Sometimes the good ol’-fashioned ways are the best…

John Dorney’s opener for this new set of adventures for Steed and Tara King is based on the untitled TV Comic strip that ran from September 12 to November 21, 1970, drawn by John Canning (whose distinctive artwork occasionally makes Our Heroes look as if they’ve escaped from the Doctor Who set). Dorney follows the strip’s plot pretty closely – although inevitably 22 pages of comic strip is nowhere near enough for a full length episode, and there’s plenty of space for expansion.

Dorney clearly loves working on The Avengers, no matter what period, and he reflects the very different relationship that Steed has with Tara in the dialogue. It’s a suitably mad adventure, with a Westworld-type theme park (without, luckily, the murderous robots – although a crossover with the Cybernauts could have been fun) where everyone buys into the idea. Julian Wadham’s Steed and Emily Woodward’s Tara are suitably bemused by the amount of playacting going on, but there’s plenty of serious action as well, particularly once the villains of the piece show their hand.

With a brief appearance by Christopher Benjamin as Mother (one of the most inspired pieces of casting that the Avengers production team has made), appropriate music score and sound design from Jamie Robertson and Steve Foxon respectively, this is a fun step back five decades.

Verdict: A world away from the darkness and grittiness of the Series 1 adventures, this is The Avengers at their nuttiest. 9/10

Paul Simpson