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===Series 4–5 (1965–1967)=== The show was sold to the [[American Broadcasting Company]] (ABC) in 1965, and ''The Avengers'' became one of the first British series to be aired on [[Prime time|prime-time]] US television. The US ABC network paid the then-unheard-of sum of $2 million for the first 26 episodes. The average budget for each episode was reportedly £56,000, which was high for the British industry. The fourth series aired in the US from March to the beginning of September 1966. Each episode still finished with the logo of ABC Weekend TV. The US deal meant that the producers could afford to start shooting the series on [[35 mm movie film|35mm film]], with production transferring from ABC's [[Teddington Studios|television studios in Teddington]] to the [[Associated British Studios|Associated British film studios]] in Elstree. The use of film, rather than the videotape of the earlier episodes, was essential, because British 405-line video was technically incompatible with the US [[NTSC]] videotape format. Filmed productions were standard on US prime-time television at the time. ''The Avengers'' continued to be produced in black-and-white. The transfer to film meant that episodes would be shot using the [[single-camera setup]], giving the production greater flexibility. The use of film production and the single-camera production style allowed more sophisticated visuals and camera angles, and more outdoor location shots, all of which greatly improved the look of the series. As was standard on British television filmed production through the 1960s, all location work on Series 4 was shot mute, with the soundtrack created in post-production. Dialogue scenes were filmed in the studio, leading to some jumps between location and studio footage. [[File:Emma-Peel Avengers-Intro.jpg|thumb|left|227px|Diana Rigg as Mrs [[Emma Peel]]]] New female partner Mrs. [[Emma Peel]] ([[Diana Rigg]]) debuted in October 1965. The name of the character derived from a comment by writers, during development, that they wanted a character with "man appeal". In an early attempt to incorporate this concept into the character's name, she was called "Samantha Peel", shortened to the awkward "Mantha Peel". Eventually, the writers began referring to the idea by the verbal shorthand "M. Appeal", which gave rise to the character's ultimate name.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Complete Avengers: The Full Story of Britain's Smash Crime-Fighting Team! |author=Dave Rogers |publisher=Boxtree Ltd |date=1989 |page=87 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KSNQpAU5z80C&pg=PA87 |isbn=9780312031879 }}</ref> After more than 60 actresses had been auditioned, the first choice to play the role was [[Elizabeth Shepherd]]. However, after filming one and a half episodes (the pilot, "The Town of No Return", and part of "The Murder Market"), Elizabeth Shepherd was released. Her on-screen personality was deemed less interesting than that of Honor Blackman's Catherine Gale, and it was decided that she was not right for the role. Another 20 actresses were auditioned before the show's casting director, [[Dodo Watts]], suggested that producers [[Brian Clemens]] and [[Albert Fennell]] check out a televised drama featuring the relatively unknown Diana Rigg. (She had earlier guested in an episode of ''[[The Sentimental Agent]]'' that Brian Clemens had written.) Diana Rigg's screen test with Patrick Macnee showed that the two immediately worked well together. A prologue was added to the beginning of all the fourth-series episodes for the American broadcasts. This was to clarify some initial confusion audiences had regarding the characters and their mission. In the opener, a waiter holding a champagne bottle falls dead onto a human-sized chessboard, a dagger protruding from a target on his back. Steed and Mrs. Emma Peel (dressed in her trademark leather catsuit) walk up to the body as the voice-over explains: "Extraordinary crimes against the people, and the state, have to be avenged by agents extraordinary. Two such people are John Steed, top professional, and his partner Emma Peel, talented amateur. Otherwise known as The Avengers". During this voice-over, Steed pours two drinks from the wine bottle and Mrs. Peel replaces her gun in her boot. They clink glasses and depart together as the screen fades to black and the opening titles begin. [[File:Avengersplate.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Film location plate presented by ABC Weekend TV to the [[Stapleford Miniature Railway]], which is still in use today]] In contrast to the Gale episodes, there is a lighter, comic touch in Steed's and Mrs. Emma Peel's interactions with each other and their reactions to other characters and situations. Earlier series had a harder tone, with the Gale era including some quite serious espionage dramas. This almost completely disappeared as Steed and Mrs. Emma Peel visibly enjoy topping each other's witticisms. The layer of conflict with Catherine Gale—who on occasion openly resented being used by Steed, often without her permission—is absent from Steed's interaction with Emma Peel. Also, the sexual tension between Steed and Catherine Gale is quite different from the tension between Steed and Emma Peel. In both cases, the exact relationship between the partners is left ambiguous, although they seemed to have ''carte blanche'' to visit each other's homes whenever they please, and it is not uncommon for scenes to suggest that Steed had spent the night at Catherine Gale's or Emma Peel's home, or vice versa. Although nothing "improper" is displayed, the close chemistry between Steed and Mrs. Emma Peel constantly suggests intimacy between the two. [[Science fiction]] and [[fantasy]] elements (a style later known as [[Spy-Fi (subgenre)|Spy-Fi]]) also began to emerge in storylines. The duo encounters killer robots ("The Cybernauts"), telepaths ("Too Many Christmas Trees") and giant alien carnivorous plants ("The Man-Eater of Surrey Green"). In her fourth episode, "Death at Bargain Prices," Mrs. Emma Peel takes an undercover job at a department store. Her uniform for promoting space-age toys is an elaborate leather [[catsuit]] plus silver boots, sash and welder's gloves. The suit (minus the silver accessories) became her signature outfit, which she wore primarily for fight scenes in early episodes and in the titles. Some episodes contain a [[fetish fashion|fetishistic]] undercurrent. In "[[A Touch of Brimstone]]", Mrs. Peel dresses in a [[dominatrix]] outfit of corset, laced boots and spiked collar to become the "Queen of Sin". [[File:1965 John Bates for Jean Varon mindress 01.jpg|thumb|left|upright|John Bates minidress, 1965. Based on a design for Emma Peel in ''The Avengers''.<ref name=bates38/>]] Emma Peel's avant-garde fashions, featuring bold accents and high-contrast geometric patterns, emphasise her youthful, contemporary personality. For the 1965 season, some of her most memorable outfits were designed by [[John Bates (designer)|John Bates]], including graphic black-and-white [[Op art]] mini-coats and accessories, and a silver ensemble comprising a bra bodice, low-slung trousers and jacket.<ref name=bates38>{{cite book |last1=Lester |first1=Richard |title=John Bates : fashion designer |date=2008 |publisher=ACC Editions |location=Woodbridge, Suffolk |isbn=9781851495702 |pages=38, 43}}</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110107204028/http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/fashion/object_stories/marit_allen/index.html Garments worn by Marit Allen] at the [[Victoria and Albert Museum]], London. Accessed 15 March 2010</ref> She represents [[Swinging Sixties|the modern England of the Sixties]] – just as Steed, with his vintage style and mannerisms, personifies Edwardian-era nostalgia. According to Patrick Macnee in his book ''The Avengers and Me,'' Diana Rigg disliked wearing leather and insisted on a new line of fabric athletic wear for the fifth series. Alun Hughes, who had designed clothing for Diana Rigg's personal wardrobe, was suggested by the actress to design Emma Peel's "softer" new wardrobe. [[Pierre Cardin]] was brought in to design a new wardrobe for Macnee. In the US, ''[[TV Guide]]'' ran a four-page photo spread on Diana Rigg's new "Emmapeeler" outfits (10–16 June 1967). Eight tight-fitting jumpsuits were created, in a variety of bright colours and made of the stretch fabric [[crimplene]]. ====Move to colour==== After one filmed series (of 26 episodes) in black and white, ''The Avengers'' began filming in colour for the fifth series in 1966. It was three years before Britain's ITV network began full colour broadcasting. The first 16 episodes of this series were broadcast concurrently in the US, in colour, and the UK, in black and white, from January to May 1967. Eight further episodes were broadcast in the UK beginning in late September, while these episodes were withheld in the US until early 1968, where they would be immediately succeeded by the first batch of episodes featuring Diana Rigg's replacement, [[Linda Thorson]]. The American prologue of the fourth series was modified for the colour episodes. The show opened with the caption ''The Avengers in Color'' (required by the US [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] for colour series at that time), followed by Steed unwrapping the foil from a [[Champagne|champagne bottle]] and Emma Peel shooting the cork away. Unlike the "chessboard" opening of the previous series, this new prologue had no narrative voice-over, and the scene was also included in UK broadcasts of the series. At the end of the closing credits, all previous series had ended with the ABC Weekend TV logo, but the fifth and sixth series — now made by ABC's sister company A.B.C. Television Films — instead featured an animation where the letters "ABC" were revealed to stand for "Associated British Corporation", a name apparently invented for ABC shows exported to the US to avoid confusion with the US ABC network.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Beaumont |first1=Ian |title=The Avengers |url=http://abcatlarge.co.uk/the-avengers-2/ |website=ABC at large |date=11 January 2001 |publisher=Transdiffusion Broadcasting System |access-date=16 May 2022}}</ref> (The legal name of ABC Weekend TV was originally "Associated British Cinemas (Television) Ltd",<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sendall |first1=Bernard |title=Independent Television: Present and future policy on development |journal=[[Kinematograph Weekly]] |date=29 September 1955 |volume=462 |issue=2518 |page=xi |url=https://www.transdiffusion.org/2022/02/14/independent-television-present-and-future-policy-on-development |access-date=17 May 2022 |series=Studio Review |publisher=Odhams |issn=0023-155X |oclc=1127175701}}</ref> later shortened to "A.B.C. Television Ltd".) The first 16 episodes of the fifth series begin with Emma Peel receiving a call-to-duty message from Steed: "Mrs. Peel, we're needed". Emma Peel would be conducting her normal activities when she unexpectedly received a message on a calling card or within a delivered gift, at which point Steed suddenly appeared (usually in her apartment). The series also introduced a comic [[tagline]] caption to the episode title, using the format of "Steed [does this], Emma [does that]". For example, "The Joker" had the opening caption: "Steed trumps an ace, Emma plays a lone hand". "The Joker" was to a large extent a rewrite of "Don't Look Behind You", a black-and-white Cathy Gale episode. Three other colour Emma Peel episodes were rewrites of Cathy Gale episodes. The "Mrs Peel, we're needed" scenes and the alternate taglines were dropped after the first 16 episodes, after a break in production, for financial reasons. They were deemed by the UK networks as disposable if ''The Avengers'' was to return to ITV screens (Dave Rogers' book ''The Avengers Anew'' lists a set for every Steed/Emma Peel episode except "The Forget-Me-Knot"). Stories were increasingly characterised by a futuristic, science-fiction bent, with [[mad scientists]] and their creations wreaking havoc. The duo dealt with being shrunk to doll size ("Mission... Highly Improbable"), pet cats being electrically altered to become ferocious and lethal "miniature tigers" ("The Hidden Tiger"), killer automata ("Return of The Cybernauts"), mind-transferring machines ("Who's Who???") and invisible foes ("The See-Through Man"). The series parodied its American contemporaries with episodes such as "The Girl From AUNTIE", "Mission... Highly Improbable" and "The Winged Avenger" (spoofing ''[[The Man from U.N.C.L.E.]]'', ''[[Mission: Impossible (1966 TV series)|Mission: Impossible]]'' and ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]'', respectively). The show still carried the basic format: Steed and his associate were charged with solving the problem in the space of a 50-minute episode, thus preserving the safety of 1960s Britain. Humour was evident in the names and acronyms of the organisations. For example, in "The Living Dead," two rival groups examine reported ghost sightings: FOG (Friends of Ghosts) and SMOG (Scientific Measurement of Ghosts). "The Hidden Tiger" features the Philanthropic Union for Rescue, Relief and Recuperation of Cats—PURRR—led by characters named Cheshire, Manx and Angora. The series also occasionally adopted a [[metafiction]]al tone, coming close to breaking the [[fourth wall]]. In the Series 5 episode "Something Nasty in the Nursery", Emma Peel directly refers to the series' storytelling convention of having potentially helpful sources of information killed off just before she or Steed arrive. This then occurs a few minutes later. In the tag scene for the same episode, Steed and Emma Peel tell viewers—indirectly—to tune in next week. Diana Rigg's stunt double was stuntwoman Cyd Child, though stuntman Peter Elliot doubled for Diana Rigg in a stunt dive in "The Bird Who Knew Too Much". ====Diana Rigg's departure==== Diana Rigg was initially unhappy with the way she was treated by the show's producers. During her first series, she learned that she was being paid less than the cameraman. She demanded a raise to put her more on a par with her co-star, or she would leave the show. The producers gave in, thanks to the show's great popularity in the US.<ref>{{cite book|last=Tracy|first=Kathleen|title=Diana Rigg: The Biography|publisher=BenBella Books|year=2004|page=83|isbn=1-932100-27-X}}</ref> At the end of the fifth series in 1967, Diana Rigg left to pursue other projects. This included following Honor Blackman to play a leading role in a James Bond film, ''[[On Her Majesty's Secret Service (film)|On Her Majesty's Secret Service]]'', as James Bond's wife [[Tracy Bond]]. On 25 October 2015, to mark 50 years of Emma Peel, the BFI ([[British Film Institute]]) screened an episode of ''The Avengers'' followed by an onstage interview with Diana Rigg, during which she discussed her reasons for leaving the show and Patrick Macnee's reaction to her departure.<ref>[http://artandhue.com/bfi/ BFI Interview with Dame Diana Rigg] Retrieved 18 February 2016.</ref> Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg remained lifelong friends.
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