• title card: white all caps text reading ‘THE FORGET-ME-KNOT’ superimposed on a knotted handkerchief lying forgotten on the seat of a taxi
  • Burton peers out from his false tree hide and admonishes Tara King for tackling Steed
  • Emma and Mortimer wake up in the disused ‘Glass House’ factory and wonder who and where they are
  • Tara is surprised when Steed leaps out behind her when she returns home
  • Mortimer poses strangely and pulls a face in order to distract their captors so Mrs. Peel can overcome them
  • Emma peers around a brick pillar and firest the amnesia dart gun
  • video - Emma’s husband has been found alive in the jungle and she lightly kisses Steed on the cheek as they say a sad goodbye to each other; Steed is astonished to discover he looks exactly like her husband

Series 5 — Episode 25
The Forget-Me-Knot

by Brian Clemens
Directed by James Hill

Production No E.66.6.25
Production completed: January 19 1968. First UK transmission: September 25 1968. First transmission (USA): March 20 1968.

TV Times summary

Exit Emma. Enter Tara. Two Avengers, one of them Emma, are paralysed by memory-killing darts.

Plot summary

Mortimer turns up outside Steed’s apartment, not knowing where he is, who he is or why he’s there. He recovers sufficiently to tell Steed that there is a traitor in Mother’s organisation, the shadowy “Ministry” but he cannot remember who.
Mrs. Peel also forgets what she learns, shot by the same amnesia-drug gun as Mortimer, when the goons recapture Mortimer. Steed is taking the forgetful Mrs. Peel to Mother when they are ambushed - Mrs. Peel kidnapped and Steed pumped full of the drug. His only clue to his identity when he regains consciousness in a hospital is Tara’s phone number, hidden in his boot.
He seeks the help of the new recruit, Tara King, and together they trace two thugs to their hideout. The real traitor is George Burton who has defected to a country that has developed memory-killing darts. With confusion reigning at the Ministry, Steed overpowers the gang with the help of Tara and Mrs. Peel, though no one is quite sure why.
Peter Peel, Emma’s missing husband, has been found alive in the Amazon jungle and she leaves Steed in the capable hands of Tara King, telling her to stir his tea anti-clockwise. Looking out his apartment window as the Peels drive away, Steed is astounded to discover that Peter Peel is the spitting image of himself.

show full synopsis

show plot summary

Two men fight in an old glass factory. Sean Mortimer (Patrick Kavanagh) gains the upper hand and knocks the other down but is shot in the jaw with a dart as he escapes into a cobbled mews. He hails a passing cab but when the cabbie (Leon Lissek) asks him where he wants to go he can’t remember where, or even who he is.

John Steed (Patrick Macnee) is mixing elaborate cocktails while Emma Peel (Diana Rigg) does the morning crossword when she spots the man wander into the street below. Steed recognises him as Sean Mortimer, a fellow agent, and brings him inside. Meanwhile, his attacker, Karl (Alan Lake) arrives outside on a motorbike with sidecar with Brad (Douglas Sheldon). Steed introduces Sean to Mrs. Peel, but is astonished when Sean asks him who he is. Steed tells Emma he’s been missing for two weeks, and Sean remembers walking a long way and something to do with a traitor inside the organisation. alarmed, Steed departs to visit ‘Mother’ while Emma continues to coax details out of Sean.
Steed arrives at a manor house and is let into the grounds by Giles (Edward Higgins), who tells him Mother hasn’t been out all week. As he crosses the lawn, a young woman in army fatigues attacks him. Her trainer, hiding inside a tree, shouts at ‘Agent 69’ to stop, indicating her intended target is a young recruit hiding in the bushes. ‘Agent 69’ is astonished to discover she has attacked the legendary John Steed when her trainer, Burton (Jeremy Young), apologises to him. Steed arrives at the house where Jenkins (Tony Thawnton) asks him to wait until Mother is free.
Mortimer meanwhile remembers a large building full of cobwebs and glass; Emma tries word association to jog his memory and ‘attack’ yields the word ‘motorbike’. Outside, Carl talks to his controller on the radio and is informed that Steed has arrived to see Mother, so they should move in and recapture Mortimer before the amnesia drug wears off, warning them to “make sure [Mrs. Peel] doesn’t have any happy memories”. Emma tries to fight them off when they enter but she and Sean are both drugged and he’s carted off in the sidecar.
Steed’s still waiting to see Mother when the agent who attacked him appears from behind the curtains and introduces herself as Tara King (Linda Thorson) - she seems surprised when he doesn’t say “Ra boom di ay!” after hearing her first name, “Everyone does!”, she complains; she tells Steed his name crops up every day in training and gives him her address and phone number, knowing his weakness for women, but insists he hide it in his boot rather than put it in his wallet. Simon Filson (Jeremy Burnham) arrives and ushers Steed in to see Mother (Patrick Newell), a stout man in a wheelchair. Steed announces that Mortimer has turned up at his flat, at which Filson interjects that Mortimer’s on the suspect list - “if an agent goes missing we must presume he’s defected”. Steed tells them Sean’s suffering from amnesia and is probably drugged and brainwashed, but he did remember that there’s “a traitor in the organisation”. Mothers order Steed to bring him and organises to have medical staff standing by.

Emma wakes up and is putting Sean’s gloves away when Steed returns, only to discover that Emma can’t remember Mortimer. He calls Mother and informs him, and arranges to bring Mrs Peel in instead. Filson exits to arrange it and runs into Burton, who asks him what’s going on - he seems stunned to learn that Mrs. Peel is being brought to the house. Steed puts Emma’s coat on, telling her they’re going to a party thrown by ‘Professor Mater’; she seems dubious so he asks, “What’s that -pology you’re interested in?” "Anthro- ?" “That’s it, an anthropologist, he’s one of the best!” - and they set off. Carl and Brad have been ordered to intercept them and block the road with a tree. When Steed stops to clear the road they’re attacked and shot with the drugged darts. Brad sets off to the glass factory with Mrs. Peel while Carl ensures Steed’s amnesia by removing his identification and pumping several extra full-strength darts into him, leaving him at the roadside.
Emma wakes at the factory next to Mortimer but neither of them can remember a thing. mother meanwhile is worried by Steed’s non-appearance and reacts angrily when Filson reminds him that no contact for nine hours puts an agent on the suspect list. Filson relishes telling Burton and Tara that Steed is suspect - “Even the biggest idols can have feet of clay”.

Steed wakes shakily and flags down a passing car before collapsing back into the leaves. At the factory, Emma recalls the name “Steed” and they decide that must be her name. Mortimer then recalls the name “Peel” and thinks that must be him, but they decide neither of them could be “Mother”. "I honestly don’t think that can be either of us", says Mrs Peel. Steed is taken to Worpleton Cottage Hospital where he hallucinates Nurse Sally (Beth Owen) becoming Mrs. Peel in a number of flash-backs. Dr. Soames (John Lee) enters and is critical of Steed, taking him for a meandering drunkard despite the nurse’s protestations. He orders her to prepare a sedative and leaves.
Emma and Sean try to break out of their prison but can’t budge the door, causing Mortimer to observe, “It’s no good, Mrs. Peel”; but they can’t decide who he is. Steed is hazily remembering the ambush and Mrs. Peel, so he escapes the hospital, knocking down Dr. Soames when he tries to stop him. He finds Tara’s address in his boot and arrives there just before Filson drops Tara home. Filson warns her of Steed’s attack on the doctor which has just been reported. When she enters her apartment she’s apprehended by Steed who asks her if she’s Tara King. She blinks at him and tells him he’s on the wanted list. “I knew it!”, he cries, thinking that he must be an infamous burglar considering the ease with which he broke in. She patiently explains that he’s a spy, and the organisation thinks he’s defected, and she tells him his name.

Emma is reciting “He loves me, he loves me not” while smashing bottles which makes her remember “John Steed”. Mortimer is disappointed to learn that this is certainly not him. She remembers being ambushed by two men on a motorbike and exclaims, “We’ve got to find a way out of here!”, but Brad enters at that moment ands tells them they don’t have a chance. Steed meanwhile is trying to recover his memory but doesn’t even know where he lives. Tara goes off to learn the address and rings him when she finds it in his file. He scrambles to find the telephone - Tara’s flat is filled with all makes and models of them - and sets off for 3 Stable Mews. Filson catches Tara in the file room and she bluffs him, saying that if she’s to catch Steed she need to know as much as she can about him. As she leaves the house, someone shoots her with an amnesia dart...
At his flat, Steed’s memories come flooding back, especially when he finds Mortimer’s gloves and the morning’s crossword puzzle. He resolves to contact headquarters, but can’t remember the phone number of the address. Instead, he returns to Tara’s flat but she’s forgotten she’s helping him and places him in a judo grip. Fortunately, she hasn’t been taught the counter-move and Steed overpowers her easily. He finds headquarters’ address in one of Tara’s boots and heads off, leaving her sleeping on a cushion. At Mother’s house, Steed knocks out Giles and Jenkins when they approach him. At her flat, Tara wakes up and realises Steed attacked her when she finds her boot empty. Steed meanwhile dispatches Filson with his steel-crowned bowler and enters Mother’s office, only to find Burton in his place. Burton says Mother has gone into hiding and Steed tells him one of the attackers had mentioned “The Glass House”, where they used to do basic training. Tara is discovering the trail of unconscious agents left in Steed’s wake and hides behind the curtains when Burton leads Steed out. Driving off, Burton recalls the way to the Glass House with ease...

At the Glass House, Emma hides by the door while she makes Sean pull a fact and contort himself. When Brad enters, he’s so confused by Mortimer’s appearance that he’s easily overpowered by Mrs. Peel and his dart gun taken. Meanwhile, Filson recovers and, holding Tara at gunpoint, calls Mother to confirm that Steed is the traitor. Tara is infuriated and cries, “No, you fool! It’s Burton!” “Burton?”, he murmurs; "Burton’s the traitor!", she shouts, grabbing Filson’s revolver, then runs from the room, tossing his revolver back to him scornfully. At the Glass House, Emma and Sean decorate Brad with straw and cobwebs and stick his thumb in his mouth, hoping to repeat their earlier success, while Steed and Burton near the factory with Tara in hot pursuit. Steed comments on how faultless Burton’s direction were for getting there - especially as the organisation had stopped using The Glass House before he joined them. He casually asks Burton when he defected and Burton pulls a gun on him. At about the same time, Carl enters the warehouse and is attacked when he’s distracted by Brad’s unusual appearance. They fight, and Mrs. Peel accidentally shoots Mortimer with a dart in the melee, but she manages to defeat Carl while Burton and Steed are fighting outside. Tara arrives in time to stop Brad from escaping by hitting him with her handbag - in which she’s carrying a brick. Emma shoot Burton with a dart when he runs for the car and he stops dead. “I think he forgot to [get away]”, Emma tells Steed, “And speaking of forgetting, just to remind me, are you the man who ---?”, she whispers in his ear. “I’m afraid so”, Steed grins. Mortimer comes up and proudly identifies Mrs. Peel and she meanly says, “And who are you?”, baffling him.

Steed is on the phone to Mother - he’s seen the papers and will need a replacement as soon as possible. “You know my tastes, I’ll trust to your judgement”, he says, and hangs up. He picks up the paper and re-reads the headline:

Peter Peel alive
Air ace found in Amazonian jungle
WIFE EMMA WAITS
Emma arrives to say goodbye, saying Peter will pick her up in a few minutes. She fights back a tear and tells him, “Always keep your bowler on in times of stress and watch out for diabolical masterminds”, and kisses him tenderly on the cheek. "Emma - thanks", he murmurs bravely and she gives him one last mournful smile and leaves. Coming down the stairs, Emma passes Tara on the landing and tells her, “He likes his tea stirred anti-clockwise”. Tara grins and heads upstairs. Steed is watching her leave from the window and is astonished to discover that Peter Peel (Patrick Macnee & Paul Weston) is the spitting image of himself. Emma waves as the car drives away and Tara enters saying, “Mother sent me”. "Ra boom di ay!", replies Steed happily, and she acquaints herself with his flat...

Production

Production dates: 19/01/1968 Drinks
Transmission dates: Foreign title cocktails
brandy
whisky and soda
whisky and soda
whisky and soda
(tea is mentioned)
UK 25/09/1968
Sydney 15/11/1968
Melbourne 5/11/1968
USA 20/03/1968
Germany 11/08/70 (or 16/08/70?) (Auf Wiedersehen, Emma)
France 20/10/1968 (Ne m’oubliez pas)
Italy 26/06/1974 (il non ti scordar di me)
Spain --- (No me olvides)
The Netherlands --- ?

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