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THE NEW AVENGERS - individual card from DEFINITIVE TRADING CARD COLLECTION - Strictly Ink 2006

The New Avengers is a British secret agent action television series produced during 1976 and 1977. It is a sequel to the 1960s series, The Avengers (created by Sydney Newman) and was developed by original series producers Albert Fennell and Brian Clemens.

The series was produced by The Avengers (Film and TV) Enterprises Ltd for the ITV network, cost £125,000 per episode to produce at Pinewood Studios and was seen in 120 countries.

A joint United Kingdom-France-Canada production, the series picks up the adventures of John Steed (again played by Patrick Macnee) as he and his team of "Avengers" fight evil plots and world domination. Whereas in the original series Steed had almost always been partnered with a woman, in the new series he had two partners: Mike Gambit (Gareth Hunt), a top agent, crack marksman and trained martial artist, and Purdey (Joanna Lumley), a former trainee with The Royal Ballet (to which she ascribed the high-kicking skills she frequently used in the series) who was an amalgam of many of the best talents from Steed's female partners in The Avengers .

As he did for most of the original series, Steed is once again acting without a direct superior – in many ways his character takes on the duties of "Mother" from the Tara King era of the 1960s series. Steed is seen as the mentor to Gambit and Purdey, taking on a paternal role towards them (especially in the episode "Hostage"). Gambit is the athletic action hero, while Purdey incorporates the wit and fighting skills of her predecessors. The verbal interplay between Gambit and Purdey, with her humorously keeping his romantic advances at bay, harks back to the Steed/Gale era of the original Avengers .

One reason for the addition of Gambit was the question of whether Macnee, at age 53 when the series began production, could handle the potential stuntwork and action scenes. Macnee was able to increase his role's visibility as the series progressed, losing weight to improve his athleticism and "keep up" with his new partners.

The first series featured several episodes using science fiction themes similar to those of the classic "Emma Peel" Avengers era. The new trio had to deal with suspended animation ("The Eagle's Nest"), biological warfare ("The Midas Touch"), robotics ("The Last of The Cybernauts?"), mind transfer ("Three-Handed Game") and even a giant rat ("Gnaws", a title patterned after the hit movie Jaws ). Second series episodes featured science fiction elements, such as the artificially-intelligent super-computer of "Complex", the Russian soldiers revived from suspended animation in "K is for Kill", the submersible Russian community in "Forward Base" and the super humans of "The Gladiators". Other episodes of that season dealt with more realistic plots.

The Avengers and The New Avengers scriptwriter Dennis Spooner said that at the end of its run The Avengers had gone as far as it could in terms of parody. For this reason Brian Clemens intentionally aimed for real stories and straight, Len Deighton-type spy stories in The New Avengers . Spooner said "It's no good saying 'I don't like The New Avengers so much, because it wasn't like the old show'-because it never could have been. We did everything – we did the kitchen sink! – and there was no way of going back on it." When reminded of his The New Avengers script "Gnaws" Spooner admitted that "Well, yes, towards the end we relaxed a bit!" Some of the storylines used in the series were recycled from earlier scripts penned by Clemens or Spooner from other series. "Medium Rare" was based on the (British) Thriller episode "Murder in Mind" and "Gnaws" was based on the Thunderbirds story "Attack of the Alligators!"

An attempt to get Diana Rigg to appear as Emma Peel in the new series was unsuccessful, although old footage of her on the phone from two 1960s episodes of The Avengers ("The Winged Avenger" and "The Hidden Tiger") were used to allow the character to make a cameo appearance in the episode "K Is For Kill Part One: The Tiger Awakes": actress Sue Lloyd provided the voice of Mrs Peel for these sequences. Ian Hendry, who played Steed's original partner, David Keel, also guest-starred in one episode, "To Catch A Rat", playing a different role. "Obsession" features two of the stars of the Brian Clemens/Albert Fennell British crime-fighting action series The Professionals : Martin Shaw and Lewis Collins.

Two series totalling 26 episodes were produced, which were aired on CBS in the United States, CTV in Canada, ITV in Britain, RTÉ in Ireland, TF1 in France and in syndication elsewhere.

Laurie Johnson, who had composed the theme for the original Avengers series (starting with the Emma Peel era in 1965, at least), returned to compose a new, updated theme for the revival, although it begins with the same fanfare as the original.

In order to complete the planned 26 episodes, finance was sought from other sources. Production company Nielsen Ferns came on board but was understandably keen to promote its home country, so the final four stories, titled The New Avengers in Canada on the caption card preceding each episode, saw the action move to Toronto, Ontario (with scenes for the episode "Forward Base" shot at Ward's Island). By this time Brian Clemens was heavily committed to another project, The Professionals , for LWT and control of the series passed to a largely local crew. The results attracted heavy criticism, from fans and from Clemens himself.

The financial problems continued and plans for a third series were abandoned. Subsequently, however, strong sales to many countries – notably CBS in the United States – saw two attempts to revive the show (in 1979 and 1980), though co-financing arrangements proved impossible to agree upon.

Brian Clemens was invited to write a pilot for Quinn Martin Productions. Entitled Escapade, the pilot episode was broadcast on CBS in 1978 and starred Granville Van Dusen and Morgan Fairchild as Joshua and Suzy – Gambit and Purdey equivalents. It was not picked up as a series.

In 1994, Joanna Lumley and Gareth Hunt publicised the launch of the series on domestic videocassette. Sales were stronger than expected, prompting Brian Clemens to consider reuniting the two actors in a "spin-off" series. Although both were keen to participate and a script was written, plans stalled at an early stage for undisclosed reasons.

In 1995/6, the series was picked up by the BBC for a repeat run (Joanna Lumley subsequently claimed that this is the only screening for which she received repeat fees). At the time, French company Canal Plus held transmission prints for the series, but upon delivery the BBC considered that those for several early episodes were not of "broadcast quality". As a result, the final four episodes were actually the first to be screened, whilst better prints were made up. Nevertheless, notable variations in picture and audio quality across the series remain and it awaits genuine remastering from the original 35 mm negatives/inter positives.

The series began a repeat run on BBC Four on 13 November 2008. This is the first time the series has been networked since its screening by the BBC in 1995. UK channel ITV4 started broadcasting the first series in January 2013.

The series was re-run sequentially on ITV4 in September 2014 starting with "The Eagle's Nest". As with other series such as The Professionals and Batman , episodes were shown in the evening slot and then repeated the morning after.

INFORMATION ABOUT THE AVENGERS:

The Avengers is an espionage British television series created in 1961. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel (Ian Hendry) and his assistant John Steed (Patrick Macnee). Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants. Steed's most famous assistants were intelligent, stylish and assertive women: Cathy Gale (Honor Blackman), Emma Peel (Diana Rigg), and Tara King (Linda Thorson). The Avengers ran from 1961 until 1969, screening as one-hour episodes its entire run. The pilot episode, "Hot Snow," aired on 7 January 1961. The final episode, "Bizarre," aired on 21 May 1969.

The Avengers was produced by Associated British Corporation, a contractor within the ITV network. After a merger in July 1968 ABC Television became Thames Television, which continued production of the series although it was still broadcast under the ABC name. By 1969 The Avengers was shown in more than 90 countries. ITV produced a sequel series The New Avengers (1976–1977) with Patrick Macnee returning as John Steed, and two new partners. In 2007 The Avengers was ranked #20 on TV Guide 's Top Cult Shows Ever.

1961: With Dr David Keel (Ian Hendry)

The Associated British Corporation (ABC Television) produced a single series of Police Surgeon , in which Ian Hendry played police surgeon Geoffrey Brent, from September through December 1960. While Police Surgeon did not last long, viewers praised Hendry, and ABC Television cast him for their new series, The Avengers , which replaced Police Surgeon in January 1961.

The Avengers began with episode "Hot Snow", in which medical doctor Dr David Keel (Hendry) investigates the murder of his fiancée and office receptionist Peggy by a drug ring. A stranger named John Steed, who was investigating the ring, appeared and together they set out to avenge her death in the first two episodes. Afterwards, Steed asked Keel to partner him as needed to solve crimes. Hendry was considered the star of the new series, receiving top billing over Macnee, and Steed did not appear in two episodes.

As the first series of The Avengers progressed, Steed's importance increased, and he carried the final episode solo. While Steed and Keel used wit while discussing crimes and dangers, the series also depicted the interplay—and often tension—between Keel's idealism and Steed's professionalism. As seen in one of the three surviving episodes from the first series, "The Frighteners", Steed also had helpers among the population who provided information, similar to the "Baker Street Irregulars" of Sherlock Holmes.

The other regular in the first series was Carol Wilson (Ingrid Hafner), the nurse and receptionist who replaced the slain Peggy. Carol assisted Keel and Steed in cases, and in at least one episode ("Girl on the Trapeze") being very much in the thick of the action, but without being part of Steed's inner circle. Hafner had played opposite Hendry as a nurse in one episode of Police Surgeon .

The series was shot on 405-line videotape using a multicamera setup. There was little provision for editing and virtually no location footage (although the very first shot of the first episode consisted of location footage). As was standard practice at the time, videotapes of early episodes of The Avengers were reused. At present, only three complete Season 1 episodes are known to exist and are held in archives as 16 mm film telerecordings: "Girl on the Trapeze" (which does not feature Steed), "The Frighteners" and "Tunnel of Fear" Additionally, the first 15 minutes of the first episode, "Hot Snow", also exist as a telerecording; the extant footage ends at the conclusion of the first act, prior to the introduction of John Steed.

The missing television episodes are currently being re-created for audio by Big Finish Productions under the title of The Avengers - The Lost Episodes and star Julian Wadham as Steed, Anthony Howell as Dr. Keel and Lucy Briggs-Owen as Carol Wilson.

1962–64: With Cathy Gale (Honor Blackman), Venus Smith (Julie Stevens) and Dr Martin King (Jon Rollason)

Production of the first series was cut short by a strike. By the time production could begin on the second series, Hendry had quit to pursue a film career. Macnee was promoted to star and Steed became the focus of the series, initially working with a rotation of three different partners. Dr Martin King (Jon Rollason), a thinly disguised rewriting of Keel, saw action in only three episodes produced from scripts written for the first series. King was intended to be a transitional character between Keel and Steed's two new female partners, but while the Dr. King episodes were shot first, they were shown out of production order in the middle of the season. The character was thereafter quickly and quietly dropped.

Nightclub singer Venus Smith (Julie Stevens) appeared in six episodes. She was a complete "amateur," meaning that she did not have any professional crime-fighting skills as did the two doctors. She was excited to be participating in a "spy" adventure alongside secret agent Steed (although some episodes—"The Removal Men", "The Decapod"—indicate she is not always enthusiastic). Nonetheless, she appears to be attracted to him and their relationship is somewhat similar to that later portrayed between Steed and Tara King. Her episodes featured musical interludes showcasing her singing performances. The character of Venus underwent some revision during her run, adopting more youthful demeanor and dress.

The first episode broadcast in the second series had introduced the partner who would change the show into the format for which it is most remembered. Honor Blackman played Dr Cathy Gale, a self-assured, quick-witted anthropologist who was skilled in judo and had a passion for leather clothes. Widowed during the Mau Mau years in Kenya, she was the "talented amateur" who saw her aid to Steed's cases as a service to her nation. She was said to have been born 5 October 1930 at midnight and raised in Africa. Gale was early-to-mid 30s during her tenure, in contrast to female characters in similar series who tended to be younger.

Gale was unlike any female character seen before on British TV and became a household name. Reportedly, part of her charm was because her earliest appearances were episodes in which dialogue written for Keel was simply transferred to her. Said series script writer Dennis Spooner "there's the famous story of how Honor Blackman played Ian Hendry's part, which is why they stuck her in leather and such—it was so much cheaper than changing the lines!" In "Conspiracy of Silence" she holds her own in a vociferous tactical disagreement with her partner.

Venus Smith did not return for the third series and Cathy Gale became Steed's only regular partner. The series established a level of sexual tension between Steed and Gale, but the writers were not allowed to go beyond flirting and innuendo. Despite this the relationship between Steed and Gale was progressive for 1962–63. In "The Golden Eggs" it is revealed that Gale lived in Steed's flat; her rent according to Steed was to keep the refrigerator well-stocked and to cook for him (she appears to do neither). However, this was said to be a temporary arrangement while Gale looked for a new home, and Steed was sleeping at a hotel.

During the first series there were hints Steed worked for a branch of British Intelligence, and this was expanded in the second series. Steed initially received orders from different superiors, including someone referred to as "Charles," and "One-Ten" (Douglas Muir). By the third series the delivery of Steed's orders was not depicted on screen or explained. In "The Nutshell" the secret organization to which Steed belongs is shown, and it is Gale's first visit to their HQ.

Small references to Steed's background were occasionally made. In series three's "Death of a Batman" it was said that Steed was with I Corps in World War II, and in Munich in 1945. In series four episode "The Hour That Never Was" Steed attends a reunion of his RAF regiment. Since the ties he wears are either cavalry or old school, he apparently had attended a number of leading public schools.

A film version of the series was in its initial planning stages by late 1963 after series three was completed. An early story proposal paired Steed and Gale with a male and female duo of American agents, to make the movie appeal to the American market. Before the project could gain momentum Blackman was cast opposite Sean Connery in Goldfinger , requiring her to leave the series.

Series transformation

During the Gale era, Steed was transformed from a rugged trenchcoat-wearing agent into the stereotypical English gentleman, complete with Savile Row suit, bowler hat, and umbrella with clothes later designed by Pierre Cardin (Steed had first donned bowler and carried his distinctive umbrella part way through the first season as "The Frighteners" depicts). The bowler and umbrella were soon changed to be full of tricks including a sword hidden within the umbrella handle and a steel plate concealed in the hat. These items were referred to in the French, German, and Polish titles of the series, Chapeau melon et bottes de cuir ("Bowler hat and leather boots"), Mit Schirm, Charme und Melone ("With Umbrella, Charm and Bowler Hat") and Rewolwer i melonik ("A Revolver and a Bowler Hat"), respectively. With his impeccable manners, old world sophistication, and vintage automobiles, Steed came to represent the traditional Englishman of an earlier era.

By contrast his partners were youthful, forward-looking, and always dressed in the latest mod fashions. Gale's innovative leather outfits suited her many athletic fight scenes. Honor Blackman became a star in Britain with her black leather outfits and boots (nicknamed "kinky boots") and her judo-based fighting style. She also carried a pistol in "Killer Whale". Macnee and Blackman even released a novelty song called "Kinky Boots." Some of the clothes seen in The Avengers were designed at the studio of John Sutcliffe, who published the AtomAge fetish magazine.

Series script writer Dennis Spooner said that the series would frequently feature Steed visiting busy public places such as the main airport in London without anyone else present in the scene. "'Can't you afford extras?' they'd ask. Well, it wasn't like that. It's just that Steed had to be alone to be accepted. Put him in a crowd and he sticks out like a sore thumb! Let's face it, with normal people he's weird . The trick to making him acceptable is never to show him in a normal world, just fighting villains who are odder than he is!"

1965–68: With Emma Peel (Diana Rigg)

In 1965 the show was sold to a United States network, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC). The Avengers became one of the first British series to be aired on prime time U.S. television. The ABC network paid the then-unheard-of sum of $2 million for the first 26 episodes. The average budget for each episode was reportedly £56,000, which was high for the British industry. The fourth series aired in the U.S. from March to December 1966.

The U.S. deal meant that the producers could afford to start shooting the series on 35mm film. The use of film rather than videotape as in the earlier episodes was essential as British 405-line video was technically incompatible with the U.S. NTSC videotape format. Filmed productions were standard on U.S. prime time television at that time. The Avengers continued to be produced in black and white.

The transfer to film meant that episodes would be shot using the single camera setup, giving the production greater flexibility. The use of film production and the single-camera production style allowed more sophisticated visuals and camera angles and more outdoor location shots, all of which greatly improved the look of the series. As was standard on British television filmed production through the 1960s, all location work on series four was shot mute with the soundtrack created in post production. Dialogue scenes were filmed in the studio, leading to some jumps between location and studio footage.

New female partner Mrs Emma Peel (Diana Rigg) debuted in this series in October 1965. The name of the character derived from a comment by writers, during development, that they wanted a character with "man appeal." In an early attempt to incorporate this concept into the character's name, she was called "Samantha Peel" shortened to the awkward "Mantha Peel". Eventually the writers began referring to the idea by the verbal shorthand "M. Appeal" which gave rise to the character's ultimate name. Emma Peel, whose husband went missing while flying over the Amazon, retained the self-assuredness of Gale, combined with superior fighting skills, intelligence, and a contemporary fashion sense.

After more than 60 actresses had been auditioned, the first choice to play the role was Elizabeth Shepherd. However, after filming one and a half episodes (the pilot, "The Town of No Return", and part of "The Murder Market"), Shepherd was released. Her on-screen personality was deemed less interesting than that of Blackman's Gale and it was decided she was not right for the role. Another 20 actresses were auditioned before the show's casting director suggested that producers Brian Clemens and Albert Fennell check out a televised drama featuring the relatively unknown Rigg (she had earlier guested in an episode of The Sentimental Agent that Clemens had written). Her screen test with Macnee showed that the two immediately worked well together.

A prologue was added to the beginning of all the fourth-series episodes for the American transmissions. This was to clarify some initial confusion audiences had regarding the characters and their mission. In the opener, a waiter holding a champagne bottle falls dead onto a human-sized chessboard; a dagger protruding from a target on his back. Steed and Mrs. Peel (dressed in her trademark leather catsuit) walk up to the body as the voice-over explains: "Extraordinary crimes against the people, and the state, have to be avenged by agents extraordinary. Two such people are John Steed, top professional, and his partner Emma Peel, talented amateur. Otherwise known as The Avengers." During this voice-over, Steed pours two drinks from the wine bottle and Mrs Peel replaces her gun in her boot. They clink glasses and depart together. Fade to black and then the opening titles proper begin.

In contrast to the Gale episodes, there is a lighter, comic touch in Steed and Peel's interactions with each other and their reactions to other characters and situations. Earlier series had a harder tone, with the Gale era including some quite serious espionage dramas. This almost completely disappeared as Steed and Peel visibly enjoy topping each other's witticisms. The layer of conflict with Gale—who on occasion openly resented being used by Steed, often without her permission—is absent from Steed's interaction with Peel. Also the sexual tension between Steed and Gale is quite different from the tension between Steed and Peel. In both cases, the exact relationship between the partners is left ambiguous, although they seemed to have carte blanche to visit each other's homes whenever they please, and it is not uncommon for scenes to suggest Steed had spent the night at Gale's or Peel's home, or vice versa. Although nothing "improper" is displayed, the obviously much closer chemistry between Steed and Peel constantly suggests intimacy between the two.

Science fiction and fantasy elements (a style later known as spy-fi) also begin to emerge in stories. The duo encounters killer robots ("The Cybernauts"), telepaths ("Too Many Christmas Trees") and giant alien carnivorous plants ("The Man-Eater of Surrey Green").

In her fourth episode, "Death at Bargain Prices," Mrs Peel takes an undercover job at a department store. Her uniform for promoting space-age toys is an elaborate leather catsuit plus silver boots, sash and welder's gloves. The suit minus the silver accessories becomes her signature outfit which she wore primarily for fight scenes in early episodes and in the titles. Some episodes contain a fetishistic undercurrent. In "A Touch of Brimstone" Mrs Peel dresses in a dominatrix outfit of corset, laced boots and spiked collar to become the "Queen of Sin."

Peel's avant-garde fashions, featuring bold accents and high-contrast geometric patterns, emphasize her youthful, contemporary personality. For the 1965 season, some of her most memorable outfits were designed by John Bates, including graphic black and white Op art mini-coats and accessories, and a silver ensemble comprising a bra bodice, low-slung trousers, and jacket. She represents the modern England of the Sixties – just as Steed, with his vintage style and mannerisms, personifies Edwardian era nostalgia. According to Macnee in his book The Avengers and Me , Rigg disliked wearing leather and insisted on a new line of fabric athletic wear for the fifth series. Alun Hughes, who had designed clothing for Diana Rigg's personal wardrobe, was suggested by the actress to design Emma Peel's "softer" new wardrobe. Pierre Cardin was brought in to design a new wardrobe for Macnee. In America, TV Guide ran a four-page photospread on Rigg's new "Emmapeeler" outfits (10–16 June 1967). Eight tight-fitting jumpsuits in a variety of bright colours were created using the stretch fabric crimplene.

Fifth series

After one filmed series (of 26 episodes) in black and white, The Avengers began filming in colour for the fifth series in 1966. It was three years before Britain's ITV network began full colour broadcasting. This series was broadcast in the U.S. from January to May 1967. The American prologue of the previous series was rejigged for the colour episodes. It opened with the caption The Avengers In Color (required by ABC for colour series at that time). This was followed by Steed unwrapping the foil from a champagne bottle and Peel shooting the cork away. (Unlike the "chessboard" opening of the previous series, this new prologue was also included in UK broadcasts of the series.)

The first 16 episodes of the fifth series begin with Peel receiving a call-to-duty message from Steed: "Mrs Peel, we're needed." Peel was conducting her normal activities when she unexpectedly received a message on a calling card or within a delivered gift, at which point Steed suddenly appeared (usually in her apartment). The messages were delivered by Steed in increasingly bizarre ways as the series progressed: in a newspaper Peel had just bought, or on traffic lights while she was out driving. On one occasion Steed appeared on her television set, interrupting an old science-fiction movie (actually clips from their Year Four episode "The Cybernauts") to call her to work. Another way Steed contacted her was in the beginning of episode 13, "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Station" when she enters her flat and sees a Meccano Percy the Small Engine going around a circular track with a note on one of the train cars that says "Mrs. Peel" in bold letters, she then walks over to Steed who says, "You're needed." At the start of "The Hidden Tiger" Peel is redecorating her apartment (wearing a jumpsuit and drinking champagne); she peels off a strip of wallpaper, revealing the words "Mrs Peel" painted on the wall beneath. She turns to see Steed in the apartment removing another strip of wallpaper, revealing "We're needed" painted underneath on another wall. In another instance Emma enters Steed's flat to find he has just fallen down the stairs, and he painfully gasps, "Mrs Peel, you're needed." Often the episode's tag scene returned to the situation of the "Mrs Peel, we're needed" scene. "The Hidden Tiger" returns to the partially redecorated apartment where Steed begins painting a love heart and arrow and the initials of two people on the wall, but paints over the initials when Peel sees his graffito. In "The Superlative Seven" the call to duty and the tag both involve a duck shooting situation where unexpected items fall from the sky after shots are fired.

The series also introduced a comic tag line caption to the episode title, using the format of "Steed [does this], Emma [does that]." For example "The Joker" had the opening caption: "Steed trumps an ace, Emma plays a lone hand." ("The Joker" was to a large extent a re-write of "Don't Look Behind You", a b/w episode with Cathy Gale. A few other later colour episodes were re-writes of b/w episodes.)

The "Mrs Peel, we're needed" scenes and the alternate tag lines were dropped after the first 16 episodes, after a break in production, for financial reasons. They were deemed by the U.K. networks as disposable if The Avengers was to return to ITV screens. (Dave Rogers' book The Avengers Anew lists a set for every Steed/Peel episode except "The Forget-Me-Knot".)

Stories were increasingly characterized by a futuristic, science-fiction bent, with mad scientists and their creations wreaking havoc. The duo dealt with being shrunk to doll size ("Mission... Highly Improbable"), pet cats being electrically altered into ferocious and lethal "miniature tigers" ("The Hidden Tiger"), killer automata ("Return of The Cybernauts"), mind-transferring machines ("Who's Who???"), and invisible foes ("The See-Through Man").

The series parodied its American contemporaries with episodes such as "The Girl From AUNTIE", "Mission... Highly Improbable" and "The Winged Avenger" (spoofing The Man from U.N.C.L.E. , Mission: Impossible and Batman , respectively). The show still carried the basic format: Steed and his associate were charged with solving the problem in the space of a 50-minute episode, thus preserving the safety of 1960s Britain.

Humour was evident in the names and acronyms of the organizations. For example, in "The Living Dead", two rival groups examine reported ghost sightings: FOG (Friends Of Ghosts) and SMOG (Scientific Measurement Of Ghosts). "The Hidden Tiger" features the Philanthropic Union for Rescue, Relief and Recuperation of Cats—PURRR—led by characters named Cheshire, Manx, and Angora.

The series also occasionally adopted a metafictional tone, coming close to breaking the fourth wall. In the series 5 episode "Something Nasty in the Nursery" Peel directly references the series' storytelling convention of having potentially helpful sources of information killed off just before she or Steed arrive. This then occurs a few minutes later. In the tag scene for the same episode, Steed and Peel tell viewers—indirectly—to tune in next week.

For this series Diana Rigg's stunt double was stuntwoman Cyd Child, though stuntman Peter Elliot doubled for Rigg in a stunt dive in "The Bird Who Knew Too Much".

Rigg's departure

Rigg was initially unhappy with the way she was treated by the show's producers. During her first series she learned she was being paid less than the camera man. She demanded a raise, to put her more on a par with her co-star, or she would leave the show. The producers gave in, thanks to the show's great popularity in the US. At the end of the fifth series in 1967, Rigg left to pursue other projects. This included following Honor Blackman to play a leading role in a James Bond film, in this case On Her Majesty's Secret Service as James Bond's wife Tracy Bond.

Rigg and Macnee remained lifelong friends.

On 25 October 2015, to mark 50 years of Emma Peel, the BFI (British Film Institute) screened an episode of The Avengers followed by an onstage interview with Rigg, during which she discussed her reasons for leaving the show and Patrick Macnee's reaction to her departure.

1968–69: With Tara King (Linda Thorson)

When Diana Rigg left the series in October 1967, the British network executives decided that the current series formula, despite resulting in popular success, could not be pursued further. Thus they decided that a "return to realism" was appropriate for the sixth series (1968–69). Brian Clemens and Albert Fennel were replaced by John Bryce, producer of most of the Cathy Gale-era episodes.

Bryce had a difficult situation in hand. He had to find a replacement for Diana Rigg and shoot the first seven episodes of the new series, which were supposed to be shipped to America together with the last eight Emma Peel colour episodes.

Bryce signed his then-girlfriend, 20-year-old newcomer Linda Thorson, as the new female co-star and chose the name "Tara King" for her character. Thorson played the role with more innocence in mind and at heart; and unlike the previous partnerships with Cathy and Emma, the writers allowed subtle hints of romance to blossom between Steed and King. King also differed from Steed's previous partners in that she was a fully fledged (albeit initially inexperienced) agent working for Steed's organisation; his previous partners had all been (in the words of the prologue used for American broadcasts of the first Rigg series) talented amateurs. Bryce wanted Tara to be blonde, so Thorson's brown hair was bleached. However the process badly damaged Thorson's hair, so she had to wear wigs for the first third of her episodes, until her own hair grew back. Her natural brown hair was not seen until the episode "All Done with Mirrors".

Production of the first seven episodes of the sixth series began. However financial problems and internal difficulties undermined Bryce's effort. He only managed to complete three episodes: "Invitation to a Killing" (a 90-minute episode introducing Tara King), "The Great, Great Britain Crime" (some of its original footage was reused in the 1969 episode "Homicide and Old Lace") and "Invasion of the Earthmen" (which survived relatively intact except for the scenes in which Tara wears a brown wig.)

After a rough cut screening of these episodes to studio executives, Bryce was fired and Clemens and Fennel were summoned back. At their return, a fourth episode called "The Murderous Connection" was in its second day of production. After revising the script, it was renamed as "The Curious Case of the Countless Clues" and production was resumed. Production of the episode "Split!", a leftover script from the Emma Peel colour series, proceeded. Two completely new episodes were also shot: "Get-A-Way", and "Look (Stop Me If You've Heard This One) But There Were These Two Fellers".

Dennis Spooner said of the event:

Brian left The Avengers for about three episodes, someone took over, and when Brian came back, it was in a terrible state. He was faced with doing a rewrite on a film they'd already shot." The episode had a story error where Steed leaves for a destination. The villains then realise this and pursue him – yet arrive there before Steed does. It was fixed by having a character ask Steed 'What took you so long?', to which he replies 'I came the pretty way'. "You can only do that on The Avengers you see. It was just my favourite show to work on.

Clemens and Fennel decided to film a new episode to introduce Tara King. This, the third episode filmed for the sixth series, was titled "The Forget-Me-Knot" and bade farewell to Emma Peel and introduced her successor, a trained but inexperienced agent named Tara King. It would be broadcast as the first episode of the sixth series. Tara debuts in dynamic style: when Steed is called to Headquarters, he is attacked and knocked down by trainee agent King who mistakes him for her training partner.

No farewell scenes for Emma Peel had been shot when Diana Rigg left the series. Rigg was recalled for "The Forget-Me-Knot", through which Emma acts as Steed's partner as usual. Rigg also filmed a farewell scene for Emma which appeared as the tag scene of the episode. It was explained that Emma's husband, Peter Peel, was found alive and rescued, and she left the British secret service to be with him. Emma visits Steed to say goodbye, and while leaving she passes Tara on the stairway giving the advice that "He likes his tea stirred anti-clockwise." Steed looks out the window as a departing Emma enters the Bentley driven by Peter – who from a distance seems to resemble Steed (and was played by Steed's regular stunt-double, with bowler hat and umbrella).

Bryce's original episode introducing Tara, "Invitation to a Killing", was revised as a regular 60-minute episode named "Have Guns Will Haggle". These episodes, together with "Invasion of the Earthmen" and the last eight Peel colour episodes, were shipped to America in February 1968.

For this series the government official who gave Steed his orders was depicted on screen. Mother, introduced in "The Forget-Me-Knot", is a man in a wheelchair. The role was taken by Patrick Newell who had played different roles in two earlier episodes, most recently in series five. Mother's headquarters would shift from place to place, including one episode where his complete office was on the top level of a double-decker bus. (Several James Bond films of the 1970s would make use of a similar gimmick for Bond's briefings.)

Added later as a regular was Mother's mute Amazonian assistant, Rhonda, played by uncredited actress Rhonda Parker. There was one appearance by an agency official code-named "Father", a blind older woman played by Iris Russell. (Russell had appeared in the series several times previously in other roles.) In one episode, "Killer", Steed is paired with Lady Diana Forbes Blakeney (Jennifer Croxton) while King is on holiday.

Scriptwriter Dennis Spooner later reflected on this series. "When I wrote 'Look (Stop Me If You've Heard This One) But There Were These Two Fellers', that was definitely the last series. They were going to make no more, so in that series we went right over the top; we went really weird, because they knew there weren't going to be any more."

Spooner said the series "worked because it became a parody on itself, almost. You can only do that so long." Overall he attributes the success of the show to its light approach. "We spoofed everything, we took Mission: Impossible , Bad Day at Black Rock , High Noon , The Dirty Dozen , The Birds ... we took them all. The film buffs used to love it. There were always lines in it that people knew what we were talking about."

The revised series continued to be broadcast in America. The episodes with Linda Thorson as King proved to be highly rated in Europe and the UK. In the United States however, the ABC network that carried the series chose to air it opposite the number one show in the country at the time, Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In . Steed and King could not compete, and the show was cancelled in the US. Without this vital commercial backing, production could not continue in Britain either, and the series ended in May 1969. The final scene of the final episode ("Bizarre") has Steed and King, champagne glasses in hand, accidentally launching themselves into orbit aboard a rocket, as Mother breaks the fourth wall and says to the audience, "They'll be back!" before adding in shock, "They're unchaperoned up there!"

Music

The 1961 series featured a jazz-influenced theme by John Dankworth. Library music was used sparsely as a soundtrack, sometimes with variations based on the main theme. Dankworth's theme music was reworked for the third series. Dankworth's first theme was recorded on the Columbia label, on a 45rpm single, and a new recording, similar to the reworked television theme was issued on Fontana in 1963. A very faithful cover version was released by Johnny Gregory.

When Rigg joined the series in 1965, new theme music by Laurie Johnson was introduced. This was based on a previously released title, on LP called "The Shake"  (which capitalized on "The Shake" dance craze of the 60s ). For the colour series (1967), a percussion section was added, to accompany the new teaser sequence at the start of each episode. Johnson re-scored the theme when Linda Thorson joined the series, adding a counter melody on trumpet, based on the leitmotif for Tara King from the final Rigg episode "The Forget-Me-Knot". The new theme debuted in the closing titles of the episode "The Forget-Me-Knot", which introduced Thorson. It was altogether more dynamic, and included a much more frenetic percussion section, for the revised teaser sequence. Importantly, the filmed episodes contained specially composed scores by Johnson. To accompany Steed's request "Mrs Peel – you're needed!", he composed a brief 'sting', and there was also a special theme for 'Emma'. For the 'Thorson' series, a characteristic piece was composed to accompany the tag scene, at the end of each episode. Many of the most memorable cues from the Rigg/Thorson series, including the opening, and closing titles themes, and the 'Tag Scene' were released commercially on CD in 2009.

Owing to a professional commitment to score for the film Hot Millions (starring Peter Ustinov, and Maggie Smith), Johnson requested assistance from his keyboard player, Howard Blake, who scored some of the episodes of the final season, as well as additional music for other episodes which Johnson did not have time to complete. These were composed in a style remarkably similar to Johnson's. In 2011, to mark the 50th anniversary of the series, these almost complete scores by Blake, including Johnson's main, and end titles themes, were issued on a double CD set. Of the original Johnson theme, countless cover versions have been released on vinyl and CD, and the opening motif was retained on the series The New Avengers .

Johnson subsequently collaborated with Clemens on other projects, including the theme for The New Avengers .

Cars

The automobiles used in the series became almost as famous as the actors. From the 4th season on, Steed's signature cars were six vintage green 1926–1928 Bentley racing or town cars, including Blower Bentleys and Bentley Speed Sixes (although, uniquely, in "The Thirteenth Hole" he drives a Vauxhall 30-98). In the final season he drove two yellow Rolls Royces – a 1923 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost and a 1927 Rolls Royce New Phantom. Peel drove Lotus Elan convertibles (a white 1964 and a powder blue 1966), which, like her clothes, emphasized her independence and vitality. During the first Peel series (Season 4), each episode ended with a short, humorous scene of the duo leaving the scene of their most recent adventure in some unusual vehicle. Mother occasionally appeared in silver Rolls-Royce. Tara King drove an AC 428 and a Lotus Europa. Lady Diana Forbes Blakeney drove an MGC Roadster.

Production team

Sydney Newman, who would later go on to spearhead the creation of Doctor Who for the BBC, never received screen credit as the creator of The Avengers . In his memoir, The Avengers and Me , Patrick Macnee interviewed Newman about this. Newman explained that he never sought on-screen credit on the series because during his previous tenure at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, such credits were not given, and he never thought to get one for The Avengers .

The production team changed during the series' long run, particularly between the third and fourth series, but the influence of Brian Clemens was felt throughout. He wrote the second episode and became the series' most prolific scriptwriter. Succeeding producers Leonard White and John Bryce, Julian Wintle became the producer of the 4th series with Brian Clemens credited as Associate Producer and Albert Fennell credited as "In charge of production". Series 5, made by A.B.C. Television Films, (which was created during the run up to Associated British Corporation and Associated-Redifussion forming Thames TV) Clemens and Fennell became co-producers, with Wintle as Executive Producer. For series 6, after its first producer John Bryce left, Clemens and Fennell returned as co-producers, early episodes also credit Julian Wintle as Consultant to the series and Philip Levene as Story Consultant.

Ray Austin became the fight arranger for series 4 and 5, introducing kung fu to the series. Ray Austin had been training with Chee Soo and they worked techniques from Feng Shou Kung fu and T'ai Chi into the fight scenes and credit sequences. Ray Austin, Diana Rigg and Chee Soo were later awarded a Guinness world record as the first people to show kung fu on television. Later he became a prolific television director. Joe Dunne took over for series 6.

Reception in Canada and the United States

Although telerecordings of the second and third series were seen in Canada as early as 1963, the first two series of The Avengers were not broadcast on television in the United States. ABC purchased the rights to broadcast seasons 4 and 5 in the United States in 1965. The sale of The Avengers to United States television prompted a change in production style from the 405-line British multi-camera stand to the single camera shooting method, originated on 35 mm film.

The series' stunt man and stunt arranger Ray Austin expressed the opinion that the show's violence ultimately harmed its popular success in the United States. There The Avengers was given a late timeslot due to its violence. "They did that with the first Avengers here [in the U.S.], with Diana Rigg. They put us on at 11:30 pm on CBS [sic ], because it was too violent." Austin goes on to explain that U.S. television follows a "different code". Austin said that on The Avengers [3 "we were determined to do the show our way, the English way, and no one was going to stop us! And, indeed, no one did stop us. We never, never got to prime time. And it was our own faults, because we would not comply to the Midwest. That's where the money comes from in this country, nowhere else. Forget Los Angeles, forget New York—you have to aim for the Midwest. If the Midwest watches your show, you've made it." In fact the first and second series of Emma Peel episodes mainly aired at 10:00 pm on ABC. The final Rigg episodes and all the Linda Thorson episodes mainly ran at 7:30 pm, also on ABC.

American censors objected to some content, in particular the episode "A Touch of Brimstone" which featured a modern day version of the Hellfire Club and climaxed with Emma being dressed in a skimpy corset costume with spiked collar and high heel boots to become the Queen of Sin, and being attacked with a whip by guest star Peter Wyngarde. The American broadcast network refused to air it. In total five episodes from the first Emma Peel series were not initially broadcast by ABC. These were: "A Surfeit of H2O", "Silent Dust" (which featured Emma being attacked with a horsewhip), "Quick-Quick Slow Death", "A Touch of Brimstone" and "Honey for the Prince" (in which Emma performed the dance of the seven veils), although they were seen in later syndicated repeats.

Earlier Cathy Gale and Venus Smith episodes had aired in Canada before the arrival of Mrs. Peel. U.S. audiences saw the 1962–1964 Gale and Smith episodes of the series for the first time in the early 1990s when they were broadcast on the A&E Network. No Keel episode of the series was ever repeatedly broadcast outside Britain, and even in the UK only one episode, "The Frighteners", was rebroadcast (as part of a run of classic episodes on Channel 4 in early 1993, otherwise mostly consisting of Gale episodes).

Reruns of The Avengers now currently air on the NBCUniversal-owned digital subchannel network Cozi TV.

The Professionals is a British crime-action television drama series produced by Avengers Mark1 Productions for London Weekend Television (LWT) that aired on the ITV network from 1977 to 1983. In all, 57 episodes were produced, filmed between 1977 and 1981. It starred Martin Shaw, Lewis Collins and Gordon Jackson as agents of the fictional "CI5" (Criminal Intelligence 5, alluding to the real-life MI5).

The Professionals was created by Brian Clemens, who had been one of the driving forces behind The Avengers . The show was originally to have been called The A-Squad . Clemens and Albert Fennell were executive producers, with business partner Laurie Johnson providing the theme music. Sidney Hayers produced the first series in 1977, and Raymond Menmuir the remainder.

CI5 (Criminal Intelligence 5) is a British law enforcement department, instructed by the Home Secretary to use any means to deal with crimes of a serious nature that go beyond the capacity of the police, but which are not tasks for the Security Service or the military.

The choice of CI5's name is possibly inspired by Criminal Investigation Department and MI5. The premise allowed the programme-makers to involve a wide variety of villains, including terrorists, hit-men, racist groups and espionage suspects, with plots sometimes relating to the Cold War. Led by the formidable George Cowley (Gordon Jackson), CI5 is known for using unconventional and sometimes illegal methods to beat criminals, or as Cowley put it "Fight fire with fire!" The use of a fictitious force in this context was somewhat less controversial than the portrayal of the real Flying Squad in The Sweeney .

Cowley's two best agents are Ray Doyle (Martin Shaw) and William Bodie (Lewis Collins). Doyle is an ex-detective constable who has worked the seedier parts of London, while Bodie is an ex-paratrooper, mercenary and Special Air Service sergeant. Of the two, Doyle is the softer, compassionate and more thoughtful character, while Bodie is ruthless and more willing to take on criminals on their own terms. That said, Doyle is more hot-headed and tended to rush in, while Bodie waits for the shooting to start.

While polar opposites, Bodie and Doyle have a deep and enduring friendship, and are almost inseparable. Although their loyalty to Cowley is beyond question, they have no qualms about disobeying orders if it means getting the right result, either for the case or themselves.

Initially, Anthony Andrews was contracted to play Bodie, but he and Shaw did not have the chemistry that Clemens was looking for. As Shaw was deemed to have more 'screen presence', Andrews was dropped, Clemens hiring Collins in his place. Shaw and Collins had played villains in a 1977 episode of The New Avengers ("Obsession") together, and reportedly had not got on with each other. Ironically, since this was the reason Collins was brought into the production, he and Shaw became friends off-screen, although they managed to keep up the on-screen chemistry and abrasiveness of Bodie and Doyle's relationship. The Collins character in "Obsession" signed off by saying "Maybe we should work together again. We're a good team." The first Professionals episode was produced later the same year.

Clemens intended to write two or three establishing episodes and then hand over to other writers, but their scripts were uneven and lacked the energy and pace needed. Clemens re-wrote nearly 10 scripts for the first-series episodes and took a direct hands-on approach to the filming. In later series, with the format established and the writers and directors familiar with the show, he took a more leisurely approach behind the scenes.

The early years of the show featured varied plots, good scripts and ongoing character development of Bodie and Doyle and to a lesser extent Cowley, but later series featured increasingly overused ideas and script devices, and both Collins and Shaw stated they felt the show was becoming stale. Although the final series was broadcast from November 1982 until February 1983, no episodes were filmed after May 1981.

The characters

Cowley

Major George Cowley (Gordon Jackson) (born c. 1917) – Nicknamed "Morris" after the car of the same name. His operatives sometimes call him "The Cow", though not to his face. Founder and head of CI5, making him Bodie and Doyle's boss. As a young man he volunteered in the Spanish Civil War on the Republican side, where he was shot in the leg; this left him with a painful limp. Served as an officer in the British Army, where he attained the rank of major. He then worked in the secret services (including MI5) before being seconded to CI5 to form and manage the team. A confident and very experienced man, able to defend himself against physical and high-level political attacks. With many contacts and friends in high places, he is not afraid to clash with leaders of other services like Special Branch and MI5 or to speak his mind, being insolent even towards superiors, one of whom looked upon Cowley as "Not a Very Civil Civil Servant". Cowley's favourite tipple is single malt Scotch whisky.

Doyle

Raymond Doyle (Martin Shaw) (born c. 1949), a former police detective constable, who originated in Derby but later lived in an unspecified "city" with parallels to Birmingham. He was working the seedier parts of east London when recruited into CI5. He took art classes, and appears to be musically inclined as well. An expert shot with a pistol, he also ran a karate class for the children on his beat. He was recruited by Cowley, and was made Bodie's partner shortly afterwards. Doyle is extremely intelligent and thoughtful but is also quick to anger, and his tendency to rush in often leaves Bodie having to race to the rescue. He is also more inclined to seek long-lasting relationships with women, and in one episode nearly married. Like Bodie he enjoyed football, but was a good cook and enjoyed a more healthy lifestyle. Doyle's bubble perm hairstyle and 1970s dress sense were actually chosen by Martin Shaw and his wife. In the episode "Hunter/Hunted", he is shown to live on Cliff Road in Camden.

Bodie

William Andrew Philip Bodie (Lewis Collins) (born c. 1950) was a former paratrooper and Special Air Service (SAS) soldier. After leaving school aged 14, he joined the Merchant Navy and eventually ended up in Africa as a mercenary fighting bush wars. Noticed by Cowley during his SAS career, he was asked to join CI5 in 1975. Keen on parties, and a ladies' man, Bodie had a witty comment ready for almost every occasion. He was more immediately approachable than Doyle, and was generally relaxed and confident, although tending to hide his intelligence behind his hard-man image. Specialising in weaponry, martial arts and advanced driving, Bodie was the muscle of the three leads. He enjoyed football, cricket, drinking, and English literature.

The cars

The best-known car used by CI5 was the Ford Capri 3.0 S (primarily the Mark III model and one Mk II). Two were used: Bodie drove a silver version (1978–1981 episodes), Doyle a gold (1980–81 episodes), in the first season a silver Mk II with a black vinyl roof and a Series X bodykit was also briefly used, the first two cars mentioned still exist and were saved from being scrapped and restored in the 1990s, but the existence of the silver Mk II driven by Bodie is still uncertain and debated. Cowley used a latest model Ford Granada (1978–1981 Ghia model) while other Ford models such as a Ford Escort RS2000 (1978–79 episodes, driven by Doyle) and the Ford Cortina, particularly the Mark V (TF) model, were occasionally seen. However, in the first (1977) series, the cars used were mainly those of British Leyland, including a Rover SD1, a Rover P6, a Princess, a Triumph 2000, a Triumph Dolomite Sprint and a Triumph TR7. The SD1, a turmeric yellow 3500, bore the registration MOO 229R; in The New Avengers John Steed drove an identical-looking car with the number MOC 229P. The producers of The Professionals DVDs have speculated that these may in fact have been one and the same car.

However, reliability problems with the cars and BL[clarification needed ] requiring them back to give to the motoring press was causing disruption to filming. Midway through the first series, the supplier was then switched to Ford after they offered to provide vehicles for the production crew as well as for on-screen use. The first Ford to be prominent was a black 1600 Capri used by another CI5 agent, Tommy MacKay.

Many of the episodes featured some kind of car chase, a role for which the Capri, at least in terms of its market positioning, was particularly well-suited.

The firearms

Bodie and Doyle originally carried 9 mm Inglis Hi-Power Mk.I pistols as their standard service sidearms for the first two series. They were issued .44 Magnum Smith & Wesson Model 29 revolvers when on bodyguard duties (as seen in the episode "Mixed Doubles"). In later series Bodie carried a .357 Magnum Smith & Wesson Model 19 snub-nose revolver and Doyle often carried a 9 mm Walther P38 as their personal sidearms. George Cowley carried a .38-calibre Smith & Wesson Model 36 snub nose revolver.

The "A180 Laser Lock" sniper rifle (from Series 2, Episode 1; "Hunter/Hunted") was an AR-10 with a sight bracket on the carrying handle and a large laser projector under the barrel. A converted Thompson M1928 50-round drum mounted on the top of the barrel, supposedly the ammo supply, hid the battery pack. It was memorable as one of the first uses of a laser sight in visual media after the use of a similar weapon in the episode "Nightmare" in series 4 of The Sweeney .

The radios

Another star of the show was the Pye PF8 UHF handheld radio, a genuine police radio of the times and not a prop as many believed, the radio actually more resembled an electric shaver of the times than a radio although it was a design well ahead of its time with an inbuilt antenna, dual microphones (top and bottom of the radio) these radios are highly sought after by fans of the show and radio hams who convert them to work on modern frequency bands.

Opening titles

Series 1 opening titles.

The opening credits for the first series (broadcast 1977–78) starts with a Rolls-Royce speeding onto and through an industrial estate before skidding to a stop. As the Rolls-Royce enters and goes through the industrial estate, the title "The Professionals" appears on screen. Cowley, Bodie and Doyle get out of the vehicle and Bodie and Doyle then go through an assault course whilst being timed on a stopwatch by Cowley. It ends with them going through set windows and a close up of the stopwatch being stopped and Cowley standing by the car motioning them to get in. Just as the theme tune ends they get in the car and it drives off. The first two broadcast episodes of the series - "Private Madness, Public Danger" and "The Female Factor" - feature a voiceover by Cowley over the top of the title sequence but this was removed from the third episode ("Old Dog With New Tricks") onwards. When the first series has been repeated, all episodes (bar "When The Heat Cools Off" and the usually unscreened "Klansman") are shown using the more familiar title sequence employed for the second series onwards. This means that the Cowley voiceover is never married to the correct visuals on the repeat broadcasts of the episodes featuring it.

For the remaining series the opening titles started with a car driving through a tinted window before cutting to various shots of the main characters running and Cowley getting into a car before putting down a car phone in the back seat. We then see the green title card with CI5 written in big, black, stencil-style letters, "The Professionals" written in white over it and three yellow squares on the right hand side, each containing a silhouette of one of the three principal actors. It then zooms in on the top square and we see various shots of Gordon Jackson, followed by a pan to a close-up shot of a typewriter, and various shots of Martin Shaw running through an oil refinery and wielding a kendo stick. It then cuts to shots of Lewis Collins walking down a street, weightlifting, and using a punching bag, before cutting to a car driving through a dimly lit tunnel; Gordon Jackson walking out of a government building (10 Trinity Square, City of London); and the three of them walking down the street away from that building and towards the camera.

The whole sequence is fast-paced, hinting at the action to come within the programme itself.

Controversy

Although depictions of actual bloodshed were scarce, the series was often criticised for its level of violence, with shootings, martial arts and asphyxiation a common means of assassination.

To help maximise the on-screen action, Martin Shaw and Lewis Collins were taught stunt driving skills and encouraged to propel their respective cars through streets as rapidly as possible, although LWT insisted that the stars had to be chauffeured when travelling to filming sets. In his last interview about the series, Brian Clemens laughed off the actors' claims about 'doing their own stunts' in the cars. He said that they had been taught little more than how to execute a handbrake turn. The British stuntman and stunt co-ordinator Peter Brayham did most of the precision driving, and with his dark curly hair, often stood in for Martin Shaw during the scenes where Doyle was driving. Shaw in particular, was known within the production team to be fairly inept with the cars. He was far too heavy on the brakes and throttle, regularly kerbed the cars, and often over-steered himself into trouble. This can be seen in many episodes. In the episode "Weekend in the Country", Gordon Jackson can be seen pulling away from a stationary position at the roadside, in a Chrysler Alpine. He can be seen pulling out without fully checking the traffic flow, directly in front of an approaching Volkswagen Beetle. This inevitably led to either an accident, or a dramatic near miss, but the editor obviously cut to the next scene at this point.

Some quarters of the British press seized on these aspects to insist that the programme was moronic and "comic-strip". However, reaction from other critics, including The Times and The Daily Telegraph newspapers, was more favourable.

The first series episode "Klansmen" was withdrawn in the UK, ostensibly due to its race-related subject matter. The episode has never been screened on terrestrial television in the UK, although it did screen uncut on the cable television channel Super-channel in 1987, and has been screened on free-to-air television in other countries including South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and the Philippines. LWT refused to explain its view that while the episode remained unsuitable for British television viewers, it continued to be licensed to broadcasters in other countries.

The show was also criticised for political incorrectness. Mary Whitehouse, President of the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association, was among those who highlighted the occasional use of sexist and racist terms. At the time such dialogue was not seen as being disparaging towards minority groups. However, in the late 1980s and early 1990s the series was criticised by feminist groups. Yet, with the exception of "Klansmen", for which racist terms were a necessary part of the story, use of such terms in The Professionals was scarce in comparison to, for example, the 1970s police television programme The Sweeney .

Martin Shaw was publicly critical of the series during its production, feeling he was playing a one-dimensional character in a one-dimensional show. Several years after the series ended London Weekend Television was contractually obliged to re-negotiate repeat fees with the lead actors. Unwilling to accede to Martin Shaw's demands, plans for further repeat screenings on the UK's ITV network had to be withdrawn, leading to Lewis Collins expressing his anger towards Shaw in an interview for the British press. However, Shaw eventually agreed to UK satellite screenings, although according to a Radio Times interview only after being discreetly made aware that Gordon Jackson's widow, actress Rona Anderson (who guested in "Cry Wolf"), was suffering financial difficulties after her husband's death and needed the repeat fees.

Episodes were shown on terrestrial TV as part of special occasions, such as a general overview of ITV's history; LWT, which produced the series, repeated a selection of episodes from the series in the early 1990s, although was the only region to do so. It was not until 2008 that the series gained a re-run on ITV4. The Professionals has also been regularly shown on cable TV.

The entire series was regularly screened on the now-defunct Granada Plus channel from 1997, where it was consistently the channel's highest-rated show, initially achieving close to one million viewers. The episodes shown were heavily edited to make them suitable for daytime viewing and it is these same prints that are being used for transmission on ITV4. Neither station screened the "Klansmen" episode, stating that London Weekend Television continued to forbid its transmission.

In 1987, ITV was re-running some episodes. After the Hungerford shooting incident the particular episode that was to be aired, "Lawson's Last Stand", had a theme that was deemed insensitive and was replaced by the less violent "The Untouchables".

Legacy

After the series ended, ITV produced Dempsey and Makepeace as its replacement, while Raymond Menmuir produced Special Squad for Australia's Network Ten in the mid-1980s, following The Professionals ' format. A revival series, CI5: The New Professionals was produced for Sky in the late 1990s and starred Edward Woodward, but it was not a success. The BBC introduced Spender in the early 1990s, which featured several Professionals influenced themes. The BBC television series Spooks that was broadcast in 2002 also had a fact action style inspired by The Professionals.

Remake

CI5: The New Professionals was a British crime drama that aired on the Sky 1 satellite channel from 19 September to 19 December 1999. An updating of the original show, the series is set in a fictional government agency CI5 (Civilian Intelligence department 5 as opposed to MI5, Military Intelligence).

The original group of three men (Doyle, Bodie and their boss Cowley) were replaced by a new group of three men and a woman:

  • Harry Malone (played by Edward Woodward)

  • Sam Curtis (played by Colin Wells)

  • Chris Keel (Kal Weber)

  • Tina Backus (Lexa Doig)

The team were responsible to a minister, played by Charlotte Cornwell.

In a similar manner to the original series the show included action sequences, often in a James Bond style. However, the show was not a ratings success and only lasted one series. It did not transfer to terrestrial television in the UK.

In popular culture

In the popular TV comedy series The Two Ronnies , Ronnie Corbett played a bungling version of Martin Shaw's Doyle in a sketch called Tinker Tailor Smiley Doyle (Series 11; broadcast February 1985 - March 1985). This was a joint send-up of The Professionals and the Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy TV drama, with Ronnie Barker playing George Smiley along the lines of Alec Guinness' portrayal in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy . Corbett's Doyle provides the brawn to the brains of Barker's Smiley and actually comes out the worse. The sketch guest-starred Frank Williams from Dad's Army .

In 1984 some of the team behind The Comic Strip TV series produced a spoof entitled The Bullshitters , featuring two characters called Bonehead and Foyle in an episode called 'Roll Out the Gun Barrel".

Bonehead and Foyle returned to TV screens in 1993 in The Comic Strip one-off Detectives on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown alongside 'Shouting George from The Weeny' (Jack Regan from The Sweeney ), 'Spanker' (Spender ) and 'Jason Bentley' (Department S' s Jason King).

Peter Jackson's 1987 film, Bad Taste , featured Astro Investigation and Defence Service employees "the boys", a Doyle and Bodie parody complete with Ford Capri.

In 1996 Nissan cars ran a popular comedy spoof TV advertisement based on the series, featuring Phil Cornwell playing Doyle and Ray Trickett playing Bodie, testing out its new release, the Nissan Almera.

In Series 1, Episode 2 of Harry Hill's TV Burp , Harry in a sketch parodying The Bill is dressed as a Police Officer and Superintendent Okaro and DC Carver find something suspicious about him and search him and find a CI5 ID card.

The programme and its characters were repeatedly referenced in the third series of Ashes to Ashes , which took place in 1983. DCI Gene Hunt tells DI Alex Drake, "We're a team: Bodie and Doyle. I'm the one in the SAS; you can be the one with the girl's hair." DC Chris Skelton, with sunglasses and a sawn-off shotgun in front of PC Sharon Granger, similarly likens himself to Lewis Collins; Granger ultimately tells Skelton she loves him, not Lewis Collins.

Other countries

Germany

Since it was first broadcast in Germany in 1981, the show (Die Profis ) has become a cult there. During its broadcast run, the public television service ZDF, due to concerns over politics and violence, did not air all episodes of the programme, so The Professionals became one of the first TV shows ever to be released on VHS in Germany in the 1980s. However, only the unaired episodes were released on tape. In all, 14 episodes were withdrawn from broadcast.

Czechoslovakia

The Professionals was one of a few series from the West broadcast in communist Czechoslovakia in the 1980s. It gained a cult following there very quickly. Originally, only a selection of 21 of the 57 episodes was bought, including Klansmen . The first dubbed episode "When the Heat Cools Off" was spoken by Petr Oliva (Bodie), Martin Štěpánek (Doyle) and Jiří Adamíra (Cowley). Štěpánek soon emigrated so the remainder were dubbed by Alois Švehlík.

The whole series was broadcast after 1994 on TV Nova. Petr Oliva continued to dub Bodie but Doyle was dubbed by Karel Heřmánek and Cowley by Otakar Brousek, since Adamíra had died.

Merchandise

Novels

From 1978 to 1982 Sphere Books released 15 paperback novels to accompany the series. These adapted 38 of the show's 57 episodes. Seven were also published in hardcover editions: Nos. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 15 by Severn House and 3 and 4 by Arthur Barker.

Title

Publish Date

Author‡

Notes

The Professionals - Where the Jungle Ends

1978

Ken Blake

Hardcover Paperback. This is a novelisation of the Series 1 episodes Old Dog with New Tricks , Long Shot , Where the Jungle Ends and Killer with a Long Arm .

The Professionals 2 - Long Shot

1978

Ken Blake

Hardcover and Paperback. This is a novelisation of the Series 1 episodes Heroes , Private Madness Public Danger , The Female Factor and Everest Was Also Conquered .

The Professionals 3 - Stake Out

1978

Ken Blake

Hardcover and Paperback. This is a novelisation of the Series 1 episodes Stake Out , When The Heat Cools Off and Close Quarters .

The Professionals 4 - Hunter Hunted

1978

Ken Blake

Hardcover and Paperback. This is a novelisation of the Series 2 episodes First Night , Hunter/Hunted and The Rack .

The Professionals 5 - Blind Run

1979

Ken Blake

Hardcover and Paperback. This is a novelisation of the Series 2 episodes Blind Run , Man Without A Past and In the Public Interest .

The Professionals 6 - Fall Girl

1979

Ken Blake

Hardcover and Paperback. This is a novelisation of the Series 2 episodes Fall Girl , Not a Very Civil Servant and A Stirring of Dust .

The Professionals 7 - Hiding to nothing

1980

Ken Blake

Paperback. This is a novelisation of the Series 3 episodes Stopover , Runner and A Hiding to Nothing .

The Professionals 8 - Dead Reckoning

1980

Ken Blake

Paperback. This is a novelisation of the Series 3 episodes Dead Reckoning , Mixed Doubles and Need to Know .

The Professionals 9 - No Stone

1981

Ken Blake

Paperback. This is a novelisation of the Series 5 episodes A Man Called Quinn and No Stone .

The Professionals 10 - Cry Wolf

1981

Ken Blake†

Paperback. This is a novelisation of the Series 5 episodes Lawson's Last Stand and Cry Wolf .

The Professionals 11 - Spy Probe

1981

Ken Blake

Paperback. This is a novelisation of the Series 5 episode Spy Probe and The Madness of Mickey Hamilton from the show's second production block.

The Professionals 12 - Fox Hole

1982

Ken Blake

Paperback. This is a novelisation of the Series 5 episodes Foxhole on the Roof and The Oujika Situation .

The Professionals 13 - The Untouchables

1982

Ken Blake†

Paperback. This is a novelisation of a single Series 5 episode, The Untouchables .

The Professionals 14 - Operation Susie

1982

Ken Blake†

Paperback. This is a novelisation of a single Series 5 episode, Operation Suzie .

The Professionals 15 - You'll Be All Right

1982

Ken Blake†

Hardcover and Paperback. This is a novelisation of the Series 4 episodes You'll Be Alright and Discovered in a Graveyard .

‡ All the paperback novelisations published by Sphere Books were credited to the pen name "Ken Blake". The majority were actually adapted from the original episode shooting scripts by science fiction author Kenneth Bulmer, although the volumes marked † where adapted by fantasy author Robert Holdstock. Five of the seven hardcover editions were credited to Kenneth Bulmer. This included, presumably erroneously, the 15th novel. The two Arthur Barker hardbacks were credited to Ken Blake.

Annuals

From 1979-1985 Grandreams Ltd published seven annuals to accompany the series.

Title

Publish Date

Notes

The Professionals - Annual

1979

Hardcover

The Professionals - Annual

1980

Hardcover

The Professionals - Annual

1981

Hardcover

The Professionals - Annual

1982

Hardcover

The Professionals - Annual

1983

Hardcover

The Professionals - Annual

1984

Hardcover

The Professionals - Annual

1985

Hardcover

Home media releases

United Kingdom

Contrary to popular belief, the original release on VHS was not blocked by Martin Shaw. According to Dave Matthews' website, Shaw had already signed the video release agreement, it was the repeat fee amount offered by LWT that he objected to.

In the late 1990s, the complete run of 57 episodes were given a UK VHS videocassette release by Contender Entertainment Group. An earlier release had seen 31 episodes issued before the distributor went out of business.

In 2002, Contender reissued the complete run on DVD (for the UK only). Although labelled as having been "digitally remastered", these releases have attracted some criticism, mainly due to the relatively poor picture quality (colour, contrast and levels of dirt and scratches). In part, this was due to problems with the age and condition of the prints used, and the loss of (or lack of access to) the original source footage which would normally be used as the basis of a remaster.

In late 2005, Contender replaced the original DVD releases with a new set which saw some minor improvements in the picture quality.

On 2 September 2013, Network Distributing announced that it had acquired the scripts, production files, master video recordings and stills from the show. The digitally remastered version of The Professionals was released on DVD and Blu-ray. The restoration process is described in a blog post. Series 1 episodes have had the original opening and closing sequences restored.

  • Series 1–3 March 2014., 13 episodes

  • Series 2–29 September 2014, 13 episodes

  • Series 3–30 March 2015, 13 episodes

  • Series 4–2 May 2016, 18 episodes.

Australia

The Professionals is available in Australia (Region 4 DVD) in four boxed sets ('dossiers') containing the complete series. These are distributed by Umbrella Entertainment and are available via online DVD shops such as EzyDVD JB Hifi Online and MoviesPlus. The four dossiers feature the same episodes per box set as the UK Contender release with a couple of changes in running order in dossiers 2 and 4.

Official episode guide

In 2009, author Bob Rocca published a book entitled The Professionals , a chronological account of every episode including cast lists and production credits. The book is also a comprehensive guide to merchandised products, from toys to magazines and includes over 200 black and white photographs as well as extensive interviews with actors, producers, writers, directors and other production team members, discussing their work on the series. This publication was also foreworded and given official endorsement by series creator Brian Clemens.

Film

In 2004 plans were being drawn up for a film version of The Professionals with Lewis Collins approached to play the part of Cowley, but after negotiations broke down the film was abandoned.

In 2011, film company Lionsgate announced it had acquired the rights to The Professionals series and intended to begin shooting a movie in 2011. The characters of Bodie, Doyle and Cowley would be played by new actors. The film would have been a prequel to the 1970s series concerning how Bodie and Doyle entered CI5.

  • Condition: Ungraded
  • Subject Type: TV & Movies
  • Card Size: Standard
  • Autographed: No
  • Set: The New Avengers
  • Character: Doyle
  • Material: Card Stock
  • Year Manufactured: 2006
  • Franchise: The New Avengers
  • Original/Licensed Reprint: Original
  • TV Show: The New Avengers
  • Graded: No
  • Type: Non-Sport Trading Card
  • Language: English
  • TV Series First Broadcast: 1976
  • Manufacturer: Strictly Ink
  • Features: Individual Trading Card
  • Card Number: 65
  • Featured Person/Artist: Lewis Collins, Martin Shaw
  • Genre: Action, Adventure, Spy-Fi, Espionage Fiction
  • Country/Region of Manufacture: United Kingdom

PicClick Insights - THE NEW AVENGERS - Card#65 - The Professionals? - Strictly Ink - Bodie & Doyle PicClick Exclusive

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