A bit of misdirection right at the start with a funeral that turns out to be taking place in a pet cemetery. 'The dog it was that died' - or was it?
Steed's curiosity has been piqued, as well it might, by joke shop proprietor Miller dying in a car crash in Southend with a load of diamonds in his stomach. Mrs M tells Steed he also worked for the philanthropic investment firm the Litoff organisation, which, Steed exposits to Cathy, has been selling off assets at a phenomenal rate in recent weeks.
Steed visits the firm in the character of a blackmailer, encountering both Leslie 'the mathematician in Silver Nemesis' French as Gregory the butler, and Dancer the great dane. Gregory drops the vital clue that another of Litoff's dogs, Bellhound, died recently.
Steed's treated to some splendid hauteur on this and subsequent visits by Getz (Frederick 'Sorenson/Marius' Jaeger), Litoff's right-hand man. Litoff himself remains a mysterious presence in his private suite, but his doctor Sir James Arnell (John 'dooomed' Laurie) is only too happy to gossip about Litoff's illnesses, especially after Steed impresses him at a wine-tasting. (Patient confidentiality was taken less seriously fifty years ago, I can see).
When the supposedly dead Bellhound is discovered by Cathy alive and well, and Steed finds out just how ill Litoff is, it becomes clear why, and by whom, Litoff's investments have been liquidated in such a hurry. I've gradually assumed a no-spoilers policy in these reports so I won't say more than that.
Quite a peripheral role for Cathy in this, just a bit of theft, karate and impersonation (also as the target of sexism and comic misunderstanding at the wine-tasting).
I was a bit put off by the bizarre juxtaposition of the joke shop subplot and the financial shenanigans, it seemed a bit too silly and would knock off a star if I was doing star ratings. But Jaeger, Laurie and French are all excellent. Some particularly fine pathos from French in the final scene.
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