Episode 3: The New Avengers
Page 169 of 192

 

  Stats

Steed's old friend who dies of the week: David

Steed's filly of the week: Jo

Purdey's date who turns out to be an enemy agent and dies of the week: Spence

All the rest

  A.K.A.

 Le château de cartes

 Herzdame

 La casa di carte

 De kaarten des doods

  Other Viewpoints

• Visitor Reviews
• The Young Avenger

HOUSE OF CARDS

Produced: May 1976
UK Premiere: 26 October 1976
US Premiere: 20 October 1978

Gambit is a pop star, and Purdey is his biggest fan (doesn't he wish). Together with a band of screaming meamies, they whisk a Russian defector to safety right under the nose of Perov, the agent assigned to retrieve him. Utterly embarrassed, Perov fakes his own death and then calls a twenty-year-old team of "sleepers" back into service: Double agents assigned to assassinate each of our heroes. But the attempts on their lives are merely red herrings to frighten Steed into revealing the whereabouts of the Russian defector...

 IMHO

"The Joker" crossed with "Get-A-Way!" right down to the guest star. Actually, it was good seeing Peter Jeffrey once more, although his character is pretty tame as compared to his more memorable roles. As New Avengers episodes go, this installment is a bit plodding at times, but this actually plays to an advantage as the series has a tendency to get excessively violent.

 Trivia

Director Ray Austin was the stunt arranger for the Emma Peel era, and made a credited appearance in "The Gravediggers."

Eighteen teenagers (give or take) made unbilled appearances as Gambit's fan club.

 Best Scene

Steed is entertaining a lady friend who is quizzing him about the photos of women on his table, and as he thought she is referring to his horses, his remarks are most interesting... "Just some fillies I've toyed with." Cathy is "Beautiful. Went through some tricky situations together. Faithful. Reliable." Emma is "Very spirited, very special. Fantastic creature. Had to take a whip to her, though, sometimes." And Tara is "Excellent. Great action. But liked her oats too much. I sold her to an Arab prince. I think he eventually had to shoot her."

 Best Line

Steed advises the bevy of teenage girls lined up for his inspection, "Remember, when you're screaming, you're screaming for England."

 Essential Reading

HOUSE OF CARDS

Written by
Directed by

Brian Clemens
Ray Austin

Full production credits

CAST

John Steed
Mike Gambit
Purdey
Perov
Roland
Cartney
The Bishop
Spence
Jo
Suzy
Olga
David
Vasil
Boris
Tulliver
Frederick

Patrick Macnee 007
Gareth Hunt
Joanna Lumley 007
Peter Jeffrey #
Frank Thornton #
Lyndon Brook #
Derek Francis
Mark Burns
Geraldine Moffatt
Annette André #
Ina Skriver
Murray Brown
Gordon Sterne
Dan Meaden #
Jeremy Wilkin # 007
Anthony Bailey #

# DOPPELGANGERS

Annette Andre

Mandrake

Anthony Bailey

Angels of Death

Peter Jeffrey

Room Without a View
The Joker
Game

Lyndon Brook

The Hidden Tiger
Noon Doomsday

Dan Meaden

False Witness

Frank Thornton

Death on the Slipway

Jeremy Wilkin

Medium Rare
 

All materials copyrighted per their respective copyright holders.
This website Copyright © 1996-2017 David K. Smith. All Rights Reserved.
Page last modified: 5 May 2017.

Top of page
Table of Contents