The New Avengers Season 2 Eps 1-4

 

The second season opens with a claustrophobic thriller `Hostage` in which Steed is forced to act treasonably in order to save the kidnapped Purdey. Writer Brian Clemens is in his element here as the episode slowly plays its hand all the time keeping the viewer guessing. He avoids telling us the instructions the kidnappers give Steed, instead choosing to let them play out. We only see the bigger picture later on.   The reveal of the actual traitor comes earlier than you expect so you get to see different sides of the plan. That the ultimate aim of the antagonists is to de-stabilise the department – the much talked about secret papers are only a means to that end- is in line with the subtleties of the episode.

While the moves are par for the course when it comes to espionage fiction- sneaking into an office to steal from the safe, envelopes with money, rushing from one phone box to another to get instructions - it is the slightly odd way the Avengers style comes into play that elevates it. Any other series would have Steed acting totally out of character but here he remains impassively polite even when he is being asked to steal documents and finding himself framed for murder. The most we get is a frown and a slightly concerned look. Patrick Macnee shows why both he and this character are held in high regard. Steed remains implacable while playing his own game.

The kidnappers are hard faced and clever (though one of them sports an unintentionally amusing handlebar moustache), the MI5 people are serious and we even see Steed and Gambit at work in offices. I had assumed they just worked from home! Director Sydney Havers ensures the episode never becomes too slow, adding interesting camera angles- Steed in a phone box from above, the back end of cars as they accelerate- while the choice of an old fairground as the villain’s lair adds a vaudeville touch even it is an unlikely hideout. A fine cast including William Franklyn, Simon Oates and Michael Culver add class to an episode that may be more conventional than Avengers watchers are used to but has an unstoppable momentum that keeps you watching.

Not Brian Clemens’ finest hour, `Trap` is something of a mess. When the Avengers foil a drugs deal the shamed Chinese organiser Soo Choy sets a trap to capture them. He uses a double agent to track them into boarding an emergency flight, however when the trio manage to escape but crash the plane they are unarmed fugitives in the drug barons’ estate. Now that sounds Ok when you read it back but what we actually see is a drugs deal taking place in a back alley with a Chinese operative disguised as a refuse collector. In lieu of an actual Chinese actor there’s an Englishman dressed in a pantomime outfit and speaking with a whisper to signify that he is Chinese. Terry Wood is the actor lumbered with this assignment, I wonder what he thought of it later on.

Even if you forgive the casting as just something that happened in the Seventies as this isn’t the only series guilty of the practice (the usual excuse was there were not many Chinese actors in the UK then) the story doesn’t hold together. It conveniently avoids showing swathes of the action that are either unlikely or unaffordable. So from Steed and Gambit resolving to crash land the plane after the door has been blown away, we cut to some neatly arranged debris in woods which just don’t look like anywhere except England. And the only injury is Steed having broken his arm with not a scratch on any of their faces or even dirt on their clothes. Really the actors must have felt stupid creeping about in the woods, making unlikely arrows out of twigs which would surely not cause the damage they do. So the trio crawl about avoiding shouty guards and are not spotted despite less than copious foliage and the fact that all three of them are wearing at least one item of white clothing!

Meanwhile while this less than thrilling search is happening we keep cutting back to Soo Choy’s house where he had assembled his partners in crime to witness this retribution. They all just stand around looking as if they have nothing to say and because he’s Chinese he has his servant make some tea. The episode livens up a little for a denouement that allows director Ray Austin something to work with. For the rest of the time his efforts cannot disguise the cheapness of the production or hide the cliches abounding with every scene.

On the other hand what appears to be a ridiculous scenario can end up winning you over by the sheer style of the production and `Dead Men Are Dangerous` is a perfect example. It opens with a flashback to an incident ten years ago when an old school friend of Steed’s called Mark Crayford who now works as a double agent is headed back to the East only for his festering jealousy to boil over ending up with Steed having to shoot him.  Now when he learns that bullet which has been lodged inside him for a decade will shortly kill him he comes back to England to take bitter revenge on Steed.

Yes, it all sounds a bit far fetched even for a series like this and yet as it progresses what we have is a taut thriller which by using an unusual amount of personal detail about the show’s lynchpin gradually adds verisimilitude to the scenario. Brian Clemens’ script somehow makes Crayford’s seemingly petty vendetta develop into something both convincing and vicious. His increasingly elaborate schemes to intimidate Steed do sometimes make you think `hang on, how could he do that` (putting up an entire loud speaker system in Steed’s garden without anyone noticing is the most obvious example) yet somehow you go along with it.

This is partly because, while the episode has as many cheeky entendres and sharp patter as any, it is contained by more serious acting choices. It allows a little emotion to creep into the leading trio while providing the actor playing Crayford an opportunity that Clive Revill grabs with both hands. Crayford is bubbling with barely supressed rage, has an inferiority complex and yet is a skilled operator who soon seems to be very dangerous indeed. Revill gives him the measured touch of a stage actor while director Sydney Hayers really brings his cameras close up to capture every moment. By the time we get to the climax in an old stone tower with dim lighting, it’s almost Shakesperian in atmosphere. Hayers relishes the possibilities in the script and this is such a stylish production, tight and together at all times.

There are also great performances from the three leads. While Steed is ruffled at times, Patrick Macnee plays things the opposite way to Clive Revill which underscores the whole point of the story about Steed always beating him. It’s one of Gareth Hunt’s best episodes as he shows a more serious side yet is still there flirting with a maths teacher as well. And we find out that though he moved into his flat four years ago he’s still not finished packing! Joanna Lumley gets lets to do and for the second episode running is used as bait but the interplay between her and MacNee is so good. Though Avengers afficionados say this is an out of character story for the show it plays well into the aesthetic of the Seventies version though had the show lasted longer there is plenty of character continuity to adhere to after this story.

Steed is once again the target in `Medium Rare` when attempts to frame him are seemingly predicted accurately by a clairvoyant in Dennis Spooner’s unlikely story. Whereas the motivation in the previous episode was personal this time it is to stop Steed uncovering the wrong doings of a senior official called Wallace who has been dressing up as various informants to claim money from his own department. When he is forced to murder someone who finds out he aims to make Steed take the fall. This plot falls because you simply can’t believe Wallace could get away with such a ruse that seems to involve dressing up unconvincingly and never being spotted by the people he works with each day! Also instead of undertaking the job himself Wallace hires a hot shot assassin.

The subsequent attempts to implicate Steed are mostly circumstantial and would surely have been spotted by the dogged McBain, Wallace’s deputy who seem thorough in other respects. Still the episode is livened up by the clairvoyant Victoria Stanton played amidst a sea of curly hair by Sue Holderness. She has fun with it even if her information is uncannily precise while the unveiling of how she is receiving will draw a smile. Ray Austin directs with some interesting shots while Wallace is played by Jon Finch with a certain charm., However the whole idea is so ridiculous that it lacks both the required tension and mystery to make it work.