The Avengers (TV Series) False Witness (1968) User Reviews

Really Good Episode...with One Major Flaw

[mcelhaney · 7/10 · 17 March 2013]

"False Witness" is pure Avengers camp in the best sense. Basically, a corrupt Lord is getting away with all sorts of crimes because he has hired a firm that has created a serum that makes people lie despite their best efforts at telling the truth. The "camp" part is that the serum is mixed in with ordinary milk and delivered to the witnesses and even the lawyer trying to prosecute the Lord.

This leads to a number of really funny lines from Tara (Linda Thorson) who is also being affected. There are a number of clever items from Mother's HQ on a double-decker bus to the butter machine that traps Tara King.

However, the major flaw in the plot concerns Melville, an agent who is being affected. While the serum makes people lie, it doesn't affect their actions as we see in the finale. Yet Melville's actions at the beginning of the episode make no sense at all once the effects of the serum have been explained.

One interesting aside is Rhonda, Mother's towering, yet silent helpmate who never speaks in the entire series does get to whistle (and Tara does an identical whistle not one minute later). Plus, Steed keeps eying her and even makes a point to sit next to her. Yet in future episodes Steed never shows any interest in her again apart from the throwaway tag in "Homicide & Old Lace".

Overall, an interesting episode that needed a bit of script-tightening to make it a classic.

The Milk Of Human Madness

[ShadeGrenade · 7/10 · 16 May 2009]

Penman ( Peter Jesson ), a Department agent, breaks into the car of a suspected double agent to search for evidence, only to be surprised by the owner, who shoots him. His sidekick, Melville ( Barry Warren ), had failed to warn him that the man was coming back. A wounded Penman takes his microfilm to Steed's flat and places it in a dustbin.

Steed also takes Melville along when he breaks into the suspect's flat. Again he fails to warn him of danger. Steed is furious and gives Melville a good thumping.

Something is causing Department agents to give false information. Tara traces the source to a dairy called 'DreemyKreem' where specially drugged milk is being manufactured. Sykes ( John Bennett ) captures Tara and places her in a butter making machine...

The climax of this episode is memorable for the sight of poor Tara being thrown about inside the machine, while Steed endeavours to rescue her. When he switches it off and opens the door, out she comes encased in a slab of butter.

It is difficult to get excited about a plot where milk is the villain's main weapon, but the cast commendably throw themselves into the spirit of the thing. Tony Steedman, who plays 'Sir Joseph', replaced Peter Vaughan as 'Charles Johnson' in the B.B.C's classic sitcom 'Citizen Smith'. John Bennett later played villains in two memorable 'Dr.Who' stories: 'Invasion Of The Dinosaurs' ( 1974 ) and 'The Talons Of Weng-Chiang' ( 1977 ). He was also a regular in the '60's soap opera 'Market In Honey Lane'.

Mother's office this time is the upper deck of a red double decker bus, an idea reused in the 1998 movie.

Steed getting mad with Melville in a forest clearing is a great moment, reminding us that even a super-secret agent can occasionally let his veneer slip.

Milk, milk, glorious milk!!

[coltras35 · 7/10 · 26 April 2022]

Another wacky and inventive episode where witnesses and agents investigating blackmailer Lord Edgefield can't seem to tell the truth. Of course, Steed smells something fishy, especially when his assistant Tara King gets the same habit of telling a fib - and it all has something to with milk.

Fight scenes, including the bit where Tara gets dunked in a vat of milk, and the sheer energy really propels you to watch on. Also, it sort of made me nostalgic for milk bottles. Used to drink milk straight from the bottle. There's no more milk deliverers or double decker buses anymore - this episode is like a museum. A charming one too.

I cannot tell a truth

[Tweekums · 9/10 · 1 April 2015]

In the opening scene we see an agent asking his partner, Melville, if everything is okay; he confirms that the coast is clear… despite the fact that the target of their investigation has just gone past. This results in the death of the first agent… is Melville a traitor or is there another reason for him to lie? Melville is part of an investigation into the activities of Lord Edgefield, he has been accused of blackmail but witnesses are suddenly retracting their testimonies. While Steed concentrates on Melville, Tara follows a suspicious milk float back to the dairy and learns that somebody is adding a clear flavourless liquid to the milk… this make those who drink it unable to tell the truth.

This is a fine episode with an interesting premise; so many stories have involved truth serums it makes an interesting change to have one which features an untruth serum. There are some inconsistencies with it though; after taking the serum Melville clearly believes the lies he tells are the truth, he even passes an 'infallible' lie detector test, yet when Tara is under its influence she is clearly struggling to tell the truth but is unable to. We also see that they are adding the serum to the whole batch of milk rather than just certain bottles but there is no reported outbreak of lying amongst the public who presumable also get milk from the dairy… this doesn't spoil the story though as 'The Avengers' was never meant to be overanalysed. We don't learn about the serum too early on so there is initially a belief that Melville probably is a traitor. As well as an interesting story there are some great action scenes including two fights in the dairy, a surprisingly real looking scene where Tara takes a tumble while chasing the milk float down the road and a rare moment where Steed loses cool and thumps Melville. We also have some laughs; many provided by Mother's mobile office in a London bus where regular travellers are turned away.

As great as any classic Emma Peel episode

[kevinolzak · 10/10 · 26 April 2011]

"False Witness" is simply one of the best ever, the second to be scripted by actor Jeremy Burnham, the fourth to be directed by Charles Crichton, a winning combination. Barry Warren ("Too Many Christmas Trees") plays Melville, on assignment to recover documents against notorious blackmailer Lord Edgefield (William Job, "Man-Eater of Surrey Green"), who denies knowledge of Edgefield's returning chauffeur to his helpless partner, who is mortally wounded while escaping, but manages to warn Steed that Melville is a traitor. Others who come forth also contradict their own sworn statements, frustrating Sir Joseph Tarlton (Tony Steedman, "The Little Wonders"), who nevertheless joins the chorus of witnesses who fail to confirm their own evidence. Once Tara realizes the truth, she calls Sir Joseph: "this is very unimportant! I don't want to warn you!" More quotable dialogue than most other episodes, and Steed allowed to display both anger and genuine frustration (Macnee is superb here), before logically turning the tables on the villains in an uproarious climax. Also featuring John Bennett ("Mission to Montreal"), Arthur Pentelow ("Trojan Horse"), and Rio Fanning ("Dead Man's Treasure"). Crichton's next, "The Interrogators," would be his best (and last), while Burnham's next would be another classic, "Love All."

Brilliant, original episode.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 9/10 · 6 September 2022]

Efforts to bring down blackmailer Lord Edgefield are scuppered every time a witness comes forward, each time a witness speaks, they protest Edgefield's innocence.

What a brilliant, original episode this is, it's so original, so clever. Those opening sequences were wonderful, so baffling and intriguing, they really did serve to grab the viewer's interest. It's fast paced, it's exciting, it's also really funny, couldn't find a single flaw here.

It looks terrific, especially the fight scenes at the dairy, and that moment with the butter machine.

Tara King at her absolute best, Thorson puts in the most energetic performance, she's brave, feisty, and keen to act on her own impulses. As for that Lotus she drives, just wow. The fight scene at the dairy, her best moment so far?

John Bennett, one of my favourites, he was terrific here.

9/10.