Episode 15 - The Joker

Subject	0-5	Subject	0-5	Subject	0-5	Subject	0-5
Direction		Music		Humour		Intro & tag	+
Mastermind		Plot		Emma		Set Design
Overall (0-10)	Joseph	Another Clemens re-write, but a very successful one. Ronald Lacey and Sally Nesbitt are even better than their forbears in Don't Look Behind You and Diana Rigg steals the show. She seems not so worried by the events as annoyed by them. But she is Emma Peel! Ten out of ten for Peter Jeffrey's twisted Prendergast.
	Piers	Excellent from top to bottom. Diana Rigg and Peter Jeffrey shine in this homage to the Hitchcockian psychological thriller. I must enjoy the dark side because I rate this as one of the five best episodes ever.

After a fall down the stairs in his apartment, Steed barely has the strength to tell Mrs Peel she's needed - to care for him!
She has already arranged to spend a weekend in Devon with a bastion of the Bridge world - Sir Cavalier Rusicana. Steed is told an old nemesis of the Avengers, Max Prendergast, has escape gaol in Germany and heading their way. Realising that his injury was no accident, Steed sets out for Devon, sure that Max is trying to kill them. Alone in a country manor, Emma is terrorised by the strange housekeeper and a disturbed young man, then nearly murdered by Prendergast, but Steed plays the joker - finishing the criminal's plans.
A relaxing game of solitaire interrupted by Mrs Peel, the Avengers trade card tricks - Mrs Peel not wanting to ruin the trick that produces a bottle of Bollinger.

Victim	Killer	Method	click a name to see the face
Major George Fancy	Max Prendergast V*	Poisoned razor blade
Strange Young Man	Max Prendergast V*	Pistol