The Avengers International Fan Forum

peabody · Posted: Sat Sep 14, 2013 8:44 am Post subject: 6.14 - False Witness

Discuss, review and rate False Witness.

Written by Jeremy Burnham
Directed by Charles Crichton

cyberrich · Posted: Thu Oct 24, 2013 9:51 am Post subject:

This is such a fun episode. One I loved immediately and still do! Mother's very best hideout. That red double decker bus looked great on screen! The final shoot out at the dairy is hilarious! Definitely in my top 10 Tara's. 10/10. Rich.

Lhbizness · Guest

I really found this episode embarrassing. The plot's more than usually nonsensical, Tara more than usually useless, and Steed more than usually humorless. In fact, Steed seems kind of angry and bored throughout. Sort of like I was.

5/10

darren · Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2014 1:26 am Post subject:

Aside from the fun of Mother's roving Red bus office, this episode is rather drab. It's Jeremy Burnham second script but not as much fun as his first. Charles Chrichton's direction is one of his weakest, there's no style or flair. The locations is dull.

A disappointing 4/10

Spaceship Dispatcher · Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2014 7:00 am Post subject:

Really enjoyed this episode. It has a central concept that should be implausably silly and over the top, but that isn't the way it works out on screen. What impressed me most was how Linda Thorson plays the comedy straight, as though Tara is really struggling to overcome the effects of the drug. John Bennett also stood out as a great antagonist of course, and is suitably dangerous and threatening without ever drifting into the realms of the pantomime villain. A very good 7/10 for me.

Rhonda · Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2014 11:56 am Post subject:

5 from me. Like Tara's role.
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Brigadier Q · Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2015 3:51 am Post subject:

I have a very vivid memory of the end of this episode - Tara in the butter - that I was so overjoyed to discover that my memory was intact, that I was willing to overlook the episode's shortcomings.

Pretty silly plot, this one - but some fantastic London location footage that focuses around St John's Wood and Mayfair. Mother's HQ a delight here (desirable too!). Tara's costume very good too.

I was wondering if they used real milk in the dairy scenes and how the set smelt after a couple of days shooting! That must have been real butter on the surface of the cocoon at the end, though - although I suppose it may have been marg!

Fun, but won't win any prizes for intelligence - nice to hear the poor production sound in the woods scene - obviously shot near a major road!

6 out of 10

cyberrich · Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2016 2:08 pm Post subject:

False witness is the latest episode under review. I'd love to know what you all think of this one. Smile

Thanks, Rich.

Avengerholic · The Big Thinker Joined: 01 Sep 2008 Posts: 1341

A silly, rather boring episode. Loved mother on the bus (the false start of the extra in the background as Steed puts up the Bus Stop sign makes me laugh every time) Tara looks fantastic in the latter part of the story, and I loved the close up full face shot of Cyd standing in for Linda as Tara chases the milk float, I can understand why they did it, you have to look really close to see it's not Linda, amazing ! It has one of the worst tag scenes in the entire show, I have a real dislike this one.
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dissolute · Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2016 4:52 pm Post subject:

I agree with Ian that the tag scene is terrible but I confess that I had an enjoyable commute into work yesterday watching this. The plot - a psychotropic drug that compells the victim to say the opposite of what they mean - is humorous although obviously flawed, but the cast have a great time with it.

I love the scene where Sir Joseph, under the influence of the drug, spits the words, "Lord Edgefield is the most incorrupt, irreproachable man in the country. An idealist, a philanthropist, a paragon of virtue!"
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cyberrich · Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2016 9:54 am Post subject:

I don't like this episode. I do not want to see it again.
Wink

Great fun all round with the deliciously inventive idea of a reversal of the truth drug. This worked especially well in the hilarious climax where the villains were trying to warn each other but failing miserably.
Mother's hideout is quite simply the best one he ever had. Very iconic. It looks terrific on screen.
This is a five bowler classic, and just sneaks into my Tara King top 10 episodes. 10/10. Rich.

Mona · Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2016 12:58 pm Post subject:

This is a great episode. I have to say it does constantly amaze me how many episodes people who are supposedly fans of the show seem to dislike, and find negative judgment against.

Steed is gorgeously lean. And, when he angrily confronts Melville against the tree, it's very sexy. Steed grabbing a man's tie to keep him right in front of him, and not going anywhere, is a habit of his, when he is upset. Steed is ready to be violent, but his listening to Jeremy and hearing his strident lies, open up the case.

Mixing the serum into milk is very innovative; ah, the lost years when milk was delivered daily to one's home. It's fun camp that Tara winds up being a victim of the serum--"This is very unimportant! I don't want to warn you!"--in the butter machine and Steed is fighting the bad guys. She has the brains at least to try to write out what she needs to say, when she cannot say it.

Mother's office being at the top of a double decker bus is Veddy English, and a lot of fun at least for an American to watch. Mother's rotating offices were an enjoyable part of the Tara episodes.

It is interesting that there seems to be 2 Big Plot Lapses. 1) It may also be some genetically different manifestations of being a victim of the serum: after Melville takes the serum, he seems to believe he is telling the truth, but after Tara was given the serum, she knows she is lying and tries to fight it. 2) the serum seems to be added into a huge vat of milk, but people everywhere aren't noticing the effect of the serum.

All around a fun episode with a delightful reverse play on "truth" serum, instead making a "lie" serum. With Steed looking as good as he does, this episode is well worth watching.
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dissolute · Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2016 1:21 pm Post subject:

As Avengerholic noted in another context about a month ago, "Each to their own naturally and I'm please someone enjoys them".

He might well repeat the comment here - the great thing about "The Avengers" is that it is all things to all people. The variety of scripts and actors means there's always something to enjoy.

There are episodes I dislike which others love, and vice versa (more often vice versa, to be frank, as I'm an unabashed fan).

I like this episode even though the inconsistencies are annoying - Barry Warren does a very understated look of confusion when he's on lookout duty and saying falsehoods but during the lie detector test is quite calm.
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Ian Wegg · Have Fingers... Will Type! Joined: 15 Sep 2011 Posts: 373

I didn't quite know what to make of this one. As others have said, an overly silly story (hasn't there already been another episode involving drugged milk?) The usually reliable Charles Crighton seems to have been having a bad week, the action dragged a lot.

Steed seemed very out of character when he punches Melville and that whole scene in the woods had an amateurish feel to it with intrusive traffic noise varying in volume between shots.

Nice to see Tara's Lotus Europa although disappointed that Steed is back in the Royce (of course I'm watching in transmission rather than production order). I liked the double-decker setting of Mother's office and the episode received a welcome lift in the concluding scene with the villains all lying to each other.

5/10

Frankymole · Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2020 4:08 am Post subject:

dissolute · Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2020 2:47 pm Post subject:

I though The Hour that Never Was used the dentist's drill to hypnotise the camp, I didn't think the milk was central to the plot except for the dead milkman on the runway.
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