The Avengers Series 3

Honor Blackman, Lally Bowers

The Avengers: Series 3, Episode 2 – The Undertakers

On Saturday 5 October 1963, a day after the US Joint Chiefs of Staff had updated their plan to invade Cuba the following July (President Kennedy’s assassination would intervene), and while JFK’s wife Jackie was enjoying the company of shipping … Read more

Cathy and Steed confer

The Avengers: Series 3, Episode 6 – November Five

Classic ass-backwards Avengers plotting is the hallmark of November Five, the sixth episode of the third series, which was first broadcast on Saturday 2 November 1963, three days before the Fifth of November (as it’s always called in the UK, … Read more

Villain prepares for operation

The Avengers: Series 3, Episode 8 – Second Sight

We finally arrive in upstream waters in Second Sight, first broadcast on Saturday 16 November 1963. As far as The Avengers is concerned, “upstream” means rarefied settings, no civilians or members of the public on view, posh accents, plots full … Read more

Steed and Gale kiss

The Avengers: Series 3, Episode 16 – The Little Wonders

Whether it’s spelt Bibliotek, Bibliotech or Bibliotheque, the crime organisation at the centre of The Little Wonders is a brilliant creation by writer Eric Paice, an international, centuries-old outfit whose members go around dressed as clerics. Hence the funny pre-credits … Read more

Honor Blackman and John Le Mesurier

The Avengers: Series 3, Episode 18 – Mandrake

The United States launched the Echo 2 satellite on 25 January 1964, the day that the Mandrake episode of The Avengers aired. And though the week before’s outing, The Wringer, had been a very up-to-date affair, set in the world … Read more

Fenella Fielding publicity shot for The Charmers

The Avengers: Series 3, Episode 23 – The Charmers

Charm, rather than grit or narrative or psychological coherence, are really what The Avengers is about, and in the appropriately titled The Charmers we get tons of it, thanks to a fine script by Brian Clemens and light, deft playing by the guest actors. … Read more

Nigel Stock and Patrick Macnee

The Avengers: Series 3, Episode 24 – Concerto

Shot in April 1963 but not actually broadcast until April 1964, Concerto is a spytastic episode with a Cold War setting, espionage chicanery and so on, with a plot about a concert pianist being accused of rape and murder. Or … Read more

Archives