Episode 74: Cathy Gale Era
Page 74 of 192

 

  Other Viewpoints

• Visitor Reviews
• The GLG Report

TROJAN HORSE

Steed goes horse-racing
Cathy becomes the favourite for murder

Production completed: 30 January 1964
UK Premiere (London, Season 3): 8 February 1964
US Premiere (A&E cable): ca. 29 March 1991

Seems a stable is handling more than just horses, and a betting syndicate is handling more than just numbers. Between them they run an assassination service wherein horse jockeys use special binoculars with built-in poison-dart guns to silently dispatch the desired target in public. Steed arrives from the foreign office to keep an eye on a dignitary's prized horse, while Cathy becomes a bookie's assistant.

 IMHO

A good solid episode all around, with a couple of nice twists. Only loses points for being a bit bland—no standout performances and no sense of urgency to the progression of the plot.

 Trivia

Strange that Steed, who is later portrayed as something of a horse expert (see "Silent Dust" for example), should be ignorant of the fact that the "fine" steed he was protecting—which is ultimately offered to him as a gift—is actually a senior citizen.

According to Television's Greatest Hits, this was the top-rated episode for this year, and ranked third of all Avengers episodes according to viewer ratings at the time it aired. See what the other top-rated episodes were.

This episode premiered on my ninth birthday. Now, that's trivial!

 Best Scene

Cathy's prospective employer is blown away (as are we) by her mind-boggling mental capacity as she rattles off an almost too-long string of complex calculations.

 Best Line

Cathy quizzes Steed at the racetrack: "What did you really want me down here for?—I'm a bit rusty on my tic-tac."

 Essential Reading

TROJAN HORSE

Written by
Designed by
Directed by

Malcolm Hulke
Richard Harrison
Laurence Bourne

Full production credits

CAST

John Steed
Cathy Gale
Major Ronald Pantling
Tony Heuston
Johnson
George Meadows
Rt. Hon. Lucien Ffordsham
Ann Meadows
Lynton Smith
Kirby
Tote Girl

Patrick Macnee 007
Honor Blackman 007
Basil Dignam #
T.P. McKenna #
Derek Newark #
Arthur Pentelow #
Geoffrey Whitehead #
Lucinda Curtis
John Lowe
James Donnelly
Marjorie Keys

# DOPPELGANGERS

Basil Dignam

Cat Amongst the Pigeons

T.P. McKenna

Death at Bargain Prices
Noon Doomsday

Derek Newark

From Venus With Love
Wish You Were Here

Arthur Pentelow

False Witness

Geoffrey Whitehead

Pandora
 

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Page last modified: 5 May 2017.

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