The Avengers (TV Series) A Touch of Brimstone (1966) User Reviews

Recreating the Hellfire Club

[Tweekums · 9/10 · 3 February 2015]

Somebody is playing pranks that are damaging the country; they are harmless but aimed to humiliate foreign dignitaries. Steed and Mrs Peel's investigations lead them to The Honourable John Cleverly Cartney and Lord Darcy! Before they can do anything the pranks escalate and somebody is killed. We soon learn that the two of them are members of a recreation of the infamous eighteenth century Hellfire Club; Darcy thinks they have gone too far this time and confronts Cartney and the other senior members of the club… this quickly leads to his demise. In order to infiltrate the club Steed applies to join, claiming Darcy had promised to propose him, and Mrs Peel befriends Cartney. They learn that the club is planning to topple the government but they will have to face many dangers before they can stop the plot.

In its day this episode was considered rather controversial thanks to its portrayal of the debauched club activities and even more for Mrs Peel's 'Queen of Sin' costume… Diana Rigg does look great in the costume but it all feels quite innocent now. The story is typical for 'The Avengers'; silly but fun with a slight sense of danger. As well as Mrs Peel's costume highlights include Steed's initiation test and his duel with a member of the club. Peter Wyngarde, who plays Cartney, is one of the series better villains; the character could easily have been a caricature but he makes him believably sleazy without making him unlikable. Overall this is definitely an episode to watch; partly to see what the fuss was about but equally because it is an enjoyable story.

A Touch of Brimstone

[guswhovian · 7/10 · 4 August 2020]

After several humorous incidents befall foreign VIPs, Steed and Mrs Peel discover that aristocrat John Cartney has started a modern-day Hellfire Club and that they are plotting to take over the country.

Banned in America, A Touch of Brimstone is perhaps the most (in)famous episode of The Avengers. It's perhaps the perfect Avengers episode: it's gots lots of humorous bits, and it doesn't take itself too seriously.

A pre-Jason King Peter Wyngarde gives a surprisingly subtle performance as the villain, while Jeremy Young hams it up as a henchman. The always great Colin Jeavons is excellent as Lord Darcy. A buxom Carol Cleveland reveals a lot of cleavage in a comic role.

The most famous bit of the episode it Mrs Peel's "Queen of Sin" outfit. There's no denying Diana Rigg looks good in it. The climax is a bit to tidy, but this is definitely a fun romp.

Wowee Mrs Peel!

[robert3750 · 9/10 · 25 May 2023]

I never saw this episode in its initial run, because I've learned that it was banned in the US. It's great to finally see it. Steed and Peel infiltrate a club devoted to debauchery that plans a coup by committing mass murder of government officials. I can see why it was banned. There's quite a bit of licentiousness going on in it, the kind that would make American censors nervous, even though there's no nudity in it at all. A character even says a woman is "insatiable". Shocking! I loved seeing Steed exhibit his prowess in a battle of wits AND swordplay. Of course, the highlight of the episode is Diana Rigg's dominatrix outfit, complete with diamond accented eye makeup, spiked collar, bustier, and knee length boots. She looks spectacular in it, especially in the fight scene. I understand that Rigg designed it herself. Bravo! Don't mess with Mrs. Peel!

Notorious in its day, still splendid today

[kevinolzak · 10/10 · 6 March 2011]

"A Touch of Brimstone" may perhaps be the most (in)famous episode of them all, pruned before airing in Britain, and banned outright in America, one of five black and white Emma Peel shows that failed to air during the 60's. An episode devoted to sin and debauchery, whose chief villain, John Cleverly Cartney (Peter Wyngarde, later seen in "Epic"), has formed a new Hellfire Club, the 18th century elite organization whose slogan was "do what thou wilt," fronting an attempt to stage a coup by embarrassing the government with childish pranks that eventually turn deadly. Emma Peel's initial reaction to Cartney is a favorable one (driving Steed's jealousy), but after being introduced to the Club, all signs of amusement vanish, and her introduction as the 'Queen of Sin' has even Steed raising an eyebrow. Steed's initiation into the Club provides one of his most memorable moments, as he is required to remove a dried pea from its place before the razor-sharp blade of Roger Winthrop (Michael Latimer, later seen in "The Positive Negative Man") slices it in half with unerring accuracy. If you want to be forgiven for your sins, the first thing you've got to do is sin! (how true). Future MONTY PYTHON beauty Carol Cleveland provides some competition for Mrs. Peel (who supplants her in Cartney's company), while Steve Plytas makes his first appearance since "Immortal Clay" (the best thing about that entry). While Cartney puts his whip to good use on Mrs. Peel (nearly a dozen cracks!), Steed is swordfighting with Willy Frent (Jeremy Young, later seen in "Never, Never Say Die" and "The Forget-Me-Knot"), whose missing fingers were from his (unsuccessful) attempt to remove the dried pea before the axe fell. Colin Jeavons would return for "The Winged Avenger," Robert Cawdron would return for "Murdersville," and Bill Wallis would return for "The Positive Negative Man."

Ministry of Dirty Tricks

[pashli · 10/10 · 8 June 2006]

* Some spoilers *

While best known for Diana Rigg's notorious "Queen of Sin" costume, this installment of 'The Avengers' succeeds based on good writing and atmospheric direction. As a black-and-white 1960s spy spoof, the show may not appeal to everyone. But this clever, atmospheric episode is one of the series' high points and arguably one of the great stand-alone outings of any show.

A series of increasingly dangerous pranks are disrupting official functions and undermining the UK's attempts to reach a treaty with a rival power. (Here, you are free to imagine Russians under the bed.)

On the case as always is well-tailored spy/counterspy John Steed, suavely played by Patrick Macnee, the fixture of this series. By this time, thin, leggy Diana Rigg was well established as Steed's latest partner, wealthy woman-about-town Emma Peel.

Much of the pleasure of 'The Avengers' lies in the by-play between Macnee and his various co-stars. By now, the writers had rubbed some of the rough edges off Steed, originally a shadowy, slightly untrustworthy bad boy on the good side. He became the arch-English gentleman, oozing affability. While Macnee worked well with all his partners, his chemistry with Rigg, and the Steed-Emma dialogue, was generally the best of all the pairings.

One of the series' chief writers, Brian Clemens, borrows some bits of English history to add spice to the more modern plotting. A nervous prankster leads Steed into contact with a revived "Hellfire Club," the name popularly applied to the 18th circle that gathered around Sir Francis Dashwood, "Poor Fred" Frederick, Prince of Wales, William Hogarth, John Wilkes and other luminaries, including occasional guest Benjamin Franklin. Using the Rabelesian motto Fay ce que vouldras, "Do what thou wilt," they were primarily interested in a good time.

That aspect is well-represented here, as Mrs. Peel investigates,and is attracted to, Peter Wyngrade as the new club's libertine leader, the cruelly handsome John Cartney. He already has a far better-endowed girlfriend in the person of Carol Cleveland (later of Monty Python), but she's a doormat compared to the independent-minded Mrs. Peel,and Cartney relishes a challenge.

Steed insinuates himself into the club with a mix of bonhomie and cheating, disappointing steely eyed Jeremy Young as swordsman/enforcer Willy Brant. Ever polite, Steed prefers to outwit bad guys, beating them up only as necessary. And as Steeds observes the goings-on, he gets a whiff that Cartney and company are more like Guy Fawkes plotters than Dashwood's revelers.

Emma comes in through the front door, courtesy of Cartney's invitation, but she's equally suspicious. That doesn't stop Diana Rigg from putting on a fashion show. First, she's mod yet reserved; then Rigg is ornate if tiny-busted in a beautiful Regency gown; finally, she's on display as a dominatrix with spiked dog collar, spiked boots, jeweled eyelids, black silk panties and a whale-bone corset. Oh yes, there's that snake coiled on her arm. The costume was designed by Diana Rigg and has one significant deviation from historical accuracy. Instead of a flat front, it is curved, underwired and padded to allow the under-endowed Rigg to create the illusion of cleavage.

Though tame by modern standards, all that was enough to get the episode banned during the show's original run in the US. Even in the UK censors trimmed a later scene with a whip. But their loss in the Sixties is our gain today. How does it all end? You'll have to watch and see.

Fifty years on, and still remarkable.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 10/10 · 9 July 2022]

A series of childish pranks cause national embarrassment, when dignitaries experience all manner of childish pranks, the stakes are raised a lot higher however, when someone dies.

Quite an extraordinary episode, perhaps the most shocking and jaw dropping one I've seen so far, quite remarkable. I thought the plot was fantastic, like the previous one, it could conceivably have happened. I found the Hellfire club quite intriguing.

The Queen of Sin moment, it's incredible now, so Heaven only knows what audiences back in 1966 must have made for it, I've gone through life imagining all tv back then to be sweet and innocent, how wrong I was, I'm quite stunned they allowed it.

Peter Wyngarde, he's not someone I know too well, and haven't perhaps seen a lot of (Jason King is on the list,) but I thought he was excellent here, cool, subtle, meaning and charming. Colin Jeavons was also lovely as the naive, trusting D'Arcy.

I need a strong coffee after this, that was quite something. 10/10.

Audacious and over the top even in 2023

[chetjang · 10/10 · 26 March 2023]

I am a huge Dame Diana Rigg/Emma Peel fan! It is amazing this was ever made or aired. It begins as rather tame typical Avengers episode and Seed and Peel are dressed in Victorian outfits, I am still puzzled by what Steed meant when he commented "this is what the well dressed wench would be seen in" referring to himself- why did he call himself a wench?

Steed and Peel go to the "night of all sins " party and it suddenly changes when Diana Rigg comes out dressed as a full dominatrix (although in later interviews she claimed she was not into bondage) but she certainly was during that episode!

Interesting as she was whisked into a backroom out of sight- the snake she was carrying suddenly extended itself 2 feet into a crevice in the fireplace mantle- I don't think that was an accidental scene in the context.

Suddenly afterwards it became a typical Avengers episode when the drunk Carol Cleveland tells Steed of the plan to blow up a high level British meeting using several hundred pounds of TNT. Emma has to save the day still dressed as a dominatrix and whipping and getting whipped by two men in the process fairly R rated stuff even 50 years later.

The now dead at 82 Dame Diana Rigg was gorgeous in her late twenties, which made the episode particularly spicy!

A touch of Brimstone

[coltras35 · 10/10 · 11 December 2023]

A wave of practical jokes is damaging Britain's international standing and when a VIP is killed by one, the Avengers step up their hunt for the perpetrators.

Mrs Peel discovers that Cartney, the chief suspect, runs a recreation of a Regency Hellfire Club and she witnesses an angry member challenge Cartney over the killing; the next day, his body is fished from the river. Steed and Emma attend a debauched orgy at the Hellfire Club and notice a sedan chair filled with dynamite heading for the basement which is linked by tunnels to Parliament. Emma is drugged and dressed as a dominatrix, in corset and spiked collar, while Steed realises they have discovered a modern Guy Fawkes consipracy and duels with the club's leading swordsman

Cigars exploding, whoopee cushions, faulty chairs, spiders in ones soup - all used on foreign leaders. Humiliated. Only the Avengers tackle this and make the incidents sound like life and death. Well, one of them does result in death. There's a sharp performance by Peter Wyngarde - aka Jason King - as the leader of a Hellfire club, the one behind these incidents. He's quite a dynamic character and a nasty one too. The removing the pea before the axe strikes is quite tense - that's Steed initiation into the club. Emma Peel gets drugged and is dressed in a dominitrix suit- she looks quite fetching. It's a brilliant episode with an air of menace in the air - it ends with a rousing sword fight between Steed and one of the Hellfire's goons who has a steel claw behind his glove and Mrs Peel goes up against the leader who uses a whip but it's a crack of a whip too far for him as he makes a mistake and gets his up commence.

STRONG STORY FOR 60'S TV

[asalerno10 · 9/10 · 8 June 2022]

That The Avengers was in many ways ahead of its time, innovative and unprejudiced, there is no doubt. But this particular episode is quite disturbing and extremely edgy for 1960s TV. Steed and Emma must investigate the activities of a secret organization whose members behave almost like a cult, their leader throwing medieval-era costume parties that clearly they end up in uncontrolled orgies. Emma is chosen by her members as the Queen of Sin in a rather disturbing scene where it is clear that she has had to actively participate in the vices of these meetings in order to integrate and carry out her mission. The director and the production managed to perfectly imply, but without being explicit, all the debauchery that happened within the Hellfire Club.

How the "Emma exhibited" scene in this ever got past the censors ...

[walker4-1 · 10/10 · 12 May 2022]

How the "Emma exhibited" scene in this episode ever got past the censors is utterly beyond me.

I am pretty sure that nothing like this had ever been seen on British telly before.

I actually saw this when it was first broadcast and remember it vividly. LOL.