When Mrs Peel inherits a house in from country from her late Uncle Jack things are immediately a bit fishy; she had not heard of the man before. Nonetheless she heads off to her new property leaving Steed to develop his holiday snaps
all of which bear the image of the large key Mrs Peel had placed nearby. Steed contacts Mrs Peel's solicitor and learns she has no uncle jack. As Mrs Peel drives towards the house a man jumps in front of her car requesting a lift; as far as she is going. As she passes road junctions the signs move after she passes making it hard for anybody to follow her. Once at the house she finds something very strange; she leaves a room, walks down a corridor then finds herself back in the same room. Eventually she figures out parts of the house are moving
all part of plan by a scientist she once made redundant to get his revenge and ensure she doesn't leave the house alive.
This enjoyably instalment is very much Diana Rigg's episode as Mrs Peel is on screen for most of the time with Steed only playing a minor role. The house has an enjoyable creepiness about it leading to a sense of claustrophobia and paranoia as Mrs Peel tries to find a way out; this is increased when she finds that she isn't alone; a man is also there and he has been driven insane; endlessly repeating the nursery rhyme 'This is the House that Jack Built'. When she finds out that the house is controlled by a computer built by the antagonist I feared that she would ultimately defeat it by the clichéd method of asking it an unsolvable question thankfully this was avoided when she took a more direct approach. Also interesting is that we learn something of Mrs Peel's past; most notable as a twenty one year old Emma Knight she inherited her father's business. Overall a really good classic 'Avengers' episode.
This enjoyably instalment is very much Diana Rigg's episode as Mrs Peel is on screen for most of the time with Steed only playing a minor role. The house has an enjoyable creepiness about it leading to a sense of claustrophobia and paranoia as Mrs Peel tries to find a way out; this is increased when she finds that she isn't alone; a man is also there and he has been driven insane; endlessly repeating the nursery rhyme 'This is the House that Jack Built'. When she finds out that the house is controlled by a computer built by the antagonist I feared that she would ultimately defeat it by the clichéd method of asking it an unsolvable question thankfully this was avoided when she took a more direct approach. Also interesting is that we learn something of Mrs Peel's past; most notable as a twenty one year old Emma Knight she inherited her father's business. Overall a really good classic 'Avengers' episode.