User Reviews

Mrs Peel was hoping that Steed could drive her to Exmoor to visit an expert bridge player who wanted to discuss an article but a fall down the stairs has left him with a sprained leg; so she heads off on her own. Soon after she departs Steed is informed that one Max Prendergast, AKA The Joker, has escaped from prison and may be a threat to Mrs Peel; things look even worse when he learns that his fall was no accident. When Mrs Peel gets to Exmoor she is greeted by Ola, her host's ward, who informs her that he won't be back till later. She is a rather odd girl; probably mad, possibly bad and quite likely dangerous to know. After preparing a meal Ola leaves to see a friend in the village, or so she claims. This leaves Mrs Peel all alone in the house… or so she thinks. She starts to hear things moving about and then a creepy man turns up claiming his car is out of fuel. He doesn't remain long but his visit only serves to put her even more on edge as her tormentor approaches the end of his plan.

This episode was surprisingly creepy; this is down to the remote location, the fact that Mrs Peel doesn't have Steed with her, the ambiguous characters she meets and the fact that for once she is visibly rattled. Diana Rigg does a fine job as her character gradually becomes more disturbed by the situation. Sally Nesbitt's performance as the somewhat strange Ola is great too; one of the series more disturbing characters; especially when we don't know whether she is bad or just weird. The setting is great; the giant playing cards that decorate the place, and even act as doors didn't look silly as they so easily could have done. There was also a level of nastiness we don't usually get; notably the trap that made Steed fall, a card with a poisoned razor blade attached and a villain who we see cutting up a photograph of Mrs Peel… a clear indication of his sinister intentions. Overall a top rate episode that managed to have me feeling on edge in a way I don't expect from 'The Avengers'.

Emma Peel has been invited to spend a weekend with one of the country's leading bridge players, Sir Cavalier, at his country estate in Exmoor as he admired her recent article on the game published in a magazine. But as Steed has injured his leg falling down the stairs in his apartment, she has to make the journey alone. On her arrival she meets Sir Cavalier's dotty ward Ola (Sally Nesbitt) who tells her that her host will not be back until later that evening. In fact, the whole thing was designed to lead Emma into a trap by a madman called Max Prendergast (alias The Joker) (Peter Jeffrey) who has escaped from jail and is seeking revenge on Emma for putting him away. Meanwhile, Steed discovers that his fall down the stairs was no accident and he narrowly avoids death at the hands of another of the Joker's booby traps, a poisoned razor blade attached to a Joker playing card that claims the life of Steed's colleague Major George Fancy (Norman Stone) instead. Prendergast is hiding somewhere in the old house and is playing mind games with Emma before he finally confronts and kills her. However, Steed has by now seen through the madman's scheme and despite his leg, he drives up to Exmoor battling thick fog just in time to foil Prendergast's quest for vengeance...

THE JOKER (first aired on 29 April 1967) is a remake of the 1963 Honor Blackman episode, DON'T LOOK BEHIND YOU. The story was reworked because the producers wanted the story to be shown for the American market -in 1963 the series hadn't yet cracked the American TV stations. Writer Brian Clemens reworked his original script retaining all the original characters such as the nutty Ola whose in league with Prendergast and the strange young man (played in this version by Ronald Lacey) sent by the former to taunt Emma and subsequently bumped off in nasty fashion after he has fulfilled his purpose. Also in the original, the villains name was Martin Goodman (played by Maurice Good) and he didn't carry the alias of The Joker. The only extra character is Norman Stone's Major George Fancy who warns Steed of Prendergast's escape and ultimately falls victim to his lethal booby trap meant for Steed.

All in all, THE JOKER is technically superior to the original as it was shot on film whereas DON'T LOOK BEHIND YOU was made when the series was videotaped. The story doesn't quite create the level of high tension and hysteria that it seeks in either version, but director Sidney Hayers more than makes up for this with bags of atmosphere achieved through Alan Hume's cinematography (he subsequently worked on the James Bond series) and Laurie Johnson's incidental music is first class. In summary, the new version is more effective in that respect than its predecessor and does not look as dated and primitive. Macnee and Rigg play their roles as Steed and Emma with their usual authority and the small supporting cast is good with Peter Jeffrey (a familiar face in several Avengers episodes) standout as the mad Prendergast.