This episode opens with Steed attending the funeral of a former colleague at a remote Cornish church. Steed is convinced that something odd is going on; the village was abandoned eight years previously after the closure of the local tin mine but there have been a number of recent burials; mostly of wealthy Londoners with no obvious connection to the county. It turns out that 'Mandrake Co.' is offering a rather sinister service; those who stand to inherit large sums of money can have their wealthy relatives 'legally' disposed of for a fee. Dr Macombie will provide the poison to be administered and then provide a death certificate and forged medical history followed by a burial in a graveyard where natural arsenic in the soil will soon disguise the poison. Steed tracks Dr Macombie's partner, Roy Hopkins, to his failing Christmas cracker business where he flirts with Judy, his attractive employee while Mrs Gale heads to Cornwall and talks to the church's vicar and gets in a fight with the sexton. Meanwhile Hopkins and Macombie are preparing to help their next client.
This episode feels more like one of the classic later episodes; there are no spies or conventional criminals but a 'murder business' with a just about plausible method of operation; it was well thought out with them even having poison in the soil till that was revealed I assumed they were just buried there because it was remote. There are a good variety of characters, all well played; John Le Mesurier is on fine form as the doctor lured into the scheme due to financial problems; Philip Locke is suitably sinister as Hopkins; George Benson is fun as Rev Whyper, the vicar, and Annette Andre is good as Judy; the scenes between her and Steed were a lot of fun. The fight scenes are amongst the best in the series I didn't realise when watching that they were so good Honor Blackman really kicked her opponent in the face and knocked him out! Overall a really good episode.
This episode feels more like one of the classic later episodes; there are no spies or conventional criminals but a 'murder business' with a just about plausible method of operation; it was well thought out with them even having poison in the soil till that was revealed I assumed they were just buried there because it was remote. There are a good variety of characters, all well played; John Le Mesurier is on fine form as the doctor lured into the scheme due to financial problems; Philip Locke is suitably sinister as Hopkins; George Benson is fun as Rev Whyper, the vicar, and Annette Andre is good as Judy; the scenes between her and Steed were a lot of fun. The fight scenes are amongst the best in the series I didn't realise when watching that they were so good Honor Blackman really kicked her opponent in the face and knocked him out! Overall a really good episode.
