What the Butler Saw

"What the Butler Saw" is the twenty-second episode of the fourth series of the 1960s cult British spy-fi television series The Avengers, starring Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg. It was first broadcast by Scottish Television on Tuesday 22 February 1966. ABC Weekend Television, who commissioned the show, broadcast it in its own regions four days later on Saturday 26 February. The episode was directed by Bill Bain and written by Philip Levene. Plot A butler asks for a pay rise and another butler, Benson, is hailed and hands a gun on a plate to a hidden man in a chair to kill the butler, whose body is then dropped in a lake. Steed visits a barber for a shave. His barber reports that one of three high officers is a spy, and is stabbed dead. Steed investigates the disappearance of the butler in disguises that spoof the styles of the various services. Commander Red wears a full beard, and Major White a small mustache. Squadron Leader Blue sports a great bushy mustache and spouts breezy acronyms. Brigadier "Percy" Ponsonby-Goddard informs Steed he is unwell and asks him to return at a later date. His butler is later discovered stabbed. Mrs Peel visits Group Capt. "Georgie" Miles, a suspect who is susceptible to a pretty face, to learn more about him. She seduces him with photographs of herself, and is invited to dinner.