User Reviews

"Take-Over" is a curious episode, a throwback to the quiet intensity of earlier seasons, the last of 5 scripted by Terry Nation, and the last of 7 directed by Robert Fuest. This may explain the return of Tom Adams, not seen since 1961's first season ("Death on the Slipway" and "The Far-Distant Dead"), who toplines as cultured villain Fenton Grenville, whose entourage invades a quiet country home for the purpose of sabotage. Enter the unexpected presence of John Steed, who celebrates Christmas every February with his hosts, soon learning that both are in mortal danger, with Tara making her entrance late in the proceedings. Despite the distinct lack of humor (and music), the verbal sparring between Steed and Grenville make this the last truly great entry. Hammer veteran Michael Gwynn (1958's "The Revenge of Frankenstein" and 1970's "Scars of Dracula") plays the harried host, Elizabeth Sellars is his wife, and Garfield Morgan ("The Fear Merchants" and "Game") wears shades again as Grenville's culinary cohort.

The main thing I will remind for this episode is the camera angles and work, more exciting and unusual than ever; though I am used with Robert Fuest, who gives here a true masterpiece concerning this. Watch out for the fht at the end, with Tara facing the evil lead guy, there is a very bizarre shot with the pistol, very very rare and so astonishing.

A party of four turn up at the home of Bill and Laura Bassett, and effectively take over their home, one thing they didn't make provision for, special guest John Steed.

Classic, an out and out classic, I'd go so far as to say that this is a contender for best episode of the final series, easily a top ten overall for me.

I am something of a lover of home invasion movies, and effectively that's exactly what this episode is, I'm afraid my knowledge of 60's TV is only small, but growing rapidly, I had no idea that the concept would appear here.

It's the contrast in the villains that works so incredibly well, you have the smart, suave Grenville, who plays it straight, he's commanding, confident and full of charm, and then there's Circe, one of the show's most interesting characters, a marvellous performance from Hilary Pritchard, she's cooky, she's beautiful, she's actually very menacing.

The camera work is absolutely sublime, it's imaginative, it's creative, it's so different to most of what's gone before, the music is also first rate, like nothing I've ever heard on the show before, straight out of one of those 60's murder mystery films.

I don't often comment on such matters, but that house, it is divine, the colour schemes, paintings, it may just be a set, but that is tasteful.

Awesome episode, 10/10.

The 'home invasion' thriller has become a staple of pop culture since the sixties. Hollywood alone has spun out as many variations on the theme as it can collectively imagine, from the classy (Panic Room) to the risible (Firewall). Frank Sinatra in 'Suddenly' arguably initiated the recognisable sub-genre - with Michael Haneke's 'Funny Games', it reached a horrific climax.

The conventions are easily identified. A gang of ruthless criminals break into the home of a happy family, disrupting their lives and taking them hostage. As a rule, they are told t sit tight and behave themselves whilst the villains get on with their scheme - often involving the expertise of one of the parents (usually Daddy). However, the family fights back and overcome their opponents (The horror of Haneke's film is the way it undermines almost all of these conventions). The form may be the principle modern morality play about the need for family unity and the repulsion of outsiders.

'The Avengers', inevitably, has its own particular twist on this familiar tale. The gang in this case are a cultivated bunch, scrupulously polite and tasteful. They don't use violence to gain access to the house - in fact, they don't even use outright trickery. Instead, they rely on the good manners of their prospective hosts and a little verbal ambiguity. They know that this upper-middle class couple and their faithful servant will comply with them up to a certain point rather than rudely demand to know who they are - in fact, they will help them carry in their luggage.

This is very much a tale about snobbery and etiquette; Bill and Laura are the middle class victims of upper class killers, and the killers know it. Just as the villains utilise politeness to gain access to the house, they threaten and order their hostages about in the manner of an etiquette lesson. When Steed arrives unexpectedly and starts causing trouble, they take him out on a game shoot (arranging for an accident to occur, of course), the sport of the upper classes, not the nouveau riche. The criminals waste no time in finding fault with their hostages' taste, determined to prove themselves superior to their helpless victims. Does it trouble their consciences less to terrorise the tasteless? Sexton can barely contain his contempt for the coffee he finds in the house - surely such a rich couple could afford something better? Circe doesn't like the curtains, and Grenville criticises Bill's terror itself - hysteria is hardly the correct behaviour for a man. In every way, this rich couple are found to be 'non-U', and thus fair game for the impeccable Grenville's team. This is why Steed's victory over Grenville in the party game is so provocative - he has proved himself more discerning in an important field (classical music)than his opponent. Being able to distinguish whale bone from ivory by sound alone sets Steed above Grenville - hardly surprising, as Steed has always been depicted by the series as the ultimate gentleman. Grenville seems loathe to admit any flaws in his own character - note the way he stresses that leaving out Steed's bowler and umbrella where Tara could see them is less of an error than her letting him observe that she has seen him.

Circe, a sorceress who bound men to her will by turning them into pigs, is reconceived here as a surgeon, who binds men to Grenville's will by inserting bombs into their throats. Hillary Pritchard's ostentatiously eccentric performance (matched perfectly to an ostentatiously eccentric character) marries the two, as she floats around after dinner in a blue dress. She uses plastic surgery to change her own form, growing bored with her own noses. As motivations go, it's certainly unique.

Elizabeth Sellars is at the other end of the scale, perhaps the most realistically written and played character since Honor Blackman left the series. She must have a hidden sense of whimsy, however - the vintage car in the hallway she decorated is a surreal touch.

There are no children in this family, a fact that is never alluded to. Sergeant Groom is the closest thing that Bill and Laura have, and he's bumped off ten minutes in. Most 'home invasion' stories rely on threats to the children to both subdue parents and ultimately motivate them to fight back. There can be no fighting back here, however - not with a bomb inside the hostage's body; a new level of invasiveness, a microcosmic reiteration of the main plot. There is a real and unique sense of violation in this episode.

If there is a flaw amid all these new found hard edges, it's that they make the tag scene seem rather tasteless. By this point, however, the series seemed to have forgotten how to leave our screens each week with a charming grace note any way, so this is par for the course. Certainly, it doesn't take much away from the best latter-day episode of the series.

Three men and a woman called Circe politely call on the country home of Steed's friends, married couple Bill and Laura Bassett. Unfortunately their visit turns sinister as they plan to implant explosives into the throats of the couple and send them off to destroy a nearby peace conference. Happily for the Bassetts - and the conference - Steed is coming to visit for the weekend, and he knows what to do.

Atypical Avengers episode that is bereft of the the trademark campiness and quirky humour and has some sinister overtones story of a home invasion led by Tom Adams. He and his gang act very polite with great etiquette but that's only on the surface. They are a menacing lot. Matter of fact, one of them, Circe - a female surgeon - is clearly a psychotic. The tension is quite high, especially when Steed turns up. He senses something is wrong. You really root for him to put them in place, and eventually he does so by using his trademark guile. This is a great episode, which touches upon snobbery and class. It's quite telling that the fact that Adams got really upset when Steed knew more about classical music than him. That prompted him to kill Steed. Tara is in here only in the beginning and the end, where she helps Steed.