User Reviews

Two cannisters of S95 sleep gas are stolen from the ministry of defense by small time crook Brady (Keith Buckley) who then sets about putting the city of London to sleep whilst he goes on a bank robbing spree before double crossing the gang he has duped into helping him and hooking it with the money to Rio with his girlfriend Tina (Sara Kestleman). Purdey, Gambit and Steed find themselves the only people awake within the sleep perimeter as they had been given inoculations when they attended the demonstration of the gas. Trouble is though, they have no idea how long it will be before the inoculations run out and they keel over themselves. Therefore, they must round up Brady and company on their own before it is too late...

One of the classic New Avengers episodes, which harks back to some of the delightful fantasy adventure and comedy asides that made the original series such a joy to watch. The plot has the aura of having been written by an over imaginative school boy and is all the better for it. There is a hilarious car chase across the London back streets as Purdey tries to out run a couple of Brady's thugs armed with machine guns in a mini whilst her passenger, an innocent member of the public put out by the gas, is sound asleep beside her unaware of the dice with death that's going on. The episode marked the directorial debut of Graheme Clifford (a former editor) who stages the action with a slick sense of style. Macnee, Hunt and Lumley are their usual impressive selves (if this series had been without them, it wouldn't have worked) whilst the supporting cast is more than competent but not exactly inspiring.

All in all, Sleeper comes highly recommended for those who are just starting to get into this series because its fanciful plot and well staged action sequences are worthy of those from the original Avengers series. The only real drawback being that there are not any real recognisable faces in the supporting cast yet that does not mean to say that the actors are bad, not by a long way, just not over inspiring.

Like another reviewer, I like a good heist movie/episode and this is very good. Of course, with the average heist movie, the viewer is often supposed to be on the side of the people doing the heist and that's definitely not the case here.

There's a great deal to enjoy here, but one thing that I do find really sad is that yet again the plot is driven by the murder of one of Steed's friends. The depiction of the phone ringing unanswered on his desk, which shows all the bits and pieces he left lying around when he went out, believing he would return, is very moving.

It seems to be a bit of a feature with the New Avengers, that they keep bumping off Steed's friends. I don't remember that being so much of a trope in the old series, though it certainly did happen.

However, mostly the episode is full of humour to go along with the thrill of the caper. From Purdey being stranded outside in her jim-jams, (which later give her some trouble in the shop window), to Steed and Gambit making like statues at the bus stop, there's a great deal to raise a smile. It does seem an odd choice to have the two unfortunate police officers eating chips (& fish? We aren't shown) at what is effectively breakfast time! But that's a very minor niggle, not worth deducting any stars.

The episode is something of a showcase for Purdey, as she is working alone but still takes care of plenty of baddies, though Steed and Gambit get the mastermind pair.

Finally, we get a terrific twist at the end, followed by a light-hearted pay-off.

A vintage episode.