Production order: 16 | ITC code: 5122 | Airdate order: 18 | DVD order: 21
Those Responsible
Writer: Leslie Darbon
Director: Cyril Frankel
Where & When
City of Southwark Hospital, London, England: October 24th
The Inexplicable Mystery
Delicate brain surgery is being performed on a top Foreign Office official, Peregrine Haslet-Wood. The lead surgeon takes a brief break from the lengthy procedure - only to be chloroformed by two intruders and replaced by a lookalike. The impostor carries out the rest of the operation, departing just before the switch is discovered. The real doctor fearfully checks on Haslet-Wood's condition... and finds that the operation has been carried out perfectly!
The Mystery Explained
Haslet-Wood was recruited by the Soviets and had been a mole for them throughout his career. Years earlier, while secretly meeting his paymasters in Istanbul, he was in a near-fatal accident; a Russian surgeon saved his life, but in doing so left tell-tale traces that would have been revealed in the current operation. The investigation would expose him as a spy, so the Soviets sent agents to cover up the evidence by completing the procedure themselves.
Review
A full-scale demolition of trust in politicians wouldn't come until Watergate, but by the tail-end of the 1960s things like the Profumo Affair, allied with the rise of the counterculture and youth protest movements, meant that there was already a growing feeling that the Establishment was maybe not entirely concerned with the interests of the average person on the street. The action-adventure shows of the time tended not to reflect this, though; anti-authority political statements rarely went down well with TV networks, and the heroes of the likes of Mission: Impossible, The Man From UNCLE, The Avengers and The Champions actually were the Establishment, protecting the status quo on behalf of the powers that be.
 |
| When in Istanbul, it's actually mandatory to watch a belly dancer. |
There were outliers, even amongst ITC's shows. Danger Man's John Drake was no stranger to moral disgust at the actions his job as a secret agent required him to take, and star Patrick McGoohan took this attitude to the extreme in The Prisoner, where The Man - on whichever side, and in whatever form, including none other than Peter Wyngarde - represented Orwellian tyranny in its most surrealistic and stylish form. But generally, ITC's escapist adventure series were happy to, as Hollywood mogul Harry Warner put it, leave the messages to Western Union.
 |
| "Yes, this hat will help me blend in perfectly on the streets of Moscow." |
Which made it quite a surprise when towards the end of its life Department S had a run of rather cynical and scathing episodes taking pointed jabs at those supposedly in charge of the world. Here, once Department S solves the case and exposes Haslet-Wood as a spy, the authorities close ranks to save themselves from embarrassment in the most expedient way possible when he suffers a relapse and needs further surgery. When he realises that Haslet-Wood's surgeon has been pressured into committing murder by inaction, the appalled and enraged Stewart challenges odious MI5 boss Smith... but there's no climactic punch-up or confession here. In one of the show's most downbeat endings, Stewart is basically told to leave such matters to the grown-ups and sent packing, impotent and humiliated. He can't even count on Seretse, who throws in with Smith in the interests of realpolitik.
 |
| A slow start for the Tommy Cooper convention. |
The rest of the episode, however, suffers from a tonal whiplash that dilutes the impact of its closing scenes. It's hard to feel too outraged by Stewart's plight when it follows Jason's outright comedic adventures in Istanbul, leering at belly dancers and pratting about in a fez. Far too long is spent watching the final operation, as well; it's already perfectly obvious what Smith has in mind, so we don't need to see the surgeon working on his patient for minutes on end before inevitably failing to save him or the spymaster lurking in the next room and practically twirling a moustache.
 |
| Jason realised too late that it was a rectal thermometer. |
But the real problem is that... it's a bit boring. Jason gets all the fun stuff, whether getting beaten at croquet by Seretse, snubbed by fellow authors or being framed for murder in Istanbul (and then being cleared offscreen!), but since his exploits are played for laughs it's all very inconsequential. Ironically, it's one of the times that the series most feels like its own considerably worse spin-off, so maybe the producers watched Peter Wyngarde hamming it up in garish outfits and said "Let's have 26 episodes of that, please!"
 |
| If he folded back any more clothing, he'd be wearing origami. |
For any character without sideburns the size of ping-pong paddles, though, there's precious little to do except trudge mechanically through some sub-le Carré spy shenangians. It's a shame, because it means that an intriguing opening and an uncharacteristic ending are squandered on an uninspired Cold War relic.
Fancy Quotes
Jason: Agatha Pollen...
Annabelle: Jason, who is she?
Jason: Agatha Pollen? She's a woman.
Stewart: So I assumed.
[Agatha's rejection of Jason's advances prompted him to go to Istanbul and write his first novel]
Agatha: Jason? I wish I had said yes fifteen years ago.
[Jason leans in to kiss her]
Agatha: I might have saved the world from Mark Caine.
Jason: If you want me for anything, I'll be in Istanbul.
Nurse: Well, you must have done something. Matron's warned all the nursing staff to stay away from you.
Jason: Can I help it if Matron finds me so irresistible she wants to keep me all to herself?
Cheers!
• Just when I thought Jason had shockingly gone teetotal for this episode, a close check revealed that he was served a glass of something in the Crusader Club. Order is returned to the universe.
Fight!
A very short and one-sided affair where Jason is coshed unconscious and framed for the murder of the informant he was talking to. KO!
 |
| Jason 10, Stewart 5. |
Author! Author!
Istanbul Iliad – the very first Mark Caine novel, written 15 years earlier (1955, since this episode was first broadcast in 1970). This contradicts Jason's own bio - see 'The Trojan Tanker' - which says he wrote the first Mark Caine story during World War 2!
This Looks Familiar
There's a hospital in an episode of Department S. There's only one corridor up to the task of portraying it.
If you think Smith's office (bottom) looks strangely familiar, there's a very good reason for that - it's the same set as Department S's own office!
The Russian spooks cruise around London in a Ford Zephyr. Judging from 'The Man In The Elegant Room', it's a former police car!
