THE AVENGERS

SOME FACTS ABOUT THE PROGRAMME AND ITS STARS

The new series of THE AVENGERS is the first in colour, the second on film and the fifth to be seen in Britain.

The success of the previous series in some 40 countries, including the USA, has shown that the qualities which endeared THE AVENGERS to its audiences were its essential English-ness and its off-beat humour. Both these elements are preserved to the full in the new series, but this time there is also more danger. Steed and Emma are exposed to every hazard that ingenuity can devise, including various happenings that appear to have a super-natural element. But, this being THE AVENGERS, there is usually a twist that 'sends up' the villains and their dastardly plots.

The forces against which THE AVENGERS are engaged are largely in the private sector of villainy, since ABC-TV believe that the spy cycle is on the wane. Dangerous madmen with delusions of power therefore outnumber Agents of a Foreign Power in the new series.

A popular feature of the programme is the opening sequence, in which Steed summons Emma to duty with the words "Mrs . Peel - we're needed! " These scenes take place in Emma's apartment.

There is no indication, of course, of who needs THE AVENGERS. Unlike most of the world's favol rite thriller heroes and heroines they have no 'M' figures, 'Uncles' or other visible or invisible means of support to control their activities. They fit into no known category and continue to be a law unto themselves.

As one appreciative viewer has written: "THE AVENGERS . . . is a way of escaping from an ordinary, usually uneventful existence into a life filled with danger, excitement and new experiences". THE AVENGERS presents first-class actors in guest rales, as many as possible of them good to look ~t, with always a beautiful female or two thrown in - and the audience is kept guessing as to which of these are on the side of the angels.

Steed's wardrobe is by PIERRE CARDIN of Paris, in a Regency Buck flavour along with the British bowler and brolly.

Emma Peel's wardrobe is the work of a young designer, ALUN HUGHES, who was recommended to ABC by Diana Rigg, for whom he had designed some leisure clothes. His brief for Emma was to create elegant and simple clothes which can have a screen-life of five years or more, and which are functional and complimentary both for Emma and for Diana Rigg. The wardrobe comprises coats, suits, dresses and 'action suits'.

Set designers WILFRID SHINGLETON and BOB JONES have sprayed the sets to show off Steed's and Emmais clothes, and have created some gorgeously colourful and way-out backgrounds to delight audiences lucky enough to receive colour TV.

Steed drives a 1929 six-and-half-litre Green label Bentley in British racing green, 18 feet in length and with a turning circle of 65 feet. Emma has a 1966 Lotus Elan in powder blue.

The music is composed by LAURIE JOHNSON and the fight sequences were arranged by RAY AUSTIN. Directors include GORDON FLEMYING, JOHN KRISH, ROBERT DAY, ROBERT ASHER, CHARLES CRICHTON, SIDNEY HAYERS, JAMES HILL and ROY ROSSOTTI, all of whom have considerable film experience, some of them in the USA and on US features in Europe.

Executive Producer for the new series is JULIAN WINTLE. The Co-Producers are ALBERT FENNELL and BRIAN CLEMENS, who continues to master-mind the scripts. His principal writer is PHILIP LEVENE, who has written the first four episodes.