reported in the internal newsletter for ABP, Studio News, in October 1967 with the photo above. And here are a couple of shots from the episode found somewhere out there.