The story behind the spy thriller story

Another Experiments in Style Extra post, with a podcast discussion 😎

Greetings!

My ‘Extra’ posts are for those of you who want to know the secrets of how certain ‘experiments in style’ came to be written, and in some cases how they were written. Today I’m looking at the spy thriller story: The Spy Who Went Down With a Cold.

Believe it or not, until last Wednesday I had no intention of writing a spy thriller version of A Bang on the Head. But, like all the best spy stories I suppose, something happened, and my immediate future was set.

Recently, I signed up for a short course at the City Lit called Cult TV: The Avengers and the Swinging 60s.

The Avengers was a sort of secret agent TV programme that consisted of two agents (we never really find out who they’re working for, but it’s some kind of government agency) who each week deal with some dastardly villain or other.

There were four main iterations:

1. Patrick McNee and Ian Hendry.

2. Patrick McNee and Honor Blackman.

3. Patrick McNee and Diana Rigg.

4. Patrick McNee and Linda Thorson.

As the series progressed, the ideas became wilder and wilder, often, though not always, with a sci fi theme, and sometimes involving someone who thought it might be a good wheeze to become a dictator.

The episode we saw last week starred Honor Blackman and was entitled Build a Better Mousetrap, which aired in 1964. I’m afraid that link, and what immediately follows, are a plot spoiler, so if you think you might get a chance to see the episode somewhere I suggest skipping this until you get past the picture.