After a woman, who had been looking into the faking of a company's products in the overseas market is killed in a Turkish baths Steed and Mrs Gale start to investigate. We soon learn that the company which makes cosmetic creams as well as medicines has seen its products copied by rivals from the Far East who are selling an inferior product in similar containers. To counter this the company have decided to completely change their packaging; the problem is somebody working there has leaked the new design and they aren't just intending to make an easy profit; they intend to put poison in the product in order to turn an oil-rich Anglophile country against the British so a rival nation can gain access to the oil wealth. Before the truth is exposed Steed and Cathy spend time in the company trying to find who is behind the fake products and Cathy goes to the Turkish baths.
I really liked this episode; the investigation of fake products seems fresh even when the episode is over fifty years old. It was interesting that the greater plot wasn't exposed till relatively late in the story but when it was revealed it served to raise the tension and explain why the villains went to such lengths to hide their schemes. The identity of the villains isn't in that much doubt for the most part but one of them is quite a surprise. The cast do a solid job in a story that seems more grounded in reality than many of the stories in the series.
I really liked this episode; the investigation of fake products seems fresh even when the episode is over fifty years old. It was interesting that the greater plot wasn't exposed till relatively late in the story but when it was revealed it served to raise the tension and explain why the villains went to such lengths to hide their schemes. The identity of the villains isn't in that much doubt for the most part but one of them is quite a surprise. The cast do a solid job in a story that seems more grounded in reality than many of the stories in the series.