Steed fulfils a boyhood dream as Tara gets the points…

What looks like the final Avengers release from Big Finish – certainly, there’s nothing announced as yet – is very much a classic tale, penned by John Dorney from the TV Comic strip that ran from February to March 1971, drawn by John Canning. As with the box set opener, this hits a lot of the same beats as the original story, with the usual gender-swapping and various additions – including a rather odd hobby for Mother.

It also has a terrific performance by Paul O’Grady as the villain of the piece – quite often the comic strip-based stories feel over the top even compared to the excesses of the Emma Peel era, but this is one tale that I think would have worked very well on screen. Julian Wadham and Emily Woodward have a great rapport here – the scenes in the latter half of the episode are probably their best together to date.

The Avengers has been one of my favourite series from Big Finish, from the earliest reconstructions of the first season stories to these sometimes insane comic strip tales expanded to fill the full hour. There’s still other publications to use as inspirations (Macnee’s own books or Douglas Enefer’s Cathy Gale novel would both work in this format) so fingers crossed John Steed will return…

Verdict: An excellent tale to round the collection off. 9/10

Paul Simpson

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