In the opening scene we see a man apparently talking to a child as he drives through the countryside; it is only after he crashes that we learn he was talking to a ventriloquist's dummy. We soon learn something else about him; an X-ray reveals that he was smuggling £50,000 worth of diamonds in his stomach. The man worked for a successful city firm run by a reclusive millionaire; Steed can't get into see him but one of his senior employees claims that the injured man had stolen the gems. The only other clue is the presence of dog hairs on his clothing; hairs that come from the same breed as the recluse's butler has been seen walking. When the injured man is murdered it becomes obvious that somebody at the firm doesn't want him to talk; we don't know if he is working alone at this point though.
Watching the opening scene I thought we were going to get another somewhat surreal episode due to the presence of the doll; it turns out that the doll is almost irrelevant to the story in fact this is one of the series' most realistic stories. The villains aren't diabolical fiends hoping to take over the country; they are merely trying to make a lot of money. Yolande Turner does a fine job as Miss Pegram, a woman who has broken through the glass ceiling but still wants more and Cecil Parker is equally good as butler Glover; a man who has been polite all his life but plans to start being rude once he gets his hands his share of the company's money. There are fun minor characters too; most notably the car driver's wife and the young lady Mrs Peel talks to in a tie shop. There is a twist regarding the reclusive company owner and the identity of the occupant of a grave in a pet cemetery although it won't surprise too many viewers I quite liked this as it didn't seem like a twist for the sake of having a twist; rather the actions of villains seeing an opportunity to make a lot of money. Overall an enjoyable if more serious episode.
Watching the opening scene I thought we were going to get another somewhat surreal episode due to the presence of the doll; it turns out that the doll is almost irrelevant to the story in fact this is one of the series' most realistic stories. The villains aren't diabolical fiends hoping to take over the country; they are merely trying to make a lot of money. Yolande Turner does a fine job as Miss Pegram, a woman who has broken through the glass ceiling but still wants more and Cecil Parker is equally good as butler Glover; a man who has been polite all his life but plans to start being rude once he gets his hands his share of the company's money. There are fun minor characters too; most notably the car driver's wife and the young lady Mrs Peel talks to in a tie shop. There is a twist regarding the reclusive company owner and the identity of the occupant of a grave in a pet cemetery although it won't surprise too many viewers I quite liked this as it didn't seem like a twist for the sake of having a twist; rather the actions of villains seeing an opportunity to make a lot of money. Overall an enjoyable if more serious episode.