History Series / TheAvengers1960s

** In "Too Many Christmas Trees," Cathy Gale sends Steed and Peel a postcard from [[Film/{{Goldfinger}} Fort Knox]].
--> '''Steed''': ''(after Mrs. Peel hands him a Christmas card from Cathy Gale)'' Mrs. Gale! Oh, how nice of her to remember me. What ''can'' she be doing in [[Film/{{Goldfinger}} Fort Knox]]?

After her would be the most famous to American audiences, Emma Peel and finally Tara King.

The stories, meanwhile, abandoned realistic crime altogether in favour of [[DiabolicalMastermind diabolical masterminds]] and accordingly became crazier and crazier -- Space plants from the moon! Assassination by laser! Killer rainclouds! Invisible spies! Housecats brainwashed to kill! Politicians hypnotised into becoming children! A ShrinkRay! -- typifying the swinging cool of [[TheSixties 1960s]] Britain, particularly to American audiences of the period.

The series was originally created as a vehicle for Creator/IanHendry (who would [[DeletedRole not-quite appear]] in [[Film/CasinoRoyale1967 a not-quite Bond film]]), to capitalise on the popularity he had developed during his previous show, the realistic crime drama ''Police Surgeon''. In the {{pilot}}, his character, the subdued and pragmatic practitioner Dr David Keel, was recruited by charming-but-hard-edged spy John Steed (Macnee) as a part-time expert assistant in return for Steed's help capturing the murderers of Keel's fiancée; this was pretty much [[ArtifactTitle the last time in the series any actual]] ''[[ArtifactTitle avenging]]'' [[ArtifactTitle took place]]. The ensuing first season was generally a [[DarkerAndEdgier gritty and hardboiled]] (and decidedly low-budget) crime melodrama, centring around cases such as drug smugglers, arms dealers and urban gang warfare, often within the confines of a realistically-presented early-'60s London. Contrary to subsequent seasons, the show was frequently divided between Keel-centered (focalizing smaller-scale local or domestic crimes and conflicts) and Steed-centered episodes (focalizing his international assignments), thus presenting Keel and Steed more as recurring collaborators and co-protagonists as opposed to a regularly-partnered duo. While the series initially was not broadcast across the entirety of the UK, it nonetheless became a mild success, with Steed becoming a minor [[EnsembleDarkhorse breakout character]] among viewers.

* ReTool: The show was originally about Dr. David Keel teaming with a mysterious secret agent named John Steed and their investigation into crimes. In the second season, Creator/IanHendry left and Steed became the lead. Steed then gained a new partner, the leather-clad, judo-knowing Cathy Gale, the first Action Girl of many that Steed would be partnered with through the decade. After her would be the most famous to American audiences, Emma Peel and finally Tara King.

** The characterization of Steed in the first three seasons was markedly different to the comically-mannerly gentleman of the Peel era. In the first season, Steed is presented as an outwardly-charming yet ruthlessly-mercurial and womanizing figure (initially lacking his trademark bowler hat and umbrella in favour of a trenchcoat; both would debut circa episode 10) recurringly emerging from the underworld to draw the more pragmatic Keel into a given episode's plot. Upon his promotion to the lead role in season 2, Steed's characterization began to gravitate towards a LighterAndSofter image, becoming more affable and urbane, although he retained noticeable elements of his earlier brusqueness and lechery (note his initial appearances with Cathy Gale, in which his attitude towards her is conspicuously more sexually-aggressive than in her later appearances). Despite the increased personability of his dynamic with Gale, Steed arguably regained numerous elements of his earlier shadiness in season 3, with multiple episode plots hinging on either the possibility of him "going rogue" (as with "Brief for Murder" or "The Nutshell") or the ramifications of his tendency to rampantly conceal information from Gale. These traits would almost entirely evaporate in the following season, rendering him a dapper British gentleman casually and covertly equipped with a myriad of skills and gadgetry instead of an unscrupulous and mercenarily-minded operative carrying elements of dandyism. Whereas his previous co-stars often functioned as humanistic foils to his schemes, Emma Peel is thereby portrayed more unequivocally as friend to Steed.

** The first three seasons display a markedly-greater commitment to social realism than the Peel era, frequently featuring guest characters from a wide range of social brackets, ethnicities and professions and utilizing plots set within varying nonfictional areas, cities and countries. As of season 4, however, the show ceases to engage with the majority of these realities, instead centring on a fantastical approximation of rural southeastern England populated mainly by middle and upper-class eccentrics.

** During the first season, Ian Hendry's Dr. Keel was billed as the lead character (Steed would correspondingly be absent from several episodes across the season), with Steed a recurring collaborator more than a defined partner; note, however, that numerous season 1 episodes alternately featured Steed's more Bond-reminiscent bombastic international escapades (with Keel reduced to cameo roles).
** The characterization of Steed in the first three seasons was markedly different to the chaste, comically-mannerly gentleman of the Peel era. In the first season, Steed is presented as an outwardly-charming yet ruthlessly-mercurial and womanizing figure (initially lacking his trademark bowler hat and umbrella in favour of a trenchcoat; both would debut circa episode 10) recurringly emerging from the underworld to draw the more pragmatic Keel into a given episode's plot. Upon his promotion to the lead role in season 2, Steed's characterization began to gravitate towards a LighterAndSofter image, becoming more affable and urbane, although he retained noticeable elements of his earlier brusqueness and lechery (note his initial appearances with Cathy Gale, in which his attitude towards her is conspicuously more sexually-aggressive than in her later appearances). Despite the increased personability of his dynamic with Gale, Steed arguably regained numerous elements of his earlier shadiness in season 3, with multiple episode plots hinging on either the possibility of him "going rogue" (as with "Brief for Murder" or "The Nutshell") or the ramifications of his tendency to rampantly conceal information from Gale. These traits would almost entirely evaporate in the following season, rendering him a dapper British gentleman casually and covertly equipped with a myriad of skills and gadgetry instead of an unscrupulous and mercenarily-minded operative carrying elements of dandyism. Whereas his previous co-stars often functioned as humanistic foils to his schemes, Emma Peel is thereby portrayed more unequivocally as friend to Steed.
** The [[DiabolicalMastermind diabolical masterminds]] dominating the Peel era were entirely absent in the first two seasons in favour of more realistic criminals (such as urban gangsters, drug smugglers, corrupt businessmen and jewel thieves). While season 3 featured a handful of more conceptually-outlandish antagonists (including the two comically-corrupt [[Creator/CharlesDickens Dickensian]] lawyers in "Brief for Murder" or the outlandishly-ambitious "aspiring" Roman emperor Sir Bruno in "The Grandeur That Was Rome"), these portrayals either serve as isolated moments of absurdity within more sombre or hard-edged plotlines ("Brief" features Steed ostensibly assassinating Cathy Gale and confronting the ensuing legal ramifications) or are assigned noticeably more dramatic pathos than the more comedic antagonists of later seasons. The earliest antagonists to be dubbed "diabolical masterminds" in-universe conversely appear in the appropriately-titled fourth season episode "The Master Minds".

** The characterization of Steed in the first three seasons was markedly different to the chaste, comically-mannerly gentleman of the Peel era. In the first season, Steed is presented as an outwardly-charming yet ruthlessly-mercurial and womanizing figure (initially lacking his trademark bowler hat and umbrella in favour of a trenchcoat; both would debut circa episode 10) recurringly emerging from the underworld to draw the more pragmatic Keel into a given episode's plot. Upon his promotion to the lead role in season 2, Steed's characterization began to gravitate towards a LighterAndSofter image, becoming more affable and debonair, although he retained noticeable elements of his earlier brusqueness and lechery (note his initial appearances with Cathy Gale, in which his attitude towards her is conspicuously more sexually-aggressive than in her later appearances). Despite the increased personability of his dynamic with Gale, Steed arguably regained numerous elements of his earlier shadiness in season 3, with multiple episode plots hinging on either the possibility of him "going rogue" (as with "Brief for Murder" or "The Nutshell") or the ramifications of his tendency to rampantly conceal information from Gale. These traits would almost entirely evaporate in the following season.

* BellyDancer: Emma disguises herself as one in "Honey for the Prince" and performs "The Dance of the Six Veils". The producers insisted that Creator/DianaRigg wear a jewel in her navel so that the programme would pass the American censors, but it kept falling out.

Following the third season's conclusion in 1964, Blackman left to pursue a film career (playing Pussy Galore in ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}'', a Bond film). Following one-and-a-half unsuccessful (and never broadcast) episodes pairing Macnee with Elizabeth Shepherd, Steed was joined by Diana Rigg as Mrs. Emma Peel, described as a "talented amateur" (the Shepherd episodes were reedited and recycled into Rigg episodes). Buoyed by the national success of the Gale era, ABC banked on revamping the show to pursue American TV markets and, aided by funding from the American ABC network, increased its budget per episode to a then-lavish £56,000 GBP (from an average of £6000 for the previous season), enabling the show to convert from videotape to the more cinematographically-versatile medium of 35mm film (and thus compete with its U.S. contemporaries visually). Whereas previous seasons were filmed in a single session due to lower budgets (producing a "pseudo-live" aesthetic), the revamped series' boosted production values granted episodes access to a legitimate editing process, rendering their visual pacing noticeably brisker. Brian Clemens, previously a writer on the show's first and third seasons, was likewise promoted to the head writer position, with newly-appointed producer Albert Fennell supervising the translation of Clemens' story ideas into physically and financially-feasible episodes.

Following the third season's conclusion in 1964, Blackman left to pursue a film career (playing Pussy Galore in ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}'', a Bond film). Following one-and-a-half unsuccessful (and never broadcast) episodes pairing Macnee with Elizabeth Shepherd, Steed was joined by Diana Rigg as Mrs. Emma Peel, described as a "talented amateur" (the Shepherd episodes were reedited and recycled into Rigg episodes). Buoyed by the national success of the Gale era, ABC banked on revamping the show to pursue American TV markets and, aided by funding from the American ABC network, increased its budget per episode to a then-lavish £56,000 GBP (from an average of £6000 for the previous season), enabling the show to convert from videotape to the more cinematographically-versatile medium of 35mm film (and thus compete with its U.S. contemporaries visually). Whereas previous seasons were filmed in a single session due to lower budgets (producing a "pseudo-live" aesthetic), the revamped series' boosted production values granted episodes access to a legitimate editing process, rendering their visual pacing noticeably brisker. Brian Clemens, previously a writer on the show's first and third seasons, was likewise promoted to the head writer position, with newly-appointed producer Albert Fennell supervising the translation of Clemens' story ideas into physically and financially-feasible episodes. Owing to Rigg's energetic charisma (and chemistry with Macnee), Clemens' more whimsical, fantasy-oriented inclinations and its upgraded production values, the show resultantly became much more stylish, fast-paced and irreverent - even gaining a now-iconic new theme song - although it wasn't until the next season that it was produced in colour. Mrs. Peel -- whose husband didn't make an appearance until her final episode -- set the trend of the SpyCatsuit and continued the gentleman spy / ActionGirl setup, although the further evolution of Steed into a mannerly, [[QuintessentialBritishGentleman exaggeratedly British gentleman]] (as opposed to the conniving and unscrupulous alpha male of the Keel and Gale eras) gave this era's incarnation of the dynamic a decidedly more parodic flavour. Possibly due to the more international reach of their seasons as co-stars, Steed and Mrs. Peel became the show's most iconic pairing, becoming synonymous with the cultural memory of the series (and its associated merchandise) at large despite featuring in less than a third of the show's overall run. The Peel seasons (particularly the colour-produced season 5) are likewise the only period of the show to have received significant reruns across much of the globe, further cementing this image to later generations of viewers.

The stories, meanwhile, eventually abandoned realistic crime altogether in favour of [[DiabolicalMastermind diabolical masterminds]] and accordingly became crazier and crazier -- Space plants from the moon! Assassination by laser! Killer rainclouds! Invisible spies! Housecats brainwashed to kill! Politicians hypnotised into becoming children! A ShrinkRay! -- typifying the swinging cool of [[TheSixties 1960s]] Britain, particularly to American audiences of the period.

Following the third season's conclusion in 1964, Blackman left to pursue a film career (playing Pussy Galore in ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}'', a Bond film). Following one-and-a-half unsuccessful (and never broadcast) episodes pairing Macnee with Elizabeth Shepherd, Steed was joined by Diana Rigg as Mrs. Emma Peel, described as a "talented amateur" (the Shepherd episodes were reedited and recycled into Rigg episodes). Buoyed by the national success of the Gale era, ABC banked on revamping the show to pursue American TV markets and, aided by funding from the American ABC network, increased its budget per episode to a then-lavish £56,000 GBP (from an average of £6000 for the previous season), enabling the show to convert from videotape to the more cinematographically-versatile medium of 35mm film (and thus compete with its U.S. contemporaries visually). Brian Clemens, previously a writer on the show's first and third seasons, was likewise promoted to the head writer position, with newly-appointed producer Albert Fennell supervising the translation of Clemens' story ideas into physically and financially-feasible episodes. Owing to Rigg's energetic charisma (and chemistry with Macnee), Clemens' more whimsical, fantasy-oriented inclinations and its upgraded production values, the show resultantly became much more stylish, fast-paced and irreverent - even gaining a now-iconic new theme song - although it wasn't until the next season that it was produced in colour. Mrs. Peel -- whose husband didn't make an appearance until her final episode -- set the trend of the SpyCatsuit and continued the gentleman spy / ActionGirl setup, although the further evolution of Steed into a mannerly, [[QuintessentialBritishGentleman exaggeratedly British gentleman]] (as opposed to the conniving and unscrupulous alpha male of the Keel and Gale eras) gave this era's incarnation of the dynamic a decidedly more parodic flavour. Possibly due to the more international reach of their seasons as co-stars, Steed and Mrs. Peel became the show's most iconic pairing, becoming synonymous with the cultural memory of the series (and its associated merchandise) at large despite featuring in less than a third of the show's overall run. The Peel seasons (particularly the colour-produced season 5) are likewise the only period of the show to have received significant reruns across much of the globe, further cementing this image to later generations of viewers.

''The Avengers'' is a very popular (and often-revamped) British SpyFiction series that ran during most of TheSixties (from 1961 to 1969). It was created by Creator/SydneyNewman (a few years before he created ''Series/DoctorWho'') and produced by Associated British Corporation (or ABC, unrelated to the identically-abbreviated American TV channel) for Creator/{{ITV}}. The series aired a total of 161 episodes across six seasons - undertaking an abnormally-wide GenreShift from a grim urban crime drama to a lighthearted and fantastical spoof comedy in the process - popularized the ActionGirl archetype as a TV staple and singlehandedly started the SpyCatsuit trope.

The series was originally created as a vehicle for Creator/IanHendry (who would [[DeletedRole not-quite appear]] in [[Film/CasinoRoyale1967 a not-quite Bond film]]), to capitalise on the popularity he had developed during his previous show, the realistic crime drama ''Police Surgeon''. In the {{pilot}}, his character, the subdued and pragmatic practitioner Dr David Keel, was recruited by charming-but-thuggish spy John Steed (Macnee) as a part-time expert assistant in return for Steed's help capturing the murderers of Keel's fiancée; this was pretty much [[ArtifactTitle the last time in the series any actual]] ''[[ArtifactTitle avenging]]'' [[ArtifactTitle took place]]. The ensuing first season was generally a [[DarkerAndEdgier gritty and hardboiled]] (and decidedly low-budget) crime melodrama, centring around cases such as drug smugglers, arms dealers and urban gang warfare, often within the confines of a realistically-presented early-'60s London. Contrary to subsequent seasons, the show was frequently divided between Keel-centered (focalizing smaller-scale local or domestic crimes and conflicts) and Steed-centered episodes (focalizing his international assignments), thus presenting Keel and Steed more as recurring collaborators and co-protagonists as opposed to a regularly-partnered duo. While the series initially was not broadcast across the entirety of the UK, it nonetheless became a mild success.

Regardless of audience reception towards Tara King, however, Thorson would immediately be faced with the misfortune of fronting the show's most significant production disaster. Following the fifth season, the US ABC network, desiring more control over the show's production, fired showrunners Clemens and Fennell and reinstalled Cathy Gale-era producer John Bryce. Bryce's subsequent attempts to rewind the clock stylistically and return the show to a more hard-edged tone (even contemplating replacing Laurie Johnson's iconic theme with a rearrangement of Johnny Dankworth's theme from the first three seasons) proved catastrophic owing to his inexperience helming the revised production flow the show had adopted in his absence. With only three episodes completed far behind schedule, Bryce was dismissed and Clemens and Fennell were reluctantly rehired to helm the season on a truncated schedule (forcing scripts to be put to camera with fewer revisions than the Peel era). While the King era (comprising solely season 6) thus emerged as a modified variant on the Peel era's comedy-fantasy format, the show's doom was sealed by the ABC network scheduling it against the ratings juggernaut ''Series/RowanAndMartinsLaughIn'', vastly reducing the show's exposure in the U.S. Resultantly, the series was quietly cancelled, thus open-endedly launching Steed and King into the vacuum of space for its appropriately-titled finale "Bizarre". While viewed as a ratings disappointment in the U.S., the King season would acquire notable popularity [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff in France]] during the early 1970s, setting the scene for the series' eventual resurrection.

''The Avengers'' is a very popular (and often-revamped) British SpyFiction series that ran during most of TheSixties (from 1961 to 1969). It was created by Creator/SydneyNewman (a few years before he created ''Series/DoctorWho'') and produced by Associated British Corporation (or ABC, unrelated to the identically-abbreviated American TV channel) for Creator/{{ITV}}. The series aired a total of 161 episodes across six seasons - undertaking an abnormally-wide GenreShift from a grim urban crime drama to a lighthearted and fantastical spoof comedy in the interim - and singlehandedly started the SpyCatsuit trope.

''The Avengers'' is a very popular (and often-revamped) British SpyFiction series that ran during most of TheSixties (from 1961 to 1969). It was created by Creator/SydneyNewman (a few years before he created ''Series/DoctorWho'') and produced by Associated British Corporation (or ABC, unrelated to the identically-abbreviated American TV channel) for Creator/{{ITV}}. The series aired a total of 161 episodes across six seasons and singlehandedly started the SpyCatsuit trope.

Following the third season's conclusion in 1964, Blackman left to pursue a film career (playing Pussy Galore in ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}'', a Bond film). Following one-and-a-half unsuccessful (and never broadcast) episodes pairing Macnee with Elizabeth Shepherd, Steed was joined by Diana Rigg as Mrs. Emma Peel, described as a "talented amateur" (the Shepherd episodes were reedited and recycled into Rigg episodes). Buoyed by the national success of the Gale era, ABC banked on revamping the show to pursue American TV markets and, aided by funding from the American ABC network, increased its budget per episode to a then-lavish £56,000 GBP (from an average of £6000 for the previous season), enabling the show to convert from videotape to the more cinematographically-versatile medium of 35mm film (and thus compete with its U.S. contemporaries visually). Brian Clemens, previously a writer on the show's first and third seasons, was likewise promoted to the head writer position, with newly-appointed producer Albert Fennell supervising the translation of Clemens' story ideas into physically and financially-feasible episodes. Owing to Rigg's energetic charisma (and chemistry with Macnee), Clemens' more whimsical, fantasy-oriented inclinations and its upgraded production values, the show resultantly became much more stylish, fast-paced and irreverent - even gaining a now-iconic new theme song - although it wasn't until the next season that it was produced in colour. Mrs. Peel -- whose husband didn't make an appearance until her final episode -- set the trend of the SpyCatsuit and continued the gentleman spy / ActionGirl setup, although the further evolution of Steed into a mannerly, [[QuintessentialBritishGentleman exaggeratedly British gentleman]] (as opposed to the less chaste alpha male of the Keel and Gale eras) gave this era's incarnation of the dynamic a decidedly more parodic flavour. Possibly due to the more international reach of their seasons as co-stars, Steed and Mrs. Peel became the show's most iconic pairing, becoming synonymous with the cultural memory of the series (and its associated merchandise) at large despite featuring in less than a third of the show's overall run. The Peel seasons (particularly the colour-produced season 5) are likewise the only period of the show to have received significant reruns across much of the globe, further cementing this image to later generations of viewers.

The series was originally created as a vehicle for Creator/IanHendry (who would [[DeletedRole not-quite appear]] in [[Film/CasinoRoyale1967 a not-quite Bond film]]), to capitalise on the popularity he had developed during his previous show, the realistic crime drama ''Police Surgeon''. In the {{pilot}}, his character, the subdued and pragmatic practitioner Dr David Keel, was recruited by charming-but-thuggish spy John Steed (Macnee) as a part-time expert assistant in return for Steed's help capturing the murderers of Keel's fiancée; this was pretty much [[ArtifactTitle the last time in the series any actual]] ''[[ArtifactTitle avenging]]'' [[ArtifactTitle took place]]. The ensuing first season was generally a [[DarkerAndEdgier gritty and hardboiled]] (and decidedly low-budget) crime melodrama, centring around cases such as drug smugglers, arms dealers and urban gang warfare, often within the confines of a realistically-presented early-'60s London. Contrary to subsequent seasons, the show was frequently divided between Keel-centered (focalizing smaller-scale local or domestic crimes and conflicts) and Steed-centered episodes (focalizing his larger-scale international assignments), thus presenting Keel and Steed more as recurring collaborators and co-protagonists as opposed to a regularly-partnered duo. While the series initially was not broadcast across the entirety of the UK, it nonetheless became a mild success.

A TV strike delayed the start of the second season, so Hendry left to pursue a film career. Steed subsequently became the show's definitive central character and the production team started to explore other partnerships. The first, lasting just three episodes, was Dr. King, a blatant SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute of Keel. He was followed up by stories that alternately paired Steed up with nightclub singer Venus Smith (played by Julie Stevens, who has never appeared in a Bond film) and female spy and anthropologist Catherine "Cathy" Gale (arguably TV's first true ActionGirl, and played by Blackman, who, as noted already, would later appear in a Bond film). Cathy, who was initially written similarly to Dr. Keel (WordOfGod is that some of her early scripts were actually written for Hendry), proved to be the more popular and Venus was quietly dropped. With Steed now consistently partnered with his now-female co-protagonist (instead of entering and withdrawing from their otherwise-mundane daily occupation on call), much of his initial guarded shadiness and lechery was gradually removed in favor of a more affable and debonair characterization, although he would nonetheless retain elements of his ruthlessness and manipulative prowess, as demonstrated by his frequent tendency to both unscrupulously conceal information from Gale and abruptly throw her into elaborate, pre-emptively calculated cat-and-mouse ruses. Steed and Gale's relationship was resultantly cagier and more tenuous than that of the series' later leading duos, although a degree of underlying sexual tension began to form between the pair as of the third season.

This [[ReTool retooling]] of the show became a massive smash. With a consistent AgentsDating format, the show gradually began to move away from more mundane villains and smaller-scale urban dramas in favour of pulpier, more bombastic plots centred on international espionage, political corruption and industrial sabotage, albeit while retaining a hard-edged tone and emphasis on sordid moral dilemmas; by its third season, the series had effectively evolved into an intricately-plotted spy thriller as opposed to a sombre crime series. Partially owing to this genre shift, the show began to feature more overtly unrealistic concepts - among them criminal doppelgangers, electromagnetic weapons concealed within watermills and fanatical conspiracies to reignite the Roman Empire - during this period, although these were more the exception than the rule.

A TV strike delayed the start of the second season, so Hendry left to pursue a film career. Steed subsequently became the show's definitive central character and the production team started to explore other partnerships. The first, lasting just three episodes, was Dr. King, a blatant SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute of Keel. He was followed up by stories that alternately paired Steed up with nightclub singer Venus Smith (played by Julie Stevens, who has never appeared in a Bond film) and female spy and anthropologist Catherine "Cathy" Gale (arguably TV's first true ActionGirl, and played by Blackman, who, as noted already, would later appear in a Bond film). Cathy, who was initially written similarly to Dr. Keel (WordOfGod is that some of her early scripts were actually written for Hendry), proved to be the more popular and Venus was quietly dropped. With Steed now consistently partnered with his co-protagonist (instead of entering and withdrawing from their otherwise-mundane daily occupation on call), much of his initial guarded shadiness was removed in favor of a more affable and debonair characterization, although he would nonetheless retain elements of his ruthlessness and manipulative prowess, as demonstrated by his frequent tendency to both unscrupulously conceal information from Gale and abruptly throw her into elaborate, pre-emptively calculated cat-and-mouse ruses. Steed and Gale's relationship was resultantly cagier and more tenuous than that of the series' later leading duos, although a degree of underlying sexual tension began to form between the pair as of the third season.

The series was originally created as a vehicle for Creator/IanHendry (who would [[DeletedRole not-quite appear]] in [[Film/CasinoRoyale1967 a not-quite Bond film]]), to capitalise on the popularity he had developed during his previous show, the realistic crime drama ''Police Surgeon''. In the {{pilot}}, his character, the subdued and pragmatic practitioner Dr David Keel, was recruited by charming-but-hard-edged spy John Steed (Macnee) as a part-time expert assistant in return for Steed's help capturing the murderers of Keel's fiancée; this was pretty much [[ArtifactTitle the last time in the series any actual]] ''[[ArtifactTitle avenging]]'' [[ArtifactTitle took place]]. The ensuing first season (featuring Keel and Steed as rotating co-protagonists and collaborators more than a regularly-partnered duo) was generally a [[DarkerAndEdgier gritty and hardboiled]] (and decidedly low-budget) crime melodrama, centring around cases such as drug smugglers, arms dealers and urban gang warfare, often within the confines of a realistically-presented early-'60s London. While the series initially was not broadcast across the entirety of the UK, it nonetheless became a mild success.

Eventually Rigg, weary from the show's rigorous production schedule and frustrated by the staff's refusal to pay her proportionately for her leading role, left Steed for the [[Film/OnHerMajestysSecretService doomed embrace]] of Creator/GeorgeLazenby's Bond, and Steed took on his last partner, Tara King. Tara (played by Creator/LindaThorson, who has ''not'' appeared in a Bond film,[[note]]though she was apparently considered for ''Film/DiamondsAreForever'' for both Tiffany Case and Plenty O'Toole, and Creator/AlbertRBroccoli reportedly told Thorson she was never cast in a Bond film because she didn't have long hair... which ironically might be because of ''The Avengers''; she was asked to bleach her hair blonde to distinguish her from Diana Rigg's Emma Peel, but a dye failure ruined her hair, having to wear a wig for several episodes,[[/note]] but made up for it by being the only one of the bunch to appear on ''[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E18TheChase Star Trek]]'') was a more feminine character, though still an ActionGirl, but was nonetheless faced with the misfortune of fronting the show's most significant production disaster. Following the fifth season, the US ABC network, desiring more control over the show's production, fired showrunners Clemens and Fennell and reinstalled Cathy Gale-era producer John Bryce. Bryce's subsequent attempts to rewind the clock stylistically and return the show to a more hard-edged tone (even contemplating replacing Laurie Johnson's iconic theme with a rearrangement of Johnny Dankworth's theme from the first three seasons) proved catastrophic owing to his inexperience helming the revised production flow the show had adopted in his absence. With only three episodes completed far behind schedule, Bryce was dismissed and Clemens and Fennell were reluctantly rehired to helm the season on a truncated schedule (forcing scripts to be put to camera with fewer revisions than the Peel era). While the King era (comprising solely season 6) thus emerged as a modified variant on the Peel era's comedy-fantasy format, the show's doom was sealed by the ABC network scheduling it against the ratings juggernaut ''Series/RowanAndMartinsLaughIn'', vastly reducing the show's exposure in the U.S. Resultantly, the series was quietly cancelled, thus open-endedly launching Steed and King into the vacuum of space for its appropriately-titled finale "Bizarre". While viewed as a ratings disappointment in the U.S., the King season would acquire notable popularity [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff in France]] during the early 1970s, setting the scene for the series' eventual resurrection.

Following the third season's conclusion in 1964, Blackman left to pursue a film career (playing Pussy Galore in ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}'', a Bond film). Following one-and-a-half unsuccessful (and never broadcast) episodes pairing Macnee with Elizabeth Shepherd, Steed was joined by Diana Rigg as Mrs. Emma Peel, described as a "talented amateur" (the Shepherd episodes were reedited and recycled into Rigg episodes). Buoyed by the national success of the Gale era, ABC banked on revamping the show to pursue American TV markets and, aided by funding from the American ABC network, increased its budget per episode to a then-lavish £56,000 GBP (from an average of £6000 for the previous season), enabling the show to convert from videotape to the more cinematographically-versatile medium of 35mm film (and thus compete with its U.S. contemporaries visually). Brian Clemens, previously a writer on the show's first and third seasons, was likewise promoted to the head writer position, with newly-appointed producer Albert Fennell supervising the translation of Clemens' story ideas into physically and financially-feasible episodes. Owing to Rigg's energetic charisma (and chemistry with Macnee), Clemens' more whimsical, fantasy-oriented inclinations and its upgraded production values, the show resultantly became much more stylish, fast-paced and irreverent - even gaining a now-iconic new theme song - although it wasn't until the next season that it was produced in colour. Mrs. Peel -- whose husband didn't make an appearance until her final episode -- set the trend of the SpyCatsuit and continued the gentleman spy / ActionGirl setup, although the further evolution of Steed into a mannerly, [[QuintessentialBritishGentleman exaggeratedly British gentleman]] (as opposed to the less chaste alpha male of the Keel and Gale eras) gave this era's incarnation of the dynamic a decidedly more parodic flavour. Possibly due to the more international reach of their seasons as co-stars, Steed and Mrs. Peel became the show's most iconic pairing, with the fifth season's shift to colour accentuating their profile (and the show's popularity) further.

Eventually Rigg, weary from the show's rigorous production schedule and frustrated by the staff's refusal to pay her proportionately for her leading role, left Steed for the [[Film/OnHerMajestysSecretService doomed embrace]] of Creator/GeorgeLazenby's Bond, and Steed took on his last partner, Tara King. Tara (played by Creator/LindaThorson, who has ''not'' appeared in a Bond film,[[note]]though she was apparently considered for ''Film/DiamondsAreForever'' for both Tiffany Case and Plenty O'Toole, and Creator/AlbertRBroccoli reportedly told Thorson she was never cast in a Bond film because she didn't have long hair... which ironically might be because of ''The Avengers''; she was asked to bleach her hair blonde to distinguish her from Diana Rigg's Emma Peel, but a dye failure ruined her hair, having to wear a wig for several episodes,[[/note]] but made up for it by being the only one of the bunch to appear on ''[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E18TheChase Star Trek]]'') was a more feminine character, though still an ActionGirl, but was nonetheless faced with the misfortune of fronting the show's most significant production disaster. Following the fifth season, the US ABC network, desiring more control over the show's production, fired showrunners Clemens and Fennell and reinstalled Cathy Gale-era producer John Bryce. Bryce's subsequent attempts to rewind the clock stylistically and return the show to a more hard-edged tone (even contemplating replacing Laurie Johnson's iconic theme with a rearrangement of Johnny Dankworth's theme from the first three seasons) proved catastrophic owing to his inexperience helming the revised production flow the show had adopted in his absence. With only three episodes completed far behind schedule, Bryce was dismissed and Clemens and Fennell were rehired to helm the season, despite the reduced production schedule (forcing scripts to be put to camera with fewer revisions than the Peel era). While the King era (comprising solely season 6) thus emerged as a modified variant on the Peel era's comedy-fantasy format, the show's doom was sealed by the ABC network scheduling it against the ratings juggernaut ''Series/RowanAndMartinsLaughIn'', vastly reducing the show's exposure in the U.S. Resultantly, the series was quietly cancelled, thus open-endedly launching Steed and King into the vacuum of space for its appropriately-titled finale "Bizarre". As of late 2020, Thorson and Julie Stevens are the last living main cast members, with both Honor Blackman and Diana Rigg having passed away earlier that year.

A short-lived {{revival}} was attempted in 1976, titled '''''Series/TheNewAvengers''''', starring Macnee and Creator/JoannaLumley (who's better known for ''Series/AbsolutelyFabulous'', but had [[RunningGag earlier appeared]] in [[Film/OnHerMajestysSecretService a Bond film]]) as [[OnlyOneName Purdey]]. Oh, and Gareth Hunt, the guy from the Nescafe adverts (but who, in lieu of actual Bond films, appeared in the James Bond parody ''Licensed to Love and Kill'' instead), as Mike Gambit. While Lumley and Hunt were initially the sole leads, the revival's French backers, noting the immense domestic popularity of the Tara King season in reruns, insisted that Macnee reprise his role as Steed. Nonetheless, Macnee would later expressed his distaste for the revival in interviews, viewing it as sacrificing much of the Peel era's whimsical comedy in favor of emulating ''Series/StarskyAndHutch''.