The Avengers International Fan Forum

Spaceship Dispatcher · Posted: Fri Apr 03, 2015 11:13 am Post subject: Anthony Howell as Dr Keel

Anthony seems like a sociable kind of actor, and some of my friends that have enjoyed long chats with him at conventions agree. His idea of Doctor Keel tends to reflect this, and if Julian Wadham's version of Steed is a bit harsher than Patrick Macnee then Anthony appears to have gone the other way and softened his character...

DerekD · Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2015 11:44 pm Post subject:

I think he's excelent as Keel. Really engaging. I think Ian Hendry would be very pleased.

Spaceship Dispatcher · Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2015 5:42 am Post subject:

Lhbizness · Guest

I like Howell's performance much better than Wadham's - he's got a gentleness that's quite likable. Keel seems a tad humorless, though.

I personally prefer Steed's slight amoral attitudes to Keel's "holier-than-thou" moralism. Steed is perfectly suited to his profession, which has to bring with it a certain tendency to bend the rules. A character with no bad traits is not a particularly interesting character. Human beings tend to be a mix of good and bad - and often Keel comes off as just a bit patronizing, especially towards Carol and other female characters.

Avengerholic · The Big Thinker Joined: 01 Sep 2008 Posts: 1355

I think Anthony Howell's performance as Keel, along with the excellent production values and the genuine vintage feel of the audio's are what make these releases so successful. I'd certainly love to hear the series continue after the initial 26 episode run is completed.

Frankymole · Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2021 4:17 pm Post subject:

The interviews on the Volume 1 disks are a delight. I love how Anthony breaks into laughter as he recalls how immensely stoic and unreactive Dr David Keel is especially in his response to his fiancée being shot dead right in front of him! But this is a vital part of the character, as the wonderful Dr Tredding dialogue to Carol makes clear in episode 2. Rather than go mad, Keel will either avenge his lover's death and find a new life to live, or if he tries his damnedest and fails, he will accept it and partition it away so that at least his doctoring can bring relief to others. That Anthony Howell totally "gets" Keel is clear and he can stand at an amused - but admiring - distance from the character and objectively analyse what makes Keel work so well.

It's a huge loss to us that a strike hit series 1 and then Ian Hendry left the show, an even huger loss that his episodes were mostly junked; sure, I wouldn't want to lose Cathy Gale/Honor Blackman but I'd gladly lose all the Venus Smith episodes for some more David Keel ones to come back.
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dissolute · Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2021 6:52 pm Post subject:

Yes, they had planned to run to 39 episodes instead of the 26 we ended up with in series 1.

The Actors' Equity strike had them abandon the extra production run completely.

Three of the lost 13 were rewritten for Jon Rollason but the others were junked - although Honor Blackman said a lot of her early episodes were written for a man and edited for her character, it would certainly account for her abrasive nature in some of the episodes.
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Every episode from 1961 to 1977 plus more trivia than you can shake a brolly at.

mousemeat · Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2021 7:32 pm Post subject: