THREE HANDED GAME • DECLASSIFIED

• Production Brief... Annie Lambert's character, sculptor Helen McKay, has her hand bandaged in a splint. One assumes that this is an injury the character is meant to have received when working with a hammer and chisel, although the injury is not alluded to in the script. There is of course the possibility that Lambert had a genuine injury and the production team were trying to hide it as best as possible.

• The character name 'Masgard' had previously been used in the The Avengers episode, The Living Dead (1967), also written by Brian Clemens. Masgard's character, a 'memory man', was clearly based upon Leslie Welch, a radio, stage and television performer whose act was entirely based upon his encyclopaedic knowledge of sports history. Welch was a popular figure in British entertainment in the 1950s and early 60s. Famously, in his final stage performance in the 1980s, he recited the League Division One and Two football results from earlier that same day, entirely from memory and without an error.

• A professional tap dancer doubled for Purdey's final dance.

• On Location: Distinctive location work in this episode, with sequences shot at the world famous Silverstone motor racing circuit in Northamptonshire and The Wimbledon Theatre in South West London. Location spotters might be interested to know that the latter venue was renamed The New Wimbledon Theatre in 2003, obviously taking its lead from The Avengers which also opted to make its freshness obvious when it returned in 1976!

• The sequences shot at the Silverstone circuit feature two racing cars, both owned and driven by stunt driver, Val Musetti. The car seen out on track - numbered 15 - was owned by Musetti - a March 752, which raced in the Formula 5000 series. It was powered by a Ford GA V6 engine. Later, after Steed has outpaced it in his Jag (a certain suspension of disbelief is required here!), we see it parked in the pitlane as Steed and Tony Fields (actor Noel Trevarthan) talk over tea in polystyrene beakers (very Silverstone!). They then walk down the pitlane to Fields' other, older car, a March 73B Formula Atlantic car (numbered 157). This car also raced in Formula 2, was much modified and had been redesignated as a 74B and a 75B by the time of filming. It appears to be in the 74B spec for its appearance in The New Avengers but its nose appears to have been removed and added to the 752 for filming (which explains the colour change from chassis to nose on the older car). Other tell-tale signs that the cars were 'set up' for filming rather than racing is that the 752 is running wet tyres on a dry track and its rear wing is in a high downforce configuration - Silverstone is a low downforce track. Musetti would go on to feature as Stunt Co-ordinator on the four Canadian-made 1977 episodes of The New Avengers. Many thanks to Allen Brown of the excellent OldRacingcars.com website and Rob Jaina for supplying this information.

• Personal History... Gambit reveals himself - a little too much - as an artist's model, while Purdey serves up a marshmallow pie - the marshmallow is a neglected delicacy, she states. Judging by the look of her creation, it's easy to see why!

• Trivia... John Paul returns as Dr Kendrick, previously seen in Target!

• Three Handed Game was the second episode of this season of The New Avengers to build to a climax in a theatre. To Catch A Rat had previously concluded in a derelict theatre.

• All DVD editions of this episode are affected by an audio error in the pre-credit sequence whereby the sound speeds up and slows down fractionally but noticeably.

• Bloopers: During the snooker game that we see Steed, Purdey and Gambit playing, a professional player doubled for Patrick Macnee when he played shots. Unfortunately, the double was left-handed and Macnee right-handed. The shots are fleeting, however, and only the eagle-eyed would have noticed.

• The latest in a long line of end credit typos - actor Stephen Greif has his surname misspelt 'Grief' - a common error.

• And Finally... Purdey, who is supposed to be guarding Masgard, stays in his dressing room while he performs on stage. Bored, she finds a wig and paints her face in a clown style. Masgard, returning to the dressing room, is intercepted by Masgard and Ivan and has his mind transferred and wiped. One might say this was an extreme dereliction of duty on Purdey's part!

Plotline by Alan Hayes • UK Transmissions by Simon Coward and Alan Hayes
Ministry Verdict by Alan Hayes • Declassified by Gareth Humphreys and Alan Hayes