Steed is due to escort a scientist on a trip to the United States but when he turns up at his house his wife tells Steed that he has retired and is no longer seeing anybody. The man is apparently now at the Adelphi Park retirement home; when Steed goes there he is informed that only relatives are allowed to visit. Steed and Cathy investigate and discover an ingenious plan; the widows of wealthy men are employing the services of 'The Undertakers' to avoid exorbitant death duties which would see the tax man take eighty percent of their late husbands' estates. If their husbands sign over their estates before they die and live a further five years their widows get every penny
if they don't last five years then The Undertakers arrange for an actor to take their place at Adelphi Park for the required time
and if the wife can't wait for her husband to die The Undertakers can solve that problem too.
This episode is a fine hint of things to come as the series starts to move from state backed espionage to somewhat eccentric schemes by an organisation to help or target a certain group of people. Given the high death duties it isn't too implausible to think that some people might try to find a way to avoid them even if the method shown here is far-fetched in a way we'd expect from The Avengers. The guest cast goes a solid job; particularly Lally Bowers as the slightly batty Mrs. Renter; Lee Patterson, who plays an unpleasant American and Mandy Miller who plays the daughter of one of the men who are meant to be in Adelphi Park. As well as a fun main story there are some enjoyable exchanges between Patrick Macnee and Honor Blackman as Steed and Cathy; the opening where Cathy ignores Steed and cleans an L1A1 rifle while he talks about going to New York and for once he is the one getting irritated. Overall another good episode.
This episode is a fine hint of things to come as the series starts to move from state backed espionage to somewhat eccentric schemes by an organisation to help or target a certain group of people. Given the high death duties it isn't too implausible to think that some people might try to find a way to avoid them even if the method shown here is far-fetched in a way we'd expect from The Avengers. The guest cast goes a solid job; particularly Lally Bowers as the slightly batty Mrs. Renter; Lee Patterson, who plays an unpleasant American and Mandy Miller who plays the daughter of one of the men who are meant to be in Adelphi Park. As well as a fun main story there are some enjoyable exchanges between Patrick Macnee and Honor Blackman as Steed and Cathy; the opening where Cathy ignores Steed and cleans an L1A1 rifle while he talks about going to New York and for once he is the one getting irritated. Overall another good episode.