Theta Sigma
Captain
- Joined
- 26 Apr 2006
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- Age
- 44
The Avengers ran between 1961 and 1969 and was created by Sydney Newman who also created Doctor Who.
The most common image people would have of The Avengers is that John Steed (Patrick Macnee) and Emma Peel (Diana Rigg). After all it is these two characters as played by Ralph Fiennes and Uma Thurman that was in the 1998 movie version.
However Emma Peel did not come on The Avengers until season 4 and while John Steed had been on the series from the beginning, Patrick Macnee was not the original lead of the show.
The original lead of the show was instead Ian Hendry who played Dr David Keel. Hendry was only on The Avengers for the first season. When production of the first season was cut short by an Equity strike, Ian Hendry had decided to quit to pursue a film career and Patrick Macnee took over the lead of the show from the second season.
Like fellow Sydney Newman creation Doctor Who and other shows of its time, The Avengers had episodes that has been wiped out. Badly affected by this purge is almost all of the Hendry season, with only two complete episodes in existence. Also in existence from the first season is what is left of the first episode Hot Snow. What is left of Hot Snow is Act One (the first 15 minutes of the episode):
YouTube - The Avengers Hot Snow
Act One of Hot Snow sets up an intriguing beginning to The Avengers. Unfortunately, apart from his image in the title sequence, Act One does not include Patrick Macnee as Steed.
Ian Hendry would eventually return to the world of The Avengers in The New Avengers episode To Catch A Rat in 1976 but as a different character.
The most common image people would have of The Avengers is that John Steed (Patrick Macnee) and Emma Peel (Diana Rigg). After all it is these two characters as played by Ralph Fiennes and Uma Thurman that was in the 1998 movie version.
However Emma Peel did not come on The Avengers until season 4 and while John Steed had been on the series from the beginning, Patrick Macnee was not the original lead of the show.
The original lead of the show was instead Ian Hendry who played Dr David Keel. Hendry was only on The Avengers for the first season. When production of the first season was cut short by an Equity strike, Ian Hendry had decided to quit to pursue a film career and Patrick Macnee took over the lead of the show from the second season.
Like fellow Sydney Newman creation Doctor Who and other shows of its time, The Avengers had episodes that has been wiped out. Badly affected by this purge is almost all of the Hendry season, with only two complete episodes in existence. Also in existence from the first season is what is left of the first episode Hot Snow. What is left of Hot Snow is Act One (the first 15 minutes of the episode):
YouTube - The Avengers Hot Snow
Act One of Hot Snow sets up an intriguing beginning to The Avengers. Unfortunately, apart from his image in the title sequence, Act One does not include Patrick Macnee as Steed.
Ian Hendry would eventually return to the world of The Avengers in The New Avengers episode To Catch A Rat in 1976 but as a different character.