Lady Suzanne Clare is back – but this time she says she needs Counter-Measures’ help. Can they really trust a word she says?

Robert Khan and Tom Salinsky’s tale flirts with the world of punk (giving us, if nothing else, a wonderfully uncomfortable scene for Simon Williams’ Chunky Gilmore!) but we’re very much in New Avengers territory with a definite bad guy, Sir August Frazer, who will pursue his aims ruthlessly. There’s lots of twists and references to alien technology which may or may not do what everyone claims, and some clever character extrapolation that emphasises just how much the team has changed over the past few years.

It’s always a treat to hear Carolyn Seymour letting her bad girl side loose, and there are some great moments between her and Karen Gledhill’s Allison Williams. Hugh Ross gets a chance to show Sir Toby’s thespian side, and the scenes with him and Laurence Kennedy’s Frazer are the sort of fun sparring that we used to get in the Bond movies just before 007 turned the tables.

Verdict: Appropriately devious and fun, this is another strong outing for the team. 9/10

Paul Simpson