Although the exploits of the urbane John Steed and his coterie of assistants came to an end on the small screen with the final episode of The New Avengers in December 1977 (we shall draw a discrete veil over the jaw-droppingly ill-advised 1998 big screen reimagining), Avengers fans are still unearthing more forgotten/barely-known treasures from the long history of the show.
It turns out that there is a lot more to The Avengers than just the TV series; apart from scripts that never reached the screen at all, there have, it transpires, been numerous alternative versions of Steed and his adventures across the decades and across various mediums. There have also been failed attempts to relaunch the series after it went off air.
Avengers fans, like the fans of all classic cult TV, are nothing if not determined and completist, and Escapades: An Exploration of Avengers Curiosities is an extraordinary and virtually forensic investigation into, particularly, the post-TV series history of the show – its original 1960s incarnation and the 1970s reboot. It’s a testament not only to the durability and versatility of the original show’s format but also to the spell it has clearly woven amongst its hardcore devotees. No stone has been left unturned here in presenting pretty much the definitive history of Avengers ‘curiosities’ – from a run of episodic adventures recorded for radio in South Africa in the 1970s, the ludicrously ambitious but short-lived stage show (starring Doomwatch’s Simon Oates), via unsuccessful pitches for TV films, alongside unmade scripts from the classic series. It’s all here and, very probably, much more.
In truth, you really need to adore The Avengers almost beyond life itself to get the most out of Escapades. Synopses for a couple of unmade scripts (one from the Emma Peel era in the 1960s and one from The New Avengers in the 1970s) are presented in all their glory and, as they were unmade, it’s possible that the eyes may glaze over slightly from time to time. But the book really comes into its own when the history of the scripts themselves is examined and the writers give their verdict on the stories and how they might have fitted into the history and canon of the show.
More interesting again, though, are the hugely informative sections on the unmade 1990s film revival, a proposal for a 1980s revival entitled Avengers International: Reincarnation, the 1990s Steed and Mrs Peel comic book series, an unauthorised 1960s Mexican wrestling film entitled Las Luchadoras vs el Robot Asesino (featuring the return of the show’s mechanical monstrosities the Cybernauts) and an assortment of incredible oddities. The chapter on the 1971 stage play is particularly fascinating as it details the history of a production that was insanely ambitious (and doomed to failure) and lumbered with a script that seemed aimed at a Carry On-savvy audience.
Writers JZ Ferguson and Alan Hayes are to be congratulated and admired for the depth of research demonstrated here; they’ve really gone above and beyond the call of fan duty to exhume and expose eleven quirky Avengers-related projects that most will be absolutely unaware of. You might find yourself getting a bit lost in the various in-depth plot outlines and synopses presented here, but the behind-the-scenes stuff is terrifically informative and, if nothing else, the book reminds us just why The Avengers is still regarded as one of the great British adventure shows of the first Golden Age of Television.
Escapades: An Exploration of Avengers Curiosities is available to preorder from Quoit Media.
