Honor Blackman was great, but Diana Rigg was just incredible. You won't find better chemistry than shared between her and Patrick Macnee. Emma Peel remains one of the greatest television characters - I really wish Rigg had stuck around for one more season before departing.
I do, too, though I can understand why a couple of seasons may have been enough for her. And who knows, depending on show tone and quality, the character may have suffered if she had remained on screen for too long. I do know that, when talking about strong female characters, we really should include both Cathy Gale and Emma Peel in the roster alongside Ripley and Sarah Connor. Emma Peel was held up to me by my parents as someone to emulate: cool, calm, resourceful, never hysterical, tall, elegant and confident. I managed a couple of these as I've matured....from time to time....
I'm partial to the Rigg series myself because it's what I saw first. Patrick and Diana's chemistry is unmatched to this day. But there is no Emma Peel without Honor Blackman, she set the standard for what the show became.
@@emmasdilemma258 Absolutely true. I'm sorry I've never seen any of the Honor Blackman episodes: they look very fun and good. I'm not going to say it's a pity or a shame that Diana Rigg overshadowed Blackman, but I do agree that Blackman deserves more attention for her work than she's received.
US movie roles were just too much of a career step to ignore. She was in about 6 major films in the late 60s early 70s after quitting this series. She has also worked steadily till her death in 2020
@@STho205 I can’t blame her for leaving to do films, but honestly none of her film roles ended up as prominent as her stint on television as Emma Peel, apart from maybe the Bond role (in a film which commercially was considered something of a flop). Ultimately, it might have been better had she stuck around The Avengers another year or two before landing another television series, maybe one built around her.
Takes me back to when I was a kid. Sit and watch this on a Friday night with my late mum, sharing peanuts and chocolate. Was in love with Emma Peel.... fantastic programme and Macnee was excellent as Steed....miss those days..and my mum..😢😢😢😢
I also liked Diana Riggs’ short-lived US television series. I was also able to see a number of British series on the Canadian station we got on cable in upstate NY in the 60s and 70s-The Prisoner, Department S, Jason King, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, and Peter Allen.
@@paulhunter6742 Agreed, though the entire audience laughed out loud at the teddybear pointing at the ascending lift. (My wife and I occasionally reference it, with one of us pointing silently.)
I remember back in the 60's, here in the U.S. "The Avengers" with Diana Rigg was a weekly series must see. It was quirky and different when compared with American programming, which was basically bland and formulaic.
I just watched 1989 miniseries Around the World in 80 Days where Macnee plays one of the Reform-club members who wagers against Phileas Fogg, and realized that i could watch the show where these gentleman club members just played whist and talked about whatever all evening.
I really liked him in A View to a Kill and was annoyed when they killed the character off. Although as some remarked at the time, having Moore and MacNee - along with Desmond Llewelyn, Robert Brown and Lois Maxwell - representing MI6 it did make it look like the security of the UK was in the hands of the denizens of an old people's home.
@@craigcharlesworth1538 Roger Moore and Patrick Macnee had already teamed up decade earlier in Sherlock Holmes in New York movie, and while it's not a greatest Holmes filmation, Moore and Macnee played well together in that one also. Simon Templar and John Steed crossover adventure might have been fun.
Diana Rigg said when she found out the cameraman was getting paid more than her she asked for a pay rise. They said no, so she quit. Its a shame. If it wasn't for ABC's tightfisted sexisim we would've gotten at least two more seasons of Mrs Peel.
@@RebeccaTurner-ny1xx -- The real crime was moving it from a very successful slot (Fridays at 10 pm, when it was up against nothing!) to Mondays at 7:30, deliberately putting it agaisnt what was then the #1-RATED SHOW. I'd say ABC killed the show. Just as they had earlier when they moved THE OUTER LIMITS from Mondays at 7:30 to Saturday nights opposite THE JACKIE GLEASON SHOW. When you move a show, its fans DON'T know when the hell it's on!!! I didn't "find" the Linda Thorson episodes until more than half of them had been aired. Linda Thorson had NOTHING to do with the ratings falling off-- the move of the time slot did.
@Jack_Warner Nobody was watching The Avengers for the value over replacement of the cameraman. ABC (the British ABC) should have paid Rigg more because the show was worth more with her as McNee's partner than with Thorson in that position, and not paying her more cost them a lot of money. Trying to pretend that her increased leverage didn't exist was stupid.
"Always keep your bowler on in times of stress and keep a watchout for those diabolical masterminds" Mrs Emma Peel final words to Steed before handing over to Tara.❤
Utterly LOVE LOVE LOVE The Avengers! The theme music (4-6 Seasons) always fills me with an indescribable bittersweet nostalgia and the realization I and the others who appreciate this and other series are extremely fortunate for such series will likely never be made again. Too many factors acting in concert to produce such a series and such characters including in the real world to make Cathy, Emma and Tara such amazing ladies and Steed the consummate gentleman with an eye for appreciating the beauties but respecting them and caring for them as well. Truly a series with no equal, I don’t think it would be possible to make anything remotely comparable; the world is simply too different now in countless ways (good, bad and everything in between, lest anyone think I take only a negative view of the world and the changes we’ve witnessed). This show is one of a group that have that amazing status and meaning to me, some airing before I was even born, but intriguingly most share their production at a time of tumultuous changes in the world then as well though rarely does the outside “real” world get any true mention, perhaps most telling evidence of technology advances being that many of these series had earlier seasons filmed in Black and White changing to colour for a couple series before the darkness of cancellation. The Avengers, The Prisoner, Wild Wild West, Doctor Who, and others will forever have their place of honor and affection to me. “They don’t make ‘em like they used to” is certainly apt as well as spot on. Truly gems from a brief but unquestionably unique period of this world!
I can watch the Steed/Peel era episodes over and over again; Honor Blackmon and Diana Rigg are beautiful and completely understood why they were chosen to be James Bonds love interests. Among the other cast member like Patrick Macnee are top notch what a career he had. This was such a fun trip down memory lane this really tugs at my heart strings with the nostalgia being so strong and I long for the simple times when all these items were more recent, and we were unaware of world events and the dangers connected. I like your content and I have subscribed like your peers who have awesome content like this.
The Honor series and Rigg series were two completely different shows. You had to enjoy them on each of their own merits. Both were excellent, but they had different tones, styles and types. You could tell the Blackman series was a James Bond contemporary and the Rigg series a Star Trek - Voyage to the Bottom to the Sea one. They were in two different eras. The early 60's vs the mod 60's.
To me the theme music of the later series was the theme music of the 60s. I loved Diana Rigg as much as I loved all of the British Television I grew up watching.
So well done! Thank you!! The series were my childhood and teenage TV-experience. I LOVED it! And of course at most the Diana Rigg episodes. With lovely regards from Vienna/Austria,
When the series finished in Australia they repeated the Emma Peel episodes at something like 2am in the morning. I was still at school but was lucky enough to have a TV in my bedroom. I was such a fan of the show that I'd set an alarm so I could wake up in the middle of the night to watch them.
Honestly, that Steed/Peel era is still amazing now, especially the new HD scan version. I found it on the ITV player in lockdown and fell in love with it, was in awe of how fresh it felt considering it was 50+ years old!
For me, Patrick Macnee will always be Count Ibley first and foremost. I didn't see this show until cable reruns in the late 80's. What I saw. I loved however. I always had a crush on Dianna Rigg as well. The Avengers, The Saint. The Prisoner, were all truly compelling television.
Diana Rigg is my favourite, but I love the Linda Thorson episodes. It is a shame that they were not as popular. It was the New Avengers that really did not do it for me.
8 месяцев назад+3
Agree,The New Avengers was of its time,but,at least,we got Joanna Lumley’s Purdey.
You are not alone, I loved the Character, Linda Thorson was treated terribly, the writers didn’t want her and she knew they didn’t want her, which makes her performances all the more remarkable. The problem with the character of Tara was, they couldn’t make their minds up who she was. She would look as though she couldn’t fight her way out of a wet paper bag one minute, then being proficient in judo or karate.
@@DavidSmith-fs5qj I always liked her relationship with Steed which was much more a father/daughter vibe. I also liked Mother. Eps like Noon Doomsday, Game, Cypher Snatch etc were the epitome of the Avengers storylines.
Fascinating. A lot of stuff I had no idea about, particularly the early seasons - I was totally unaware that Cathy Gale had not even been in the first season! Pity they stuffed up the movie so badly in the 90's, I saw it in the cinema at the time, very bad indeed. Diana Rigg as Mrs. Peel is still simply luminous though.
I loved this show as a kid. The crazy characters and plots were great fun, and I'll never forget how Emma Peel looked in 'A Touch Of Brimstone'...Woof!! Fabulous! Great job covering this Stam...now you 'have' to do 'The New Avengers!' ;)
Wow, I didn’t realize the group in A Touch of Bridgestone was SUCH an obvious inspiration for the Hellfire Club in X-Men… and it’s obvious Emma Frost was based on Emma Peel… explains why I like her so much lol
@@bensneb360There were some pretty obvious clues, if you were aware of the source material. Mastermind, aka Jason Wyngarde (who previously did not have a revealed alias), was a cross between the names of actor Peter Wyngarde, who played the character Jason King, (and the villain, in A Touch of Brimstone). The other members of the Hellfire Club were also mixes of actors and character names. Donald Pierce was named after Donald Sutherland, who played Hawkeye Pierece, in the movie version of MASH. Harry Leland was modelled on Orson Welles and named for two characters in his movies: Harry Lime (The Third Man) and Jeddediah Leland (Citizen Kane). Sebastian Shaw was modelled after Robert Shaw and Emma Frost was based on Emma Peel. Some are more visually obvious than others, as caricature was never a strong point for artist John Byrne. There was a historical Hellfire Club, in the Regency Period, in England, which held notorious debauches and featured well connected and powerful aristocrats and others of the upper classes.
I had a toy Steed umbrella… and it squirted water! Must have been a bizarre sight: a nine year old running around with an Avengers brolly and my dad’s old bowler! Unfortunately it didn’t come with its own Emma Peal… The 1960s were a great time to be a British kid!
None of us young men wanted to be Steed until Mrs. Peele entered the scene. She was the litmus test as to whether you were gay or not. The show successfully made the transition from crime to spy to sci-fi scripts.
When I started watching the Avengers in the Mid 1960s, that when the gorgeous Mrs. Peel (Diana Rigg) joined the show, and I had huge crush on her. My sister used to tease me that she is the only reason that I watched the show (which was true). I cried when she left the show, and didn’t watch another episode. I probably watched each of her episodes at least twice, and her impeccable chemistry with the great Patrick MacNee who was an outstanding professional. I didn’t even know at the time that Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman) got her start on that show. RIP, beautiful Diana Rigg
The Avengers has been my favorite TV show for over 20 years. I discovered it by way of that awful 1998 movie, which may have put me off the show had it not been for my insatiable curiosity. My first episode was "The Murder Market" and from there I was smitten.
As a 16 year old (now 65) I watched it because of Diana Rigg....could not get enough of her! Because my GMother came from England the culture fascinated me.
And in the early 1980s when it had its first repeat run on Channel Four. All the boys in my secondary school were devastated when she left. The colour episodes were being shown on Saturday nights (if I remember correctly) and what I'm sure about remembering correctly is her departure was a talking point on the Monday morning. "No more Mrs Peel!" Fortunately, we got the black & white episodes on weekday evenings a year or two later.
Much like the decade it was made in, "The Avengers" changed and evolved throughout the course of the 1960's. Starting off as a straightforward crime drama with two guys in trench coats roaming the dark streets of London and finishing up as a larger than life, colorful spy series with tongue in cheek surreal undertones. The bedrock of the show was always Patrick Macnee who was the one constant aspect throughout its lengthy run. Ian Hendry's departure at the end of the first season was when the show stepped out of its conventional premise and became something far more interesting. A succession of intelligent, attractive, independent, ass-kicking leading ladies (Honor Blackman, Diana Rigg & Linda Thorson) propelled the show to incredible heights and would lay down a template that many other programs would follow for decades to come. In that regard, the series was truly a groundbreaker. Female characters were allowed to be more than pretty faces who needed to be rescued by the hero. A classic series and rightfully so.......
Glad you mentioned the Tara King episode Wish You Were Here. Though Emma Peel is great, and everyone's favorite (including mine), Tara was underrated, and this episode gave her a chance to shine. Other favorite episodes of the Tara King era include the Maltese Falcon spoof Legacy of Death, and Take-Over.
GREAT, thanks! Was too young to watch the shows with Honor Blackman here in Germany - but then came Emma Peel... and spoiled all of us boys - in the coolest way. ;-)))
The only episodes I remember from my childhood were the robot (Cybernaut) ones (28:44). They scared the hell out of me when I was 6 or 7! I happened to see them again a year ago and was stunned at how bad and goofy they were and how much they took me in!
Indeed, this show and Diana Rigg formed my impression of what a woman could be. Modern feminism adds nothing compared to this sassy beautiful capable woman.
Couple of complaints about this, A) Steed had no superiors, only bosses, & B) Ted & Ethel lived at number 37, not 35. Apart from these minor gripes ghe whole video was entertaining and informative, people should watch it before RUclips finds out it broke the guidelines by being entertaining and informative.
Being an oldie i remember watching The Avengers from way back in the 60's. I know Diana Rigg is easily the most popular of the girls but i always had/have a soft spot for Linda Thorson. She was straight out of acting school and got a bit of rough ride, unfairly imo. Great review of the series probably the best i have watched 👏
I remember watching this as a kid in the 1960’s. I think it was on a Sunday in the UK as it took my mind off having to go to school on Monday. Because it was so odd in a conservative county at that time it really was an event. Of course, it was ruined in the 1970’s by the ‘new’ Avengers due to the wooden acting sidekick they brought in as an additional male agent.
Loved this delve into the series. Growing up in England in the 60’s snd 70’s I was transfixed to the weird stories, the weirder they got (in the later 60’s) the more they fascinated me. I think it was Brian Clemmens that spearheaded the show, what an imagination. Thanks for uploading (subbed).
Congratulations, this is really an excellent work . Very clever and professional 👍 I totally agree with your analysis .... Emma Peel , has never been replaced and obviously Patrick Macnee felt a bit lonely on screen after that.
The combination of Diana's Rigg's uncommon beauty and the incomparable fashions of the 1960's is iconic. Rigg in the Avengers, Bardot in Contempt, Jane Fonda in Barefoot, Audrey Hepburn in Tiffanys, Katherine Ross in The Graduate--all seemed to capture the quintessence of a remarkable decade.
I remember him in " A view to a kill" with Roger Moore, that was a chemistry, and character. And that 60s Tv show Avengers was the best of the TV of its era😘
The Avengers was such a great show. There aren't that many series where it can change every season yet still remain itself. My favorite version will always be the fourth season where anything can happen in that cold opening, followed by anything else up to the ending. Giant plant monster? Drowning in the middle of field? Being kidnapped on your way kidnapping someone else? IT CAN HAPPEN HERE: Sign from "Porky in Wackyland", may as well be Avengerland. The Fifth season lost me when they felt they had to add the "Mrs Peel, we're needed" bit, setting up the definite formula with a boundary when previously, it could have been anything.
It isn't often mentioned that Joanna Lumley _also_ was in the same James Bond film as Diana Rigg. Rigg also played Mrs. Pumphrey in the recent remake of _All Creatures Great and Small._
Thank you. Me and my best friends idolized this show during our earliest coming of age years. You can imagine why. I always expected Diana Rigg to become the number one film star in the world. She did well, but something or someone was holding her back from reaching the summit she belonged on. Watching The Avengers and this video renews my regret that I wasn't born in England.
I loved this show. I bought random episodes on videotape in the early 90s. I had a few Tar King episodes and tried to like her, but one episode at the end glitch into the tag ending for The Quick Quick Slow Death, and really showed that nothing beat the classic Steed and Mrs. Peel.
Given how many times Steed's character changed it would be a feat to try to explain it all in one continuity. Like Steed is gradually retired to a Village-like walled estate, with plots to keep him distracted from escaping.
@@pollyparrot9447 :) Just inspired by the latter to enhance the constant changes to the former's character :) Perhaps there are series with so many changes to a prominent character that still survived for quite a while, but usually characters seem to survive maybe one or two retoolings before disappearing :)
@@nutherefurlong Oh - interesting. I only watched the Mrs Peel seasons of The Avengers. I very much liked that version of Steed, who remained ineffably calm, courteous and good humoured in the face of all rudeness and aggression. Your extrapolated end to his character progression sounds like a pretty good idea for a series.
I never saw the color film versions....I was busy in college, but I much prefer the black and white effect over full color. Thank good ness it's possible to view the color series in Black and White by simply stopping down your color control to complete black and white. Ahhhh....that's more like it.
I saw the others the female characters tended to be better than the male ones, but nobody could beat Emma Peel nearly because I sometimes think that she was the knight in shining armor that was always saving her partner's but for the most part.
I think The Avengers is the best televsion show of alltime.......I really like all the Avengers girls.......I think Linda Thorson was wonderful as Tara King ,the Diana Rigg era is my favorite but I really like the whole series
MacNee refused a gun as he had seen too many of his friends blown to bits in the war. Later in the early seventies he'd hang out, literally, in the nudist colony up by Mullholland Drive, with no other than Ushi Digard. Two legends. Looks like taking a percentage of the series cashed him up. Wonder if he ever was a Canadian citizen.
He was born in London, England and later became a US citizen. Gotta admire Patrick Macnee and Russ Meyer, both worked with some the hottest women in TV and movies. Russ liked them BIG on top, ala Ushi
My favourite episode was "The House That Jack Built". I also loved the episode that Benny Hill appeared in (as a villain) but forgot the episode name. Would be great to see an Avengers documentary on the guest stars and guest villains.
Tara King needs revenge against whoever was doing her hair for the show. That's semi-beehive is hideous. I wish I was more into the crime-mystery-thriller type show, but frankly I just don't care much, the McNee and Rigg performences might be worth a watch though. She was TERRIFIC on GoT.
this has taken me right back to when I was a young lad and watched it all in black and White! It was such fun to watch back then and I still love it today just as much and love the line "Mrs.Peel, we are needed and used to look forward to the different way it was used! Thanks for giving us a look back to this wonderful days!
Mrs peel as played by Diana rigg was my female role model on because she was tough kickass and doesn't need a man to save her. She had panache class I don't know what else to put it it was her Kick-Ass abilities with such Style that made me want to be like her.
Loved the Avengers! Of course Diana Rigg was THE offsider for Steed but I am old enough to remember the David Keel episodes. Unlike many I thought the movie with Uma Thurman playing Mrs Peel worked quite well with the right mix of quirkiness.
This was really good. Spot on in fact. And your personal picks chime somewhat with my own: Dressed to Kill, Room Without a View and Death at Bargain Prices are all good standout episodes. Dressed to Kill, starring Anneke Wills, my favourite of the three. Other memorable episodes include: Mr Teddy Bear; The Removal Men; The Town of No Return; Murdersville; Too Many Christmas Trees; A Touch of Brimstone; All Done With Mirrors and Pandora to name but a handful. Thanks again for the great video.
Honor Blackman was great, but Diana Rigg was just incredible. You won't find better chemistry than shared between her and Patrick Macnee. Emma Peel remains one of the greatest television characters - I really wish Rigg had stuck around for one more season before departing.
I do, too, though I can understand why a couple of seasons may have been enough for her. And who knows, depending on show tone and quality, the character may have suffered if she had remained on screen for too long. I do know that, when talking about strong female characters, we really should include both Cathy Gale and Emma Peel in the roster alongside Ripley and Sarah Connor. Emma Peel was held up to me by my parents as someone to emulate: cool, calm, resourceful, never hysterical, tall, elegant and confident. I managed a couple of these as I've matured....from time to time....
I'm partial to the Rigg series myself because it's what I saw first. Patrick and Diana's chemistry is unmatched to this day. But there is no Emma Peel without Honor Blackman, she set the standard for what the show became.
@@emmasdilemma258 Absolutely true. I'm sorry I've never seen any of the Honor Blackman episodes: they look very fun and good. I'm not going to say it's a pity or a shame that Diana Rigg overshadowed Blackman, but I do agree that Blackman deserves more attention for her work than she's received.
US movie roles were just too much of a career step to ignore. She was in about 6 major films in the late 60s early 70s after quitting this series. She has also worked steadily till her death in 2020
@@STho205 I can’t blame her for leaving to do films, but honestly none of her film roles ended up as prominent as her stint on television as Emma Peel, apart from maybe the Bond role (in a film which commercially was considered something of a flop).
Ultimately, it might have been better had she stuck around The Avengers another year or two before landing another television series, maybe one built around her.
Takes me back to when I was a kid. Sit and watch this on a Friday night with my late mum, sharing peanuts and chocolate. Was in love with Emma Peel.... fantastic programme and Macnee was excellent as Steed....miss those days..and my mum..😢😢😢😢
A fabulous, pithy, witty series. Love it as a kid.and her period. Forget the new "Avengers".
Ended up with Joanna lumley and the guy from the nescáfe coffee advert 😢
I also liked Diana Riggs’ short-lived US television series. I was also able to see a number of British series on the Canadian station we got on cable in upstate NY in the 60s and 70s-The Prisoner, Department S, Jason King, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, and Peter Allen.
I loved the show. The Steed & Peel pairing was my favorite. I never worried that the plots were ridiculous. Entertaining, that's all I wanted.
If people have to ask, they shouldn't bother watching.
"Mrs Peel! We're needed!"
The REAL The Avengers! Nothing will ever take its place. Especially that damn movie!
The 1990s Avengers movie was absolutely Crap....
@@paulhunter6742 Agreed, though the entire audience laughed out loud at the teddybear pointing at the ascending lift. (My wife and I occasionally reference it, with one of us pointing silently.)
Diana Rigg was one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen. The word sassy was invented for her.
…and so say all of us!
Linda Thorson was incredibly pretty ... Those eye's ... WOW!
her daughter is married to the frontman of elbow.Guy Garvey.....I think
Dame.
I agree, especially during her Avengers days. Great dresser too. Love her make up and class...
I remember back in the 60's, here in the U.S. "The Avengers" with Diana Rigg was a weekly series must see. It was quirky and different when compared with American programming, which was basically bland and formulaic.
it had that zing and so did Patrick MCGohan in "Danger Man" in a Canadian release and later in the UsA "Secret Agent Man".
Macnee was such an underappreciated actor, even in his dozen guest appearances in the 80s he comes close to stealing the show by sheer charisma alone
I just watched 1989 miniseries Around the World in 80 Days where Macnee plays one of the Reform-club members who wagers against Phileas Fogg, and realized that i could watch the show where these gentleman club members just played whist and talked about whatever all evening.
Battlestar galactica,magnum pi
I really liked him in A View to a Kill and was annoyed when they killed the character off. Although as some remarked at the time, having Moore and MacNee - along with Desmond Llewelyn, Robert Brown and Lois Maxwell - representing MI6 it did make it look like the security of the UK was in the hands of the denizens of an old people's home.
@@craigcharlesworth1538 Roger Moore and Patrick Macnee had already teamed up decade earlier in Sherlock Holmes in New York movie, and while it's not a greatest Holmes filmation, Moore and Macnee played well together in that one also. Simon Templar and John Steed crossover adventure might have been fun.
@@craigcharlesworth1538 Given the seniority of America's political class, that's the reality over there.
Still love this show and still hold Diana Rigg/Emma Peel as the ideal woman.
With an ideal car, her Lotus Elan!
Diana Rigg said when she found out the cameraman was getting paid more than her she asked for a pay rise. They said no, so she quit. Its a shame. If it wasn't for ABC's tightfisted sexisim we would've gotten at least two more seasons of Mrs Peel.
How is that a surprise? Shame on ABC.
@@RebeccaTurner-ny1xx -- The real crime was moving it from a very successful slot (Fridays at 10 pm, when it was up against nothing!) to Mondays at 7:30, deliberately putting it agaisnt what was then the #1-RATED SHOW. I'd say ABC killed the show. Just as they had earlier when they moved THE OUTER LIMITS from Mondays at 7:30 to Saturday nights opposite THE JACKIE GLEASON SHOW. When you move a show, its fans DON'T know when the hell it's on!!! I didn't "find" the Linda Thorson episodes until more than half of them had been aired. Linda Thorson had NOTHING to do with the ratings falling off-- the move of the time slot did.
@Jack_Warner Nobody was watching The Avengers for the value over replacement of the cameraman. ABC (the British ABC) should have paid Rigg more because the show was worth more with her as McNee's partner than with Thorson in that position, and not paying her more cost them a lot of money. Trying to pretend that her increased leverage didn't exist was stupid.
Why “sexism”? Are you saying the cameraman was paid more because he was a man? The cameraman probably had a better union.
@Jack_Warner Not all "opinions" are created equal. Yours, for example, are idiotic.
"Always keep your bowler on in times of stress and keep a watchout for those diabolical masterminds" Mrs Emma Peel final words to Steed before handing over to Tara.❤
Followed by (to Tara), "He likes his tea stirred anti-clockwise". Not a dry eye in my dorm's TV room.
One of the best shows ever made.
Absolutely Agree!
This is what I think of when people talk about The Avengers, not the american marvel thing
Love this show ❤
Same! 😊
Can we just stop and appreciate that the Stam Fine music reflects the show being reviewed?
Should definitely do a compilation!
Danger 5
A lot of those old British series had that tongue in cheek entertainment but the Avengers did it with STYLE.
Utterly LOVE LOVE LOVE The Avengers! The theme music (4-6 Seasons) always fills me with an indescribable bittersweet nostalgia and the realization I and the others who appreciate this and other series are extremely fortunate for such series will likely never be made again. Too many factors acting in concert to produce such a series and such characters including in the real world to make Cathy, Emma and Tara such amazing ladies and Steed the consummate gentleman with an eye for appreciating the beauties but respecting them and caring for them as well. Truly a series with no equal, I don’t think it would be possible to make anything remotely comparable; the world is simply too different now in countless ways (good, bad and everything in between, lest anyone think I take only a negative view of the world and the changes we’ve witnessed). This show is one of a group that have that amazing status and meaning to me, some airing before I was even born, but intriguingly most share their production at a time of tumultuous changes in the world then as well though rarely does the outside “real” world get any true mention, perhaps most telling evidence of technology advances being that many of these series had earlier seasons filmed in Black and White changing to colour for a couple series before the darkness of cancellation. The Avengers, The Prisoner, Wild Wild West, Doctor Who, and others will forever have their place of honor and affection to me. “They don’t make ‘em like they used to” is certainly apt as well as spot on. Truly gems from a brief but unquestionably unique period of this world!
Both Rigg and Macnee were treats whenever they appeared. They had style, they had grace, and Diana Rigg sure as hell gave good face.
I can watch the Steed/Peel era episodes over and over again; Honor Blackmon and Diana Rigg are beautiful and completely understood why they were chosen to be James Bonds love interests. Among the other cast member like Patrick Macnee are top notch what a career he had. This was such a fun trip down memory lane this really tugs at my heart strings with the nostalgia being so strong and I long for the simple times when all these items were more recent, and we were unaware of world events and the dangers connected. I like your content and I have subscribed like your peers who have awesome content like this.
The Honor series and Rigg series were two completely different shows. You had to enjoy them on each of their own merits. Both were excellent, but they had different tones, styles and types. You could tell the Blackman series was a James Bond contemporary and the Rigg series a Star Trek - Voyage to the Bottom to the Sea one. They were in two different eras. The early 60's vs the mod 60's.
Blackman never did anything for me; face like a man. But she had the training and went on to 007 so SOMEONE must have seen it in her. Not me.
To me the theme music of the later series was the theme music of the 60s. I loved Diana Rigg as much as I loved all of the British Television I grew up watching.
I am 63 now , and I loved the AVENGERS , grew up with their style and wit. Very British, very nice. Loved Emma Peel at 11 , I was in LOVE !! 😍
Awesome show. I grew up watching the New Avengers and never saw the original until the mid 80’s. Emma Peel 😍
I think that's why I prefer brunettes, her and the waitresses from allo, allo.
Back then Diana Rigg was the most beautiful woman walking the planet.
Fite me!
She’s the most beautiful ever, hands down.
So well done! Thank you!! The series were my childhood and teenage TV-experience. I LOVED it! And of course at most the Diana Rigg episodes. With lovely regards from Vienna/Austria,
When the series finished in Australia they repeated the Emma Peel episodes at something like 2am in the morning. I was still at school but was lucky enough to have a TV in my bedroom. I was such a fan of the show that I'd set an alarm so I could wake up in the middle of the night to watch them.
Sounds like we're the same age. I'm also an Aussie. Lucky you having a TV in your room! I'm still obsessed by this show.
As jokey as these reviews can be, there is clearly a lot of love for these older shows and movies. So enjoyable.
Honestly, that Steed/Peel era is still amazing now, especially the new HD scan version. I found it on the ITV player in lockdown and fell in love with it, was in awe of how fresh it felt considering it was 50+ years old!
I had to own the Emma peel mega set then I got the two years of the new avengers with Purdey played by Johana lumley
For me, Patrick Macnee will always be Count Ibley first and foremost. I didn't see this show until cable reruns in the late 80's. What I saw. I loved however. I always had a crush on Dianna Rigg as well. The Avengers, The Saint. The Prisoner, were all truly compelling television.
Diana Rigg is my favourite, but I love the Linda Thorson episodes. It is a shame that they were not as popular. It was the New Avengers that really did not do it for me.
Agree,The New Avengers was of its time,but,at least,we got Joanna Lumley’s Purdey.
I must be alone in liking the Tara King years best? You should definitely do The New Avengers and The Professionals.
no you are not!! I always loved the Thornson era the best as well!!
My best friend told me Tara was his favorite. For me, it was Purdey!
@@henrykujawa4427 Loved Purdey, I essentially watched the series in reverse so she was my first Avengers girl
You are not alone, I loved the Character, Linda Thorson was treated terribly, the writers didn’t want her and she knew they didn’t want her, which makes her performances all the more remarkable. The problem with the character of Tara was, they couldn’t make their minds up who she was. She would look as though she couldn’t fight her way out of a wet paper bag one minute, then being proficient in judo or karate.
@@DavidSmith-fs5qj I always liked her relationship with Steed which was much more a father/daughter vibe. I also liked Mother. Eps like Noon Doomsday, Game, Cypher Snatch etc were the epitome of the Avengers storylines.
Charlotte Rampling, Roy Kinnear, Victor Spinetti, Peter Bowles, Peter Cushing, Jon Pertwee, Patrick Cargill...Christ, who wasn't in The Avengers?
Spotted Oliver Reed in there also.
I was surprised to see John Cleese in there (narration conforming what I saw). Pre-Python, too.
Sid James?
I love every incarnation of this show.
I wish someone would find more of the lost episodes from the first season.
I can only hope.
Unfortunately back in those days, videotapes were very expensive. So they were wiped and re-used.
In France the series was known as "chapeau melon et bottes de cuir" (bowler hat and leather boots)
I loved all the episodes of the avengers, never did see the new avengers.. the movie wasn't the same, it did have it's moments at times...
Fascinating. A lot of stuff I had no idea about, particularly the early seasons - I was totally unaware that Cathy Gale had not even been in the first season! Pity they stuffed up the movie so badly in the 90's, I saw it in the cinema at the time, very bad indeed. Diana Rigg as Mrs. Peel is still simply luminous though.
Top work as always Stam Fine, thanks for all your hard work Happy New Year
The theme music was very different in the Emma Peel days. Loved those seasons of the Avengers. Steed and Mrs Peel, what a team.
I loved this show as a kid. The crazy characters and plots were great fun, and I'll never forget how Emma Peel looked in 'A Touch Of Brimstone'...Woof!! Fabulous! Great job covering this Stam...now you 'have' to do 'The New Avengers!' ;)
Wow, I didn’t realize the group in A Touch of Bridgestone was SUCH an obvious inspiration for the Hellfire Club in X-Men… and it’s obvious Emma Frost was based on Emma Peel… explains why I like her so much lol
Pretty sure Claremont literally told Byrne to use that episode as reference material
But I didn’t know that, so it was news to me lol
@@bensneb360There were some pretty obvious clues, if you were aware of the source material. Mastermind, aka Jason Wyngarde (who previously did not have a revealed alias), was a cross between the names of actor Peter Wyngarde, who played the character Jason King, (and the villain, in A Touch of Brimstone). The other members of the Hellfire Club were also mixes of actors and character names. Donald Pierce was named after Donald Sutherland, who played Hawkeye Pierece, in the movie version of MASH. Harry Leland was modelled on Orson Welles and named for two characters in his movies: Harry Lime (The Third Man) and Jeddediah Leland (Citizen Kane). Sebastian Shaw was modelled after Robert Shaw and Emma Frost was based on Emma Peel. Some are more visually obvious than others, as caricature was never a strong point for artist John Byrne.
There was a historical Hellfire Club, in the Regency Period, in England, which held notorious debauches and featured well connected and powerful aristocrats and others of the upper classes.
I had a toy Steed umbrella… and it squirted water! Must have been a bizarre sight: a nine year old running around with an Avengers brolly and my dad’s old bowler! Unfortunately it didn’t come with its own Emma Peal… The 1960s were a great time to be a British kid!
None of us young men wanted to be Steed until Mrs. Peele entered the scene. She was the litmus test as to whether you were gay or not. The show successfully made the transition from crime to spy to sci-fi scripts.
When I started watching the Avengers in the Mid 1960s, that when the gorgeous Mrs. Peel (Diana Rigg) joined the show, and I had huge crush on her. My sister used to tease me that she is the only reason that I watched the show (which was true). I cried when she left the show, and didn’t watch another episode. I probably watched each of her episodes at least twice, and her impeccable chemistry with the great Patrick MacNee who was an outstanding professional. I didn’t even know at the time that Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman) got her start on that show.
RIP, beautiful Diana Rigg
The Avengers has been my favorite TV show for over 20 years. I discovered it by way of that awful 1998 movie, which may have put me off the show had it not been for my insatiable curiosity. My first episode was "The Murder Market" and from there I was smitten.
As a 16 year old (now 65) I watched it because of Diana Rigg....could not get enough of her! Because my GMother came from England the culture fascinated me.
Diana Rigg also hosted the PBS series “Mystery!” from 1989-2003, which introduced her to a whole new generation of fans.
That's how I knew her.
Diana Rigg every teenager boy in the sixties sexual fantasy 🥰
And in the early 1980s when it had its first repeat run on Channel Four. All the boys in my secondary school were devastated when she left. The colour episodes were being shown on Saturday nights (if I remember correctly) and what I'm sure about remembering correctly is her departure was a talking point on the Monday morning. "No more Mrs Peel!" Fortunately, we got the black & white episodes on weekday evenings a year or two later.
One of the all time best series!
Loved the show. Emma Peel was my favorite.
Much like the decade it was made in, "The Avengers" changed and evolved throughout the course of the 1960's. Starting off as a straightforward crime drama with two guys in trench coats roaming the dark streets of London and finishing up as a larger than life, colorful spy series with tongue in cheek surreal undertones.
The bedrock of the show was always Patrick Macnee who was the one constant aspect throughout its lengthy run. Ian Hendry's departure at the end of the first season was when the show stepped out of its conventional premise and became something far more interesting.
A succession of intelligent, attractive, independent, ass-kicking leading ladies (Honor Blackman, Diana Rigg & Linda Thorson) propelled the show to incredible heights and would lay down a template that many other programs would follow for decades to come. In that regard, the series was truly a groundbreaker. Female characters were allowed to be more than pretty faces who needed to be rescued by the hero.
A classic series and rightfully so.......
Glad you mentioned the Tara King episode Wish You Were Here. Though Emma Peel is great, and everyone's favorite (including mine), Tara was underrated, and this episode gave her a chance to shine. Other favorite episodes of the Tara King era include the Maltese Falcon spoof Legacy of Death, and Take-Over.
Showrunners changed, Thorson had to roll with the punches, literally!
GREAT, thanks! Was too young to watch the shows with Honor Blackman here in Germany - but then came Emma Peel... and spoiled all of us boys - in the coolest way. ;-)))
The only episodes I remember from my childhood were the robot (Cybernaut) ones (28:44).
They scared the hell out of me when I was 6 or 7!
I happened to see them again a year ago and was stunned at how bad and goofy they were and how much they took me in!
Yeah - but they were such fun - no-one took themselves too seriously - they just got on with the show
We're just here for Diana Rigg... :D
Such brilliant, inventive TV, pure entertainment. In a word. Style.
Dianna Rig was gorgeous.
The most fabulous programme of my childhood.. Adventure, beauty, action.. The Avengers had it all... Diana Rigg.. ❤❤❤
Indeed, this show and Diana Rigg formed my impression of what a woman could be. Modern feminism adds nothing compared to this sassy beautiful capable woman.
Couple of complaints about this,
A) Steed had no superiors, only bosses, &
B) Ted & Ethel lived at number 37, not 35.
Apart from these minor gripes ghe whole video was entertaining and informative, people should watch it before RUclips finds out it broke the guidelines by being entertaining and informative.
Being an oldie i remember watching The Avengers from way back in the 60's. I know Diana Rigg is easily the most popular of the girls but i always had/have a soft spot for Linda Thorson. She was straight out of acting school and got a bit of rough ride, unfairly imo. Great review of the series probably the best i have watched 👏
The first episode I saw was also From Venus, With Love! And I still get misty when Emma leaves the show.
Nice retrospective.
I remember watching this as a kid in the 1960’s.
I think it was on a Sunday in the UK as it took my mind off having to go to school on Monday.
Because it was so odd in a conservative county at that time it really was an event.
Of course, it was ruined in the 1970’s by the ‘new’ Avengers due to the wooden acting sidekick they brought in as an additional male agent.
Loved this delve into the series. Growing up in England in the 60’s snd 70’s I was transfixed to the weird stories, the weirder they got (in the later 60’s) the more they fascinated me. I think it was Brian Clemmens that spearheaded the show, what an imagination. Thanks for uploading (subbed).
I reckon Emma Peel was every British schoolboy's fantasy in the mid-60s. Apart from that, it was brilliantly surreal.
Congratulations, this is really an excellent work . Very clever and professional 👍 I totally agree with your analysis .... Emma Peel , has never been replaced and obviously Patrick Macnee felt a bit lonely on screen after that.
Diana Rigg was an absolute smoke show. We're allowed to say that because it was the 60s.
Honor Blackman in leather was no slouch either
The combination of Diana's Rigg's uncommon beauty and the incomparable fashions of the 1960's is iconic. Rigg in the Avengers, Bardot in Contempt, Jane Fonda in Barefoot, Audrey Hepburn in Tiffanys, Katherine Ross in The Graduate--all seemed to capture the quintessence of a remarkable decade.
I remember him in " A view to a kill" with Roger Moore, that was a chemistry, and character. And that 60s Tv show Avengers was the best of the TV of its era😘
Watching the boxset of all the available remaining episodes was a joy. Some of the early episodes are surprisingly good, given budgetary constraints.
Boxed set! Wow! Is it available in Walmart or Costco?
@@keithdurose7057 Sorry, this was a UK release, I don't know about America.
Diana and Patrick loved each other (her words) and it comes through on screen.
The Avengers was such a great show. There aren't that many series where it can change every season yet still remain itself. My favorite version will always be the fourth season where anything can happen in that cold opening, followed by anything else up to the ending. Giant plant monster? Drowning in the middle of field? Being kidnapped on your way kidnapping someone else? IT CAN HAPPEN HERE: Sign from "Porky in Wackyland", may as well be Avengerland.
The Fifth season lost me when they felt they had to add the "Mrs Peel, we're needed" bit, setting up the definite formula with a boundary when previously, it could have been anything.
Diana was my first love growing up
MY FAVOROTE ONES ARE WITH DIANA RIGG! -- I never saw the episodes with the first blonde haired character./ Pennsylvania 🇺🇲
It isn't often mentioned that Joanna Lumley _also_ was in the same James Bond film as Diana Rigg.
Rigg also played Mrs. Pumphrey in the recent remake of _All Creatures Great and Small._
Thank you. Me and my best friends idolized this show during our earliest coming of age years. You can imagine why. I always expected Diana Rigg to become the number one film star in the world. She did well, but something or someone was holding her back from reaching the summit she belonged on. Watching The Avengers and this video renews my regret that I wasn't born in England.
Thanks,My Friend. I was born in London in 1954 and England was fantastic though only really "English" now in the Countryside.
Iy was a wonderful era.
Diana Rigg had great success in the theatre.
My ALL TIME favorite tv 📺 series from the states😻👍‼️
I loved this show. I bought random episodes on videotape in the early 90s. I had a few Tar King episodes and tried to like her, but one episode at the end glitch into the tag ending for The Quick Quick Slow Death, and really showed that nothing beat the classic Steed and Mrs. Peel.
Given how many times Steed's character changed it would be a feat to try to explain it all in one continuity. Like Steed is gradually retired to a Village-like walled estate, with plots to keep him distracted from escaping.
I suspect you're confusing McNee with McGoohan 🙂
@@pollyparrot9447 :) Just inspired by the latter to enhance the constant changes to the former's character :) Perhaps there are series with so many changes to a prominent character that still survived for quite a while, but usually characters seem to survive maybe one or two retoolings before disappearing :)
@@nutherefurlong Oh - interesting. I only watched the Mrs Peel seasons of The Avengers. I very much liked that version of Steed, who remained ineffably calm, courteous and good humoured in the face of all rudeness and aggression. Your extrapolated end to his character progression sounds like a pretty good idea for a series.
I never saw the color film versions....I was busy in college, but I much prefer the black and white effect over full color. Thank good ness it's possible to view the color series in Black and White by simply stopping down your color control to complete black and white. Ahhhh....that's more like it.
I loved this show when I was a kid. I had my first crush on Patrick MacNee. I wanted to be Emma Peel!
Style and chemistry between them was the secret and make this super and exceptional serie unique!
I saw the others the female characters tended to be better than the male ones, but nobody could beat Emma Peel nearly because I sometimes think that she was the knight in shining armor that was always saving her partner's but for the most part.
I think The Avengers is the best televsion show of alltime.......I really like all the Avengers girls.......I think Linda Thorson was wonderful as Tara King ,the Diana Rigg era is my favorite but I really like the whole series
You are my favorite channel on RUclips. I had no idea Sydney Newman came up with this too.
MacNee refused a gun as he had seen too many of his friends blown to bits in the war. Later in the early seventies he'd hang out, literally, in the nudist colony up by Mullholland Drive, with no other than Ushi Digard. Two legends. Looks like taking a percentage of the series cashed him up. Wonder if he ever was a Canadian citizen.
He was born in London, England and later became a US citizen. Gotta admire Patrick Macnee and Russ Meyer, both worked with some the hottest women in TV and movies. Russ liked them BIG on top, ala Ushi
My favourite episode was "The House That Jack Built". I also loved the episode that Benny Hill appeared in (as a villain) but forgot the episode name. Would be great to see an Avengers documentary on the guest stars and guest villains.
I may be wrong but I can't think of a episode with benny Hill.. I remember one with ronnie barker. The one with the cats in.
One of my favourite TV series ever!!!
Tara King needs revenge against whoever was doing her hair for the show. That's semi-beehive is hideous. I wish I was more into the crime-mystery-thriller type show, but frankly I just don't care much, the McNee and Rigg performences might be worth a watch though. She was TERRIFIC on GoT.
1961?! I watched no earlier than 1966, probably 1967, and it was all MacNee and Riggs then. Perhaps it wasn't over in the States before that . . .
this has taken me right back to when I was a young lad and watched it all in black and White! It was such fun to watch back then and I still love it today just as much and love the line "Mrs.Peel, we are needed and used to look forward to the different way it was used! Thanks for giving us a look back to this wonderful days!
Mrs peel as played by Diana rigg was my female role model on because she was tough kickass and doesn't need a man to save her. She had panache class I don't know what else to put it it was her Kick-Ass abilities with such Style that made me want to be like her.
Great nostalgia , subscribed and hopefully more of the same great videos.
Loved the Avengers!
Of course Diana Rigg was THE offsider for Steed but I am old enough to remember the David Keel episodes.
Unlike many I thought the movie with Uma Thurman playing Mrs Peel worked quite well with the right mix of quirkiness.
The problem with this show is nobody could come anywhere close to Diana Rigg as Emma Peel.
Great show. PG Wodehouse with Doctor Who. Sidney Newman brought them together .
My first and forever Love....Emma Peel. RIP Diana. Oh and JS love ya too.
GREAT video... THANKS... Never really cared for the Avengers before Emma Peel. I thought it was boring. Just sayin!!
I loved Emma Peel and was sorry to see her go, but once I seen Tara King's eyes Miss Peel was quickly dismissed.
This was really great, thanks for cutting it all together. You have a hilarious take on it all.
Tara King could not replace Emma Peel
My absolute fav program of all time.. I just loved watching these two together.. they were both so cool.
This was really good. Spot on in fact. And your personal picks chime somewhat with my own: Dressed to Kill, Room Without a View and Death at Bargain Prices are all good standout episodes. Dressed to Kill, starring Anneke Wills, my favourite of the three. Other memorable episodes include: Mr Teddy Bear; The Removal Men; The Town of No Return; Murdersville; Too Many Christmas Trees; A Touch of Brimstone; All Done With Mirrors and Pandora to name but a handful. Thanks again for the great video.