This was enjoyable. My only regret was that I anticipated the opening pull-back-and-reveal; after 72 episodes I find I'm automatically suspicious of anything in the show that appears a little too exotic. It was well done though, using an old-fashioned milestone to signal where we really were had a certain charm. And to be fair, I kept expecting to be introduced to a smooth safari park owner with a thin moustache, so they still succeeded in misdirecting me.
One of the characters is also being misdirected, though sadly we don't see him being given a reveal. Colonel Rawlings (Bill 'Grugger' Fraser) is being led to believe by plotters that he's still in colonial Africa, when in fact he's in a massive greenhouse in Hertfordshire. Wonderful.
Continuing the theme, it's easy for us to believe what we hear about the post-independence government of 'Kalaya' - until one of their intelligence officers makes himself known to Steed. I was quite struck by the way Paul Danquah plays Lt Razafi, black actors in 60s television aren't usually half so confident.
Also seen - James Villiers, who was Lord Cantlemere in the awful Granada version of The Mazarin Stone, and Peter Burton, who I think is the manager of the hotel visited by the works outing in Carry On At Your Convenience.
