The 'lost' Avengers

[Calenture]

Ian Hendry as Dr Keel, who sought to 'avenge' the murder of his fiancee, giving the series its title, with Patrick Macnee.

Ian Hendry as Dr Keel, TV Times, 12 March, 1961, page 11

Manchester Evening News, 7 January 1961, page 7, Max North's Telereview, ?, England.

"A GIRL who hates illness and says she could never be a nurse in private life will play the nurse-receptionist in ABC's new 60-minute crime series, "The Avengers", which begins to-night. She is 23-year old Ingrid Hafner "born in London but with an Austrian father" who played a nurse in several episodes of Ian Hendry's previous series, "Police Surgeon". Ian Hendry was immediately signed for "The Avengers" when "Police Surgeon" ended its run and now plays the part of a doctor who is drawn into a crusade against crime by the murder of his fiance. Patrick Macnee has a regular spot in the series as a professional crime-fighter."

Ingrid Hafner, TV Times, 1 December, 1961, page 38

Julie Stevens, Patrick Macnee, Honor Blackman

"TV Times 26 October 1962, page 1, cover, no author, England.

"TV Times, 1 March 1963, pages 4,5, John Gough's Looking Around, John Gough, England. The tale of Julie Stevens and Roger Moore's bowling match. Part of a gossip column."

Julie Stevens' played Venus Smith, a night club singer, who had a song in every Avengers episode. I have a couple of these episodes in AVI form, downloaded by a friend (but don't ask me where he found them).

The above shamelessly copy and pasted from Deadline

Elizabeth Shepherd played Emma Peel in 1965 (episodes never aired). "After filming all of "The Town of No Return" and part of "The Murder Market," it was announced that she was fired. There is no shortage of rumors as to why, but the consensus seems to be that she simply was not right for the part of Mrs. Emma Peel."

From The Avengers Forever

[redbrain]

I'm a huge Avengers' fan, and am impressed by the the 2nd series (which has never been issued on DVD).

I have laid my hands one of the two surviving series one episodes (it was issued on VHS some years ago). It's hard to judge series one on a single episode, though.

I've managed to assemble most of series two. I think I'm missing two Venus Smith episodes and may be missing one of the episodes from the start of the series before Venus Smith or Cathy Gale. I certainly have all of the Cathy Gale episodes. A while back, I watched all of my series two episodes in correct order. The production values are poor, but there's something great about the immediacy of these early episodes. If the actors screw up, they just carry on. If a mike boom appears in shot, they just carry on. It leaves me, as a viewer, feeling that I'm in on the creative process.

[mickc]

Jun 23, 2008 18:58:04 GMT redbrain said:

I'm a huge Avengers' fan, and am impressed by the the 2nd series (which has never been issued on DVD).

I have laid my hands one of the two surviving series one episodes (it was issued on VHS some years ago). It's hard to judge series one on a single episode, though.

I've managed to assemble most of series two. I think I'm missing two Venus Smith episodes and may be missing one of the episodes from the start of the series before Venus Smith or Cathy Gale. I certainly have all of the Cathy Gale episodes. A while back, I watched all of my series two episodes in correct order. The production values are poor, but there's something great about the immediacy of these early episodes. If the actors screw up, they just carry on. If a mike boom appears in shot, they just carry on. It leaves me, as a viewer, feeling that I'm in on the creative process.

Redbrain - I believe all the existing Avengers stuff has been released over the years in the US by A&E. The bonus disc with the "Emma Peel Megaset" (which is also available seperately) has those two early episodes on it ("Girl on the Trapeze", which I think is a great episode, and "The Frighteners"). It also has the surviving first act from "Hot Snow", the very first episode.
But then you probably know all this as you visit the very wonderful "Avengers Forever" site!

Mick.