Review of The New Avengers

The New Avengers is a fine 1970s upgrade of the classic series, with the dashing and urbane John Steed joined by the high-kicking Purdey and the rugged Gambit (who handles the general physical action and rough stuff). The plots are inventive, ranging from spies and traitors to assassins able to carry all known diseases, and even a giant rat lurking in the sewers, and so the adventures are slick and wonderfully outlandish (with even an early onscreen pairing of The Professionals' Bodie and Doyle!). However, the triumphs of the series are mainly restricted to the first UK-set episodes, because as the show detours to France, and then on to Canada, the quality and inventiveness markedly diminishes. While the adventures set in France are decent (with a good two-parter featuring age-defying Soviet soldiers), the Canadian episodes are rather drab, with Steed and Co seemingly at a loose end and just kind of tagging along with Canadian government agencies and police to solve fairly uninteresting mysteries. Indeed, it is not really clear why the team are suddenly on secondment in Canada in the first place. So, from a marvellous beginning, it is a shame that the action and style just kind of fades away towards the end, but the majority of the series compensates, and Joanna Lumley is absolutely fabulous.