Tony Williamson

23rd December 1969 (epguides.com) or 11th March 1970 (IMDb)

6^th December, London Airport, London

A plane is coming into land at London airport. A man wakes up on the run way in his pyjamas and dressing gown. He puts on his glasses, spots the incoming plane and runs for his life.

The pilot is unaware of the man and continues his descent. At the last possible second he spots the old gent and pulls the plane up.

But it is too late – the man is dead.

How did he get there? Why was he there? Who put him there?

Send for Department S immediately.

The man who died on the runway apparently had a history of amnesia where airports were concerned. He would arrive on a particular flight but with no memory of how he got onboard or where he came from.

The missing scientist Stewart and Annabelle are charged with finding worked at a lab where the staff were also prone to amnesia. Which, given that he was working on a revolutionary new form of brainwashing, seems suspicious.

Three minutes into the episode we find him lurking in the lounge at London Airport. He’s sipping something alcoholic and eying up totty. He’s spotted a lovely looking girl and is no doubt wondering the same as me – who is she? I’m sure I’ve seen her before somewhere. Actually, Jason is more likely wondering if she’s wearing any knickers.

Interestingly, Jason doesn’t seem to be at London Airport for anything mission related – he’s actually seeing off his new blonde friend. She bought him some magazines to pass the time – one about pig farming and the splendidly named "Modern Knitting". I like this episode already.

Anthony Ainley needs no introduction. Oddly, even though he's playing a good guy, he still looks and sounds evil.

Fiona Lewis is Lisa Crane. I'll be lusting over her for most of the review. She'd go on to star in "Inner Space".

Bridget Brice is the dead man's nephew. She went on to be Cowley's secretary in "The Professionals" and Ronnie Corbett's love interest in "Sorry".

Michael Gwynn plays evil scientist Drieker. He is of course Lord Melbury from the very first episode of "Fawlty Towers".

In no way was this shot set up to arouse and titillate.

She turns out to be quite possibly the prettiest woman ever to appear in the show. She’s quite literally lovely. And keeps getting more lovely as she reveals new depths to her evilness.

In the words of Joey Styles, CAT FIGHT! CAT FIGHT!! CAT FIGHT!!!

Jason finds the pretty girl in a state of distress. It was her uncle who was found dead on the runway. Jason uses his Department S card to win over Anthony Ainley’s character and begin the investigation.

Jason has lunch with the girl, tells her he’s trying to find an excuse to have dinner with her and then gives her a lift home in his Jason King Mobile.

There are men waiting at the girl’s apartment. Jason has a fight during which his hair gets bigger and bigger. Despite his best efforts he is knocked out and the girl is kidnapped.

He meets her the next day and – in a colossal blow to his male pride – she says she’s never met him before.

He fixes up another first date with her – same restaurant as the first – and gets to use all his lines on her again. Little does he realise she’s under post-hypnotic control and reports on Jason’s movements once he’s gone. She then phones him and sends him into a trap.

After deliberately blundering into a trap, he places a newspaper in a bin as a signal to Annabelle and Stewart. That’s proper tradecraft that is. Someone’s been reading Le Carre.

At the country club, he toasts "To crime" and Lisa replies "and punishment". God that’s sexy.

Nothing. Not a sausage. In fact, the mere fact that Jason would be reading magazines in the airport rather than copies of his books is a sign that the writer forgot all about Mark Caine.

Stewart and Annabelle are given the job of finding this man – a research scientist who disappeared from labs in Stockholm and who is an expert in ultra sonics.

He goes to Blain’s office and dons the best disguise in the history of television.

He wins the secretary over with his charm, sophistication and the promise of a new sports car if she helps him. Not necessarily in that order. Sadly, it all goes wrong when she checks with the airport and finds he didn’t arrive this morning from New York as he claimed.

Even when in disguise he’s still brown from head to toe.

Unfortunately for him, the secretary he thought would be a piece of cake (light, fluffy and fun to eat) turns out to have a suspicious mind and a black belt in karate. She knocks him the heck out and we get another of ITC’s stock "groggy" visual effects.

The next morning he’s in Paris at Department S’s headquarters and has no memory of the case they are working on. Gadzooks – they got to him as well.

Then Jason turns up to be the voice of sanity BUT HE CAN’T REMEMBER EITHER~!

A more subdued Tara King hairstyle to begin with. She’s still got the strange watch we saw in an earlier episode, appears to be wearing some kind of surgical smock and is wrapped up in ticker tape because she’s a computer expert and that’s what computer experts did in the 1960s.

She comes over all bossy when amnesia takes its toll on the gentlemen. Her firmness and paperwork is enough to break through the amnesiac blockages. She’s good.

She gets cross when Jason describes her computer as an "undersexed, overgrown adding machine". She has the last laugh when Jason describes the computer’s suggested strategy as "brilliant… quite brilliant."

She goes undercover at the country club as a waitress. You’d think a den of villainy would know its staff by sight but she’s able to wander freely as long as she’s got a tray of drinks in her hands.

A cracking episode. The teaser is strong and all its various aspects are cleared up by the end. The amnesia gimmick is used very well and we really believe at one stage that Department S can’t possibly defeat an enemy that can alter their thoughts at will. You’ll also have gathered that the female lead tickled my fancy and that’s worth points on the board. Lots of familiar faces crop up, its all nice and logical and has no glaring flaws. One of the very best.