7cb1d79195 Steed and Mrs Peel must find out why an early warning radar is failing. Emma joins the staff of The Sir Horace Winslip Hospital for Ailing Railwaymen - while Steed has lunch with Sir Horace himself aboard his private, indoor train. Malcolm Hulke was a key writer on &#39;The Avengers&#39; in its early years, yet when it moved onto film he was scarcely in evidence. &#39;The Gravediggers&#39; was his one and only contribution to the Peel Era. It begins with mourners standing round a grave. As they move off, an aerial suddenly extends from the ground where the coffin is buried. No ordinary corpse, then.<br/><br/>Some time later, part of Britain&#39;s early warning defence system fails. The only thing that could have possibly caused the breakdown is a new radar jamming device invented by Dr.Marlow ( Lloyd Lamble ). Alas the good doctor recently died. Or did he? The Avengers&#39; investigations take them to the Sir Horace Winslip Hospital for Ailing Railwaymen…<br/><br/>&#39;The Gravediggers&#39; contains one of the series&#39; best eccentrics in the shape of &#39;Sir Horace Winslip&#39; ( Ronald Fraser ), a &#39;Lord Rustless&#39;-type buffoon whose love of railways is such he has thrown in his lot with the villains in the mistaken belief they are going to wreck the motor car industry, instead of leaving Britain wide open to nuclear attack. Sir Horace has a replica train carriage inside his country house ( complete with station platform ) and a model railway line in the garden.<br/><br/>A couple of faces in the cast went on to be famous years later; writer/director Steven Berkoff ( of &#39;Octopussy&#39;, &#39;Rambo&#39; and &#39;The Krays&#39; ) is &#39;Sager&#39;, Bryan Mosley ( for many years shopkeeper &#39;Alf Roberts&#39; in &#39;Coronation Street&#39; ) is &#39;Miller&#39;, Wanda Ventham ( &#39;Colonel Virginia Lake&#39; in &#39;U.F.O.&#39; and mother of Benedict Cumberbatch ) plays &#39;Nurse Spray&#39; ). Ray Austin - who plays &#39;Baron&#39; - was the show&#39;s stunt arranger, and went on to direct future episodes. The chief villain - &#39;Dr.Johnson&#39; - is Paul Massie, who was in the Tony Hancock film &#39;The Rebel&#39; ( 1960 ).<br/><br/>The climax is in true &#39;Perils Of Pauline&#39; style - Emma has been tied to Sir Horace&#39;s railway line, and Steed rushes to the scene before the train can run her over. There is even a tinkly piano on the soundtrack. Trains played an important part in a later &#39;Avengers&#39; instalment - &#39;A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Station&#39; in 1967. &quot;The Gravediggers&quot; was an early Emma Peel episode that, plotwise, appears to have been left over from season three. The difference between the Mrs. Gale and Mrs. Peel eras is chronicled here,what begins with a reasonable degree of seriousness quickly switches to a lighter, breezier soufflé, with Ronald Fraser playing the first truly eccentric character of the Mrs. Peel shows, a genuine train enthusiast with a rail car to dine in, abused by the villains who claim they can help him replace the automobile with the train (they&#39;re actually out to destroy Britain&#39;s early warning system). The most memorable moment occurs during an operation when the doctor calmly asks for, and subsequently uses, a blowtorch! The outrageous climax is so over the top that the decent cast can&#39;t help but flounder, but it&#39;s still superior to what it would have been with the ultra serious Mrs. Gale. Ray Austin, usually unbilledan actor, went on to direct two later episodes, &quot;Have Guns-Will Haggle&quot; and &quot;All Done with Mirrors,&quot; Victor Platt had previously appeared in &quot;The Deadly Air,&quot; Caroline Blakiston, previously seen in &quot;Dance with Death,&quot; went on to do &quot;The Positive Negative Man,&quot; the unbilled Aubrey Richards went on to do &quot;Game,&quot; and Bryan Mosley went on to do &quot;Homicide and Old Lace.&quot; Wanda Ventham later co-starred in Tigon&#39;s &quot;The Blood Beast Terror&quot; (1967, with Peter Cushing) and Hammer&#39;s &quot;Captain Kronos-Vampire Hunter&quot; (1972, with John Carson and original AVENGER Ian Hendry), while Canadian actor Paul Massie had already achieved an early stardom in Hammer&#39;s &quot;The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll&quot; (1960, with Christopher Lee).
Overall this is a very entertaining and watchable film. I am sure that this will be the blockbuster and the super hit in the industry.It contains both the comedy scenes as well as emotional contents. emergency kit for home
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