Steed and Tara are concerned about Mother returning to his alma mater for Sports Day…

Sarah Grochala’s tale for the Avengers has had a great deal of early attention because of its guest star – Linda Thorson, the original Tara King. She’s playing a very different part here and takes centre stage alongside Christopher Benjamin’s Mother for quite a large part of it. Grochala’s script is based on the very last new strip in TV Comic, which appeared from June to August 1972, some considerable time after The Avengers had gone off air, and she makes some eminently sensible changes to it to bring it more in line with the TV series – not least giving Aunt Gertrude (Thorson) a considerably larger part to play. (Maybe she knew a man in Africa?) There’s also a terrific running gag as Steed carries out his investigations…

There’s fun parts for Nicholas Day as the headmaster, and Jacob Dudman as Oswald, with Grochala conjuring up the spirit of the Frank Richards Greyfriars stories, which were written around this time. Japes and pranks being played on those deemed less fortunate might not be a cause for concern at the time – but they have more aftereffects than the perpetrators might expect.

Samuel Clemens and his team once again immerse the listener in Avengers-land – where you roll with the most outlandish events. I was a bit concerned initially that Benjamin was leaning too hard into the comic potential of Mother, but there’s good reason why he’s Steed’s superior at the Ministry. As for our lead agents, Julian Wadham and Emily Woodward maintain their equanimity (nearly) all the time – but even the pluckiest of agents can be excused the odd wobble…

Verdict: A fine capstone to another enjoyable box set. 8/10

Paul Simpson

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