User Reviews

A very enjoyable episode with some very surreal funny moments. However it is linked to the film in the title - the 1967 spy thriller with Micheal Caine playing Harry Palmer.

Near the opening the camera pans along white tankers which turn out to be rather large models.

Now these are the ones that were used in the Harry Palmer film - easily identifiable as they still have their black and white snow ploughs on the front.

I'm not sure why they were included - perhaps just to give Mother's HQ a surreal look.

Another outrageous 'Avengers' episode.

Agent Wilson ( David Quilter ) pursues a man in drag, whom he kills. He shoots at a helicopter, and it flies off. Nice teaser, but unrelated to the story which follows. Ministry agent 'Jarret' ( Clifford Earl ) is shot dead whilst at Cypher H.Q. - a top secret M.O.D. establishment, a sort of British Fort Knox only with priceless information instead of gold bars. His killers are men in white overalls and bowler hats who look like the 'Droogs' from 'A Clockwork Orange'. Webster ( Allan Cuthbertson ) , the establishment's director, watches from his office window, but fails to react.

A secret meeting ( in the middle of a field! ) between Mother, Steed and Tara takes place. The intelligence boss is worried that there may be a security leak at Cypher H.Q. Photographs are found in Jarret's flat showing everyday activity such as 'Myra' ( Angela Scoular ) on the phone. 'Peters' ( John Carlisle ), a photographer, is murdered by window cleaner 'Vickers' ( Donald Gee ). While Tara gets a job in Cypher H.Q. itself, an attempt on Steed's life ( window cleaners try and smash his car with their ladders ) leads him to the plush offices of the 'Classy Glass Cleaning Company', whose motto is 'All The Way Up The Social Ladder'...!

Only in 'The Avengers' would a window cleaning firm be a cover for a sinister espionage operation! This fun episode was by Tony Williamson, and directed by John Hough, previously an assistant director on the show. In many ways its reminiscent of the Bond movie 'Goldfinger' - Cypher H.Q. looks uncannily like Fort Knox, particularly with its gate and long road, while the method of knocking out the staff - hypnotic gas - is like the nerve gas used in that film. Good cast - as well as those previously mentioned, there's Nicholas Smith ( 'Mr.Rumbold' of 'Are You Being Served?' ) as the villain of the piece, 'Charles Lather' ( yes, really! ), Ivor Dean ( better known as 'Inspector Teal' of 'The Saint' ), and Simon Oates ( later to star in 'Doomwatch' and to play 'Steed' on stage ) as 'Maskin'.

The climax has Steed battling Lather's men in the Cypher H.Q., pausing long enough to revive Tara and bring her into the fray.

On a sad note, Angela Scoular ( Leslie Phillips' wife ) died earlier this year in horrific circumstances.

Secrets are going missing from yet another secret government agency but this time when Mother calls in Steed and Tara it is to tell them they won't be on the case; MI-12 will be investigating. The situation changes when MI-12's man disappears; he was meant to go to the cypher centre but nobody there remembers him… odd given that Steed finds the man's disguised camera on the director's desk! Tara finds the man's body at is home and learns that MI-12 relies on gadgets unlike her own agency that eschews them. When the film in the dead agent's camera is developed it appears to be fairly innocuous but somebody is willing to kill to prevent them being seen… pity for them Steed kept the negatives! The photographs lead to the company that cleans the windows at the centre… there methods are more sophisticated than just looking through the windows; they are gassing those in side with 'hypnotic gas' which leaves them open to the suggestion that it was just an ordinary rainy day. When Tara goes undercover she too falls victim to the gas; it will be up to Steed to stop the villains and wake Tara from a hypnotic state.

Secrets disappearing from top secret agencies is a staple plot for 'The Avengers' but somehow they manage to make each different enough to make them some of the best episodes. The hypnotic gas is pure sci-fi and its use by villains dressed as something as incongruous as window cleaners is entertaining and provided for some good action sequences involving ladders… most notably when they use a long ladder to attack Steed while they are driving at speed along a country lane. The villains' uniforms, white overalls and bowler hats is nicely creepy; as a previous reviewer noted they are definitely reminiscent of those worn in 'A Clockwork Orange'. The way the gadget-using MI-12 fail is an enjoyable dig at spies like James Bond who famously use an array of such devices. The final confrontation with the villains at the cypher centre is particularly good as Steed and the bad guys fight amongst the unmoving staff, who are under the effects of the gas. Away from the action the scenes where Mother gives Tara and Steed their instructions while in the middle of a field are nicely surreal without becoming silly. Overall another really good episode.