The Avengers
When The Avengers began in March 1961 it bore little
resemblance to the flippant show we came to know and love - The
quintessential British spy series set in a picture postcard
Britain of castles, stately homes, village pubs and cricket
greens.
 It starred a sophisticated spy who even out-Bonded James Bond.
He drove a vintage Bentley, played polo, archery and fenced and
fought baddies while wearing a bowler hat and carrying a furled
brolly!
Jonathon Steed was a character who first appeared in the series
Police Surgeon starring Ian Hendry.
Old Etonian Patrick
Macnee virtually stole the show and in 1962 he replaced Hendry's
character (Dr David Keel) as the lead character.
To assist him, he was provided with a female colleague, Honor
Blackman (who also played Pussy Galore in the 1964 Bond film, Goldfinger)
featured as Mrs Catherine Gale.
She was to be the first in a line of elegant, sexy and lethal
partners. Catherine Gale was a widow, a Doctor of Anthropology,
judo expert and the original girl on a motorcycle!
She wore a
leather combat suit, thigh high boots and a sexy hairstyle that
never lost its composure and was cucumber-cool. She was a perfect
match for Steed in his Savile Row suits, embroidered waistcoats
and Chelsea Boots.
Honor even succeeded, albeit inadvertently, in knocking out
wrestler Jackie Pallo during rehearsals for a graveyard battle. As
they fought with a shovel, Pallo toppled into the empty grave,
banged his head and was rendered unconscious for ten minutes.
 In 1964, Blackman left the show and Steed found a new partner,
Emma Peel, played by the delectable Diana Rigg.
Once again, Mrs Peel (pictured at left) was a
sleek, sexy, action-widow with a wicked karate chop and a nice
line in sixties Mod fashion; stretch jerseys, cat suits, hipster
pants and exotic dresses with flesh-revealing keyholes or
suspenders. Diana was mystified to find that she received a lot of
fan mail from schoolboys!
For the final series of 33 episodes, Steed lost his second
companion in 1968 (after Diana Rigg left after a row over wages).
She was replaced by twenty year old Tara King (Linda Thorson) - a
single girl with no martial arts skills but a solid punch, and
very handy with her handbag!
Unfortunately Steed and Tara lacked the chemistry of the
previous couplings and Mother was introduced. Played by Patrick
Newell, Mother was Steed's chubby "controller".
The show was cancelled in 1969. It's loss was mourned all over
the world. The show they called Chapeau Melon et Bottes de Cuir
("Bowler hat and high leather boots") in France and Mit
Schirm, Charm und Melone ("With umbrella, charm and bowler
hat") in Germany was so missed that six years later The
New Avengers came to be.
As Macnee was now 54 and far from
lithe, the main role went to Gareth Hunt as Mike Gambit (Ex SAS)
and Joanna Lumley as the gorgeous and super-leggy Purdy.
The original series boasted some terrific tongue-in-cheek
humour such as cover agencies with names like PURRR (The
Philanthropic Union for Rescue, Relief and Recuperation of Cats)
or GONN (The Guild of Noble Nannies).
The escapist fantasised espionage series was truly unique, and
the illusion was perfect - This England had no factories, no
poverty and (unfortunately) no sex. In fact, the following rules
were specified by the producer, Brian Clemens: "No woman
should be killed, no extras should populate the streets. We
admitted to only one class and that was the upper. As a fantasy we
would not show a uniformed policeman or a coloured man. And you
would not see anything as common as blood in The Avengers".
You will note there is no reference here to the remade Avengers
movie starring Uma Thurman. That is because there were only two
good things about the film: 1) Uma Thurman, and 2) At least they
kept the old theme music.
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