The Avengers was a British TV series made by Associated British Corporation and ran for six seasons between 1961 and 1969. That came as a surprise to me, because I only remember the last two seasons. More on that later.
The one constant character in the series was John Steed, the bowler-hatted, Saville Row-suited, umbrella-carrying member of an unnamed British organization that simultaneously fights crime and deals in espionage and counter-espionage missions. Steed was played to perfection by Patrick Macnee.
Surprisingly, Steed was not the original lead character in The Avengers. That honor goes to David Keel, a physician whose fiancee was murdered. He was determined to find her killer when he crossed paths with Steed, who was after the same man for a different reason. By the end of the second episode, Keel and Steed had formed a partnership. Keel was played by Ian Hendry.
After the first season, Hendry left to go into movies (notably the Vincent Price classic Theater Of Blood) and the series was re-tooled with Steed as the lead character. His first partner was Venus Smith, a nightclub singer with no background in crime fighting or espionage. She was smitten with Steed, which was the only thing that kept them together. Venus was played by Julie Stevens.
His next companion was Mrs. Catherine Gale, an anthropologist who was an expert in judo and had a penchant for leather clothes. Cathy had been widowed in Kenya, and saw her work with Steed as service to her country. Some of the first Cathy episodes in Season 2 were originally written for Keel, and his lines (with modifications as needed) were simply given to Cathy. Cathy was played by the amazing Honor Blackman.
Cathy was unlike any other female character on British TV at the time. She was older (in her early-mid 30’s) and, because the scripts for her were originally written for Keel, was more mature and apt to argue with Steed. The attraction between the two of them became obvious, particularly in the third season, although it never got past the flirting and innuendo stage. At the end of the third season, Ms. Blackman was cast as Pussy Galore in the James Bond film Goldfinger, and left the cast.
At about the same time, the American Broadcasting Corporation in the US signed a deal with Associated British Corporation to co-produce the show, with ABC (US) airing all the new episodes. ABC (UK) agreed to shoot the new episodes on 35mm film rather than videotape, resulting in a clearer picture and better sound.
Honor Blackman’s replacement was Diana Rigg, as Mrs. Emma Peel.
The demeanor of the show changed with Mrs. Peel’s debut. Compare the theme music from the first three seasons, written by Johnny Dankworth:
with the theme music from seasons 4-6, written by Laurie Johnson:
The relationship between Steed and Mrs. Peel was more playful, the cases a little more absurd, the technology more advanced. Season 4 was shot in black and white, while seasons 5 and 6 were produced in color.
Diana Rigg left the series at the end of the fifth season. The story was that Mrs. Peel’s husband had been found in the Amazon jungle and he was brought back to England and reunited with his spouse, who then left Steed and rode off into the sunset with her husband. She was replaced almost immediately by Tara King, played by Linda Thorson. Here is that scene.
Unlike Cathy and Emma, Tara (nicknmed “ra-boom-de-ay” by Steed) was a trained (but inexperienced) agent of Steed’s organization. The flirtation between her and Steed was more pronounced, and the cases even more absurd.
I didn’t start watching the show until the fifth season, when ABC in the US ran it on Friday nights. I was twelve at the time, and while it’s unclear whether Diana Rigg in her leather catsuit brought on puberty in me, it certainly fanned the flames.
Our local religious broadcaster (who also shows reruns of Steamboat) has been running the episodes of Seasons 2 and 3 (plus the two or three episodes of Season 1 that still exist) pretty much nonstop for several years now. I seem to remember that Hollywood Video had a number of the videocassettes of those seasons on their shelves until they went out of business, and for some strange reason I believe that the station bought those VHS tapes and has been showing them nightly…
Now, for your listening pleasure, all the opens and closes for the series.This is the last of my draft picks. I hope you’ve enjoyed them!
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I remember the show very vaguely. Good write-up that gives a history of the show’s morphing. I’ve enjoyed reading your posts on your tv series choices, John.
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Thanks! This one in particular was enjoyable. I think most of all I liked how British it was…
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You’re welcome.
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I don’t remember the earlier episodes, only the last two years with Diana Rigg. Great show, much better than anything US television made at that time. I last saw Rigg in Game of Thrones and for an old lady, she was still quite stunning. I could tell it was her from her voice. Good write.
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She was a fine actress and a very beautiful woman with tons of class. Little wonder that we all fell in love with her.
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There was a girl in my senior class that was a dead ringer for her.
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I worked with a woman who looked like her, though she was a little heavier.
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A good writup about a show I’ve long heard about but knew almost nothing about. Sounds semi-James Bond-ish… was it inspired by the 007 novels?
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That was a period that also saw “The Saint,” “Danger Man” (aka “Secret Agent”), and “Gideon C. I. D.” on British television. I’m sure that interest in the Bond novels had a lot to do with all of them being brought to TV.
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I never watched this show but I’m familiar with it because of a friend who was a fan and told me about it at the time that an Avengers movie came out in the 1990s/2000s or thereabout. I was very confused when Marvel’s Avengers came out in 2012 thinking it was another reboot of this show.
My family has a funny story about Honor Blackman because my grandmother’s name was also Honor, and it’s a name unusual enough that it threw people off (a lot of people thought it was “Anna” in New York City accent). That all changed when Goldfinger suddenly made the name famous. My grandmother had to laugh that her name was now associated with Pussy Galore.
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The movie with Ralph Fiennes and Uma Thurman was pretty well-done. How faithful it was to the canon is arguable, but it was entertaining, and Uma made a very lovely Mrs. Peel.
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I want to watch all of this series…I’ve only seen an episode here and there. It was I believe mod at the time.
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The best are the Peel episodes- well, for me they were!
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Thanks Obbverse.
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It wasn’t when it started; it was a little early for Mod, and Cathy Gale was a little older (but no less attractive). The mod part came with Mrs. Peel.
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This is one of the shows I have marked now…Riverboat also.
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In those pre-recording device days ‘The Avengers’ was ‘watch it live or miss out.’ Allegedly a lot of meetings scheduled for Wednesday nights for Kiwanis, Benevolent Orders of the Elks, Lions Clubs, International Order of Odd Fellows, even PTA meetings were rescheduled to other nights; For some reason a lot of stand-up family guys didn’t want to miss seeing Miss Emma Peel in her skin tight leather outfit beating up some bad dudes. Then, I couldn’t help but wonder why? (Until, as you say, one fine Wednesday evening something somewhere in a certain spotty twelve year old schoolboys mind the light in my dim-bulb of a mind went off… or turned on, whatever!)
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Everything becomes clear when puberty kicks in…
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Classic pure 60s cult tv. Sci fi fantasy banter-full spy drama comedy and socially years ahead of its time. The women did most of the proper fighting. Diana Rigg was an absolute icon for her entire career: bond married her. Tv sitcom in the usa – Diana. Doctor who. Game of thrones. Last night in soho film. She got name checked by Al Bundy in married with children along with the show. The classic stuff is the rigg thorson shows and also the 1976 New Avengers revamp with joanna abfab lumley joining mcnee. My dad was in the RAF when they filmed one show about a deserted airfield. He watched them film from the building he was in. Diana Rigg and macnee both.
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I never saw “The New Avengers,” but I’d definitely watch for Joanna Lumley. Diana Rigg and Honor Blackman were that type of actress you’d see everywhere. Both superb actresses who could do drama, comedy, sci-fi.. The British actors are always working.
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They had to be adaptable. A quick cameo in ‘The Prisoner’ one day, a week of playing Lady Macbeth at Margate, a days worth of nudging and winking with Kenneth Williams on the latest ‘Carry On’ crap-fest of a movie, THEN playing opposite Vincent Price in ‘Theatre Of Blood’ the next. So much variety and expertise needed to make a quid on the boards back in England then.
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So “Theater of Blood” had two “Avengers” alums, Diana Rigg and Ian Hendry, as well as a bunch of familiar names…
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I’m a big fan of both the original series and The New Avengers. We had a local tv station acquire the rights to show The Avengers a while back, and what a trip down memory lane that was seeing all those episodes again. I recall CBS ran The New Avengers late-night back in the day and saw all of those as well. Really enjoyed this post.
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CBS would do that for their “late movie,” until David Letterman came along. For a while they were running “Mannix” and “Longstreet.”
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Diana Rigg convinced me in this show that a woman could be taken seriously to play a lead role in a drama crime series.
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