Possibly the best-known and most successful of the escapist adventure series from the British ABC studios of the mid-late 60's, I remember "The Avengers" fondly from my childhood. I have all the Patrick McNee / Diana Rigg episodes on DVD and prompted by the recent passing of Mr McNee, I finally indulged myself by watching a random episode (the first of the 1967 colourised series), but it could have been any one from that era and I'd have been just as well entertained, I know.
I never saw any of the Honor Blackman series and do recall that McNee and the post-Rigg Linda Thorson just didn't have the same chemistry, plus the writing and plotting was becoming too far-fetched (all that "Mother" nonsense, for example) when compared to its golden era of 1965-1967.
McNee is splendid as the debonair and uber-cool John Steed substituting a sharp-edged umbrella in place of guns and the pre-Grand Dame Diana Rigg smoulders as the enigmatic, karate-chopping Mrs Peel. Much was made of her one-piece jump-suits of the time, no doubt helpful in protecting her modesty as she dispatched yet another set of baddies with her martial arts moves, even if today said costumes look more functional than sexy. The plots are invariably flight-of-fancy fantasy, often pitting the dynamic duo against some world-threatening individual or organisation but were usually laced with subtle and occasionally sexy interplay between the two leads, top-and-tailed in every episode with a mute opening "We're needed" sequence and similarly light-hearted epilogue with just a hint of romantic frisson between them.
The best episodes tended to be written by the also recently departed Brian Clemens and the cream of British TV character actors usually made guest appearances from episode to episode.
Utterly charming and entertaining, and with a distinctive title sequence and theme tune, "The Avengers", is still well-remembered today as the epitome of style and class. The McNee / Rigg axis definitely saw the show at its best helped no doubt by its identification with the swinging 60's appeal of anything British at the time.
The Avengers to today's youth undoubtedly conjures up Marvel's comic-book team, but to me it'll always recall the classic team of Steed and Peel saving the world weekly and sleekly from some misguided criminal mastermind.
I never saw any of the Honor Blackman series and do recall that McNee and the post-Rigg Linda Thorson just didn't have the same chemistry, plus the writing and plotting was becoming too far-fetched (all that "Mother" nonsense, for example) when compared to its golden era of 1965-1967.
McNee is splendid as the debonair and uber-cool John Steed substituting a sharp-edged umbrella in place of guns and the pre-Grand Dame Diana Rigg smoulders as the enigmatic, karate-chopping Mrs Peel. Much was made of her one-piece jump-suits of the time, no doubt helpful in protecting her modesty as she dispatched yet another set of baddies with her martial arts moves, even if today said costumes look more functional than sexy. The plots are invariably flight-of-fancy fantasy, often pitting the dynamic duo against some world-threatening individual or organisation but were usually laced with subtle and occasionally sexy interplay between the two leads, top-and-tailed in every episode with a mute opening "We're needed" sequence and similarly light-hearted epilogue with just a hint of romantic frisson between them.
The best episodes tended to be written by the also recently departed Brian Clemens and the cream of British TV character actors usually made guest appearances from episode to episode.
Utterly charming and entertaining, and with a distinctive title sequence and theme tune, "The Avengers", is still well-remembered today as the epitome of style and class. The McNee / Rigg axis definitely saw the show at its best helped no doubt by its identification with the swinging 60's appeal of anything British at the time.
The Avengers to today's youth undoubtedly conjures up Marvel's comic-book team, but to me it'll always recall the classic team of Steed and Peel saving the world weekly and sleekly from some misguided criminal mastermind.