1968

TV Showtime, 12 January, page unknown, Poster of  Diana Rigg, no author, USA.

TV Weekly, 15 January, page 1, no title, New Zealand.  (Apparently just the cover)

Variety, 17 January, page unknown, no title, author unknown, USA.  Review of Mission: Highly Improbable.

TV Times 6 February, page 31, Personality Of The Sign: Patrick Macnee, Patrick Macnee's Astrological reading for that week, Maurice Woodruff, England.

TV Times 13 February, page 33, Personality Of The Sign: Patrick Macnee, Patrick Macnee's Astrological reading for that week, Maurice Woodruff, England

TV Guide 2 March, pages 12,13,14,15, Can She Make Them Forget Mrs. Peel?, Robert Musel, USA.

Washington DC Sunday Star TV Magazine, 3 March, pages 1,2,3, Frank Judge, A New Girl Replacing Karate Kid, USA.

Tele Radio, 18 March, pages 1, 26 to 30, Adios A Emma Peel, Ahora Tara King, author unknown, Spain.

San Francisco Examiner, 19 March, Color Her Black and Blue, page unknown, Terrence O'Flaherty, USA.

Louisville, Ky., Courier Journal, 22 March, 'Avengers' Shakes Up Its Spy Team, James Doussard, USA.

TV Tornado, 30 March, page 1, 17, Cover Man, England.  This comic featured Steed on the cover (see left), but the information inside was limited to a single sentence: JOHN STEED (played by Patrick Macnee) is now filming a new series of The Avengers.

Toronto Star Weekend Magazine, March, The Canadian Avenger, page unknown, Robert Musel, Canada.

PTA Magazine, March, The Avengers, page unknown, author unknown, USA.
This series is veddy brittle and British -- on the surface and surface is all there is.  The conversational style is based on a foolish flippancy, and the dialogue is so rapid you almost don't notice how meaningless it is -- just like all those supposedly meaningful looks the cast is forever exchanging.  The gaiety is punctuated but not interrupted, by frequent gunshots and is complicated by all sorts of mysterious Bond-type mechanisms.

The acting (or is it directing?   We never know for sure which one is responsible) is bad beyond belief.  Everyone hams.  When the cast tries to appear smart and sophisticated (which is whenever they don't forget to), they are just sad; when they try to be sad or frightened, they are just funny.  They behave as if their perilous adventures are a high joke, which of course they are, but hardly a joke to get smug about.

The only compensation for these shortcomings is two beautiful women in the cast.   Unfortunately they both spend most of their time standing about looking astonished, as if they too can't figure why people are running on and running on about so pointlessly.

It is customary to mask the wretched quality of such dramas by calling them spoofs.   This, it is hoped, will be license for every sort of feebleness.  And the publicity on this series has not shrunk from putting forward that thin, thin excuse.   But a spoof is a thin, thin satire, and this show isn't even that.  We have a better word for it: goof.

Photoplay, April, pages unknown, Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg: The Avengers, author unknown, England.  Five page feature.

Bravo, April, article title unknown, Diana Rigg and Patrick Macnee receive the "Golden Otto" award, pages 1 & Unknown, Author Unknown, Germany.

Los Angeles Times, 8 May, A Rare Find: Star of The Avengers Isn't So Terribly British, page unknown, Wayne Warga, USA.

TV Digest, 18 May, pages 1 & ?, title unknown, author unknown, USA.

Television Weekly, 23 May, page 5, Weekend in View: Avenging, author unknown, England.
The Avengers, in the persons of Emma Peel (Diana Rigg) and John Steed (Patrick Macnee) swing into action again on Sunday night in an exciting adventure with the intriguing title of A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Station.

Bravo, May, article title unknown, Patrick Macnee interview, pages unknown, Author unknown, Germany.  Note - this issue contains a flexi-disc that features Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg making acceptance speeches for the "Golden Otto".  The voice artist who dubbed Patrick Macnee may also be on this, but it could also be the quality of the flexi-disc.  Thanks to Uwe from Germany I now know that the voice-artist who dubbed Patrick Macnee for German audiences was Gert G. Hoffman, who also dubbed Sean Connery, and William Shatner's Captain Kirk.  (Now there's a Trivial Pursuit question for you).  Sadly, he died last year.
I do have a photocopy of an article from Bravo, which may or may not be from one of the above issues.  However, in the interests of wider European co-operation I have transcribed it... in the original German.  Click hier.

Bravo, 8 July, page 1, ?, Diana Rigg is on the cover, it is not known if there is an article inside, ?, Germany.

TV Guide, 3 August, pages 16,17,18, She's Miss Rigg of St. John's Wood Now, Robert Musel, USA. A look at Diana Rigg, post-Avengers.

TVue, 4 August, pages 1 & 17, Canadian Sees TV Aid to Stage Career, Anthony La Camera, USA

Vogue, 15 September, pages unknown, title unknown, author unknown, England.  2 pages featuring Linda Thorson living dangerously as Tara King in a cool new brand of cashmere designed for Ballantyne's Avenger range.

TV Times, 19 September, page 39, Out Goes Emma, In Comes Tara, author unknown, England.  Handover between Emma and Tara: The Forget-Me-Knot.

TV Times, 19 September, page unknown, Avenger Linda Agrees: The Outlook Is Black, author unknown, England.  Fashion piece.

TV Weekly, 7 October, pages unknown, no title, no author, New Zealand.  The back cover of this magazine is a full colour photo of Tara King.

TV Times, 10 October, page 11, The Fat Man Who Can't Afford To Be Thin, Patrick Newell interview, Eithne Power, England.

TV Times, 17 October, page unknown, Linda... One Of The Top Getaway People, author unknown, England.  Linda Thorson and The Avengers cars.

Australasian Post, 31 October, page 45, She'd like to go Western, no author, Australia.  Short Diana Rigg piece with big picture.

TV Times, 4 November, page 1 plus 2 unknown inside, Mr. Steed: your days are numbered, author unknown, Australia.

TV Guide, 16 November, pages 18,19,20, An Old Etonian In Malibu, author unknown, USA.

TV Times, 5 December, pages 32 and 33, "Relax Mother, You're Bulletproof Now", Interview with an armourer with reference to the Tara King episodes, Dave Lanning, England.

TV Times, 12 December, pages 20 and 21, The Long And The Short And The Tall, People of different sizes and shapes, including Patrick Newell and Rhonda Parker, England.

TV Week, 14 December, pages unknown (2), title unknown, author unknown, Australia.  A Fashion feature with the stars of The Avengers

TV Times, 19 December, page unknown, All Star Album, no author, England.  Includes Linda Thorson biographical details and picture.

Tele Radio, "enero", exact date unknown, pages 1, 26 to 30, Los Vengadores: Un Ano en TVE, author unknown, Spain.

forward to 1969

back to 1967

Episodes

1960-2000

Who's Who?

About this site

Search

theavengers.tv