Harry Black, convicted for a crime he didn't commit, breaks jail and tries to find evidence to clear himself. Joined by Dr. Keel and John Steed, their investigation focuses on Harry's former place of employment-- an amusement park and a "Ghost Train" attraction in particular. It's really a cross between THE AVENGERS, THE FUGITIVE and SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES-- only, without the supernatural bits. Especially when you see Dr. Keel at one point RUNNING from the cops! (He's a lot more fun to watch than Dr. Richard Kimble.)
Steed becomes interested when his Great Dane "Puppy" clearly likes Harry, and, when he finds the situation ties in with government secrets somehow being broadcast from the area. Sure enough, before it's over, he finds the "Ghost Train" has a back room with high-tech electronic equipment. Steed hilariously poses as a carnival barker running a belly-dancing show, and along the way, they run across Harry's mother, his girlfriend, a hypnotist who uses his skills in criminal ways, and a very jealous boyfriend who doesn't like Steed getting too cozy with his girl.
Steed also contacts his boss "One-Ten" on the phone twice, and apparently in between dropped "Puppy" off with him. Every time I see him, One-Ten reminds me of "Mr. Waverly" from THE MAN FROM UNCLE-- except this was 3 years before Waverly debuted.
While Keel still gets most of the screen-time in this story, it's clear the series was slowly evolving into what it would later become, with Steed at the focus of things, and more outragious espionage plots.
At the climax, Steed threatens the baddies with a very dangerous gimmick-- and after, Keel is shocked to learn Steed WASN'T bluffing!
Anthony Bate is "Harry Black". I thought he looked familiar, I'd also seen him in 3 episodes of THE SAINT, along with a later AVENGERS.
I didn't recognize any of the main baddies, but a couple of other familiar faces turned up briefly. Morris Perry was a police sergeant. I'll always remember him as the incredibly-evil "Captain Dent" in the Jon Pertwee DOCTOR WHO story "Colony In Space". He also played the butler "Barrymore" in the Tom Baker HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES.
Also in the background was Julian Holloway as a member of the crowd. He was in a pile of the later CARRY ON films, and SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN, but I'll always remember him most as the obnoxious ex-army drill sergeant "Paterson" in the final Sylvester McCoy DOCTOR WHO story "Survival".
Missing for 55 YEARS, this episode turned up in a private collection in 2016, and was issued on a Region 2 DVD in 2018. Picture & sound were mostly clear, though I had a bit of trouble making out some of the dialogue. Extras include a 1962 interview with Ian Hendry, a 1964 interview with Patrick Macnee, an interview with Big Finish writer John Dorney, who wrote an audio adaptation of the story before the actual episode itself turned up, "reconstructions" of several of the episodes using still photos, the Big Finish audio reconstruction of this episode, and PDFs of the surviving season 1 scripts. They clearly wanted to pack as much as possible into it to make it worth buying on its own. What a thrill to see another episode of the show I had NEVER seen before. Here's hoping it won't be the last one to turn up.