It took a French champagne commercial to give us back The Avengers. In 1975, producer Rudolf Roffi had Brian Clemens reunite Patrick Macnee and Linda Thorson for a Laurent Perrier campaign set in John Steed’s flat, in which the gentleman agent samples bubbly as Tara King fights off villains. The French producer was surprised to … >
Available exclusively via the Big Finish website until the end of December, this is the second of two sets of adaptations of comic strips first printed in Diana comic in the late 1960s. Once more Julian Wadham is Steed and Oliva Poulet Mrs Peel. Like the first collection, this is four full-disc stories adapted by … >
Benedict Cumberbatch has revealed that he will be appearing in the third Avengers movie in 2018. The actor makes his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in Doctor Strange next month. Cumberbatch plays neurosurgeon Doctor Stephen Strange who, after a horrific car accident, discovers the hidden world of magic and alternate dimensions. While it has been rumoured for some time that Avengers: Infinity … >
The penultimate release in the range, this series of box sets recreates the mostly lost first season of The Avengers. Back in the early 1961, the show was markedly different from its latter incarnations and mainly focussed on the exploits of Dr David Keel (Anthony Howell), whose life as a GP was frequently interrupted by … >
‘CI5?’ ‘Yeah, it’s kind of like MI5.’ ‘What’s the difference?’ ‘They invent the problems and we have to solve them.’ What was it about? Created by Brian Clemens, writer and script editor of The Avengers, The Professionals was an action thriller series chronicling the operatives of CI5: a unique crime-fighting government agency with the mandate and … >
For most people who watched British TV in the late 1960, the series The Avengers was about John Steed and Mrs Peel. Yes, we also had Tara King and Cathy Gale as companions to the bowler hatted Steed, but it’s Mrs Peel who most captured the show’s period feel of psychedelia, fun and champagne interspersed … >
The Night Manager, BBC One’s gripping new spy drama that’s been thrilling Sunday night audiences – and set Tumblr aflame with images of Tom Hiddleston’s bum – is out now on DVD (pause buttons at the ready!). A slick, updated adaptation of John Le Carré’s 1993 novel that sees a former soldier recruited to infiltrate … >
Whereas the first four box sets contained adaptations of existing scripts, this latest set of Lost Episodes breaks new ground. ‘Girl on a Trapeze’ is an adaptation of a surviving episode while the other three have been developed from the scant details that survive – storylines, tele snaps and cast lists. For the uninitiated, the … >
Back in 1961, the TV series The Avengers focussed on the stories of Dr David Keel (Ian Hendry) and John Steed (the recently deceased Patrick Macnee) was only the assistant. After one series, Hendry left and John Steed took centre stage, along came a string of female assistants and as the 1960s progressed the show … >
Patrick Macnee, the London-born actor best known for playing debonair hero John Steed in cult British ‘spy-fi’ series The Avengers, has died at his home in California at the age of 93. The Avengers began as a gritty detective piece – literally about revenge – but soon become one of the most surreal and fantastical … >