User Reviews

Another lost episode from season 1 of THE AVENGERS, "The Far Distant Dead" served as the second of two solo adventures for Ian Hendry's Dr. David Keel, and certainly covers more territory than "Girl on the Trapeze," kicking off with food poisoning in Mexico before concluding in Marseilles. Instead of the missing John Steed, Keel incredibly receives a female partner in Katharine Blake's Ampara Sandoval, a fellow physician caring for the sick and dying in Mexico City, together stumbling upon a case of fresh food that was fried in hydraulic fluid disguised as cooking oil. The trail leads the two from all the way to France, where an unscrupulous importer (Francis De Wolff) uses his shipping lanes to export dangerous chemicals, profiting upon the suffering of others. Tom Adams (second of three) features as the main henchman (Reed R. De Rouen and Michael Mellinger back for a single episode next season), with the intriguing one-off pairing of male and female doctors working in tandem undoubtedly giving the production team an easier out once Ian Hendry decided that playing the same character over 25 episodes was enough for him. From this little acorn grew the mighty oak, giving birth to Cathy Gale, Emma Peel, and Tara King. Steed enjoyed only one first season episode without Dr. Keel, "Dragonsfield."