Steed gains face; Emma takes a nap

Some time back, for one of the Tara King episodes, John Dorney wrote the sequel to this story, Now You Don’t which included a flashback to this adventure – which he had yet to write. He’s done a sterling job, providing Julian Wadham and Olivia Poulet with a terrific capstone to this set of stories, drawing some of the plot points from the final TV Comic strip (which pitted Steed and Mrs Peel against Wander the Wizard!) and ensuring that it should fit seamlessly with the later tale.

Nicholas Asbury returns (or is that makes his first appearance) as Margrave the Magnificent – a title that fits the character’s ego, and leads to suitable repartee with Steed and Mrs Peel. Daniel Hawksford and Rosie Jones are his henchpersons (and multiple other characters besides) with Paul Putner creating a number of eccentrics who could only be found in the Avengers’ own little bubble of reality.

The playfulness that director Samuel Clemens talks about in our interview with him is very much on show here, and Steve Foxon’s sound design and Jamie Robertson’s score once again add to the air of heightened reality.

The CD extras are well worth a listen too – unusually, it’s the director being interviewed by the stars in the final track, with Wadham and Poulet clearly fascinated by the insights into the life of their characters’ creator.

Verdict: A terrific tale to end the set. 9/10

Paul Simpson

Click here to order The Avengers: Steed and Mrs Peel Volume 4 from Big Finish