Original Air Date: March 17, 1967
Starring: Patrick Macnee, Diana Rigg
Directed by: Sidney Hayers

Cat Out of the Bag Alert!  This review contains spoilers for this episode!

Synopsis: John Steed (Patrick McNee) and Emma Peel (Diana Rigg) investigate a series of maulings in which men were killed by what appears to be a large cat.

Cat Cattle Call: This episode featured numerous cats in a decidedly feline-themed story. At the scene of the first mauling Emma spots and picks up a white cat.

Later Steed visits an organization called P.U.R.R.R. (Philanthropic Union for Rescue, Relief, and Recuperation), a cat haven in the country. The people there are cat enthusiasts and have cat-related named. Angora (Gabrielle Drake) and Cheshire (Ronnie Barker) are often seen holding a resident tortoiseshell cat.

There are cat puns and cat decorations galore throughout the episode. One clever segment has Cheshire trying to help Emma describe her lost cat by way of the Identi-Cat, a spoof on the Identi-Kit used by the police in Britain.

Emma is asked to look into a room of strays but cannot identify her cat (which she has just made up to get into the premises of P.U.R.R.R.)

On the scene of another killing, Steed finds a long-haired tuxedo cat which has been coming in and out through a cat door.

The cat is wearing a collar with a locket and Steed notices when the locket opens there is circuitry inside.

In the meantime, Cheshire brings the tortoiseshell cat to Emma as a gift. This cat is also wearing the same kind of locket.

Steed is captured at P.U.R.R.R. where they explain how the lockets, when activated, unleash the primitive beasts in the cats so that they kill.

They activate the lockets briefly and Emma sees how the cat reacts. She then notices that the locker on the cat’s collar is making a compass react. Emma quickly removes the locket and heads to P.U.R.R.R.

Steed is in danger of being mauled by the cats when the computer is set to activate the lockets at a set time.

Emma arrives and frees Steed and they manage to disable the computer.

The bad guys, in trying to escape, see the tortioseshell cat (which has jumped from Emma’s car to their van) and freak out, thinking the cat is going to attack them. They crash, not realizing the cat is not even wearing the locket!

Final Mewsings: Most cats are at peace with their inner tigers.

Many thanks to The Horror Cats for letting us know about this episode!

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