The Avengers (TV Series) The Outside-In Man (1964) User Reviews

Back from the dead

[Tweekums · 8/10 · 11 June 2017]

Sharp had been a British agent but then he defected to a fictitious country where he rose to a prominent position. Five years previously several agents were sent to kill him but all apparently were captured or killed. Now 'General' Sharp is to pay a visit to Britain to secure an arms deal and he has full diplomatic protection. Just as preparations are made one of the presumed dead agents, Mark Charter, returns. He says that he was released on the orders from the presidential palace but news reports claim he escaped. Either way it is likely that he will try to get his revenge against Sharp for the five years he spent incarcerated.

This is an impressive episode for the most part; Charter is an intriguing character and it was fun to see Steed going to 'the office' which was hidden behind a butcher's shop. The central story is proper secret agent stuff with a mystery about what really happened to Charter, what he is planning to do and ultimately whether he can still be trusted. It certainly looks as though he was released because somebody wanted him to get his revenge against Sharp… sadly the end is a little weak; he is given a gun loaded with blanks to pretend to kill Sharp while somebody else will actually kill him… this makes little sense as it would be just as easy to have Charter do the real killing. The wrap up is also a bit sudden. At least until this point we have a gripping story. The cast does a solid job; most notable amongst the guest stars are James Maxwell, who plays Charter; and Beryl Baxter who plays the widow of an agent who served with Charter. Overall a pretty good episode despite a flawed ending.

In Need of a Better Ending

[create · 7/10 · 11 September 2015]

Mark Charter (James Maxwell) betrayed the British Government and - in a daring plot - killed two British agents, and escaped to the enemy Arab state of Abarain. Charter was awarded a generalship by the government of Abarain for his exploits.

Now, five years later, the British Government has invited Gen. Charter to the U. K. in order to broker an arms treaty to establish a peace between the two nations. It is a meeting that evokes a lot of bitter emotions from the Brits especially those within the agency that employed Agent Charter, the two dead agents and John Steed.

The agency believes that the only way to provide adequate security for Charter is to have an outsider, Mrs. Cathy Gale, to head up the operation. Before they can get started, however, a monkey wrench is dropped into the machinery. It seems that one of the dead agents, Agent Sharp (Phillip Anthony), is not so dead. He shows up at HQ with a chip on his shoulder and a reasonable grudge. (He was thrown into an Abarain prison, where he was abandoned for five years. And the Brits didn't try to negotiate his release...mainly, because they didn't know he was still alive and kicking.)

After coming in from out of the cold, Agent Sharp mysteriously disappears with the help of Brits who would take great satisfaction in Mark Charter's death. Mrs. Gale fails to convince either the British Government or Abarain to reschedule the arms talks - both believe this is their best opportunity. And the plot turns into a race to see what succeeds: the arms talks, or Mark Charter's murder.

The Outside-In Man was written by Phillip Chambers. He is a writer with a great handling of the 1st and 2nd Acts. But his Third Acts leave a lot to be desired. And his endings suck. In The Nutshell, the only other The Avengers episode Chambers wrote, he also had powerful beginnings, but a weak ending. In that episode, however, the story relied more upon ground-breaking, behind the scenes information on spy agencies. There the ending could be ignored. In the Outside-In Man, the themes explored demand an emotional, well written pay- off.

It never comes.

(Give Hollywood their kudos. Producers go through knock-down, drag out fights over third acts and endings with their writers all the time...fights exemplified by films such as Fatal Attraction, Thelma and Louise, True Romance and Clerks. In all four of those cases, the endings were emotional power-houses...but not the choices of the writers. In all four of those cases, however, the writers would admit, years later, that those endings were better for the films.)

Phillip Anthony gives a steely performance as Sharp, but Beryl Baxter steals the show with her small part as Helen Reyner, the widow of the agent who didn't return. Her exchanges with Mrs. Gale are very memorable. And James Maxwell also turns in a fine performance even though it is limited.

On a side note, this is the second time that I've seen the agency bring Mrs. Gale into their confidence. The first was the Nutshell. I know the agency never let Mrs. Emma Peel in on their confidence, even though she worked for one of the Ministries.

One of the Agency superiors, Quilpie (Ronald Radd) and Mrs. Gale have it out, with Quilpie admitting that Gale will always be undervalued as an "Amateur/Outsider" until she is needed.

In this one she's needed.

Ronald Radd and James Maxwell

[kevinolzak · 7/10 · 10 February 2011]

"The Outside-In Man" features the only appearance of Quilpie (Ronald Radd, previously seen in "Bullseye"), one of the numerous superiors dispatching orders to Steed during the era before Mrs. Peel, prior to the final season introduction of Patrick Newell's Mother. Operating behind an actual butcher shop (Steed always places his orders to go!), Quilpie assigns Steed to provide security for a returning British traitor, General Sharp (Philip Anthony, previously seen in ""Man with Two Shadows), conducting arms talks under the guise of diplomatic immunity. One unforeseen happening features the return of an agent, Mark Charter (James Maxwell, later seen in "The Superlative Seven"), thought dead for the past five years, who had been assigned to kill Sharp, turning up in Quilpie's butcher shop intending to belatedly finish the job. Steed learns that Charter was held captive in the same foreign nation where the General has been living, whose government, having no further use for him, hopes to embarrass Britain by having the bitter former agent doing the dirty work. Cathy does most of the running around when Steed mysteriously takes a powder, displaying her garter gun for the first time since its initial appearance in "Propellant 23" (curiously, Steed doesn't even bat an eye when she lifts up her skirt). Playing yet another bodyguard in his fourth episode, alongside Christopher Lee's frequent stunt double Eddie Powell, is Valentino Musetti, previously seen in "The Secrets Broker," while Anthony Dawes would return only once in "Epic."

Revenge is a dish best served (oh you get the idea)

[profh-1 · 8/10 · 20 June 2023]

Steed is called in to arrange security for a visiting diplomat, who, years earlier, had been a British agent turned traitor, and had 2 other agents sent overseas to kill him. Suddenly, one of those agents, presumed dead for 5 years, turns up ALIVE... having been released from prison by the head of the country he'd been held prisoner in. He seems fine... he collects 5 years of back-pay... but in a letter explaining what went on, he says at the end that he still intends to carry out the assignment he was given 5 years earlier. Which could cause a diplomatic incident and break off arms negotiations. Cathy is brought in to deal with the embassy (as Steed had a rather nasty incident with their chief years earlier), but in the midst of it all, the long-missing agent disappears... and far more baffling... SO does STEED!

One of the most hardcore "spy" episodes ever seen during this run, this story from writer Philip Chambers also proves to be one of the most gripping, as it keeps you wondering for most of its length, WHAT is going on, and WHAT's going to happen? I pretty much figured out one big chunk of the plot halfway in-- the real motives for the agent's release from prison-- but until the last 5 minutes, I still wasn't sure how it was all going to play out. This is brilliant stuff, and far beyond the capability of most American "spy" shows that followed in its wake.

Ronald Radd is "Quilpie", possibly my favorite of all of Steed's bosses. His office is in the back of a butcher shop, and checking the airdate, I see this was some 7 months BEFORE the debut of THE MAN FROM UNCLE in America! Earlier, Douglas Muir's "One-Ten" reminded me of UNCLE's "Mr. Waverly"-- only with more personality. Sure seems to me somebody in Hollywood had access to this show long before it ever got broadcast in the USA. I've seen Radd in a number of things, including SHERLOCK HOLMES ("The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax"), DANGER MAN, THE SAINT, THE PRISONER, RANDALL AND HOPKIRK (DECEASED) and THE PROTECTORS, and he's always terrific. Re-watching this today, I found myself thinking he would have been perfect as "M", had the JAMES BOND producers ever had the slightest interest in being faithful to Ian Fleming (Radd exhibits far more personality and nuance than Bernard Lee ever did in 11 Bond movie). I believe Quilpie was the only one of Steed's superiors to ever pay a friendly visit to his flat after an assignment was completed. It's hard to believe Radd was only 35 when he did this (he passed away at only age 47-- gone far too soon).

James Maxwell is "Mark Charter", the man believed dead for 5 years whose return shakes up his boss, his colleagues, and the man at his club who's taken over sitting in his comfy chair (heh). He seems a laid-back, likable sort, but he also spends a good part of the episode playing things so cagey, you're really not sure for most of it what he's thinking, planning, or up to! When Cathy catches up with him, he seems genuinely touched that she's more conerned about his well-being than the man he seems bent on killing, and they form a fast alliance. I've also seen Maxwell in THE DAMNED, THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN, DANGER MAN, THE SAINT, MYSTERY & IMAGINATION ("Dr. Seward" in their version of DRACULA), THE PROTECTORS, and DOCTOR WHO ("Jackson" in the Tom Baker-Louise Jameson story "Underworld").

Beryl Baxter is "Helen Rayner", widow of the other spy sent on that mission with Charter, who didn't make it back. Discussing the situation with Cathy, she's very clear in her feelings that she wants the man responsible for her husband's death killed. "You don't know what it feels like to lose a husband.", she tells Cathy-- to which Cathy replies, "Actually, I DO." Powerful scene. I've only seen Baxter in one other thing, oddly enough, the unsold TV pilot, SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE MAN WHO DISAPPEARED from 1951.

Getting near the end of season 3 here, I can't help but think the producers of this show made a HUGE mistake not paying Honor Blackman what she was worth. Then again... they made the same mistake 2 years later with Diana Rigg.

The 2010 Studio Canal Region 2 DVD has excellent picture quality, but somewhat harsh sound. I wish they could do something about that.