7cb1d79195 A holiday resort has a strict "no check out" policy for certain guests, including Tara King, in this clever parody of Patrick McGoohan's "The Prisoner." Miss King's uncle Charles has been staying at the Elizabethan hotel but his return is overdue so she goes to collect him . However she finds the hotel staff have devised ways to stop them and other guests from leaving in a plot to rob and kill them or in Charles' case for his business to be taken over in his absence. Miss King leads a successful revolt of the prisoners just in time for Steed's arrival. 'The Avengers' often went in for gentle mockery of other spy shows. Sometimes it would be reflected in the story titles, such as 'The Girl From Auntie' and 'Mission: Highly Improbable', while 'The Winged Avenger' cheekily spoofed the 'Batman' series. 'Wish You Were Here' was originally titled 'The Prisoner', and was a send up of the famous Patrick McGoohan I.T.C. series.<br/><br/>Tara's uncle Charles Merryvale ( Liam Redmond ) has been missing for a month. Actually, he is on holiday in a pleasant olde worlde style country hotel. But no-one can reach him there. She goes to see him. He tells her that he - along with a number of other guests - are prisoners. Whenever anyone leaves, a dreadful accident befalls them. To test his theory, she walks out of the door - only to be drenched by water from a window cleaner's bucket. She sends her clothes off to be cleaned, but they return damaged. Putting on a new outfit, she tries to drive off - her car won't start.<br/><br/>Meantime, Mother wants Tara for a new assignment with Steed, so dispatches his incompetent nephew Basil Creighton-Latimer ( Brook Williams ). He too is caught in the spider's web. The hotel is an upmarket prison for wealthy people so that relatives can take control of their business empires. Tara realises that no-one in the place can be trusted…<br/><br/>Part of the fun of this episode is spotting the references to the McGoohan series - a man behind a stair rail which looks uncannily like prison bars, people riding bikes in good weather, Basil inflating a beach-ball ( the 'Rover' balloon ), blow-ups of monochrome photographs ( the 'SpeedLearn' broadcasts in 'The General' ) and Mother on a scales that resemble the see-saws used in the Village Control Centre. As Number Six did in 'Fall Out', Tara organises a break-out with help from fellow guests. Not surprisingly, the director, Don Chaffey, was responsible for several 'Prisoner' episodes.<br/><br/>The hotel manager, Parker, is played by the late Dudley Foster, an actor who specialised in charming villains, and who would have made an excellent 'Number Two'. With Steed mainly absent, it is up to Basil to partner Tara. He does not get off to a good start - putting a golf ball into Mother's drink! <br/><br/>One wishes that the 'Prisoner' allegory had been taken a lot further. Surveillance cameras in the guests' rooms, for instance. Mother's contribution to the story is minimal. He rants a lot about double agents, but nothing is made of it. An enjoyable romp, all the same. "Wish You Were Here" is basically a solo Tara adventure like "All Done with Mirrors," right down to burdening her with an incompetent assistant for the unavailable Steed. Charles Merrydale (Liam Redmond, "Small Game for Big Hunters"), Tara's uncle, is among a select number of guests in an Elizabethan hotel who are held prisoner out in the open, with his business being taken over by Stephen Kendrick (Gary Watson, "Death on the Slipway," "Immortal Clay," "Lobster Quadrille"). Any attempts to check out meet with flat tires, staged 'accidents,' or simply lame excuses from the manager (Dudley Foster, "The Hour That Never Was" and "Something Nasty in the Nursery"). Tara's arrival meets with success once the experience of working alongside Steed is put to ingenious use. A marvelous Tony Williamson script, embellished by an excellent cast of familiar faces, including Robert Urquhart ("Castle De'ath"), Richard Caldicot ("A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Station"), Derek Newark ("Trojan Horse" and "From Venus with Love"), and David Garth ("The Big Thinker" and "How to Succeed….at Murder").
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