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Home > IndexSpies & Secret Organizations > Agents > The Avengers
       
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The AvengersThe Avengers - The collective nickname for a team of British agents working for her majesty's secret service on the fantasy espionage drama THE AVENGERS/ABC/1966-69. The Avengers consisted of the debonair John Steed (Patrick Macnee) who was distinguished by his trademark derby, umbrella and sharply designed but conservative suits; and Cathy Gale (Honor Blackman) whose wardrobe catered to leather freaks. Honor Blackman later left to play "Pussy Galore" in a James Bond feature film Goldfinger (1964) and was replaced by Elizabeth Sheppard.

"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."

When the series was syndicated to America in 1966 Steed was teamed with Emma Peel (Diana Rigg), a slender, karate-kicking widow. Her brightly colored jumpsuits with lots of zippers were called Emma Peelers. Emma Peel lived on Primrose Hill in London and used an Italian Baretta 7.65 hand gun.

The Emma Peel character was best described in one episode by a crazed film director Z.Z. Von Schnerck (Kenneth J. Warren) who said "I needed you, Mrs. Peel, a woman of beauty, of action, a woman who could become desperate and yet remain strong, a woman who could become confused and yet remain intelligent, who could fight back and yet remain feminine. You, and only you, Emma Peel, have all these qualifications."

When Mrs. Peel's lost husband returned on the March 20, 1968 episode "The Forget-Me-Not," a curvaceous Tara King (Linda Thorson) became Steed's new partner until the end of the series run. Emma's parting remark to her replacement was to remember that Steed liked his tea stirred counterclockwise (a tongue in cheek reference to secret agent James Bond who preferred his Martinis shaken not stirred).

In 1976 the series was revived in Britain as THE NEW AVENGERS and later in the USA for the CBS late night lineup in 1978. Steed's new colleagues included the cool, blonde known as Purdey (Joanna Lumley) and the highly efficient, Mike Gambit (Gareth Hunt).

TRIVIA NOTE: In the process of creating a new character to fill the void left by Honor Blackman's departure writer Marie Donaldson played with the phrase "Man Appeal." She distilled it further to "M" appeal and finally to "Emma Peel." A motion picture remake entitled The Avengers (1998) starred Uma Thurman as Dr. Emma Peel and Ralph Fiennes as John Steed.

 
 

 
     
 

                    

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