Avengers - A Deadly Gift

Part James Bond, part Wonder Woman, The Avengers epitomized
Sixties British Cool on the small screen. The infrastructure for
TV broadcasting was slow to be adopted in South Africa, but they
had this terrific version of The Avengers from Springbok Radio.





The Avengers burst in the door of spy and super-hero adventure
drama on South African radio in 1971, starring Donald Monat as
John Steed, and Diane Appleby as the wonderful Emma Peel. It was
based on the fine TV series, which was very popular from the
start in the UK, and is an excellent example of radio's
adaptation of the television medium...as it had done with movies
all along.Part pop art, part super hero, and part adventure
serial... This radio show has all of the excitement and
intelligence of the original television hit. Donald Monat has
said, "I guess I was aiming to interpret the script in the spirit
of the TV series, but in my own way - as my voice is quite
different to Patrick's." Patrick McNee played Steed on the
original television show, and the radio format, as national TV
wasn't available in South Africa until '76, was the way it was
popularized there. It was produced as usually six fifteen-minute
serial episodes (with space for commercials), very unlike the
hour TV show with the entire adventure. The "cliff hanging"
segments keep the action moving and always leading up to a thrill
to be continued. The quality of production sounds great. The
radio stars even caught the fever and appeared to sign autographs
as Steed and Peel to promote the show!


Exactly as the television show did, it features outlandish,
quirky villains, mad scientists, secret organizations and
off-the-wall situations. Each adventure presents the Avengers
with a Gordian knot of plot twists that they almost always manage
to fray with aplomb. (Part James Bond, part Wonder Woman...why
not?) A quick scan of the stories give the flavor: "From Venus
with Love" is a fine example, featuring a very odd organization
with a hidden agenda. Another excellent adventure is "Super
Secret Cypher Snatch" the title alone titillates! "Not to be
Sneezed At..." are the Avengers.


Such madcap multi-parted adventures with two perfectly adept and
adroit Avengers is a great radio example of why the pictures in
the mind are the most exciting. As for the lovely Emma Peel, you
may substitute the television vision of Diana Rigg if you desire.