Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Anthony Howell, Julian Wadham, Lucy Briggs-Owen, Jaqueline King, Dan Starkey, Cameron Stewart, Anjella Mackintosh, Gemma Whelan, Derek Carlyle, Martin Hutson, Francesca Hunt, Penelope Rawlins, Terry Malloy, Michael Hrycek-Robinson.

There is nothing quite like the dance floor to bring out the murderer in the dark heart of the criminal mastermind, the quick step or the rumba to get the killer in the mood for a spot of the gamble and the gambol whilst they search for riches, no matter who gets in their way.

The final chapter in the Big Finish adaptations of The Avengers: The Lost Episodes Volume 2, Dance With Death, sees the good Doctor Keel unsuccessfully framed for the murder of a local dance instructor and for once there are many intriguing possibilities of who the actual murderer might be, so much so that it takes the imagination of John Steed to take a few classes inside the dance academy to get to the very bottom of the mystery.

This Avenger’s caper is one in which the cast really gels together and the plot, as with The Radioactive Man is one in which has more than an element of truth to it and it testament to both the original writers, Peter Ling and Sheilah Ward and the adaptor John Dorney. The cast, which includes Lucy Briggs- Owen as the dependable Carol Wilson, the superb Dan Starkey as Philip Prince/Trevor Price and a consummate performance by Jaqueline King as the overbearing Mrs. Marne, clicks with the apparent ease of a young child grasping the finer aspects of the Quick Step of the enjoyment and subtleties of the Tango.

This second volume of the lost episodes has really driven home just how good the British spy genre was in its golden age. By comparison, the American tales that seem to come out with frightening regularity are in many cases a pale imitation of what can be achieved, they rely far too much on the shock/sex/gratuitous nature of the story to be of much intrigue and at times listeners to these audio tapes can only ever wonder if the American script writers ever gave due consideration to the British approach, stuck as we are between two superpowers that were, and still probably are, intent on destroying each other.

Dance With Death is a super way in which to finish off a wonderful series.

Dance With Death is available as part of the Box set The Avengers: The Lost Episodes which is available to purchase from Worlds Apart on Lime Street, Liverpool.

Ian D. Hall