The Avengers (TV Series) The Golden Eggs (1963) User Reviews

Cathy and Steed must recover a deadly virus sample

[Tweekums · 8/10 · 1 May 2017]

This episode opens with a burglar breaking into a private laboratory; after knocking out the scientist he steal two golden eggs. These aren't eggs made of gold though; they contain a highly contagious virus. It turns out that the thief was working for another man who didn't tell him and now he is very ill. Unwilling to hand over the eggs till he is treated he hides them.

Meanwhile Cathy goes to the lab posing as a magazine reporter to try to discover what was actually stolen… news reports said nothing was taken but the authorities aren't so certain. Once it is established what was taken it becomes vital that Cathy and Steed recover it before the man behind the robbery can find it and sell it to the highest bidder.

As this episode opened one could be forgiven that it was going to be lighter fare with its golden eggs that could have come straight from a pantomime… it is actually fairly dark with its story of a stolen deadly virus. The threat is emphasised by comparing it to 'mixamatosis for humans'; given what the deliberate use of that disease against the British rabbit population in the '50s viewers at the time would know just how bad it was meant to be. The villain is suitable unpleasant even though he personally stays clear of the real nastiness; Peter Arne does a fine job in this understated role. There is a decent amount of action including a deliberately engineered crash. Overall this is a solid episode.

A handful of death

[kevinolzak · 7/10 · 12 January 2011]

"The Golden Eggs" is a potentially gripping story that doesn't quite make it, but still winds up as one of the second season's better episodes. Peter Arne (previously seen in "Warlock") once again portrays the villain, Julius Redfern, a low key, self absorbed madman who hires a petty thief (Gordon Whiting, "The Cybernauts") to steal a pair of gold-plated eggs containing a deadly infectious virus, without telling him how dangerous they are. The thief becomes ill, and his wife (Irene Bradshaw, "One for the Mortuary" and "Murdersville") has no idea where he has hidden the eggs, so Cathy Gale, basically working solo, becomes the one to find them and foil Redfern's plot to benefit from germ warfare. Donald Eccles plays Dr. Ashe, the creator of the virus, and Pauline Delany ("The 50,000 Breakfast") plays his assistant, secretly working for Redfern, until Cathy convinces her to turn against him in a climax worth waiting for.

I wonder what Jasper Carrot would have made of these golden balls.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 20 January 2024]

A burglar steals two dazzling looking golden eggs, unfortunately for him he's unaware that the eggs contain a deadly virus, soon after taking them, he falls very ill, Cathy investigates.

I really enjoyed it, one of the stronger episodes of this series I thought. It's a highly imaginative and clever story, it's one that somehow seems way ahead of its time, there's a film at the back of my mind with a similar plot, but I can't quite place it.

There's more than a strong hint of realism about this one, weaponised viruses, chilling.

Post pandemic, I think this episode has a greater relevance somehow, a time where people were conditioned to be very wary about what they were handling and picking up, what an ingenious way of killing people.

It's very much a Steed light episode, most of the investigative work is done by Cathy, once again Honor Blackman shines through, she really did make this role her own.

8/10.

This episode is pure gold – not the turkey it might have been

[graylittlewood · 9/10 · 5 May 2010]

The Golden Eggs has a lot going for it. The plot is gritty, realistic and disturbing - revolving around germ warfare - therefore it's pretty thin on laughs. However, all scenes with Steed and Cathy together are a pure delight, though there are few of them as this is a "Steed-lite" story, but that's OK as Honour Blackman is always captivating in any scene. The direction of The Golden Eggs is... adventurous; it's trying something different and fresh and exciting - because of the "filmed live" nature of the show it doesn't always work, but this is the possibly the start of the Avengers as an art form.

The villain of the piece - underplayed brilliantly by Peter Arne – is one of the few examples this early on of a "diabolical mastermind" – his almost quiet delivery and his obsession with clockwork make him unsettling and sinister, as does the way he's actually filmed, usually playing with a clockwork toy and completely ignoring the people he shares the scene with. Arne appeared in the title roll of the episode Warlock a few stories ago, though here he is a totally different character and completely unrecognisable. (That's acting for you.) My few criticisms – the story could be better paced – most viewers today would switch off before half way, but with patience the characters unfold and the atmosphere builds. The pay-off scene with Cathy seemingly risking the lives of everyone while chucking the (false) bacteria-filled eggs across the room had me on the edge of my seat. Redfern's lackey Elizabeth changes her allegiance a little too easily and too suddenly, but that aside this episode is solid quality entertainment and in my opinion one of the better shows of this season.

Very good episode

[bobforapples-40146 · 9/10 · 3 July 2023]

Very complex. The story of a virus in a lab that is stolen and the person who stole it gets very sick from it. There's an incredible scene involving a crash-up. From the early 1960's in the UK is the scene and it cannot be duplicated ever again.

The rest of the ep involves the highly comely Mrs. Gale and her sidekick John Steed. They have some of the best moments in the scene ( outside of the incredible crash scene). One scene involves Steed cutting out something from a cereal box.

Back to the thief. Small world as he used to work for Steed's organization before the former went independent! Amazing!

PS about Eccles being a potential Dr. Who. No comment!

The Golden Eggs

[Prismark10 · 5/10 · 21 November 2019]

The episode starts off with the theft of some golden eggs in a scientist's laboratory.

Steed is not convinced that with Dr Ashe's claim that nothing has been stolen and he sends Cathy Gale to investigate.

When the burglar dies, it becomes clear that the golden eggs contained a deadly virus developed at the laboratory. The theft of the eggs were made to order by dastardly Redfern.

Stees is very much second fiddle to Cathy Gale in this one. You sense that some of the staff in the lab have something to hide.

A story with deadly viruses should had been more involving and dramatic than it is here.

The Stolen VIRUS

[profh-1 · 5/10 · 22 November 2022]

A burglar steals a new virus being developed / investigated by a scientist working on his own, who doesn't want anyone (especially the government!) to know what he's up to. After the thief becomes sick, and refuses to tell his employer where he hid the stolen virus, he and 2 other henchmen (the latter posing as ambulance drivers) are all murdered by the main villain! Urged on by Steed (who mostly stays in the background), Cathy investigates and slowly gains the confidence of the scientist, then sets herself up as a target for the villains.

It's not exactly NO TIME TO DIE, but the idea of a deadly virus stolen from a lab is in the same territory. Writer Martin Woodhouse supplies another highly-"technical" story, while director Peter Hammond takes what must be the dreariest-LOOKING episode so far and goes above-and-beyond with interesting camera angles to make it far more artistic than it might seem possible. I was also impressed, especially in the 2nd half, at the tight editing, as the story kept fast-cutting back-and-forth between the heroes and the villains, both groups of which seemed to be trying to out-think the others.

A stand-out here is Donald Eccles as Dr. Ashe, who goes from very cagey, denying anything was stolen, to eventually trusting both Cathy & Steed, even helping her out with a deception that brings down the baddies. I kept thinking he would have been perfect casting as "Doctor Who" (instead of Wiliam Hartnell), and as it turns out, the other thing I've seen him in was the Jon Pertwee WHO story, "The Time Monster", where he played the devious and rather corrupt Atlantean high priest "Krassis", who actually thought Roger Delgado's "Master" was someone to be trusted!

The other high point is Peter Arne, as the too-cool, calm & collected villain, Redfern, who wants to get his hands on the virus to sell to the highest bidder, no matter how many people get killed in the process. A hilarious scene is when Cathy cuts the lights out, and in the dark he winds up falling flat on his face. INSANELY, when ABC in England ran this episode in 1963, it was ONE WEEK after "Warlock", which also featured Arne as a completely-different main villain. In point of fact, in production order, this was 14 EPISODES later; but, for no apparent reason whatsoever, on the 2009 Studio Canal Region 2 DVDs, it's 3 episodes later. WTF? (In future, I'm sticking with my own production order list taken from the Dave Rogers AVENGERS books.)

I'm afraid this particular episode, both the picture & sound were somewhat fuzzy; but, that didn't stop me from enjoying it!