What I want to know is, where the heck are all the people? In every shot, there's nobody walking down the street, no cars on the road, nothing. Was there a biological plague that killed 99% of all the people in England?
Even in the movie that came out, same thing. London is a ghost town.
One reason I read just a day or two ago (without finding the source again right now) was that they were on such a tight budget that they couldn't afford the extras. The other reason was that the way Steed's character was defined he would have stuck out of a crowd like a sore thumb. To avoid this, they just left out the crowd instead.
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We interrupt this program to annoy you and make things generally irritating.
One of the few episodes where the camera captured real people on the street was the episode that showed an Eastern European spy pushing a baby carriage. I understand that sequence was filmed right outside the TV studio, through a second-floor window, because that was the cheapest way to shoot it. (P.S. The Eastern European spy was run over by a car moments later.)
shareI know the OP's question here points out how this aspect undermined the show's realistic appearance. But I kind of enjoyed that. It didn't detract. After awhile you got quite used to it, and did not notice the absence. It was part of the overall feeling of the experience.
shareMostly because of the slim budget available for production, the show's early Emma Period (1965-66) was extremely stylized. No policemen or inspectors or forensic experts at the crime scenes; just Emma and Steed and characters who were essential to the plot. To me, that was what made the show unique. The bare essentials. And let the plot and the banter carry the viewer along.
share