The New Counter-Measures Special

This two-hour special constitutes a single story serving as a bridge between the original series of Counter-Measures and its soft reboot. The latter is set in the 1970s, making the series title an obvious homage to The New Avengers, which is likely at least part of the inspiration behind it.

The story starts up in December 1973, seven years after the cliffhanger ending to the fourth and final season of the original run. Initially, it's just about Sir Toby, with the story starting in media res, and working towards the event implied by the episode's title. Some of this is a little confusing at first, but - while some details are lampshaded rather than properly explained - most of it does come together to make sense as the rest of the story unfolds.

This is basically a spy thriller, involving Middle Eastern potentates, MI5 agents, and a Russian assassin, among other elements. The science fiction bit of the plot is thrown in as an afterthought, with no real relevance to anything else, only there because somebody felt it had to be. But it's really a rather good spy thriller, with our heroes in hiding from the authorities, and in a very different situation than they typically were in the preceding series.

The '70s atmosphere comes mainly from the background details, with the oil crisis and the Three-Day Week both being mentioned repeatedly, and even having some impact on the story. (Having said which, the timing of these events is changed slightly to suit the plot, but not in a way that matters).

A large part of the appeal, though, is seeing how the characters have changed in the intervening years, rebuilding their relationship after an enforced separation. While, in most respects, the tone remains the same (and the tradition of plenty of strong female characters continues) the set-up is going to be very different in the reboot, with the new group's status and resources being rather different going forward. I'll miss the '60s ambience, but the '70s holds promise, too...