[Avengers] Behind the Scenes: Emma Peel Era

[Ubiquitous]

In December of 1963, three months prior to the completion of the second
Cathy Gale series, an American film producer made ABC (Associated
British Corporation, not to be confused with the American Broadcasting
Corporation) a tempting offer: turn The Avengers into a major motion
picture. Around the same time, yet another American film producer
suggested making The Avengers a Broadway musical!

But before ABC could respond to any of these offers, they had to deal
with a much more urgent issue: Honor Blackman had decided to leave.
Stories vary as to her reasons, but the outcome was the same. She had
accepted a role offered her in the James Bond film, Goldfinger.

With no female lead to offer any prospective investors, ABC pulled the
plug on The Avengers altogether in order to regroup. After spending six
months in limbo, the studio decided to turn the property over to
Telemen Limited, headed by Julian Wintle, who recruited Albert Fennell
and Brian Clemens to continue the series for television on film.

Their first challenge was not simply replacing Honor Blackman, but
replacing Cathy Gale; since Honor had made the character what she was,
there was no point in trying to find another actress to assume the same
role. From their drawing board emerged Emma Peel (the name derived from
the term "man appeal," shortened to "m-appeal," a brainstorm by the
producers' press officer). While different from Cathy Gale, Mrs. Peel's
similarity to Cathy was mission-critical: she was to be every bit as
emancipated as her predecessor.

After months of searching, Elizabeth Shepherd was signed on for the
role. However, after completing "The Town of No Return" and half of
"The Murder Market," the producers concluded that, while talented, she
was not right for the part.

Further casting searches led to an actress who had recently appeared in
an Armchair Theatre play, "The Hothouse." Convinced she wasn't right
for the part, Diana Rigg, then (a very mature) 26, nevertheless agreed
to audition "for a giggle," unaware that she was about to make
television history.

It couldn't have been a better choice, particularly in the minds of
male fans. As one chap put it, "Give a man a pudding and Diana Rigg
during the lunch hour and experience shows he will be a thing of
slobbering contentment from start to finish." (New York Newsday, 3
April 1994)

In addition to a new female lead, The Avengers received a complete
stylistic overhaul. The new producers realized the tremendous value in
attracting an international audience, so they essentially turned the
show into a tourist promotion. The move from videotape to film allowed
them to move from studio to countryside, providing everyone with the
best views England had to offer. John Steed was also re-tooled: He
became excruciatingly Anglicized, playing to the hilt every upper-class
British mannerism known, which was appreciated by fans both at home and
abroad.

Clemens laid down a few ground rules that were to shape the new series:
No extras on the streets, no policemen, no killing women, no blood and
others, although each of these directives was broken at one time or
another. Clemens' stated purpose was to create a "fantasy land" setting
for the stories, so that any story, no matter how bizarre, could be
told—although the roots of this style were based in "real-world"
budgetary restrictions.

Indeed, the stories shifted from slightly fanciful espionage yarns to
wildly fantastic, quasi-science fiction tales about mad scientists,
man-eating plants and killer robots. The fighting became an intelligent
caricature, as exemplified by Patrick Macnee's own ground rule of
refusing to carry a firearm. "I'm not going to carry a gun," he
asserts, "I'm going to carry my brain."

ABC also turned the fashion aspect of the program into a franchise,
hiring top-drawer designers and filling the boutiques of Europe with
Avengers clothing and accessories.

The world would never be the same.

And ABC, who helped fund the series by running it in North America,
heeded to "help" our viewers understand the show
(https://www.dissolute.com.au/the-avengers-tv-series/series-
4/chessboard-intro.html)

Riding high on the show's international success, the studio approached
the as yet untapped American market. NBC and CBS turned them down.
While ABC expressed interest (they had no espionage program of their
own), they were reluctant to buy a monochrome program as the US had
already been enjoying color television for a decade. So the studio
offered a deal: buy the monochrome series, and the following season
would be delivered in color.

Thus began the British Invasion, Avengers-style, as well as the series'
transition to color. But the sale to America was to change the shape of
the series, starting with the previous season, which received a special
introduction just for the "dim" Americans.
http://theavengers.tv/forever/peel-prod-dp1.htm

To further satisfy the American market, the show itself was "tweaked."
For starters, Emma Peel's "strong" personality traits were toned down.
Cathy Gale used brute-force Judo—considered far too violent for
American tastes, and while Emma employed high-tech Karate in the
monochrome episodes, this was still considered too "unladylike" by
Americans, so the fighting mode of choice for the color season became
graceful Kung Fu. In the fashion department, the "kinky" leather
catsuits gave way to a parade of colorful "Emmapeelers." (Just as well
for Diana Rigg, who disliked the leather gear.) Even the dialog was
"Americanized"—flats became apartments; lifts, elevators. It seemed as
if the very thing that made the show unique—its patent Britishness—was
being compromised.

But a color Emma Peel series almost didn't come about. Exhausted by a
six- to seven-day a week, twelve-hour a day production schedule, not to
mention the pressure that publicity brought to bear, Diana Rigg felt
the producers were treating her like a piece of meat, and decided that
£150 per episode wasn't enough. (The cameraman made more than she did!
And the media accused her of being greedy...) Although the producers
agreed to triple her salary, she made it clear that this would be her
last season, staying on more out of loyalty to Patrick Macnee—or "Paddy
Nee," as she calls him—than anything else.

Yet another vexing issue had to do with money on a much larger scale:
the show was very costly to produce, and without the continuous support
of the Americans, production could halt at any moment. As it happened,
ABC was somewhat capricious in placing orders for episodes, as they
were still using the show as mid-season replacements, and so the studio
was forced to suspend production midway through the fifth season while
waiting for further orders. As a result, what was to be a 26-episode
color season in the UK was split in two.

In spite of increasingly erratic production and broadcasting schedules,
The Avengers became a world-wide phenomenon, airing in a record-setting
120 countries. Diana Rigg was nominated for an Emmy (Barbara Bain of
Mission: Impossible won), and was voted Actress of the Year by sixteen
European countries.

But the world would have to be satisfied with this, for there was to be
no more Mrs. Peel. And the world had no idea what insanity transpired
behind the scenes to bring the next season into being.

--
Dems & the media want Trump to be more like Obama, but then he'd
have to audit liberals & wire tap reporters' phones.

[Ubiquitous]

Trump: A president so great that Democrats who said they would leave
America if he won decided to stay!

[anim8rfsk]

Sun, 31 Mar 2019 08:00:06 -0700 Ubiquitous<web...@polaris.net> wrote:

> Further casting searches led to an actress who had recently appeared in
> an Armchair Theatre play, "The Hothouse." Convinced she wasn't right
> for the part, Diana Rigg, then (a very mature) 26, nevertheless agreed
> to audition "for a giggle," unaware that she was about to make
> television history.

Yay!

--
Join your old RAT friends at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1688985234647266/

[Jerry Brown]

On Thu, 02 Aug 2018 20:24:47 -0400, Ubiquitous <web...@polaris.net>
wrote:

<snip>

>Clemens laid down a few ground rules that were to shape the new series:
>No extras on the streets, no policemen, no killing women, no blood and
>others, although each of these directives was broken at one time or
>another.

One such directive I recall reading somewhere was "If it's in the
shot, it's in the plot".

--
Jerry Brown

A cat may look at a king
(but probably won't bother)

[Ubiquitous]

anim...@cox.net wrote:
>Sun, 31 Mar 2019 08:00:06 -0700 Ubiquitous<web...@polaris.net> wrote:

>> Further casting searches led to an actress who had recently appeared in
>> an Armchair Theatre play, "The Hothouse." Convinced she wasn't right
>> for the part, Diana Rigg, then (a very mature) 26, nevertheless agreed
>> to audition "for a giggle," unaware that she was about to make
>> television history.
>
>Yay!

++

It appears that "Charge!" now only plays THE AVENGERS on Sunday mornings.