An apparent suicide leads Dr. David Keel & his nurse Carol Wilson to investigate a visiting foreign circus, where they find murder, drug abuse, a politically-motivated kidnapping, and 2 more murders if the Police don't arrive in time to help put a stop to it!
Because so many of the "live-on-tape" (and actually "LIVE") episodes of Season 1 were lost, this is actually the first full Ian Hendry episode I've ever seen. Patrick Macnee had the week off, so the nurse got more screen-time to make up for it, and unusually for the show, the Police get directly involved in the mystery. I liked Carol, but I bet she didn't enjoy getting involved in dangerous situations. It strikes me that THE AVENGERS not only was ahead of the curve with regard to spy shows, but with Keel, also, DOCTOR shows. Imagine if Richard Kimble (David Jansen) had been helping the cops instead of being on the run from them for 4 years!
What a collection of familiar faces! The gang-leader was played by Edwin Richfield, who I always most remember as the Navy officer in the DOCTOR WHO story "The Sea Devils". His kill-crazy henchman was Kenneth J. Warren, who was the INSANE movie director in the very 1st AVENGERS episode I ever saw, the outragiously-loopy "Epic". The Police Sergeant was Ivor Salter, who played a similar character on THE SAINT. And among the circus clowns were not only Kenny Baker, but even more recognizable, Skip Martin ("Hop Toad" from Corman's THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH).
I just got the 2009 "Remastered" Season 2 box set from Studio Canal (Region 2 only, necessitating I finally spring for a region-free DVD player), and on this episode so far, both the picture and sound are CRYSTAL-CLEAR! I'm so looking forward to the rest, including the first half of Season 2 which I just suffered thru the 2004 A&E box set of. (I blame myself for not doing more research earlier.)
In addition to the episode, I also watched the interview with Julian Bond & Leonard White, who explained how POLICE SURGEON came about, and, how it ended-- ABRUPTLY-- to avoid a LAWSUIT with the doctor that Bond had an agreement with. The doctor was getting most of the profits, but was unhappy that he wasn't getting any money from the writing, and insisted he write the show himself. ABC exec Sydney Newman told White the show "had to end" at 13 episodes, but only 3 weeks later, they'd concocted a replacment series for Ian Hendry-- THE AVENGERS. I almost fell out of my chair laughing when I heard that story.
In an interview decades after the incident, Macnee described how Hendry instituted the process of re-writing the dialogue during rehearsals, to improve on the scripts, a method continued after he left, and also employed by Douglas Wilmer on the 1965 SHERLOCK HOLMES series (and later still on the Jeremy Brett HOLMES series).
Because so many of the "live-on-tape" (and actually "LIVE") episodes of Season 1 were lost, this is actually the first full Ian Hendry episode I've ever seen. Patrick Macnee had the week off, so the nurse got more screen-time to make up for it, and unusually for the show, the Police get directly involved in the mystery. I liked Carol, but I bet she didn't enjoy getting involved in dangerous situations. It strikes me that THE AVENGERS not only was ahead of the curve with regard to spy shows, but with Keel, also, DOCTOR shows. Imagine if Richard Kimble (David Jansen) had been helping the cops instead of being on the run from them for 4 years!
What a collection of familiar faces! The gang-leader was played by Edwin Richfield, who I always most remember as the Navy officer in the DOCTOR WHO story "The Sea Devils". His kill-crazy henchman was Kenneth J. Warren, who was the INSANE movie director in the very 1st AVENGERS episode I ever saw, the outragiously-loopy "Epic". The Police Sergeant was Ivor Salter, who played a similar character on THE SAINT. And among the circus clowns were not only Kenny Baker, but even more recognizable, Skip Martin ("Hop Toad" from Corman's THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH).
I just got the 2009 "Remastered" Season 2 box set from Studio Canal (Region 2 only, necessitating I finally spring for a region-free DVD player), and on this episode so far, both the picture and sound are CRYSTAL-CLEAR! I'm so looking forward to the rest, including the first half of Season 2 which I just suffered thru the 2004 A&E box set of. (I blame myself for not doing more research earlier.)
In addition to the episode, I also watched the interview with Julian Bond & Leonard White, who explained how POLICE SURGEON came about, and, how it ended-- ABRUPTLY-- to avoid a LAWSUIT with the doctor that Bond had an agreement with. The doctor was getting most of the profits, but was unhappy that he wasn't getting any money from the writing, and insisted he write the show himself. ABC exec Sydney Newman told White the show "had to end" at 13 episodes, but only 3 weeks later, they'd concocted a replacment series for Ian Hendry-- THE AVENGERS. I almost fell out of my chair laughing when I heard that story.
In an interview decades after the incident, Macnee described how Hendry instituted the process of re-writing the dialogue during rehearsals, to improve on the scripts, a method continued after he left, and also employed by Douglas Wilmer on the 1965 SHERLOCK HOLMES series (and later still on the Jeremy Brett HOLMES series).