60 YEARS OF THE AVENGERS
By Andrew Roberts |
7th January, 2021
When The Avengers first aired on 7th January 1961 -
– the leading man was Ian Hendry as Dr. David Keel, supported by Patrick Macnee as the intelligence agent John Steed.
Hendry left after Series 1 and Macnee became the series’ leading man. His partners were Dr. Martin King, Venus Smith and, most famously, Honor Blackman as Dr. Cathy Gale.
Steed’s transport included an Alvis Speed 25 Tourer and a Lagonda 3 Litre Special Tourer. By contrast, Dr. Gale rode a Triumph Speed Twin.
Series 4, which commenced on 2nd October 1965, featured a new theme tune and was shot on film rather than videotape. And replacing Blackman (who left the series to appear in Goldfinger), there was Diana Rigg as Mrs. Emma Peel -
Mrs Peel’s first on-screen transport was a 1964 Lotus Elan S2.
Series 5 saw The Avengers move into colour, with Mrs. Peel driving a 1966 Powder Blue Elan S3 -
In Series 4 and 5, Steed drove a 1924 Vauxhall 30-98 and a fleet of Bentleys – a 1924 3-Litre Open Bodied Tourer, a 1925 3-Litre ‘Green Label’, a 1928 3-Litre, a 1929 Harrison-bodied 4 ½ Litre and a ‘Speed Six Long Chassis’ dating from 1930.
Macnee himself was not fond of driving his own Jaguar S-Type and was emphatically not a fan of the vintage machinery; he wanted the producers to issue him with a Bentley Continental or a Maserati. However, in Series 6, Steed did briefly drive an AC 428 Spider.
Series 6 was most notable for the departure of Mrs. Peel and the arrival of her successor Tara King (Linda Thorson).
Other splendid vehicles that appeared in this season were an Aston Martin DBS Vantage, a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow Drophead Coupe, a Lotus Elan Plus 2, an MGC Roadster and an Austin 3-Litre.
The final adventure, Bizarre, aired in early 1969 but in 1976 the format was revived as The New Avengers, co-starring Macnee, Joanna Lumley and Gareth Hunt -
The producers Albert Fennell and Brian Clemens approached BL for the on-screen transport as they wanted their principal actors to drive British cars.
Asides from the 1928 Bentley 3-Litre (from Series Six of The Avengers) Steed would be associated with a Jaguar XJ12C - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l_Bz_OHhxg. NWK 60 P was a factory experimental vehicle, chassis number 2G1008BW. Broadspeed Engineering applied a body kit, racing wheels and tyres and an electric sliding roof – although the running gear was standard.
Macnee, true to form, did not enjoy driving the XJ12C, and the large wheels made it difficult to manoeuvre at low speeds.
The second Jaguar to star in The New Avengers was an XJS. BL was also eager to promote the Range Rover, and so one was customised for use by Steed, with a standard model for Hunt’s Mike Gambit.
Steed also used a pre-production Rover 3500; Leyland used the chase in The Lion and the Unicorn to promote the SD1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2Zag2l5YS0. Ms. Lumley’s Purdy drove an MGB Roadster and a Triumph TR7.
Obsession features a pre-CI5 Lewis Collins and Martin Shaw -
To Catch a Rat guest-stars Ian Hendry; albeit not in his original role.
The BL vehicles became legendary for their on-set unreliability; on one occasion the production had to hire a second XJS from a dealer when the primary car malfunctioned.
The final episodes of Series Two were shot in Canada, with a yellow XJSfor Steed, and a red TR7 for Gambit.
And finally – is this not one of the finest title sequences in the history of British television? -
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