The first episode, I think, to have its own special picture in the credits - one of the eponymous whales. This is another 'bizarre combination' episode - its pairing of boxing + couture is a hit like The Mauritius Penny's fascism + philately, rather than a miss like Box of Tricks' conjuring + faith healing + espionage.
Steed makes a generous offer to sponsor young Joey Frazer into professional boxing. With a name like that he could go far. He's also Cathy's top youth club judo student, and she takes on the role of manager. I'm starting to think the writers were competing to see who could place her into the most unlikely role, but she's equal even to this challenge.
Joey starts training at a gym run by Pancho Driver (Patrick 'the priest in Hawk the Slayer' Magee) where he accidentally uses an unusual bar of soap. Cathy deduces that the 'soap' is actually the highly valuable, highly smuggleable whale-derived perfume ingredient ambergris, and not surprisingly, it turns out Steed suspected that Pancho was receiving the stuff all along.
As neither of them mentions their suspicions to Joey, he innocently investigates the source of the soap that Mrs Gale seems to like so much, and gets a good beating from Morris 'Captain Dent' Perry for his pains. I think that here they're trying to misdirect us into thinking Joey's got plans of his own for the ambergris, and if so, Kenneth Farrington's acting is just right for creating that impression without making it the only possible one.
The buyer for the ambergris is fashion designer Fernand (John 'Edward Waterfield' Bailey), who's got Christopher 'Stubbs' Coll working in a clandestine laboratory to make perfume out of it. Some rather good scenes at Fernand's salon, both with Robert Mill's sinister mortgage collector and with Steed ordering a wardrobe for his 'niece'. I really liked the way Steed uses this transparent pretence about his 'niece', which lets Fernand think he's seen through him and lulls Fernand into a false sense of superiority.
On the other hand though I didn't like the idea that Steed dumps a corpse in a cupboard just to make a point about Pancho being a 'dangerous friend'. Not so much for the gratuitous shock value, but because I can't imagine Steed thinking that dragging dead bodies around was a suitable use of his time.
Also noticed: Fredric 'Potter in Do Not Forsake Me' Abbott, and John Lucarotti at the typewriter.
Another one of my favourites. John Bailey is particularly good.
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