Patrick Macnee as John Steed (left), and Diana Rigg as Emma Peel
January 7, 1961: The Avengers premieres on British TV network ITV. The franchise it produced would have no connection to the later Marvel Comics franchise of the same name, save for the name itself.
The show was produced by ABC Weekend TV, which provided the weekend service in the Midlands and Northern England regions of the Independent Television (ITV) network from 1956 to 1968. The letters stood for Associated British Cinema, and had no connection with either the American Broadcasting Company or the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, which also used the letters ABC.
At first, The Avengers would bear little resemblance to the show that the British, and later the Americans, would know. The 1st episode was titled "Hot Snow": Dr. David Keel, played by Ian Hendry, investigates the murder of his fiancée and receptionist, Peggy. The murder is tied to a drug ring -- a storyline that would have struggled to get past American censors at the time -- which is also being investigated by John Steed, played by Patrick Macnee.
It takes 2 episodes to "avenge" Peggy. That done, Steed asks Keel to partner with 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 of the series' episodes.
Production of the first series was cut short by a strike. By the time production could begin on the second series, which premiered on September 29, 1962, Hendry had quit to pursue a film career. Macnee was promoted to star and Steed became the focus of the series, employed by the British government, initially working with a rotation of three different partners.
One of these, the one that stuck, was Honor Blackman, as 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 rebellion in Kenya, she was the "talented amateur" who saw her aid to Steed's cases as a service to her nation. Gale was in her early-to-mid 30s during her tenure (Blackman was already 37 when she debuted in the role), in contrast to female characters in similar series who tended to be younger.
Steed was transformed from a rugged trenchcoat-wearing agent into the stereotypical English gentleman, complete with Savile Row suit, bowler hat and umbrella, which were soon revealed to be full of tricks, including a sword hidden within the umbrella handle and a steel plate concealed in the hat. With his impeccable manners, old-world sophistication and vintage car, but also with the toughness that came from having served in World War II, Steed came to represent the traditional Englishman of an earlier era.
By contrast, Steed's partners were youthful, forward-looking, and always attired in the latest mod fashions. Gale's innovative leather outfits suited her many athletic fight scenes, as would be the case with her successor. After the 3rd season, in 1964, Blackman left the series, and played Pussy Galore in the James Bond film Goldfinger.
Ian Fleming's Bond novels had begun in 1953, but the Bond films had not by the time The Avengers premiered. Those films' success helped sell The Avengers to America's ABC, which began broadcasting the series with its 4th season, on May 30, 1966, 9 months after its British premiere.
It was decided that Dr. Gale's replacement would have to be, like her, a woman with "man appeal." This was abbreviated to "M. Appeal," and so she was named Emma Peel -- but always "Mrs. Peel." Diana Rigg was cast.
For the American version, an introductory scene was added, with a voiceover: "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."
Mrs. Peel was shown to be a scientific genius, and was no damsel in distress: She was shown saving Steed as often as it was the other way around. While Blackman had done judo on the show, Rigg was the 1st television actor, anywhere in the world -- in any format outside of Hong Kong-based films -- to do the Chinese martial art of kung fu. (Bruce Lee, having starred in some of those films, did it as Kato on The Green Hornet the following year.)
Mrs. Peel also favored leather, and sometimes wore miniskirts in this time of "Swinging London." There was a lighter tone to Rigg's episodes than Blackman's, and Mrs. Peel seemed to have an easier relationship with Steed. Unlike Dr. Gale, who was definitely widowed, Mrs. Peel's husband was said to be lost in a plane crash. So she was believed widowed, and the hints that she and Steed were fooling around were accepted.
(The stars did not agree on this. Macnee said that it was a regular thing, and that, whenever you saw them together in Steed's apartment, it was the morning after. Rigg, however, said it was just banter, and the relationship never went anywhere.)
Rigg was soon dismayed to find out that the cameraman was being paid more than she was. 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 U.S.
The show went to color for its 5th season, in 1967. At the start of the 6th season, in 1968, it was discovered that Mrs. Peel's husband, Peter, is alive. Oops... (Well, maybe he actively cheated on her.) She leaves Steed to go back to him, approving of her replacement, professional agent Tara King, played by Linda Thorson. Like Blackman, Rigg left the series to star in a James Bond film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service. She played Tracy Draco, a.k.a. Contessa Teresa di Vicenzo, the doomed one and only (so far) Mrs. James Bond.
This 6th season also introduced Steed's boss, the wheelchair-bound man known only as "Mother" -- perhaps a play on "M," Bond's boss. Patrick Newell played the role. But with Rigg's departure, something was lost, and the show was canceled: Its last U.S. airing was on May 8, 1968, with the Tara King season never shown; and its last U.K. airing was on May 17, 1969.
In 1976, ITV aired The New Avengers, starring Macnee as Steed with 2 new partners: Gareth Hunt as Mike Gambit, and Joanna Lumley as "Purdey." It lasted only 1 season, and it was broadcast in America on CBS in 1978-79. In 1985, 21 years after Blackman and 16 after Rigg, Macnee finally appeared in a James Bond film, A View to a Kill, alongside Roger Moore.
In 1998, an Avengers film was released, with Ralph Fiennes as Steed and Uma Thurman as Dr. Emma Peel, now a meteorologist. Like the 1989 reunion film Get Smart Again!, the plot revolves around a weather machine. With tongue embedded in cheek, the villain is played by the original star of the Bond films, Sean Connery.
The film turned out to be a bomb that no Sixties spy hero -- not Bond, not Steed, not Mrs. Peel, not Maxwell Smart, not Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin, not Jim Phelps and his Impossible Mission Force, not Derek Flint, not Matt Helm, not Austin Powers -- could defuse. No attempt at a new Avengers film has been announced since.
Ian Hendry died in 1984, Patrick Newell in 1988, Patrick Macnee in 2015, and both Honor Blackman and Diana Rigg in 2020 (neither of COVID). As of January 7, 2022, Linda Thorson is still alive.
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January 7, 1961 was a Saturday. John Thune, later to be a U.S. Senator, a Republican from South Dakota, was born.
In The Avengers' homeland, the North London soccer team I would go on to support, Arsenal, lost to Sunderland, 2-1 at Roker Park in Sunderland, in the North-East, in the 3rd Round of the FA Cup. Arsenal's local rivals, Tottenham Hotspur, beat South London team Charlton Athletic, 3-2 at White Hart Lane. "Spurs" went on to win the Football League and the FA Cup, to win "The Double."
At the time, though just 4.7 miles from Arsenal's Highbury, "The Lane" was outside the city, in Middlesex. The London Government Act 1963 redrew the boundaries of the city of London (not to be confused with "The City of London"), so that the Tottenham area was within the city's limits, making Spurs truly a London team, and a North London team, for the first time.
In America, baseball and football were out of season. There was 1 game in the NBA: The New York Knicks beat the Syracuse Nationals, 120-117, in a game that, for some reason, was played on neutral ground, at the Rochester War Memorial (now the Blue Cross Arena) in Rochester, New York. Dolph Schayes scored 36 for the Nats, but the Knicks got 28 from Willie Naulls and 27 from Richie Guerin.
There were 2 games in the NHL. The New York Rangers lost to the Montreal Canadiens, 6-3 at the Montreal Forum. And the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Boston Bruins, 4-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. The Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Black Hawks were not scheduled.
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