Too Many Christmas Trees

This is one among the most unforgettable stories in this terrific TV show. I won't add much to what have already said the other Imdb users. Except that the dream, or may I sy nightmare, sequences remind me an Alfred Hitchcock's feature: SPELLBOUND, when Gregory Peck has also dreams. The way to present them looks like this episode, at least the first scene. But the settings are just not the same.

Steed has a nightmare about a fellow agent dying and it comes true. Mrs Peel decides he needs a break and whisks him away to a Dickensian Christmas Party in the country but they discover they have both been hypnotised by some sort of telepathic control into coming to the party, and someone is after Steed's secrets.

A mysterious psychic tries to break Steed's resolve but Emma's intervention, and some very loud Christmas carols, keep their minds clear.

Steed is a little vulnerable as someone is drugging him. He gets off nightmares. The mystery is quite good - the rapport between Mrs Peel is quite tender here. There's the usual bizarreness but the story is quite strong. A shoot-out in a hall of mirrors is quite exciting. There's a little nod to Cathy Gale ( Honor Blackman) when Steed says "What can she be doing in Fort Knox?" It refers to Honor starring in Goldfinger.

Steed has been having recurring nightmares. When he and Mrs Peel attend a Christmas party at a country estate, Steed finds his dreams echoed in the events of the party.

Too Many Christmas Trees is a huge improvement on Two's a Crowd. The script is great, and Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg are wonderful together. The script is absolute nonsense, but it's a very fun episode. Diana Rigg looks very pretty in her Oliver Twist outfit as well, which is a bonus.

ITC's perennial villain Alex Scott appears as a henchman, while recognizable faces like Edwin Richfield appear. Mervyn Johns is the main guest star; his presence in the episode is a nice touch, as the plot was obviously inspired by Dead of Night, which he starred in.

John Steed begins to be the victim of frightening nightmares that are constantly repeated, everything turns out to be the product of an organization that uses the telepathic powers of its members to enter his psyche and manipulate his behavior. The nightmares that incorporate a sinister Santa Claus, divergent mirrors and guillotines, the old castle with a costume party themed on the characters of Charles Dickens and the table of spiritualism make this episode one of the darkest and scariest of the entire series serie.

'Here comes a chopper to chop off your head.'

Stead is having bad dreams, and when he accompanies Mrs Peel to a Christmas party hosted by Publisher Brandon Storey, his dreams come to life.

What an absolute joy this episode is, you can only imagine what viewers back in 1965 made of this, talk about hitting the jackpot, fast forward almost sixty years, and today's Christmas offerings are nowhere near this good.

It's creepy, it's full of sinister ideas and concepts, it's one of the best I've seen. It doesn't just feel like an episode with seasonal bits bolted on, it's actually a well constructed Christmas plot.

Some cracking scenes throughout, I loved the humour of the Christmas card scene, I also loved the visuals of a gun wielding Father Christmas.

A Christmas class act, 9/10.