Series 5 — Episode 8
The Hidden Tiger

Plot summary

Redecorations are interrupted by Steed’s message, hidden under the wallpaper.
The Avengers have to track down a vicious cat on the rampage, killing people and animals near an experimental farm. Ronnie Barker plays Cheshire, the innocent proprietor of P.U.R.R.R., excellently — patting his own head and lapping milk in my favourite scene. One by one, the members of the board of P.U.R.R.R. are being killed by cats — the killers are ordinary cats that are being driven wild by brain-wave modulators implanted in their collars. Steed signs up Emma as his beautiful bronze tabby, and Mrs. Peel responds by joining her missing Little John, who’s very grumpy before his first glass of champagne in the morning.
Dr. Manx and Angora, from P.U.R.R.R., plan to unleash every domestic cat on England, using radio waves to make them primeval beasts. Steed is tied to a chair, surrounded by cats, but Emma arrives in time to free him and disable the transmitter. Seeing a cat in his van, Manx panics and crashes into a tree, unaware that the cat was no longer a threat.
Mission accomplished, Mrs. Peel can return to her redecorating — but Steed puts his foot in it.

show full synopsis

show plot summary

Steed hunts a big cat
Emma is badly scratched

Prologue

A butler — Williams (John Moore) — tidies up a room, puts a saucer of milk out for the cat and shuts the door to muffle the dog’s barking when he’s suddenly set upon and mauled to death.

Act 1

Emma Peel (Diana Rigg) is redecorating her flat; she strips off some wallpaper to discover the legend “Mrs. Peel -” underneath, and turns to see John Steed (Patrick Macnee) reveal “- We’re Needed.” on another wall.

They examine the murder scene and Williams’ employer, Sir David Harper (Jack Gwillim), tells them something wild and inhuman must have attacked him — yet it appeared without warning and disappeared without trace.

Sir David is concerned about the livestock at his experimental farm, so Steed and Emma search the grounds, taking the dog with them.¹ The dog sudden growls and sets off back to the house, and Sir David, hearing the noise goes to look out the French doors.

Behind Sir David, the interior door creaks open slightly and as he turns after closing the French doors he recoils in fear as he is attacked.

Steed lets the dog off the leash and they chase after it back to the house. Inside, they find the body, doors all closed, lying with his clothes all torn.²

Steed examines the body and the room while Mrs. Peel notices the cat hiding under a table and goes to pick it up. Steed muses over the lack of footprints or traces of any kind. Steed reflects it must have been a cat of some kind —

EMMA: We plead not guilty.
STEED: (CHUCKLES) No Mrs. Peel, I think it was something a little larger than that.

Moments later, Steed is faced by an enraged lion! — but it’s a film³ being played to him by Major Nesbitt (John Phillips), a local big game hunter he has visited for advice. The Major tells him he used to own a tiger cub but had to put it in a zoo, it was too dangerous — Nesbitt is surprised to hear about Harper, who he knew through several committees.

NESBITT: Huh, impossible, Steed! (TAPS NOSE) This isn’t just an ordinary nose, this is a built-in cat detector! If there was one on the loose I’d know it.
STEED: Well, assuming there was one, where do we start to look for it?
NESBITT: Well, can’t remain hidden for long. A beast that size eats meat, and plenty of it…

At the farm,⁴ Emma asks George Erskine (Stanley Meadows) about their work, trying to establish a motive, and is rudely brushed past by Peters (Michael Forrest), one of the farm hands. When Emma says she’s just looking, Erskine eyes her cautiously.⁵

Peters bursts back in moments later, saying the prize bull has been killed — despite the ring of animal traps around the cow shed.

Nesbitt excitedly joins Steed and Emma on a safari, although he is surprised to see Mrs. Peel there.

NESBITT: Unusual, old man — woman on a big game hunt.
STEED: Unusual woman … All set, Mrs. Peel?

Nesbitt and Steed taking the high ground while Emma covers the farm, where she hopes to bump into Erskine, who’s working late.⁶

There’s no romance for her though, as Erskine is attacked while checking the milk store, just like the previous victims, and is killed, caught in one of traps while trying to escape.⁷ She checks his body, which keels over as she touches it. She rushes into the lab when she hears a sound but there’s nothing but broken equipment and an empty milk can.

Act 2

Next day, having turned up nothing in piles of books on milk, or Sir David’s notes to suggest a motive, they go back on safari, Emma bringing a box of miniature directional microphones and earpiece receivers.

Nesbitt meanwhile has brewed a smelly and delicious stew which is guaranteed to attract big cats⁸ and sets a trail of it in his parlour leading to a steel cage.

STEED: Is there enough room in there for a big cat?
NESBITT: That’s not for the cat, old man. That’s for me! Be safer inside. Now, if you’ll oblige.

Steed locks him inside the cage and Nesbitt advises him to make himself scarce, and watch the waterhole.

Emma scatters the microphones around the farm, tossing some nonchalantly over her shoulder as she finishes up, while Steed sets up on the ridge with a picnic hamper and a bottle of champagne… then Peters arrives, claiming to have a few things to clear up. Shortly afterwards, they hear the purr of a cat on the microphones near the farm, but Mrs. Peel finds nothing, and trips over the empty milk bottles running outside agsin, which give Steed cause for alarm. The cat turns away, first north and then west, heading for Nesbitt’s place and Steed sets off in pursuit.

Nesbitt meanwhile readies himself to shoot, crouching down in the cage but is suddenly surprised from behind him, a creature small enough to fit through the bars slashing at him as he tries to bring his gun to bear on it. Steed hears a gunshot when he pulls up outside but Nesbitt is dead by the time he gets inside. He examines the Major’s body and finds a medallion nearby inscribed ‘P.U.R.R.R. FURRY LODGE SUSSEX’.

Act 3

Steed visits P.U.R.R.R. in the morning, a cat sanctuary serviced by a fleet of milkmen and meets the proprietor, Edwin Cheshire (Ronnie Barker) inside, playing a mournful organ for the funeral of one of the cats.

Cheshire tell him that P.U.R.R.R., the Philanthropic Union for Rescue, Relief and Recuperation (of Cats), is England’s largest cat protection society, and has 1,110,043 members in London alone, according to his secretary, Angora (Gabrielle Drake) and they then signs up Steed.

CHESHIRE: Now Mr. Steed, the name of your beloved pussy?⁹
STEED: Oh, er, Emma …
CHESHIRE: Emma… pedigree?
STEED: Family tree… that long!
CHESHIRE: Colouring?
STEED: Er, reddish brown.
CHESHIRE: Oh — a cuddly bronze tabby, and what a joy for you it must be when she’s curled up in your lap!

The paperwork done, Cheshire offers Steed a drink, which he accepts — until he discovers it’s varieties of milk on offer!¹⁰ Cheshire tells him it’s the food of the gods — cats were worshipped by earlier civilisations and he declares that one day cats shall inherit the Earth.¹¹ With that, Cheshire pats himself on the head then astonishes Steed by lapping at his milk like a cat.

The sour Dr. Manx (Lyndon Brook) enters, sneering at Cheshire being “on the bottle again”. Steed asks if big cats are also covered by P.U.R.R.R., which silences them. Angora, who has bee circling him warily,¹² hurriedly gives him a brochure and ushers him out.

Outside, he glances at the brochure and is amazed to see that Harper, Erskine and Nesbitt were all on the governing committee, leaving only Samuel Jones and Walter Bellamy alive. Not for long however, as Bellamy (Reg Pritchard) is at that moment being chased across wasteland near his home and mauled on the doorstep just before Steed arrives.

Steed rushes to Mrs. Peel’s flat, straight past her at the door, looking for the phone book — “He went that-a way!”, she quips. Steed starts phoning all the S. Joneses in London while Emma visits P.U.R.R.R. to sign up her own cat.

Cheshire assures Emma he will find her ‘Little John’, and makes a composite picture of the cat using his patented Identi-Cat system.¹³ Cheshire adjusts the picture as she first says Little John has a more aristocratic nose, then adds he has larger eyes. Cheshire beams at the success afterwards, and tells her P.U.R.R.R. is not a cat society but a union of souls, and asks for more information:

CHESHIRE: Has your Little John any other peculiarities?
EMMA: Well he’s very bad tempered first thing in the morning … until he’s had his first glass of champagne.
(CHESHIRE TURNS AWAY AND ROLLS HIS EYES)

Cheshire shows Mrs. Peel over the society’s facilities and she surprises Dr. Manx and Angora locked in a passionate embrace in the ‘treatment room’.

EMMA: And who was that getting the treatment?

Cheshire is effusive about Dr Manx’s “psy-cat therapy” and Manx demurs, saying Cheshire comes up with the finance. This prompts Cheshire to say he had a note from the managing committee so Angora hurriedly asks if they have a description of her cat and leads them out to takes a photo of the Identi-cat of Little John. Peters arrives in a van and Angora shows Emma out a side door before he enters, then tells Peters they are set for 23:00 that night.

Mrs. Peel has recognised Peters and goes to check the van and he recognises her when Angora wonders why she’s looking at the van. Peters says she was at the farm with Steed, which makes Angora jump — Peters wants to kill her but Angora stops him.

PETERS: But they’re on to us, they must be!
ANGORA: How? Suspicious perhaps … so were Harper and Nesbitt. But remember, Peters, there’s more than one way to skin a cat!

Act 4

Steed finally tracks down the correct Samuel Jones (Brian Haines) and tells to lock himself inside, penthouse flat notwithstanding, and hurries over but Jones’ cat comes in the cat-flap as he locks the door, and out it again just as Steed arrives. With no answer to the doorbell, Steed peers through the letter slot and then breaks down the door, finding that Jones has been mauled to death inside.

Peters meanwhile get a gun from a drawer to kill Mrs. Peel, but Angora tells him Jones is dead and Mrs. Peel will be killed the usual way, giving him a cat and a medallion.

Steed rings Emma to tell her about Jones and she tells him about the odd laboratory and van decked out like a small apartment¹⁴ at P.U.R.R.R. While talking to her, he notices the cat’s medallion has sprung open, revealing an electronic circuit — he says he’ll call her back, “the cat’s out of the bag!”, and dives to grab the cat.

At that moment, Mrs. Peel is surprised by Cheshire appearing at her door, looking worried while holding a large wicker hamper.¹⁵

CHESHIRE: Your sorrows are at an end, dear lady… the lonely gap in your heart will soon be filled.
(HE OPENS THE HAMPER AND A CAT POPS ITS HEAD OUT,
SHE TRIES TO SAY IT’S NOT HERS BUT HE STOPS HER)
CHESHIRE: No, don’t thank me. The look in your eyes is gratitude enough.
EMMA: Err, but supposing Little John were to come home?
CHESHIRE: Then your heart will be doubly filled.

Cheshire departs, saying he’s so glad they’ve found someone to take care of her.¹⁶ Steed meanwhile asks Dawson (Frederick Treves) to examine the circuit, and he tells him it contains an electrophon, a recent development that transmit brainwaves, and can release primæval instincts in lower creatures. He confirms a cat would be an ideal subject.

DAWSON: Beam these waves into the brain of a cat, and you’d find yourself with a tiger in your lap!

Meanwhile Steed goes to P.U.R.R.R., knocking Peters out and dumping him in the van before breaking in through a side window. He knocks out Cheshire when challenged inside, but is captured by the real villains — Angora and Manx, who knocks him out and straps him to a chair.¹⁷ When he regains consciousness, Manx reveals their plan to rob Britain by killing the population with their cats.

MANX: Welcome back, Mr. Steed. Now, as you’ve doubtless heard, curiosity killed the cat. Well, in this case the cats are going to kill the curious.
STEED: Err, that equipment… it transmits err brain waves into those receivers in the medallions there.
MANX: Inside every cat there’s a hidden tiger … Well I can release it! Shortly I shall blanket the entire country.
Every cat wearing a medallion will revert to its savage ancestry. Our membership runs into millions.
Few will survive, but for those who do — there’ll be wealth … unlimited wealth. In banks, safe deposits, diamond vaults, and all at the mere flick of a switch.

Manx flicks a switch in demonstration, then off again — warning Emma of her peril as the cat in her arms goes momentarily homicidally crazy. She quickly puts the cat back in the hamper:

EMMA: I think that was good grounds for divorce!

As she does so, she discovers the medallion is magnetic and removes it from the cat, discovering the circuit in the medallion for herself.

She takes the cat in the hamper back to P.U.R.R.R. and when she arrives, she takes care of Angora, dumping her in the van next to Peters, then enters the building. Meanwhile, the cat escapes from the hamper and leaps out Emma’s car window…

Inside, Dr. Manx sets a one minute timer until the cats become tigers, leaving Steed to become their prey. Emma hides in the office to evade him and rushes in to save Steed as the cats start wandering down the hallway.

STEED: Mrs. Peel!
EMMA: Pussies galore!¹⁸

She frees Steed and they flick every switch on the board, managing to turn off the system in the process.

Outside, Manx panics when he sees Emma’s cat, which had leapt into the familiar van seat from her car and he crashes the van.

Epilogue

Emma and Steed are painting her flat — he’s doodling on the wall: a cat (“repressed personality”, Emma suggests) — signed “Steed” in large letters (“with extrovert undertones”, she adds), then Steed draws a cat’s head and a love heart with JS in one corner, which he hurriedly paints over when she notices it.

STEED: Well, one thing’s for certain. By acting as we did, we narrowly averted a terrible-
(STEED STEPS IN A PAINT TRAY)
EMMA: (SMIRKING) CATastrophe! (SHE CHUCKLES)

---

1. Sir David narrows his eyes as they go, making you wonder if he’s involved. As he looks out the French doors, it's clear that the trees and lawn are a painted backdrop. ⭮
2. Exactly like the victims of The Winged Avenger — even down to the score, which uses the same dramatic music. ⭮
3. Once again, reality is inverted, you can't trust anything you see. ⭮
4. Like the view through Sir David’s French doors earlier, the farmyard is a deliberately fake set, highlighting that the show is a flight of fancy. ⭮
5. Red herring: just as Sir David did earlier, Erskine narrows his eyes as she leaves, making you wonder if he is he the villain. ⭮
6. Steed gives her a smile and a considered look when he realises she’s after a bit on the side. ⭮
7. In true Avengers tradition there is not a drop of blood, but his clothes are torn to shreds, again, just like in The Winged Avenger; in fact, all the victims in the episode are staged like the cartoon drawings of the victims in that episode. ⭮
8. This idea is reused in The New Avengers in Gnaws. ⭮
9. Hem, hem. Have we crossed over into Are You Being Served? or Carry On films? ⭮
10. “Homogenised, pasteurised, full cream, dairy special or perhaps you prefer a short?” ⭮
11. Another red herring, suggesting that Cheshire might be the diabolical mastermind. ⭮
12. A stunning piece of direction by Sidney Hayers, Angora circles Steed so that she is always opposite the camera, which circles around him at the same time. ⭮
13. An hilarious take on the crime drama Identikit system, but with cat faces, noses and eyes on separate acetate sheets. ⭮
14. An unusual use of an American word, indicating that the producers were thinking of the export market that was largely funding the series. ⭮
15. Another red herring: the expression on his face when he's first seen standing there seems to suggest he knows about the killer cats and is regretting having to kill Mrs. Peel with one. ⭮
16. The ambiguity once again suggesting Cheshire is one of the plotters. ⭮
17. It’s Steed’s turn this week to be knocked out and subjected to bondage. ⭮
18. A James Bond joke and call-out to ex cast member Honor Blackman. ⭮