Posted on 10/13/2005 10:10:20 AM PDT by pissant
Debonair John Steed - bowler hat, red carnation - and his sidekick, Emma Peel, were The Avengers, whose camp, cool adventures helped define Sixties television. But how many viewers have stopped to ask exactly what was being avenged? The long-forgotten answer will be revealed later this year thanks to the rediscovery of The Avengers' first-ever episode, which was believed to have been lost for good.
Entitled Hot Snow, it was broadcast live by ITV in 1961 in an era when there was little technology - or appetite - to record shows for posterity.
But after years of painstaking research, the first 20 minutes of the hour-long drama have been found in the archives of the University of California, Los Angeles, and are to be screened in public for the first time in more than four decades.
Anyone expecting silver-tongued quips from Steed, alias Patrick Macnee, as he pours champagne for a leather-clad female associate, will be in for a surprise.
The chief protagonist of the first series of The Avengers was Dr David Keel, played by Ian Hendry, who in the rediscovered first reel is seen becoming mixed up with drug runners.
He is preparing to buy a ring for his fiancee, played by Catherine Woodville (who was later to marry Macnee in real life), when she is gunned down in a drive-by shooting. It is her murder which turns Keel into an 'Avenger'. Steed, an enigmatic government agent yet to find his urbane persona, does not appear until the second reel of Hot Snow, which is still missing.
He continued to play second fiddle to Keel during the first series, but when Hendry quit for a movie career, Macnee took over and was joined by Honor Blackman as the ultimate modern woman, Dr Cathy Gale.
His next major foil was Diana Rigg, as Emma Peel, whose platonic chemistry with Steed proved endlessly intriguing. The series ended in 1969.
The first reel of Hot Snow is believed to have survived because it was syndicated to Canadian television. It is to be shown in December at the National Film Theatre on London's South Bank as part of its Missing Believed Wiped programme, dedicated this year to ITV to celebrate the broadcaster's 50th anniversary.
Dick Fiddy, co-ordinator of Missing Believed Wiped, said: 'Any find from early television is interesting as a social document. The Avengers has a cult status but it started as a thick-eared drama with none of the flash or style we associate with it.
'The Steed character is very different: shadowy and manipulative. In this episode you find out why they are called The Avengers - the raison d'etre of the entire series. It is the Hitchcockian idea of taking an innocent man, Keel, and putting him in a dangerous situation.'
Leonard White, 88, who co-created The Avengers and produced the first 40 episodes, said he was excited by the find.
'It shows what the series was like in the early days compared with the more famous later days. Most people only know The Avengers with Diana Rigg, but this is quite a different thing - just two men.'
Emma Peel was the first TV woman that I ever had a crush on. She was awesome in those leather suits.
"My favorite show for 3 reasons..."
Ditto that.
She was mine I tell ya......keep your childhood memories away from her. ;o)
I never really liked the other woman they had after Emma. They seemed to girly. Emma was always kicking some chumps butt.
I saw this recently for the first time. Tried to watch twice. I guess I just don't get it. The eye candy can't get me past some dweeb named Macnee playing the hero.
There's a classic pic of Diana Rigg in all black leather, carrying a riding crop, and wearing boots with 5' heels..gawd...
One of the best shows ever. MacNee and Rigg were incomparable. Thanks for the post!
Nothing wrong with girly in my book, but Emma was the best....ever
Much better than Charlies Angels, IMHO!!
John Steed was a stud!
I think I recall that one. Every pic of Diana Rigg is a classic in my world!
I wholeheartedly agree! And you are quite welcome!
Emma Peel was perfection. Period.
Stunning. Witty. Sophisticated. Wise. Elegant.
More than able to play with the big boys and have them eating out of her hand
In the words of "Cowboy Bebop"'s Spike Spiegel:
"I love a woman who can kick my ass!"
I also join the ranks of guys whose first crush was the glorious Mrs. Peel!
Cathy Gale and Tara King just didn't have "It"!
Jack.
For me, it was much more than a crush. ;o)
Emma is #1, but I still find Tara King immensely attractive.
They don't make 'em like they used to.
That wouldn't take much!
It was by watching Emma Peel, at age 8, that I discovered I was a man.
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