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The Avengers (TV series): Difference between revisions
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{{quote|''"Always keep your bowler on in times of stress, and a watchful eye open for [[Diabolical Mastermind|diabolical masterminds]]."''}}
Its most famous male-female partnership, between 1965 and 1968, was [[Patrick Macnee]] (who would later appear in a [[A View to a Kill|Bond film]]) and [[Diana Rigg]] (who would later appear in a [[On Her Majesty's Secret Service|Bond film]]).
In earlier seasons (1962-1964), the female co-star was [[Honor Blackman]] (who would later appear in a [[Goldfinger|Bond film]]).
The series was originally created as a vehicle for Ian Hendry (who would ''not'' later appear in a Bond film), to capitalise on the popularity he had developed during his previous show, ''[[Police Surgeon]]''. In the [[Pilot]], his character, Dr. Keel, was recruited by spy John Steed (Macnee) as a part-time expert assistant in return for Steed's help capturing the murderers of Keel's wife; this was pretty much [[Artifact Title|the last time in the series any actual ''avenging'' took place]]. This first series was generally a grim-and-gritty crime affair, centering around drug smugglers, arms dealers and endless cases involving stolen diamonds.
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The stories became crazier and crazier - Space plants from the moon! Assassination by laser! Invisible spies! Housecats trained to kill! Politicians hypnotised into becoming children! - and typified the swinging cool of [[The Sixties|1960s]] Britain.
Eventually Rigg left Steed for the embrace of [[On Her Majesty's Secret Service|George Lazenby's doomed James Bond]], and Steed took on his last partner, Tara King. Tara (played by [[Linda Thorson]], who also has ''not'' appeared in a Bond film) was a more feminine character, though still an [[Action Girl]], but the series never survived the loss of Rigg, massive problems behind the scenes and being put up in America against ''[[Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In]]''; the series finished after just one season with Tara King.
A [[Revival]] was attempted in 1976, with ''The New Avengers'', starring Macnee and [[Joanna Lumley]] (better known for ''[[Absolutely Fabulous]]'', [[Running Gag|but had earlier appeared in a Bond film)]]. Oh, and the guy off the Nescafe adverts. But the new, gritty tone -- matching shows like ''[[The Sweeney]]'' and ''[[The Professionals]]'' -- was too much of a departure and it soon collapsed. This series lasted from October, 1976 to December, 1977
It was later [[The Film of the Series|made into a movie]] starring [[Uma Thurman]] and Ralph Fiennes (who afterwards appeared in a [[Skyfall (film)|Bond film]]), whose only redeeming quality was [[Sean Connery]] ([[Overly Long Gag|who had appeared ]] [[Captain Obvious|in many Bond films]]) [[Ham and Cheese|hamming it up]] as an evil Scotsman. For more on this film, see
Not to be confused with [[The Avengers (Comic Book)|the comic]] or the [[Marvel Cinematic Universe]] [[The Avengers (film)|
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* [[Acting for Two]] (various [[Doppelganger]] stories)
* [[And You Were There]] (Mrs Peel's husband was uncannily similar to Steed)
* [[Auction of Evil]] ("The
* [[Badass in a Nice Suit]]
* [[Bound and Gagged]]/[[Damsel in Distress]] (happens fairly often to the female lead, considering the time period)
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* [[Of Corsets Sexy]] ("A Touch of Brimstone")
* [[Oh, Cisco]]
* [[Old Hero, New Pals]]: Of course, Steed sticks around, but his partner changes during the original series.
* [[Opening Narration]] (The American screenings of the Emma Peel episodes)
* [[Parasol of Pain]] (Steed's umbrella)
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* [[Shout-Out]] (In one episode a plot to destroy a train is summed up as such: "[[Thomas the Tank Engine|Pop goes the diesel?]]"
* [[Shrug of God]] (Steed and Mrs Peel -- are they or aren't they? Since they would never have been permitted to address the question explicitly on-screen, it was deliberately left ambiguous. An interviewer once asked Macnee, Rigg, and the series' head writer what was ''really'' going on with Steed and Mrs Peel, and got three different and mutually-exclusive answers.)
* [[Spy Catsuit]] (the original, in fact, and [[Trope Maker|the origin of the trope]].)
* [[Spy Couple]]
* [[Spy Drama]]
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{{reflist}}
{{TV Guide's Top Cult Shows Ever}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:British Series]]
[[Category:Speculative Fiction Series]]
[[Category:The Sixties]]
[[Category:Crime and Punishment Series]]
[[Category:TV Series]]
[[Category:Multiple Works Need Separate Pages]]
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