British agents are being tricked by a foreign spy in the guise of Colonel Mannering into believing that they are taking part in an interrogation exercise when they are actually betraying their contacts. When Steed convinces one of them that he has been duped he must locate Mannering and his latest subject - Miss King. A foreign agent in the guise of a Colonel Mannering has found an ingenious method of extracting secret information from British agents. In between 'Dracula' and 'Fu Manchu' pictures, Christopher Lee found time to play villains in two memorable 'Avengers' adventures. The first was 'Never Never Say Die' which cast him as mad scientist 'Professor Frank N.Stone'. 'The Interrogators' was his second - written by Richard Harris and Brian Clemens - and directed as impeccably as ever by Charles 'A Fish Called Wanda' Crichton.<br/><br/>The tall, imposing Lee plays 'Colonel Mannering', head of a research programme to test the endurance capabilities of British agents. Of course the whole thing is a scam to get secrets. After being beaten and brainwashed and all the rest, the agents relax afterwards in the friendly environment of a bar, and unwittingly give Mannering the information he wants. Blackie ( Glynn Edwards ) is then dispatched to murder the agents' contacts. Steed becomes involved when Mother is concerned over the disappearance of 'Lt.Roy Caspar' ( Philip Bond ). Caspar shows up, and refuses to say where he has been. Tara is then tricked into going on the course…<br/><br/>This entertaining episode benefits enormously from Lee's presence. He is totally convincing as a British army officer. Mother's headquarters this time is a room full of beautiful and exotic plants concealed behind the facade of a fake phone box. Among the supporting cast are Cardew Robinson as balloon seller 'Mr.Puffin' and Neil Stacy ( 'Robert' from 'Duty Free' ) as agent Mullard. Neil McCarthy has a small role as one of Mannering's men - 'Sgt.Rasker'.<br/><br/>Steed gets one of his very best moments. When Minnow ( David Sumner ) refuses to respond to his questioning ( still believing the project to have been genuine ) Steed loses patience, and nearly throttles him, reminding us that although he is a gentleman, he still can turn nasty when he has to. Making his second appearance (after "Never, Never Say Die"), the legendary Sir Christopher Lee is well cast as the charmingly deceptive Colonel Mannering, organizing a plot to eliminate informants within Steed's organization. One after another, various agents are spirited away to an isolated retreat in the country and made to give up their secret information, until Tara King becomes the latest to be kidnapped, with Steed hot on her trail. Other returning veterans included David Sumner ("Death on the Rocks"), Neil McCarthy ("Brought to Book" and "Dead Man's Treasure"), and Cardew Robinson ("The 50,000 Breakfast"). Special mention must go to Neil Wilson ("The Frighteners" and "The Gilded Cage") as forensics expert Norton, who instantly details every ingredient of a certain cigar ash, then suggests it's only a wild guess! By the time Christopher Lee shot this episode (completed October 22, 1968), his busy year had included the final two Fu Manchu entries, "Dracula Has Risen from the Grave" (third in the Hammer series), and a bittersweet reunion with London neighbor Boris Karloff in "The Crimson Cult." Colonel Mannering is almost Dracula-like in his mesmeric seduction of each individual agent, one of the show's greatest villains. Lee and Patrick Macnee were lifelong friends for over 80 years (since 1931!), who would work together again in 1990 (as Holmes and Watson, respectively) in two European television miniseries, "Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady" and "Incident at Victoria Falls." Incidentally, David Bond is the father of actress Samantha Bond, best known as Miss Moneypenny in the Pierce Brosnan James Bond films.
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