The One With… the jazz combo.
The US military is growing increasingly impatient at the repeated loss of their missile-transport aircraft. Despite rigid security, every flight is gunned down by mysterious fighter aircraft. International Rescue attempt their own investigation and their attention is rapidly drawn to the Cas Carnaby Five, a caberet group currently performing from the Paradise Peaks Hotel, high in the Alps. The group's smash hit, "Dangerous Game", has been playing each time the transport craft have been shot down.
Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward travels to the hotel under the pseudonym "Wanda Lamour", along with Tin Tin Kyrano as her assistant. Parker gets a job as a, "part-time bouncer," and the trio attempt to find out if there's a connection between the musical group and the transporters. They discover that Olsen, the band's musical manager, has a nearby chalet, in which a vast computer translates words into music. This machine - a Cham-Cham - is how Olsen uses the Cas Carnaby Five to transmit the locations of the transporters to the enemy airfield.
Armed with this discovery, International Rescue call the USAF and warn them. Sadly, the general in charge is disinclined to listen to some, "kook who wants to play musical chairs!" and orders the operation to go ahead. Without options, International Rescue work out the code and Wanda Lamour takes the stage. By shifting the pattern of the song, the fighters are redirected over the USAF airbase, where they are taken apart by the base's defences. Furious about being thwarted, Olsen plans to kill Wanda Lamour by sabotaging the ski lift.
- Badass in Distress: Having successfully changed the coded message in the Cham Cham, Lady Penelope and Co try to escape in a cable car. Unfortunately, the Big Bad cuts the braking cable and they have to be rescued by Virgil in Thunderbird 2 before they smash into the terminal at the bottom of the mountain.
- Band Episode: Lady Penelope goes undercover as a "famous" singer named Wanda Lamour and sings in a one-off performance with the Cas Carnaby Five. This allows her to investigate their involvement with the airstrikes and later change the message encoded in their song by the Cham Cham once they realise how the band is being used.
- Blackmail: Parker blackmails his old acquaintance, Maxie, who now runs a talent agency, into arranging a concert for Wanda Lamour in the Paradise Peaks hotel by threatening to expose Maxie's current location to a guy named "Punchy" Patterson.
- Butt-Monkey: Parker really gets it in this episode.
- The Cameo: The Duchess of Royston, from "The Duchess Assignment", can be seen in Paradise Peaks hotel.
- Cassandra Truth: IR to the USAF general.
- Cold Snap: Until the 50th anniversary specials, this was one of only two rescues to take place in a snowy environment. This one is of the "isn't winter fun" variety, with Lady Penelope and Tin-Tin visiting a luxurious mountaintop resort and enjoying skiing. Even Parker falling down a snowy mountain is Played for Laughs.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Downplayed. Alan is much less blatantly jealous about Tin Tin taking a shine to Cas Carnaby, though he clearly isn't too happy about it.
- Fooled by the Sound: A highly technological example in which coded messages are sent using music played by a band, which is interpreted by the cham-cham machine. Lady Penelope infiltrates the band, and manages to send counter-messages with her singing, fooling the cham-cham.
- Hired on the Spot: On their first night in Paradise Peaks, Lady Penelope is surprised when she finds out Parker is also there, having taking a job as part-time bouncer. He explains that he saw an advertisement from the hotel when he dropped the ladies off, decided on the spot to apply, and since he's already working there now he evidently got the job pretty much immediately.
- Human Snowball: Parker and Olsen's henchman Benino end up in one.
- Lounge Lizard: Lady P. goes undercover as one of these.
- The Power of Rock: Avant le lettre.
- Stuck on a Ski Lift: With Olsen cutting the cable.
- Umbrella Parachute
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Benino is not seen or mentioned again after Parker suggests Lady Penelope that they hide his unconscious body in the storage closet for the moment. Out of Sight, Out of Mind indeed.
- Wicked Cultured: Olsen, who divides his time between playing the piano, writing delightful musical arrangements for superstars and sending evil killer jets after cargo planes.
- You Have to Believe Me!: International Rescue's warnings about the next transporter being in danger fall upon deaf ears, until Scott flies to the airfield in Thunderbird 1 to personally deliver the message.
