Robert Powell, Anthony Valentine, Joanna
David, Diane Bull
Writer
Richard
Carpenter
Plot
Hannay is
invited to a horse race where he meets Sybil Verney, and he falls in
love with her... but she hides a terrible secret (OK let me spoil it :
she has two secrets : a lover and a husband. Didn't I told you that all
the female characters were very modern for the period?).
The Ally
The ally for what, you mean? Well, in
this episode we have two "Hannay girls", but one of them is more an
ally than a love interest. In this episode we meet Sal Alford, who will
also appear in The
Confidence Man. As she's the daughter of a crook, she
teaches Hannay how to make a safe unsafe!
The "Hannay
Girl"
Well,
this is the only episode which isn't feminist at all (except
for Sal's character - see above).
Sybil likes to play with men. She is married, but had an affair with
Sir Marcus (the bad guy), and then uses Hannay to steal
something from the other guy.
Just for the record : Joanna David is Edward Fox's wife, Robert and
Edward appeared together in Shaka
Zulu.
The Bad Guy
The
bad guy is Sir Marcus Leonard (Anthony Valentine), who used to practise
fencing with Hannay and invited him to the race where he met
Sybil. He was the lover of Sybil and now blackmails her so
she'll return to him.
Just for the record, Anthony Valentine appeared twice in The Detectives.
Comments
This
was one of my favorite episodes ever! When I saw it for the first time
I was a dreamer teenager, and nothing was more romantic than the tragic
ending presented here : The two lovers fight a duel for the honor of
the lady, and the lady is injured protecting the good guy and dies in
his
arms. I LOVED it!!!!
Now I find it a bit corny, but still I like it, specially because this
is the kind of episode in which in one hour a lot of things happen! In
less than an hour the hero falls in love, learns how to become a thief,
does the job, gets caught, fights a beautiful (and short) sword duel
and suffers the loss of the loved one.