Iris Russell

[cornershop15]

Iris Russell as Sister Mary Stevenson in Emergency Ward 10' - Part 1



A little later than promised, these captures are from Episode 254, which is the second on the aforementioned DVD and, unbearably, only the

second to survive as well. With Iris is Raymond Mason, who caused great interest at Francis Matthews' thread a few months ago. Sister Mary

is busy in the Oxbridge Hospital garden but is briefly disturbed by Mr. Fortune, who's recovering from an operation to remove a brain tumour:



"I'm sorry. I thought you were one of us. A patient, I mean." - "Actually, I'm a ward sister ..."



She is also interrupted by Dr. Anderson (Desmond Carrington), who is treated like a naughty schoolboy after his jokes fail to impress:



"When are you getting married, Dr. Anderson?" - "Middle of August" [That's not one of his jokes, by the way]



In this scene, Sister Mary is concerned about a patient who has been misdiagnosed and goes to Potter, the porter (Douglas Ives):



"That man with the burnt hand ... Do we know what kind of acid it was?" [I don't know why she's asking him!]



It turns out that the burns victim has used hydrofluoric acid and may lose his fingers "unless immediate and drastic action is taken", in the words of

Dr Forrester (Frederick Bartman). The episode ends with the medic telling colleague Bryan Pringle he will "give it a jolly good try" to save the digits!



Original ITV Transmission: 24th July 1959, when Bobby Darin's Dream Lover was No. 1 for the fourth week.

More from this episode soon at 'Unmentioned Actors & Actresses' (for joint subjects Felicity Ross and Jocelyn Britton) and 'Where Have We Seen Them Before?' (Brian Murray, the patient with the burnt hand).

[Gerald Lovell]

name='cornershop15' date='20 June 2010 - 09:50 PM' timestamp='1277067058' post='442251']

It's interesting to see Iris in sunglasses there, cornershop, as it echoes her later, well-remembered role as the blind "Father" in THE AVENGERS episode "Stay Tuned".

[cornershop15]

I look forward to seeing those guest appearances in The Avengers, Gerald. The 50th anniversary box set looks great but I understand there's a problem with the slipcases. Hopefully that will be resolved soon.

Difficult to believe it's just over a year since the last posts (even longer at Colette O'Neil's thread). With so many actors in my thoughts and all sorts of ideas emanating from screencapping sessions, I find it hard to make regular contributions at one place. I'm pleased that I can provide something new today. The reason I chose this episode is because there are good close-ups of Derek Benfield and John Alkin, which I will post later at 'The Names the Same' - they both play a character called Frank Skinner. Along the way, I found some good shots of dear Iris.

Iris Russell in 'Timeslip' - Part 1

She had the major role of Jean Skinner in this Children's Sci-Fi series, the wife of Frank (Derek Benfield) and mother of Liz (Cheryl Burfield). In the first story, The Wrong End of Time, the family are on holiday in the village of St. Oswald, accompanied by Simon Randall (Spencer Banks), who is around the same age as 15-year-old Liz and has recently lost his mother.

One morning, the teenagers run about by a disused naval base and hear an electronic noise coming from the wire fence, which they soon disappear through. When they get to the other side, they find it's night and begin to realise they've been transported back in time - to 1940. Liz and Simon are caught up in a 'real-life' incident where a German commander (Sandor Eles) and his assistants have taken over the same base and are holding several occupants prisoner. These include Commander Traynor (Denis Quilley), who the children recognise as a younger version of a fellow guest at the hotel where they are staying, and a young naval recruit (John Alkin) who turns out to be Liz's father.

Tragically, the original master tapes of this great series were destroyed, with the exception of just one episode, and we are
left with black-and-white 'telerecordings' of images that were originally shot on colour videotape. These are all from Part 6.

Jean, who's able to have a telepathic communication with Liz, is horrified to see she has been shot by one of the Germans:

Mother & daughter faint almost simultaneously and are helped up. Traynor reassures Jean that Liz can't really have been hit.

Back at the inn, Jean updates Traynor (left) and husband Frank with what is happening at the naval base. She manages to
recite word-for-word what Simon is saying to the younger Frank, who can't understand why Liz has miraculously recovered:

Iris makes her Face at the Window debut, at last. I'd love to see what this looked like in colour.

She is awarded several generous - and dramatic - close-ups in this scene:


Frank & Jean are reacting to Commander Traynor's (slightly) belated gratitude for his "marvellous" service during the War:

"Marvellous for you, maybe. What about me, and Jean and Liz? What about us?"

Liz returns home briefly but goes back to The Time Barrier to retrieve Simon. When they escape, they find themselves in The Ice Box!

Original ITV Transmission: 2nd November 1970, when Matthews Southern Comfort were No. 1 with Woodstock.