The Avengers (TV Series) The Curious Case of the Countless Clues (1968) User Reviews

Criminals with forensic planning

[Tweekums · 8/10 · 17 March 2015]

In the opening scene we see what appears to be a pair of detectives examining a crime scene. They comment on a button, lost in a scuffle; a muddy footprint; and one or two other items before turning their attention to the outline of a body on the floor. Then another man arrives… he is to be the victim of their murder! It turns out this duo are murdering people and planting clues that implicate wealthy men who they wish to blackmail; if they pay up an alibi is provided, if not crucial evidence is passed on to the police. The case is given to Sir Arthur Doyle, a not too subtle Sherlock Holmes lookalike. As the case is rather sensitive he asks Steed to have a word with the suspect to establish where they were at the time of the offence. While Steed to doing that Tara is confined to her flat with a badly sprained ankle. When there is another similar case Steed is once again asked to have a word. His presence on both cases leads the blackmailers to make him their next victim… they plan to frame him for the murder of Tara King!

I rather enjoyed this episode; the opening set up was great; I loved how the two villains were introduced in a way that makes the viewer think they are the police. Their crime wasn't the usual grand plot to bring down the state; just an elaborate way for a couple of unpleasant men to force rich men to hand over valuable artworks. Anthony Bate and Kenneth Cope do a fine job as these two unlikeable characters. Having Tara confined to her room, only able to move with difficulty, makes the final scene tenser than it would have been otherwise. Some of the action is more gritty than usual for The Avengers; most notably the scene where Steed extracts information from an associate of the villains… it looked like he might kill the man! Peter Jones brings some lightness to the episode with his portrayal of Sir Arthur Doyle; he may look like Holmes but isn't the great detective. Overall a rather good episode that eschews the more surreal aspects of the series.

Curiously underrated

[rich_groovy · 8/10 · 23 October 2007]

One of the first Tara King episodes of The Avengers, The Curious case of the Countless Clues was made during a tempestuous time in the series' history and might never have seen the light of day, or been butchered within an inch of its life (as was the fate of The Great Great Britain Crime, which became Homicide and Old Lace).

As it is, its one of my favourite Tara episodes. True its not particularly witty or bizarre - its a straight forward thriller. But a great cast, a neat central idea and a perfectly suspenseful ending combine to make a top notch episode. Watch out for villains Earle and Gardiner (a pun on Perry Mason creator, Erle Stanley Gardiner), two of the creepiest and best played baddies Tara comes up against.

A step in the right direction

[kevinolzak · 6/10 · 11 April 2011]

"The Curious Case of the Countless Clues" marked the return of Brian Clemens to the producer's chair, featuring another simple storyline just as in its three predecessors, but better directed by Don Sharp. We begin in sterling fashion, as Earle (Anthony Bate, "Tunnel of Fear") and Gardiner (Kenneth Cope, "The Bird Who Knew Too Much") go over each separate clue in detailing the present murder scene, prior to performing the killing themselves! Scotland Yard's Sir Arthur Doyle (Peter Jones, "The Thirteenth Hole"), dressed like Sherlock Holmes, calls upon Steed to investigate because the person implicated is a close friend, Sir William Henry Benedict Burgess (George A. Cooper, "The White Dwarf"), who behaves suspiciously when questioned. A brief moment of jealous concern crosses Tara's face when Steed's attractive old flame (Tracy Reed, Oliver's cousin) barges in to tell him that her wealthy executive brother, Robert Flanders (Edward de Souza, "Six Hands Across a Table"), has now been targeted for blackmail by Earle, who holds on to the incriminating murder weapons until the priceless art treasures that he covets have become his own. The two villains decide to frame Steed in similar fashion by killing Miss Tara King, who spends the entire episode in her apartment, confined to a wheelchair due to an ankle sprain. Once forewarned, Tara's intelligence is called into question by her failure to lock the back door before crawling agonizingly up the stairs to make certain they can't get in her front door, but she manages to redeem herself in a frantic finish. Lacking in genuine wit, yet definitely a step in the right direction.

Curiouser and curiouser...

[ShadeGrenade · 10/10 · 16 March 2009]

One of 'The Avengers' most endearing qualities was being able to take a cliché and turn it on its head. This episode opens with Earle ( Anthony Bate ) and Gardiner ( Kenneth Cope ), ostensibly New Scotland Yard detectives, searching for clues at the scene of a murder, a chalk outline of the victim on the floor.

The owner shows up and asks who has been murdered. "You!", says Earle, shooting him. The man then falls neatly into the outline provided for him!

Steed is contacted by Sir Arthur Doyle ( 'The Rag Trade''s Peter Jones ), an eccentric sleuth dressed like Sherlock Holmes. Tara does not look as though she is going to be much help on this case, confined to a wheelchair as the result of a skiing accident.

Earle and Gardiner are blackmailing the rich into handing over priceless works of art, anyone failing to comply gets framed for murder. The duo are masters in the art of fooling the police through planting clues at the scenes of crimes.

As 'Avengers' episodes go, this is almost credible. No robot men, time machines or invaders from space, and all the better for it. Philip Levene penned a similar story the previous season - 'You Have Just Been Murdered'.

Though Tara is stuck in a chair for most of the story, she comes into her own at the end in a superb finale as Earle and Gardiner invade her flat. Peter Jones is wonderfully daft ( though underused ) as 'Doyle', and the whole thing is executed with panache by Don Sharp.

An excellent, straight up thriller.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 9/10 · 12 September 2022]

Inspector Doyle calls for Steed's help, when a body is found, and the suspected killer is a man of some notability.

I thoroughly enjoyed it, a throwback to the past, this was a straight up action thriller, no elaborate sets or wild villains, just a straight up thriller.

The average score for this one surprises me a little, I have a much higher regard for it.

The main frustration comes from Tara King, the fact that she's sidelined, almost forced to play the role of the damsel in distress. Once can only imagine how Thorson must have felt, she arguably steals the show, that scene where she encounters the villains.

Peter Jones was great fun as Doyle, a hilarious Conan Doyle send up. Kenneth Cope was very good, but Anthony Bate stole it, he was a brilliant actor, he played it straight, and as a villain he was totally believable.

9/10.

"Entertaining enough but not The Avengers at its creative best."

[jamesraeburn2003 · 14 March 2006]

Tara has broken her ankle while on a skiing holiday, but Steed has an unusual case to solve. His old Scotland Yard friend Sir Arthur Doyle (Peter Jones) has called upon him to assist in a murder investigation, in which the culprit has been careless enough to leave countless clues such as footprints, cigar butts and buttons behind at the scene of the crime. Steed is curious as to why Sir Arthur has called him in over what appears to be a routine police matter, but all of the people in the frame are either VIP's or important business men. In reality, Earl (Anthony Bate) and Gardner (Kenneth Cope) are specialists in frame ups, which they use to blackmail members of the aristocracy out of priceless paintings. Steed's meddling lead Earl and Gardner to make Steed their next victim by framing him to look as if beyond any shadow of a doubt that he murdered Tara King!

The Curious Case Of The Countless Clues is a decent enough episode and quite entertaining. But writer Philip Levene who along with Brian Clemens was one of the show's greatest innovators as well as the most prolific writers is not at his creative best here. Levene was responsible for such splendid fantasy episodes such as the unforgettable The Cybernauts, in which a madman (played by Michael Gough) sought to control the country by automation and his killer robot men known as the Cybernauts. Here, however, it is a mere cops and robbers yarn with no real outstanding merits save Peter Jones' Sir Arthur Doyle, a comic take of Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes in one complete with deerstalker hat and magnifying glass.

A good (if second league) supporting cast was assembled with Anthony Bate giving his role as Earl just the right amount of self-assurance and authority as the blackmailer who is really convinced that "today crime really does pay" by turning modern forensic techniques against the police to implicate the wrong people. Kenneth Cope (Randall & Hopkirk Deceased) is competent in the rather bland role of Earl's accomplice Gardner.

Director Don Sharp whose credits include The Face Of Fu Manchu (1965), which was the first and best of Christopher Lee's outings as the Oriental master criminal Fu Manchu does a very sound job here keeping things moving along at a brisk pace and Patrick Macnee and Linda Thorson had by now begun to establish their on screen chemistry as Steed and King. At the start of the series, Tara was a trainee agent who couldn't really handle herself and relied upon Steed to rescue her. But as the series progressed, she began to get better at overpowering the criminals and although in a wheelchair in this episode, she is able to get the better of Earl and Gardner and there's an amusing fight sequence in her apartment that gets totally wrecked in the process.