The Avengers (TV series)

The Avengers is a British 1960s television series featuring secret agents in a fantasy 1960s Britain. The programmes were made by TV company Associated British Corporation, and the series was created by their then Head of Drama Sydney Newman.

Programme premise and overview

With Dr. David Keel (Ian Hendry)

The Avengers began with a medical doctor named Dr. David Keel (Ian Hendry) investigating the murder of his wife by a drug ring. A mysterious stranger named John Steed (Patrick Macnee), who is investigating the ring, appears on the scene and together they set out to avenge her death. Afterwards, Steed and Keel continued to partner up and solve crimes.

Related Topics:
Ian Hendry - John Steed - Patrick Macnee

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In the first season broadcast in 1961, Steed was a secondary character, the protagonist being Dr. David Keel (Ian Hendry); all but two of these episodes are now lost. The Avengers was a successor (but not, as sometimes stated, a direct sequel) to Hendry's earlier series Police Surgeon, in which he played a similar character. Hendry was considered the star of the series, receiving top billing over Macnee, and Steed did not even appear in several episodes.

Related Topics:
Ian Hendry - Sequel - Police Surgeon

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Production of the first season was cut short by a strike. By the time it was settled and production could resume, Hendry had quit to pursue a film career. Macnee was promoted to series star and Steed became the focus of the series, initially working with a rotation of different partners such as nightclub singer Venus Smith and Dr. Martin King, a thinly disguised rewriting of David Keel.

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With Cathy Gale (Honor Blackman)

One of these rotating partners was Mrs. Cathy Gale (Honor Blackman), who was self-assured and good with her fists and quick witted. She was unlike any female character ever seen on British TV and became a household name. Reportedly part of her charm came from the fact her earliest appearances were episodes in which dialogue written for David Keel was simply transferred to Cathy. In short order, she became Steed's only regular partner.

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During the first season hints were dropped that Steed worked for a branch of British Intelligence, and this was expanded in the first Gale season. Early on, Steed would receive orders from a series of different superiors, most notably a man referred to only as "One-Ten". By the second Gale season, however, Steed is seen working on his own, the origins of his orders remaining a mystery.

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Another change during the Gale era was the transformation for Steed from a rather rough-and-tumble agent into the stereotypical British gentleman, complete with bowler hat and umbrella, both of which turn out to be full of tricks, most notably a sword hidden within the umbrella handle and a steel plate concealed in the hat.

Related Topics:
Bowler hat - Umbrella

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Honor Blackman became a TV superstar in Britain with her leather boots (nicknamed "kinky boots") and her high-kicking fighting style. After two seasons on the series, she was tapped to appear opposite Sean Connery in the Bond film, Goldfinger, requiring her to leave the series.

Related Topics:
Sean Connery - Goldfinger

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Arrival of Emma Peel (Diana Rigg)

A new female partner appeared in 1965: Mrs. Emma Peel (Diana Rigg). The name of the character derived from the phrase "M Appeal" or "Man Appeal". Rigg's character retained the self-assuredness of Cathy Gale, combined with superior fighting skills, intelligence, and fashion sense.

Related Topics:
Emma Peel - Diana Rigg

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The classic Avengers episodes are generally considered to be those featuring Macnee and Rigg. This era was characterised by a futuristic, science fiction bent to many of the tales, with mad scientists and their creations causing havoc in their wake. However, earlier eras of the show had a much more hard-edged tone, with the Blackman episodes including some surprisingly serious espionage dramas (when viewed through the prism of the later, better-known period). Steed and his associate were charged with solving the problem in the space of an hour-long episode and thus preserved the safety of 1960s Britain on a regular basis.

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There was also a notable fetishistic undercurrent in many episodes (most notably the B&W Rigg episode "A Touch of Brimstone", in which Mrs. Peel, dressed as a dominatrix, becomes the "Queen of Sin"), and Macnee and Blackman released a novelty song called "Kinky Boots". (Some of the clothes seen in The Avengers were designed by the clothing designer John Sutcliffe, who also published the AtomAge fetish magazine).

Related Topics:
Fetishistic - A Touch of Brimstone - Dominatrix - Kinky Boots - John Sutcliffe - AtomAge - Fetish magazine

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The relationship between Steed and Gale differed noticeably from that of Steed and Peel, with a layer of conflict in the former that was rarely seen in the latter -- Gale on occasion openly resenting being used by Steed often without her permission. There was also a level of sexual tension between Steed and Gale that was absent when Emma Peel arrived. In both cases, the exact relationship between the partners was left ambiguous, although they seemed to have carte blanche to visit each other's homes whenever they pleased and it was not uncommon to see an episode in which Steed spends the night at Cathy Gale's/Emma Peel's home, or vice versa, although nothing "improper" is ever suggested.

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The arrival of Rigg coincided with the show's sale to US television. Previously the series had been shot on 405-line videotape, with very little provision for editing and virtually no location footage. This meant that to all intents and purposes the Blackman episodes were shot live in the studio. A number of these episodes were wiped; those that survive are in the form of 16mm film telerecordings (see below).

Related Topics:
US - Videotape - Wiped - 16mm film - Telerecording

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The US deal meant that the producers could afford to shoot the series on 35mm film. In any case, the change was essential because British videotapes were incompatible with US standards. The transfer to film meant that episodes could be shot like movies, giving the show much greater flexibility. After two filmed seasons in black and white, The Avengers began filming in colour in 1967, although it would be two years before British viewers could see it that way.

Related Topics:
35mm film - 1967

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Departure of Emma Peel and the introduction of Tara King (Linda Thorson)

Rigg was never happy with how she was treated on the show (she discovered at one point that she was being paid less than the cameraman) and she left in 1967 to pursue other projects (including, like Blackman, a Bond movie). No farewell episode had been shot, and despite now being out of contract, Rigg agreed to return to film an episode that explains Emma's departure. This episode, that would go to air as the first episode of the 1968 season, also introduces Emma's successor, an inexperienced agent named Tara King, played by a newly minted Canadian actress named Linda Thorson. Thorson played the role with more innocence in mind and at heart; and unlike the previous partnerships with Cathy and Emma, the writers allowed subtle hints of romance to blossom between Steed and Tara.

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Another change returned the series to its roots by having Steed once again take orders from a British government official, this time the wheelchair-bound "Mother", who was in fact an obese man. Mother's headquarters would shift from place to place, including one episode in which his complete office was on the top level of a double decker bus; several James Bond films of the 1970s would make use of a similar gimmick for Bond's briefings.

Related Topics:
Obese - Double decker bus - James Bond

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The revised series continued to be broadcast in America. The episodes with Linda Thorson as Tara King proved to be highly rated in Europe and England. In the United States, the ABC network which carried the series, chose to air it opposite the number one show in the country at the time, Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. Steed and Tara couldn't compete with it, and the show was cancelled in the U.S. Without this vital commercial backing, production could not continue in Britain either, and the series ended in 1969.

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