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TV: N is for...

New Avengers, The

YOU DON’T mess with a hit, runs the old showbiz lore. Apart, that is, from when your lead actor is clearly past it, you think kung fu is the latest “with it” thing, and you run out of money half way through and have to move to Canada. There are redeeming elements to The New Avengers, but few of them have much to do with [cref 510 THE AVENGERS] and none of them are New. JOANNA LUMLEY did a decent Diana Rigg turn. PATRICK MACNEE could at least drop the pretence it was him doing all the fight scenes. There are some nice shots of Britain in the midst of its “prices”-obsessed orange-and-brown-hued hinterland. GARETH HUNT, though, was and is beyond parody. Ditto those dastardly athletes who could deflect bullets with a twitch of their pectorals. Nifty lion-meets-Union-Jack logo, though.

7 Comments

7 Comments

  1. paulus - Bangkok

    July 16, 2009 at 4:53 pm

    Lumley is still ‘thnking mans yummy’… even in her 60’s
    she’s bowl-tastic!

  2. Applemask

    July 20, 2009 at 10:09 pm

    Also notable for incorporating both Spider-Man and Wolverine into the lineup for the first time, which was great but still not worth “Disassembled”…wait, what?

  3. Glenn A

    March 13, 2011 at 2:47 pm

    Not bad, but clearly no match for the Diana Rigg Avengers era, and I found Mike Gambit wooden.

  4. The Haj

    February 22, 2013 at 1:23 pm

    And don’t forget, the cars where supplied by British Leyland. Possibly the dear old TR7’s finest moment. (I still have the Dinky version, but can’t seem to find anyone who owned Steed’s souped up XJ6 coupe).

  5. Glenn Aylett

    July 7, 2019 at 5:58 pm

    The Haj, Steed had a souped up Jaguar XJC that was built for motorsport and seemingly Patrick Macnee found the car too difficult to drive and temperamental. I still think he would have looked better in his pre war Bentley as the Jag was a bit raffish for someone like Steed.

  6. richardpd

    July 7, 2019 at 8:01 pm

    A brave attempt to revive the Avengers, it was never going to reach the Gale-Peel heights of the original, but still made for fun way to spend an hour.

    Eventually Steed switched to a more suitable Range Rover & Gambit started to drivr the XJC.

    Purdy drove both a TR7 & an MGB, one of which gave trouble for Joanna as it had been fitted with the gear lever from an Austin Princess, which had a different layout of gearbox.

    • Glenn Aylett

      July 8, 2019 at 8:40 am

      16 million people enjoyed the New Avengers and the first series was decent enough, but the second one based in Canada seemed to lose the plot and the show was cancelled in 1977.

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