The Avengers Dossier

More than any other series, THE AVENGERS typified the Swinging Sixties - beginning in 1961 with Patrick Macnee starring with Ian Hendry in a grainy, realistic spy thriller, and ending in 1969 with Macnee and the glamorous Linda Thorson blasting off into space in a surreal episode appropriately entitled 'Bizarre'. Meanwhile we had seen the memorable Honor Blackman and Diana Rigg in roles unusually progressive for British television. THE NEW AVENGERS in the mid-seventies reflected changing times but retained the essence of the show - as Macnee returned to play alongside another strong, independent heroine in the form of Joanna Lumley's Purdey. And then there was the film... THE AVENGERS DOSSIER is a uniquely comprehensive yet humorous survey of all the show's incarnations. As well as a remarkably detailed episode guide to both series - even covering the kinkiness factor and champagne count in both - this volume gives behind the scenes insights and revelations about every aspect of the programme. The film and its production are examined, and critical essays look at the history behind the cult.

Based on the popular website, this exciting new volume examines the classic television programs, The Avengers and The New Avengers. Quite Quite Fantastic! provides insight into the behind-the-scenes production of both programs and their relevance to viewers today. Each episode is reviewed and analyzed, and the main characters and actors are profiled in depth. Plus, mini-biographies of dozens of guest actors, directors and writers are included. And the long-missing Season One is reconstructed with a special look at the newly recovered episode "Tunnel of Fear"!

Subversive Champagne re-examines the 1960s cult television series, The Avengers, through a close analysis of 25 filmed episodes. The book examines how The Avengers - during the classic Emma Peel era (1964-1967) - was continually shifting the boundaries of audience expectation, defying both genre classification and viewers' traditional desire for kitchen sink drama. Subversive Champagne centres on eighteen episodes from the monochrome Peel Season 4 - widely acknowledged as the artistic pinnacle of the series. It is in this era - caught between video-tape and colour film - that The Avengers was undergoing arguably its most profound stylistic and thematic transitions, from mild eccentricity to something genuinely experimental. The author extends his journey into the exhilarating but 'uneven' colour Season 5, adding chapters on seven more episodes, thus allowing us to explore the entire Emma Peel era. Entertaining froth or groundbreaking art? Rediscover the most iconic show in television history.

"A detailed account of the cult TV classic, this book presents hundreds of fabulous action photos of the extraordinary agents and the diabolical villains from the series. Covering all six seasons of The Avengers and the two seasons of The New Avengers, the book follows the adventures of British secret agent John Steed and his various partners -- most notably Emma Peel."--Google Books

The Avengers was a revolutionary series that always playfully twisted perceptions, pushed the boundaries of its genre and defied those who wished to pigeonhole it. The team behind The Avengers never forgot its primary objective was to entertain. And entertain it certainly did, inspiring successive generations to welcome The Avengers into their hearts. Right from its foreword by pioneering television historian Dave Rogers to its afterword by Jason Whiton of SpyVibe, Avengerworld celebrates the series, its international fandom and its fans. Over the course of more than forty essays, Avengers fans the world over relate how they first encountered the series, how they grew up with it at their sides, made friends, engaged with fandom and were inspired to do extraordinary things. Proceeds from this book will be donated to Champion Chanzige, a charity organisation that exists to improve conditions for underprivileged children at a primary school in Southern Tanzania - and helps them to do extraordinary things too.

Eccentric, ironic and fantastic series like The Avengers and Danger Man, with their professional secret agents, or The Saint and The Persuaders, featuring flamboyant crime-fighters, still inspire mainstream and cult followings. Saints and Avengers explores and celebrates this television genre for the first time. Saints and Avengers uses case studies to look, for example, at the adventure series' representations of national identity and the world of the sixties and seventies. Chapman also proves his central thesis: that this particular type of thriller was a historically and culturally defined generic type, with enduring appeal, as the current vogue for remaking them as big budget films attests.