This early episode of 'The Avengers' open with a woman looking for somebody backstage at a circus; she ends up being attacked by a clown. Shortly afterwards another woman jumps from a bridge into the Thames. This is witnessed by Dr David Keel who goes to help when the police pull her out of the water. She is not dead but clearly very unwell. Later on she dies and an examination shows that she had been poisoned rather than drowned. Keel is convinced that he has seen her before. His practice nurse Carol Wilson helps him trawl through newspapers and he eventually finds a photograph of her. She was a trapeze artiste at a visiting foreign circus that is due to leave the next day. Keel and Carol head there and uncover a plot to smuggle the daughter of a scientist who had defected to Britain out of the country. He manages to contact the police but he and Helen are soon caught by the villains and it is fairly obvious that their captors don't plan to leave any witnesses.
Like most viewers who didn't see the series when it first aired my introduction to 'The Avengers' was watching repeats of the 'Emma Peel era' series this is very different. The main differences are that Patrick Macnee doesn't feature at all in this episode and the story feels far more grounded in reality. The story is interesting and there are plenty of threatening moments. Ian Hendry does a fine job as protagonist Dr David Keel; an everyman who finds himself caught up in international intrigue by chance. Ingrid Hafner is also pretty solid as Carol Wilson. The rest of the cast are pretty good too. Overall I really enjoyed this episode; it is a real shame that only a handful of these early episodes survived to be enjoyed today.
Like most viewers who didn't see the series when it first aired my introduction to 'The Avengers' was watching repeats of the 'Emma Peel era' series this is very different. The main differences are that Patrick Macnee doesn't feature at all in this episode and the story feels far more grounded in reality. The story is interesting and there are plenty of threatening moments. Ian Hendry does a fine job as protagonist Dr David Keel; an everyman who finds himself caught up in international intrigue by chance. Ingrid Hafner is also pretty solid as Carol Wilson. The rest of the cast are pretty good too. Overall I really enjoyed this episode; it is a real shame that only a handful of these early episodes survived to be enjoyed today.