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Production Number: Unknown |
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PLOTLINE |
Scientists
Thornton and Carter continue in private the
research into accelerated plant growth that they
had begun together at the Ministry of
Agriculture. Thornton has left the Ministry and
requires Carter, still working there, to steal
radioactive chemicals for their research. They
soon make a breakthrough and successfully grow a
tomato plant to much greater than normal size.
However, a careless accident in which some of
the concentrated radioactive solution is washed
down the sink and into the sewers, the
scientists' problems begin to grow literally.
Steed, Purdey
and Gambit hear reports of large movements and
disappearances in the sewers under central
London. Steed stays at home to postulate on
theories and arrive at a solution, while Purdey
and Gambit leave to patrol the dark and grimy
sewers of the capital city. While they are
there, they discover agents of a foreign power
at large and a series of gruesome killings take
place. It quickly becomes apparent to Steed that
the killer is not a man, but a genetically
mutated sewer rat which has grown to an enormous
size. In the tunnels, Purdey is tracking
Thornton, unware that something bigger, hairier
and hungrier is tracking her! |
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PRODUCTION & ARCHIVE |
The New Avengers: Series 1, Episode 12
Production Completed: Oct 1976
Recording Format: 35mm Colour Film
Archive Holding: 35mm Colour Film |
UK REGIONAL PREMIERES |
Anglia:
Tue 21 Dec 1976, 8.00pm
ATV Midlands: Fri 28 Jan 1977, 7.30pm
Border: Currently unconfirmed
Channel: Currently unconfirmed
Grampian: Currently unconfirmed
Granada: Fri 28 Jan 1977, 7.30pm
HTV: Sun 13 Mar 1977, 7.25pm
Scottish: Currently unconfirmed
Southern: Fri 28 Jan 1977, 7.30pm
Thames: Tue 21 Dec 1976, 8.00pm
Tyne Tees: Currently unconfirmed
Ulster: Fri 28 Jan 1977, 7.30pm
Westward: Fri 28 Jan 1977, 7.30pm
Yorkshire: Wed 2 Mar 1977, 8.00pm |
INTERNATIONAL PREMIERES |
AUSTRALIA: Wed 20 Apr 1977
CANADA: Thu 10 Mar 1977
COLOMBIA: Thu 25 Sep 1980
FRANCE: Sat 26 Feb 1977
GREECE: Fri 8 Jul 1977
IRELAND: Tue 14 Dec 1976
ITALY: Thu 17 Aug 1978
MALAYSIA: Thu 26 Jan 1978
NETHERLANDS: Thu 23 Dec 1976
SINGAPORE: Wed 27 Jul 1977
SPAIN: Sun 19 Jul 1981
SWITZERLAND: Tue 26 Apr 1977
TURKEY: Sun 6 Dec 1981
UNITED KINGDOM: Tue 21 Dec 1976
USA: Fri 29 Dec 1978
WEST GERMANY: Mon 5 Mar 1984 |
CHARACTERS & CAST |
John Steed
Mike Gambit
Purdey
Charles Thornton
Carter
Chislenko
George Ratcliffe
Tramp Joe
Tramp Arthur
Walters
Edward Harlow
Patrick Malloy
Mechanic |
Patrick Macnee
Gareth Hunt
Joanna Lumley
Julian Holloway
Peter Cellier
Jeremy Young
Patrick Malahide
Keith Marsh
Ken Wynne
Morgan Shepherd
John Watts
Keith Alexander
Ronnie Laughlin |
ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK |
Not released. |
DVD EXTRAS |
No
episode-specific DVD extras available. |
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PRODUCTION CREDITS |
Writer Dennis Spooner
Series Theme & Music Laurie Johnson
Production
Designer Syd Cain
Director of Photography Mike Reed B.S.C.
Producers
Albert Fennell and Brian
Clemens
Director Ray Austin |
Editor Bob Dearberg
Assistant
Director
Ron Purdie
Location Manager Nicholas Gillott
Camera Operator
Herbert Smith
Sound Recordists Danny Daniel, Ken Barker
Dubbing Editor
Peter Lennard,
Mike Hopkins
Casting Director
Maggie Cartier
Art Director
Robert Bell
Set Dresser Simon Wakefield |
Hairdressing Supervisor Helene Bevan
Make-up
Alan Boyle, Alan Brownie
Wardrobe Supervisor Jackie Cummins
Fight
Arranger
Cyd Child
Continuity Renιe Glynne
Post-Production Co-ordinator Paul Clay
Production
Supervisor
Ron Fry
Unit Manager Robert Fennell
Construction Manager Leon Davis |
Processed by
Rank Film Laboratories
Made at
Pinewood Studios and on location
A Production
of The Avengers (Film & TV) Enterprises Ltd
for TV Productions and I.D.T.V. Paris |
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MINISTRY VERDICT |
An episode I hold
in considerable affection, but one that truly divides
Avengers fandom. The script is no great shakes,
with its scenario firmly rooted in 1950s B-movie
horror, but this is an episode that wouldn't have been
out of place in the colour era of the original series.
The wry twist on the title of a certain shark-centred
horror film appeals to my sense of humour, too
although it is something of a relief that Laurie
Johnson resisted delivering a pastiche of John
Williams famous score for Jaws. The absence of
Patrick Macnee from the majority of the episode is
certainly a weakness, but the day is saved by taut,
claustrophobic direction from Ray Austin that owes
much to Hitchcock's influence. Even the potentially
embarrassing reveal of the giant rat at the end is far
better than you expect. A guilty pleasure perhaps, but
a pleasure nonetheless. |
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GNAWS DECLASSIFIED |
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Production
Brief...
Patrick Macnee's screentime in this episode is
astoundingly brief John Steed is away from the
main action for the vast majority of Gnaws,
and his character is barely referred to. Macnee was
unhappy with his diminished role in many first
series episodes of The New Avengers, and this
was addressed for the second.
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Joanna Lumley
later revealed that she refused to be terrified of
the monstrous sewer creature, as she was in fact
rather fond of it!
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On Location...
Unusually for The New Avengers, Gnaws
is practically studio-bound, with only two short
sequences shot on location. Both of these were
filmed in the grounds of Pinewood's Heathenden Hall.
All the sewer sequences were filmed on stages at
Pinewood, so it wasn't quite as distasteful an
assignment for The New Avengers as it might
at first have appeared.
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Trivia...
Purdey is briefly seen to model a complete Burberry
ensemble. Burberry is a British tartan-based fashion
range with a long history dating back to 1856.
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The headstone of
Harlow's grave does not specify a date of birth or
death. It merely says, 'Edward Harlow R.I.P.'.
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Before the
mysterious killer roaming the sewers is revealed to
be a giant rat, witnesses believe it to be a shark
and then a snake. Steed cooly explains how this was
possible using a handy illustration and cut-out
masking frame. He should have been on Blue
Peter...
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Throughout the
episode, much is made of the tomato plant that
Thornton is experimenting upon and which is growing
at a rapid rate. By the end of the episode, it is
about the size of a football and Purdey serves it up
to her Avenger friends as part of a tomato salad.
Considering that everything else that has come into
contact with the growth chemical is radioactive...
it's debatable whether this was a particularly good
idea!
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Bloopers...
Continuing on the radioactivity theme, the
radioactive chemicals that Carter steals from the
safe are stored in a yellow cashbox. The back of the
safe has been corroded by radioactivity, and yet
when Carter and Thornton handle the tin and the
syringes within they do so without any protection or
precautions... Maybe not a blooper per se, but
somewhat naive for scientists at the very least!
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And Finally...
Thornton's laboratory, for no adequately
explained reason, has direct access to the sewers
beneath it. This is wonderfully convenient for mad
scientists who carelessly spill radioactive growth
chemicals down there and then have to descend to
hunt the giant creatures that they have
inadvertently mutated... No research laboratory should be
without it...
Plotline by
Alan Hayes UK Transmissions by Simon Coward and Alan Hayes
International Premieres by Denis Kirsanov
Ministry Verdict by Alan Hayes
Declassified by Gareth Humphreys and Alan
Hayes |
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