Now, in colour! With extended opening credits which look nice, but make a mockery of the whole thing if you ask me. Mrs Gale would never have shot the cork off a champagne bottle unless she intended the cork to stun the villain. In the old days they took things a bit more more seriously. The 'Mrs Peel, we're needed' card pisses me off too, Steed presumably has them printed up specially? This is a culture shock worse than the one at the start of series four.
A lot of Prisoner vibes from this one, partly with the whole concept of a business efficiency bureau eliminating clients' competitors by exploiting their phobias, and partly with the presence of Patrick 'Number Two' Cargill (returning from The Murder Market) and Annette 'She even looks like a spy' Carell.
I think I'll have to console myself with assessing possible influences on other shows from here onwards; this is no longer about people doing serious things for a serious purpose. And it gets worse... just wait till we get onto the street sets in the following episodes.
Also seen: Edward 'Prof. Kettlewell' Burnham, Declan 'Till' Mulholland, Garfield 'Haskins' Morgan, Brian 'Foggy' Wilde.
Previously and also seen: Bernard Horsfall returning from The Cybernauts.
