Review Ace Of Wands Episode Guide

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'One and One and One are Four' (3 Parts) by Trevor Preston​

The laboratory of Nobel Prize-winning Professor Ekdorf is broken into, and a device that can cure paralysis is stolen. Realising the harm that such a machine could cause if in the wrong hands, Professor Ekdorf goes to his friend Mr. Sweet, an antiquarian bookseller, for help. Mr. Sweet turns to his colleague Tarot, a mystery-solving stage magician, who, with the aid of his stage-manager, Sam Maxted, immediately sets off to track down the thieves. While following a villain named Teddy Talk, Tarot and Sam, together with Lulli Palmer, Tarot’s assistant, discover that the brains behind the theft is Madame Midnight, head of a Mafia-like organisation run from a monastery. Madame Midnight plans to sell the stolen device to the highest bidder, and arranges for a demonstration for the various interested parties from around the world. Unfortunately, the subjects for the demonstration are Sam and Lulli…​

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'The Mind Robbers' (4 Parts) by William Emms​

Tarot is asked to investigate the mysterious disappearance of two important government ministers; intrigued, Tarot, Sam and Lulli set off to track them down. The kidnappings point to a strange house owned by Señor Zandar, which is bizarrely populated by goats, a donkey and even a Zulu warrior. After Lulli is captured by Zandar, she is hypnotised and then used to lure Tarot into a trap. The two of them are imprisoned deep in the cellar by Zandar’s assistant Fat Boy - and left alone with a deadly poisonous snake...

 

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'Now You See It, Now You Don’t' (2 Parts) by Don Houghton​

After a daring robbery takes place at his bank, the manager seeks the help of Mr. Sweet; the bookseller turns once more to Tarot for his help in solving the crime, and so the magician and his friends set off on the trail of the thieves. They are led to the mysterious Falk, a neo-Nazi who lives aboard a houseboat filled with computers and paraphernalia from the Third Reich. Falk and his associate, Macreedy are about to put a devious master-plan into operation - but Tarot has a plan of his own, and soon a dramatic confrontation at Battersea Power Station occurs…​

 

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'The Smile' (4 Parts) by Trevor Preston​

Mr. Sweet is invited to the Bond Street art gallery owned by Bartlett Bonnington; however, when Sam and Lulli go in his place, they soon find themselves in the middle of a very strange robbery. An old lady named Mrs. Kite uses a pair of lorgnettes to freeze time, enabling an oriental art-thief named Tun-Ju to steal a valuable painting named ‘The Carzette Venus’. After a tip-off from a taxi driver named Digger, Sam tracks the old lady to a Chinese restaurant; however, when Tarot later investigates he becomes the victim of Tun-Ju’s mind-wiping machine. Luckily a squawk from his pet owl Ozymadias is able to restore his memory. Meanwhile, Tun-Ju is now planning his life’s ambition: to steal the priceless ‘Mona Lisa’ from the Louvre; he hypnotises Sir Patrick Landau into painting a duplicate so that he can then switch the fake for the real one. Tarot, Sam and Lulli attempt to stop him, but once again find themselves at the mercy of the ingenious oriental - and faced with the prospect of being reverted back to children…​

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SERIES 2

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'Seven Serpents, Sulphur and Salt' (3 Parts) by Trevor Preston​

A man named John Christopher arrives at Mr. Sweet’s bookshop, desperate to see the bookseller, but he is killed shortly after hiding a parchment inside one of the antique books. In a sinister taxidermist’s shop, the dark magician Estabis, also known as Mr. Stabs, is searching for the ‘Seven Serpents’ parchment, which holds the secret of turning base metal into gold; he is assisted in his task by the smelly Luko and a spirit named Polandi. Learning that Tarot has now found the script, Stabs takes on the form of Polandi so that he can break into the magician’s flat; he hypnotises Lulli into poisoning Tarot, but in the nick of time the plan is thwarted by Sam. Tarot, Sam and a restored Lulli take a trip to Swineshead, where the alchemist Flameld hid is secret of transmogrification six-hundred years ago. It is the site of the final confrontation between Tarot and Mr. Stabs - but which of the magicians will win the deadly battle of wits?​

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'Joker' (3 Parts) by P.J. Hammond​

A bizarre troupe of travelling players dressed as playing-card characters is run by the eccentric Uncle Harry; operating out of their brightly-decorated bus they journey across the country visiting schools and entertaining the pupils. However, these good intentions hide a sinister motive, for when the act reaches the part involving the Joker, Uncle Harry’s ventriloquist dummy, the children suddenly go berserk and wreck their classrooms. Learning of the strange behaviour of the schoolchildren, Tarot and his friends investigate; while the magician looks into a company called ‘Spells on Wheels’, Lulli poses as a hitch-hiker and thumbs a lift with Uncle Harry and his players. However, the Joker has realised Lulli is not what she seems, and has set a trap for her…​

 

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'Nightmare Gas' (3 Parts) by Don Houghton​

Mr. Sweet is visited by Doctor Winthrop, who urgently needs help in locating a consignment of his deadly hallucinogenic gas known as ‘H23’, so called because it induces sleep and then horrifying nightmares in its victims, who then die of shock after just twenty-three minutes; the lorry containing the gas canisters was recently hijacked while en route to a dumping ground. After Mr. Sweet contacts Tarot and his friends, Lulli discovers that Winthrop’s former assistant Thalia Smith is involved in the theft. She takes the doctor to see Brigadier Connaught, but before they can reach him they are both captured by Thalia and her brother Dalbiac, and taken to their windmill hideout. Thalia plans to sell off the stolen consignment of ‘H23’, and plans to demonstrate its effects to her buyers by using the gas on Lulli and Winthrop. Lulli uses her telepathic link to Tarot to inform him of Thalia’s hideout, but when Tarot arrives he falls victim to the effects of the gas, and finds himself in the nightmare world of the English Civil War, about to be burnt at the stake for practicing sorcery.​

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'The Eye of Ra' (4 Parts) by Michael Winder​

When a priceless diamond called ‘The Eye of Ra’ goes on display in London, Tarot learns that the diamond has magical properties, and that its light is capable of turning people into six-inch-high chalk statuettes. The diamond is also sought by Ceribraun, a crippled chess-master, who, aided by his master computer and his butler, Fredericks, begins a devious campaign to steal the diamond. He kidnaps Mr. Sweet and leaves behind a chalk statuette of the bookseller as part of his scheme to use Tarot to obtain the jewel; however, when the statuette of Mr. Sweet is accidentally smashed, Tarot and his friends believe him to be dead. Ceribraun then captures Lulli and replaces her with a figurine; however, she is able to inform Tarot via their telepathic link that she is being held in the vaults beneath the house of Sir John Packham. Tarot attempts a rescue, but is swiftly trapped on a huge chessboard between two giant robotic chess-pieces, which are slowly crushing the life out of him…​

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Series 3​

'The Meddlers' (3 Parts) by P.J. Hammond​

When Tarot answers an advertisement concerning a new conjuring trick, he meets photographer Chas Diamond and his journalist sister Mikki. They tell him that the market where their studio flat is located has been plagued by bad luck and accidents, which Mikki believes is due to a curse dating back a hundred years ago. Meanwhile, atop a high-rise block of flats, a mysterious man called Mr. Dove watches the proceedings through high-powered binoculars. Tarot discovers that a group of street musicians led by a man named Spoon seem to be at the centre of the disasters; they are working for Mr. Dove, who wants the stall-holders scared away so that he can find the location of a money-lender’s fortune, buried somewhere under the market. But when a series of tremors strikes, Spoon and his men deny causing them; it seems that the answer lies with Mockers, the local prophet of doom…​

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'The Power of Atep' (4 Parts) by P.J. Hammond​

Mikki experiences a strange dream of Egypt, in which she sees a bizarre ceremony, a mummy, and then Tarot. Meanwhile, Mr. Sweet and Tarot investigate the theft of the ancient mummy of powerful Egyptian minister Atep, stolen from the museum. As part of her research into the dream, Mikki contacts a medium known as John Pentangle; she decides to attend one of his séances, but when the voice of Atep is conjured up, strange forces are unleashed which nearly cause Tarot to drown while practising an underwater escapology trick at his boat. Chas visits Mr. Sweet at his bookshop’s new location in a nearby university, but he is attacked, apparently by Tarot, and a book entitled ‘The Power of Atep’ is stolen. Unknown to the others, Ozymandias is replaced by another owl, which then attacks Mikki. In order to discover the reason behind these events, Tarot decides that they should to travel to Egypt; the three friends arrive and track down Fergus Wilson, the archaeologist who uncovered the tomb of Atep. Tarot visits the tomb, but is trapped within its stone walls and confronted by his double, Pentangle - in reality the magician’s former-stage partner, Quabal, who now wants revenge against Tarot…
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'Peacock Pie' (3 Parts) by P.J. Hammond​

When Mikki bumps into an ordinary-looking man in the street, she becomes instantly struck with the uncharacteristic idea of going on holiday to a lonely place far away. The next day, a security team delivers their cash boxes to an abandoned house, which they inexplicably believe to be the bank. Convinced Mikki’s compulsion is connected to the unusual bank robbery, Tarot and Chas investigate the old house; however, Chas soon finds himself apparently imprisoned inside a room with no doors, while Tarot, after stepping on a brick outside, believes that he is teetering at the edge of a high building. Meanwhile, Mikki is visited by the man, who calls himself Mr. Peacock, and leaves behind his calling card. After he and Tarot manage to escape from the illusions, Chas travels to Mr. Peacock’s lodgings in Penge, while Tarot and Mikki perform their magic act in ‘Purcells’, a restaurant in the West End of London. But Mr. Peacock has other plans, and user his powers of suggestion to transform their stage act into a robbery…
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'Mama Doc' (3 Parts) by Maggie Allen​

While visiting a toy fair with his two children, Doctor MacDonald is kidnapped by a fake policeman, and later on, Chas witnesses the same policeman steal a doll from the children. MacDonald’s colleague, Professor Darian, seeks Mr. Sweet and Tarot’s help in locating the missing doctor; but when he then calls at a dolls’ hospital run by the eccentric Mama Doc, he too is captured by the bogus policeman. Learning that Darian has now disappeared, Mr. Sweet decides to visit the dolls’ hospital, while Mikki seeks information about dolls from a woman named Posy Peagram; however, after she leaves in her car, Mikki is stopped by the fake police officer, actually Mama Doc’s henchman Bobby, and taken prisoner. Tarot and Chas discover that Mama Doc is using a special drug that turns people into living dolls so that they can join her ‘family’; while the two of them make plans to stop the insane plan, Mr. Sweet becomes part of a bizarre and disturbing tea party with Mama Doc’s latest dolls: Mikki, Doctor MacDonald and Professor Darian…​

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'Sisters Deadly' (3 Parts) by Victor Pemberton​

Chas is invited to Bliss Cottage to photograph the one-hundredth birthday party of Matilda Edgington, to be held by her sister Letty and attended by many of her old friends. But during the celebrations Chas is knocked unconscious, and when he comes to, he hears the voice of the Major, a friend of the old ladies, and what he believes to be the voice of his inner self, who compel him to rob the village post office. Afterwards, Chas returns home, but is unable to recall anything about either the party or the hold-up. Tarot is concerned at Chas’s behaviour and decides to investigate, only to discover that Matilda died two years ago. Chas is taken over by the influence of the Major once more, and he captures Mikki and Tarot and imprisons them in the cellar at the cottage; here they find stored memorabilia from the Major’s days in the British Empire. They soon uncover a plot by the Major to use Letty and the other old ladies to kidnap the Commander-in-Chief of the British Land Forces NATO, General Sir Richard Oliver, who is due to visit military manoeuvres being held nearby. It seems that the Major wants a return to the days of the Empire - and that ‘Matilda’ is not at all what she seems…​

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'The Beautiful People' (4 Parts) by P.J. Hammond​

When Mikki attends a ‘Peace and Love’ fête in the village of Dewerton, she is refused admission by two beautiful girls called Dee and Emm, and a handsome young man named Jay. Curiously, old people are allowed free entry, and are permitted to win expensive household appliances, such as vacuum cleaners and hand-mixers in easy competitions and games. After Mikki tells Tarot of the strange fair, he becomes intrigued and decides to investigate; together with Chas they attend the fête, where Tarot is given a clock by Jay. They then leave for London, but the clock releases a gas which causes Tarot to crash the car; luckily the trio are unhurt, and they return to the fête, only to find that it is about to leave. Mikki and Chas are attacked by Dee and Emm, while Jay threatens Tarot using a hedge-trimmer that seems to have a life of its own. The three friends are overpowered, and when they eventually come to, find that the fête has now gone. Meanwhile, Jay sends a signal and the appliances that were previously given out suddenly come to life and attack their owners. Tarot and his friends attempt to locate the three beautiful people, but Emm contacts the magician telepathically and arranges to meet him, saying that she wants to learn from him. Tarot, Chas and Mikki discover that the three beautiful people are actually extra-terrestrial jokers - and they are once more planning to release their deadly machines at a jumble-sale.​

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