The New Avengers
Series title screenshot
Genre	Action[1] Spy fiction[1]
Created by	Brian Clemens,Albert Fennell
Based on	The Avengers bySydney Newman
Starring	Patrick Macnee Gareth Hunt Joanna Lumley
Theme music composer	Laurie Johnson
Country of origin	United Kingdom Canada France
Original language	English
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	26
Production
Producer	Brian Clemens
Running time	50 minutes per episode
Production companies	The Avengers (Film and TV) Enterprises Ltd forLondon Weekend
Original release
Network	ITV
Release	22 October 1976 (1976-10-22) – 17 December 1977 (1977-12-17)
Related
The Avengers Escapade

The New Avengers is asecret agent action television series produced during 1976 and 1977. It is a sequel to the 1960s seriesThe Avengers and was developed by original series producersAlbert Fennell andBrian Clemens.

The series was produced by The Avengers (Film and TV) Enterprises Ltd for theITV network, cost £125,000 per episode to produce atPinewood Studios, and was seen in 120 countries.^[2]

A joint United Kingdom-France-Canada production,^[2] the series picks up the adventures ofJohn Steed (again played byPatrick Macnee) as he and his team of "Avengers" fight evil plots and world domination. Whereas in the original series Steed had almost always been partnered with a woman, in the new series he had two partners:Mike Gambit (Gareth Hunt), a top agent, crack marksman and trainedmartial artist, andPurdey (Joanna Lumley), a former trainee withThe Royal Ballet (to which she ascribed the high-kicking skills she frequently used in the series) who was an amalgam of many of the best talents from Steed's female partners inThe Avengers.

As he was for most of the originalAvengers series,John Steed is once again acting without a direct superior—in many ways his character takes on the duties of "Mother" from theTara King era of that series. Steed is seen to be the mentor toMike Gambit andPurdey, taking on a paternal role towards them (especially in the episode "Hostage"). Gambit is the athletic action hero, while Purdey incorporates the wit and fighting skills of her predecessors. The verbal interplay between Gambit and Purdey, with her humorously keeping his romantic advances at bay, harks back to the Steed/Cathy Gale era ofThe Avengers.

One reason for the addition of Gambit was the question of whether Macnee, aged 53 when the series began production, could handle the potential stuntwork and action scenes. Macnee was able to increase his role's visibility as the series progressed, losing weight to improve his athleticism and "keep up" with his new partners.

The first series featured several episodes usingscience fiction themes similar to those of the classic "Emma Peel"Avengers era. The new trio had to deal withsuspended animation ("The Eagle's Nest"), biological warfare ("The Midas Touch"), robotics ("The Last of The Cybernauts?"), mind transfer ("Three-Handed Game") and even a giant rat ("Gnaws", a title patterned after the hit movieJaws). Second series episodes featured science fiction elements, such as the artificially-intelligent supercomputer of "Complex", the Russian soldiers revived from suspended animation in "K is for Kill", the submersible Russian community in "Forward Base" and the superhumans of "The Gladiators". Other episodes of that season dealt with more realistic plots.

The Avengers andThe New Avengers scriptwriterDennis Spooner said that at the end of its runThe Avengers had gone as far as it could in terms of parody. For this reason, producerBrian Clemens intentionally aimed for real stories and straight,Len Deighton-type spy stories inThe New Avengers. Spooner explained that "it's no good saying 'I don't likeThe New Avengers so much, because it wasn't like the old show'-because it never could have been. We did everything – we did the kitchen sink! – and there was no way of going back on it". When reminded of hisThe New Avengers script "Gnaws", Spooner admitted that "well, yes, towards the end we relaxed a bit!"^[3] Some of the storylines used in the series were recycled from earlier scripts penned by Clemens or Spooner from other series. "Medium Rare" was based on the episode "Murder in Mind" of the British seriesThriller, and "Gnaws" was based on theThunderbirds story "Attack of the Alligators!"

An attempt to getDiana Rigg to appear as Emma Peel in the new series was unsuccessful, although old footage of her on the phone from two 1960s episodes ofThe Avengers ("The Winged Avenger" and "The Hidden Tiger") was used to allow the character to make a cameo appearance in the episode "K Is For Kill Part One: The Tiger Awakes":Sue Lloyd provided the voice of Mrs Peel for these sequences.Ian Hendry, who in the early 1960s had played Steed's original partner, David Keel, also guest-starred in one episode, "To Catch A Rat", playing a different role. "Obsession" features two of the stars of the Brian Clemens/Albert Fennell British crime-fighting action seriesThe Professionals:Martin Shaw andLewis Collins.

Two series totalling 26 episodes were produced, which were aired onCBS in the United States,CTV in Canada,ITV in Britain,RTÉ in Ireland,ABC in Australia,TF1 in France,TVE1 in Spain and insyndication elsewhere.

Laurie Johnson, who had composed the theme used from 1965 onward for the originalAvengers series, returned to compose a new, updated theme for the revival, although it begins with the same fanfare as the original.

In order to complete the planned 26 episodes, finance was sought from other sources. Production company Nielsen Ferns came on board but was understandably keen to promote its home country, so the final four stories, titledThe New Avengers in Canada on the caption card preceding each episode, saw the action move toToronto,Ontario (with scenes for the episode "Forward Base" shot atWard's Island). Brian Clemens was by this time heavily committed to working onThe Professionals forLWT, and control of the series passed to a largely local crew. The results attracted heavy criticism both from fans and from Clemens himself.

The financial problems continued and plans for a third series were abandoned. Subsequently, however, strong sales to many countries—notably CBS in the United States—saw two attempts to revive the show (in 1979 and 1980), though co-financing arrangements proved impossible to agree upon.

Brian Clemens was invited to write a pilot forQuinn Martin's QM Productions. EntitledEscapade, the pilot episode was broadcast on CBS in 1978, and starredGranville Van Dusen andMorgan Fairchild as Joshua and Suzy – Gambit and Purdey equivalents. It was not picked up as a series.^[4]

In 1994, Joanna Lumley and Gareth Hunt publicised the launch of the series on domestic videocassette. Sales were stronger than expected, prompting Brian Clemens to consider reuniting the two actors in a "spin-off" series. Although both were keen to participate and a script was written, plans stalled at an early stage for undisclosed reasons.

In 1995/6, the series was picked up by theBBC for a repeat run (Joanna Lumley subsequently claimed that this is the only screening for which she received repeat fees). At the time, French companyCanal Plus held transmission prints for the series, but upon delivery the BBC considered that those for several early episodes were not of "broadcast quality". As a result, the final four episodes were actually the first to be screened, whilst better prints of the others were made up. Nevertheless, notable variations in picture and audio quality across the series remain, and it awaits genuine remastering from the original35 mmnegatives/interpositives.

The series began a repeat run onBBC Four on 13 November 2008. This was the first time the series had been networked since its screening by the BBC in 1995. UK channelITV4 started broadcasting the first series in January 2013.

The series was rerun sequentially on ITV4 in September 2014, starting with "The Eagle's Nest". As with other series such asThe Professionals andBatman, episodes were shown in the evening slot and then repeated the morning after.

In July 2018, British freeview channelTrue Entertainment began a rerun of the entire series. Previously they had also shown the originalAvengers. On 4 January 2021, True Entertainment's replacement channelSony Channel began a repeat showing ofThe New Avengers beginning with series 1, episode 1, "The Eagle's Nest" (whilst the rights to show the originalAvengers TV series in 2021 are with ITV).^[5]

On 25 May 2021, Narrative Capital's acquisition of Sony's channels saw The Sony Channel rebranded as Great! TV in the UK.

Mid-September into mid-October 2024 saw the weeknight re-broadcast in quick succession of both series of The New Avengers on Great TV although not in actual episode order, instead, somewhat haphazardly but still to completion of both 13 episode seasons with the final episode set for broadcast being Series 2, Episode 11 'The Gladiators' on Monday 14th October 2024, with each episode of each series broadcast at 2100.

Airdates given here are for a transmission on ATV (Midlands); other ITV regions' air dates vary.

All prints of the final four episodes of series 2 begin with a sting of the theme tune over a cue card, which readsThe New Avengers in Canada.

"K Is for Kill" is titled "The Dragon Awakes" ("Der Drache erwacht") in Germany and "The Long Sleep" ("Le Long Sommeil") in France.

The New Avengers spawned a series of novels based on episode scripts. Only three were published in the US:

• House of Cards, Peter Cave, 1976
• The Eagle's Nest, John Carter, 1976 (“The Eagle's Nest” and “The Midas Touch”)
• To Catch a Rat,Walter Harris, 1977
• Fighting Men,Justin Cartwright, 1977 (“Dirtier by the Dozen”)
• The Cybernauts, Cave, 1977 (“The Last of the Cybernauts”)
• Hostage, Cave, 1977

Two hardback annuals ofThe New Avengers were also published in the UK, containing self-contained comic strip adventures, short fiction and features:

• The New Avengers Annual (1977),Brown Watson – comic stripsFangs for the Memory, drawn byJohn Bolton (uncredited);Hypno-twist, drawn by John Bolton (signed).^[8]
• The New Avengers Annual (1978),Brown Watson – comic stripsMidas Touch, drawn by Pierre Le Goff;The Cybernauts, drawn by Pierre Le Goff.^[9]

The complete series is available onDVD in both the UK andNorth America.A&E Home Video, under license from StudioCanal International, released the Region 1 editions of series 1 in 2003 and series 2 in 2004, whileOptimum/Studio Canal released both series as a single set in 2006.

• The New Avengers atIMDb
• The New Avengers at Piers Johnson's "Mrs. Peel, We're Needed!"
• The Authorised Guide to The New Avengers
• DocumentaryAvenging the Avengers atIMDb

• 1976 British television series debuts
• 1977 British television series endings
• 1976 Canadian television series debuts
• 1977 Canadian television series endings
• The Avengers (TV series)
• Canadian action television series
• British action television series
• CTV Television Network original programming
• ITV television dramas
• Television series produced at Pinewood Studios
• Television series set in 1976
• Television series set in 1977
• 1970s British drama television series
• Sequel television series
• British spy television series
• Canadian spy television series
• French spy television series

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