The Avengers - The Complete Series 4

Described as ‘sexier than Dr. Who’ and wittier than ‘The Prisoner’, cult series The Avengers no doubt ranks amongst the best-loved and inventive British series ever produced. Enter the often wacky and surreal world of top agent John Steed and his glamorous sidekick Emma Peel – always at hand to avenge the most extraordinary of crimes!

This fourth series, starring Patrick Macnee as John Steed and Diana Rigg (before she became a ‘Dame’) as Emma Peel, composes 26 episodes all filmed in monochrome and often written by stalwarts such as Brian Clemens and Roy Ward Baker.

So what exactly is it that makes The Avengers so special? The scripts? The actors? The technicians? The often surreal sets? The answer is, a bit of all! Although we can recognise a certain ‘formula’ in each episode (Steed and Peel encounter well disguised anarchists, megalomaniacs, and assorted other baddies which usually work against country/government), Peel infiltrates the ring disguised as whatever the job calls for, followed by some martial arts kickass fighting towards the end etc. That said, the various characters and plots are always highly inventive and unique.

Whether the action takes place in a creaky old Scottish castle, a department store that aims to destroy considerably more than the products it sells, deserted farms and countryside that are suddenly plagued by biblical rainfall, or a college whose teachers are not really interested in mathematics and grammar… each adventure is as exciting and as entertaining as it gets!
Yours truly personal favourite is the 1966 episode titled ‘A Touch Of Brimstone’, in which Peter Wyngarde plays the Honourable John Cleverly Cartney, leader of a modern version of the notorious Hellfire Club. And yes, it is the episode in which Emma Peel can be seen in her controversial Queen Of Sin costume, and head to fend off some nasty whipping from Cartney.

THE AVENGERS: THE COMPLETE SERIES 4 was a defining series for many reasons; the production budget increased with location shoots being favoured over the original studio setting, it was the last of the series to be shot in black and white, as well as the first to be shot on film, allowing multiple camera angles.

EXTRAS (and we are talking over six hours!) include:


• Exclusive audio commentaries with: director Roy Ward Baker and scriptwriter/producer Brian Clemens on The Town of No Return, scriptwriter Robert Banks Stewart on The Master Minds, scriptwriter Roger Marshall on Dial A Deadly Number, director Gerry O’Hara on The Hour That Never Was and director Don Leaver on The House That Jack Built.
• The Series of No Return - Exclusive audio interview with Elizabeth Shepherd
• Armchair Theatre – The Hothouse (starring Diana Rigg)
• USA Chessboard opening sequence
• Strange Case of the Missing Corpse promotional trailer
• Alternative end tag from Death At Bargain Prices
• Episode reconstructions for series 1 scripts Kill The King and Dead of Winter
• Colourised test footage from Death At Bargain Prices and A Touch of Brimstone
• Reconstructed ‘The Avengers are back’ John Stamp trailer
• Alternative UK opening and closing credits
• Alternative UK animated bumpers
• UK animated bumper
• Variant opening title credits for The Gravediggers
• French opening credits
• German opening credits
• ITN Newsreel footage
• Stills galleries