Review of The Rotters

The Avengers: The Rotters (1968)
Season 7, Episode 15
7/10
A severe case of dry rot!
15 July 2015
Warning: Spoilers
Steed and Tara are called in when a member of the Institute of Timber Technology is killed; while his actual death is routine there is something odd about the case; it looks as though the killers stole the doors to his office. Later the killers go to his house looking for an old photograph of members of the institute but they are interrupted by Tara and drop the picture. Steed and Tara set about meeting other people in the picture but most of them end up dead soon afterwards. It isn't long before only two of them are left; one who is in Africa and a shady antiques dealer. The investigation reveals that far from stealing the doors the killers had used an incredibly fast acting form of dry rot to disintegrate them, what is more the man behind the plot intends to spread the dry rot around the world destroying everything made of timber!

This is a rather fun episode; the two killers, from WormDoom Ltd are delightfully despicable; I loved how they discussed there disgust for the working classes after killing some poor chap; Gerald Sim and Jerome Willis were pretty good in these roles. The identity of the mastermind is nicely hidden; I was certainly taken by surprise when it was revealed. The idea of fast acting dry rot was interesting although the effect of having wooden items instantly vanish when affected was rather weak to say the least… it was best when it happened to a wooden belfry and a grand piano as we heard rather than saw what happened. As one would expect there is a good mix of action and humour; I liked Mother's inflatable office which required the silent Rhonda to keep pumping to keep it inflated! Overall a fun episode.
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