Big Finish released the penultimate volume in is Avengers: The Lost Episodes range, recreating the mostly lost first season of the Avengers featuring David Keel (Anthony Howell) and John Steed (Julian Wadham). This release and Volume 7 (which will be released in January) contain three episodes rather than four as did the first five sets. Here’s a look at the three stories included:

The Frighteners: This is an adaptation of one of the few episodes to be preserved from the Avengers’ lost season. While I’ve never seen the TV version, Big Finish’s take on the story is a very good one.

The titular Frighteners, a group of thugs who blackmail “patients” (i.e. victims) with severe beatings if they don’t perform a desired action that their clients want are genuinely creepy and menacing with their euphemistic language.

At the same time, this is a fairly complicated problem for Keel and Steed compared to the others they’ve faced because they not only have to deal with the Frighteners (Counter Measures), they also have to deal with one of their victims, who has his own agenda for wanting to marry a wealthy man’s daughter. Keel really shows how much he’s grown since he first appeared, easily taking the lead both physically and in planning.

With a guest appearance by Hugh Ross, this is an extremely enjoyable episode and one of the best stories released so far.

Death on the Slipway: This story is a somewhat standard spy tale, that finds Steed investigating a mysterious death at a shipyard with the British Navy’s latest submarine is being built. The sound design is solid on this as it really conveys the feeling of a 1960s shipyard. Death on the Slip has some good moments with Steed in the spotlight as Dr. Keel is relegated to a couple comedic scenes back at the surgery. It’s a decent enough story of a break-in gone wrong and the spy is menacing, but the production’s not a stand out by any means.

Tunnel of Fear: Steed goes undercover at a fun fair to investigate strange goings on after an exonerated prisoner who had pretended escape and worked at the carnival, is beaten so badly he didn’t remember what happened. This is another good story with a bit more humor thrown in. Steed has some of the best lines of the entire Lost Episodes series in this story and there’s some superb fight scenes. The villains are pretty typical, but the unusual locale makes this a fun story.

Overall, this is a solid box set that lives up to the high standards Big Finish has set for the series.

Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0

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