The Outside-In Man

"The Outside-In Man" features the only appearance of Quilpie (Ronald Radd, previously seen in "Bullseye"), one of the numerous superiors dispatching orders to Steed during the era before Mrs. Peel, prior to the final season introduction of Patrick Newell's Mother. Operating behind an actual butcher shop (Steed always places his orders to go!), Quilpie assigns Steed to provide security for a returning British traitor, General Sharp (Philip Anthony, previously seen in ""Man with Two Shadows), conducting arms talks under the guise of diplomatic immunity. One unforeseen happening features the return of an agent, Mark Charter (James Maxwell, later seen in "The Superlative Seven"), thought dead for the past five years, who had been assigned to kill Sharp, turning up in Quilpie's butcher shop intending to belatedly finish the job. Steed learns that Charter was held captive in the same foreign nation where the General has been living, whose government, having no further use for him, hopes to embarrass Britain by having the bitter former agent doing the dirty work. Cathy does most of the running around when Steed mysteriously takes a powder, displaying her garter gun for the first time since its initial appearance in "Propellant 23" (curiously, Steed doesn't even bat an eye when she lifts up her skirt). Playing yet another bodyguard in his fourth episode, alongside Christopher Lee's frequent stunt double Eddie Powell, is Valentino Musetti, previously seen in "The Secrets Broker," while Anthony Dawes would return only once in "Epic."