Episode 21 - A Touch of Brimstone

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"A Touch of Brimstone"
by Brian Clemens
directed by James Hill

Britain's international standing, and trade relations, are being damaged by a wave of practical jokes, aimed at visiting dignitaries. when one joke results in the death of a VIP, the avengers step up their hunt for the perpetrators.
Lord Darcy, an unwitting dupe of a group called the Hellfire Club spills the beans to Steed and then rushes around to the home of the Hon. John Cleverly Cartney, the prime suspect. Mrs Peel is there, being entertained in the Hellfire Club's rooms when Darcy bursts in, demanding a special meeting of senior members. the next day, his corpse is dragged from the river.

Mrs Peel nominates Steed for membership, and he passes the induction tests with flying colours, then overhears them planning an action that will have the whole country up in arms.

That night they attend the Club's gala, a debauched orgy, but notice a sedan chair filled with explosives heading for the basement. Steed learns that the tunnels go to Clarendon House, where Parliament is sitting that night. The plan is revealed - the killing of the government, and the installation in their place of the Hellfire conspirators.

Mrs Peel is mildly drugged and dressed up as a dominatrix:- corset, boots, dog collar and snake, and offered to the club members as a plaything. Meanwhile, Steed is recognised by Darcy's butler, another club member, and is challenged to a duel by their fencing champion, Willy Frant. Mrs Peel slips away from the fight, followed by Cartney, and descends to the basement to stop the villains. Having defeated the goons downstairs, she is confronted by Cartney wielding a whip, who lashes her, but dies when his whip entangles the mechanism for a trapdoor. Steed has meanwhile subdued Frant and locked away the other club members.
The Avengers depart, driving a four horse carriage.