User Reviews

A missing nuclear submarine, the Kepple, suddenly appears off the coast of Scotland. All 100+ crew members are found dead at their stations. Cause of death: simultaneous cardiac arrest. The Champions are called in to investigate by retracing the last trip taken by the Kepple. What they find is a mysterious, unchartered island. The island serves as a laboratory for a scientist working for a foreign government. He has discovered a gas that causes death by an apparent natural cause – cardiac arrest.

The Silent Enemy is a really nice episode. It moves at a good pace with little time for a dull moment. From fight scenes to a submarine crash to planes dropping bombs – it's packed with so much goodness. And I appreciate that much of the plot's mystery wasn't revealed until the end. It kept up the suspense. As is unfortunately too common, Richard and Craig get to do the heavy lifting while Sharon is left with little to do. Richard and Craig's brief scenes on the island are really well done. Sharon does get a chance to steal at least one scene as she comes down the long ladder into the submarine – much to the delight of the crew on-hand. I got a real chuckle out of it. Besides the regulars, the supporting cast is quite good. One performance, in particular, stands out. I can't decide if it was good or so over-the-top I can't stop thinking about it, but Esmond Knight's character (known only as the Minister) is so wound up, I'm surprised he didn't have a real life heart attack. The Silent Enemy gets a solid 7/10 from me.

A traditional submarine story, that perennial favourite of the show, and pretty good with it. Fun and of its era, with a bluff Esmond Knight lighting up the screen and Marne Maitland bringing his established Hammer menace.

At Galway Bay, lighthouse keepers ( Rio Fanning and David Blake Kelly ) sight a submarine - the William J. Kepple - which was reported missing at sea months ago. The crew are at their posts - but they are all dead! Cause of death - cardiac arrest. With a new crew and the Champions aboard, the Kepple sets out to retrace the ill-fated voyage. But there is a problem - enemy agent 'Stanton' ( James Maxwell ) is on board, pretending to be a crew member. He sets out to stop the sub from reaching its objective...

Donald James' 'The Silent Enemy' is another 'Champions' submarine story, and a good one to boot, offering more by way of thrills than 'Ice Station Zebra' ( 1968 ) managed in a two hour plus running time. As was the case with 'Operation Deep-Freeze', once again an insignificant country is determined to become a super-power, this time, through the acquisition of a nerve gas that induces heart attacks and quickly disappears without trace. Its inventor, 'Minoes' ( Marne Maitland ), is testing the gas on an uncharted volcanic island. Anyone setting foot on its soil will die unless properly protected. The crew of the Kepple had found out about it which was why they had to be silenced. Craig and Richard are puzzled to find dead fish washed up on the beach. The crewmen with them perish, and they themselves collapse, although being superhuman they do not die. Minoes has them brought to his underground laboratory, where he intends testing the gas on Richard by pumping it into a room.

Robert Asher keeps it all moving nicely. Some good scenes including Richard breaking out of his prison by ripping the ventilation grille out of the wall, and Craig attacking two guards in a stylistically-designed corridor. The cast includes the late Paul Maxwell as the Kepple's new captain, and Warren Stanhope as 'Admiral Parker'. Bond fans may recall Marne Maitland as 'Lazar', who made Scaramanga's bullets in 'The Man With The Golden Gun' ( 1974 ). What stops it becoming a ten-star episode ( we will overlook some of the poor submarine model work ) is the performance by the late Esmond Knight as 'The Minister'. This normally dependable actor - who was blind in one eye - is so over the top as to be practically in orbit. You half-expect his head to explode a la 'Scanners' ( 1981 ). When the Minister died of a coronary, I came close to cheering.

Sharron is again sidelined, but gets to upstage the others by climbing down a ladder into the sub, her shapely legs attracting looks of admiration from the crew! This was the final episode to be shown by the U.S. network back in 1968. The lukewarm response can probably be attributed to the fact that fantasy shows were waning in popularity at this time - 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' was cancelled a few months before, and other shows such as 'Batman' and 'Star Trek' would not last much longer.