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===Series 6 (1968β1969)=== [[File:Patrick MacNee Linda Thorson 1968.JPG|thumb|200px|Macnee and [[Linda Thorson]]]] When Diana Rigg left the series in October 1967, the British network executives decided that the current series formula, despite resulting in popular success, could not be pursued further. Thus, they decided that a "return to realism" was appropriate for the sixth series (1968β69). Brian Clemens and Albert Fennell were replaced by [[John Bryce (producer)|John Bryce]], producer of most of the Cathy Gale-era episodes. John Bryce had a difficult situation to handle. He had to find a replacement for Diana Rigg and shoot the first seven episodes of the new series, which were supposed to be shipped to the US together with the last eight Emma Peel colour episodes. Bryce signed his then-girlfriend, 20-year-old newcomer Linda Thorson, as the new female co-star and chose the name Tara King for her character. Linda Thorson played the role with more innocence in mind and at heart, and unlike the previous partnerships with Cathy Gale and Emma Peel, the writers allowed subtle hints of romance to blossom between Steed and Tara King. Tara King also differed from Steed's previous partners in that she was a fully fledged (albeit initially inexperienced) agent working for Steed's organisation; his previous partners had all been (in the words of the prologue used for American broadcasts of the first Rigg series) talented amateurs. Bryce wanted Tara to be blonde, so Linda Thorson's brown hair was [[Hair coloring#Hair lighteners and bleaches|bleached]]. However, the process badly damaged Linda Thorson's hair, so she had to wear wigs for the first third of her episodes, until her own hair grew back. Her natural brown hair was not seen until the episode, "All Done with Mirrors." Production of the first seven episodes of the sixth series began, but the financial problems and internal difficulties undermined John Bryce's effort. He only managed to complete three episodes: "Invitation to a Killing" (a 90-minute episode introducing Tara King), "The Great, Great Britain Crime" (some of its original footage was reused in the 1969 episode "Homicide and Old Lace"), and "Invasion of the Earthmen" (which survived relatively intact except for the scenes in which Tara wears a brown wig). After a [[rough cut]] screening of these episodes to studio executives, John Bryce was fired and Brian Clemens and Albert Fennell were summoned back. At their return, a fourth episode called "The Murderous Connection" was in its second day of production. After revising the script, it was renamed as "The Curious Case of the Countless Clues" and production resumed. Production of the episode "Split!", a leftover script from the Emma Peel colour series, proceeded. Two completely new episodes were also shot: "Get-A-Way", and "Look (Stop Me If You've Heard This One) But There Were These Two Fellers". Dennis Spooner said of the event:{{blockquote|Brian left ''The Avengers'' for about three episodes, someone took over, and when Brian came back, it was in a terrible state. He was faced with doing a rewrite on a film they'd already shot. The episode had a story error where Steed leaves for a destination. The villains then realise this and pursue him β yet arrive there before Steed does. It was fixed by having a character ask Steed 'What took you so long?', to which he replies 'I came the pretty way'. "You can only do that on ''The Avengers'' you see. It was just my favourite show to work on.<ref name="PeelJohnEmmaLastYearp47-8">Peel, John. "Dennis Spooner Interview". ''The Avengers Files: Emma's Last Year''. Psi Fi Movie Press, Inc. Canoga Park, CA, 1985, p 47-8.</ref>}} Brian Clemens and Albert Fennell decided to film a new episode to introduce Tara King. This, the third episode filmed for the sixth series, was titled "[[The Forget-Me-Knot]]" and bade farewell to Emma Peel and introduced her successor, a trained but inexperienced agent named Tara King. It would be broadcast as the first episode of the sixth series. Tara debuts in dynamic style: when Steed is called to Headquarters, he is attacked and knocked down by trainee agent Tara King, who mistakes him for her training partner. No farewell scenes for Emma Peel had been shot when Diana Rigg left the series. She was recalled for "The Forget-Me-Knot", through which Emma acts as Steed's partner as usual. Diana Rigg also filmed a farewell scene for Emma that appeared as the tag scene of the episode. It was explained that Emma's husband, Peter Peel, was found alive and rescued, and she left the [[Secret Intelligence Service|British secret service]] to be with him. Emma visits Steed to say goodbye, and while leaving she passes Tara on the stairway giving the advice that "he likes his tea stirred anti-clockwise". Steed looks out of the window as a departing Emma enters the Bentley driven by Peter, who from a distance seems to resemble Steed (and was played by Steed's regular stunt double, with bowler hat and umbrella). John Bryce's original episode introducing Tara, "Invitation to a Killing", was revised as a regular 60-minute episode named "Have Guns Will Haggle". These episodes, together with "Invasion of the Earthmen" and the last eight Emma Peel colour episodes, were shipped to the US in February 1968. For this series the government official who gave Steed his orders was depicted on screen. [[Mother (The Avengers)|Mother]], introduced in "The Forget-Me-Knot," is a man in a wheelchair. The role was taken by [[Patrick Newell]], who had played different roles in two earlier episodes, most recently in Series 5. Mother's headquarters would shift from place to place, including one episode in which his complete office was on the top level of a [[double-decker bus]]. Several [[James Bond]] films of the 1970s would make use of a similar gimmick for Bond's briefings. Added later as a regular was Mother's mute Amazonian assistant, Rhonda, played by uncredited actress Rhonda Parker. There was one appearance by an agency official code-named "Father", a blind older woman played by Iris Russell. (Iris Russell had appeared in the series several times previously in other roles.) In one episode, "Killer", Steed is paired with Lady Diana Forbes Blakeney ([[Jennifer Croxton]]) while King is on holiday. Scriptwriter Dennis Spooner later reflected: "When I wrote 'Look (Stop Me If You've Heard This One) But There Were These Two Fellers', that was definitely the last series. They were going to make no more, so in that series we went right over the top; we went ''really'' weird, because they knew there weren't going to be any more".<ref name="PeelJohnEmmaLastYearp47">Peel, John. "Dennis Spooner Interview". ''The Avengers Files: Emma's Last Year''. Psi Fi Movie Press, Inc. Canoga Park, CA, 1985, p 47.</ref> Dennis Spooner said the series "worked because it became a parody on itself, almost. You can only do that so long." He attributes the overall success of the show to its light approach: "We spoofed everything; we took ''Mission: Impossible'', ''[[Bad Day at Black Rock]]'', ''[[High Noon]]'', ''[[The Dirty Dozen]]'', ''[[The Birds (film)|The Birds]]''... we took them all. The film buffs used to love it. There were always lines in it that people knew what we were talking about".<ref name="PeelJohnEmmaLastYearp47" /> The revised series continued to be broadcast in the US. The episodes with Linda Thorson as Tara King proved to be highly rated in Europe and the UK. However, in the US, the ABC network chose to air it opposite the number-one show in the country at the time, ''[[Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In]]''. Steed and Tara King could not compete, and the show was cancelled in the US. Without this vital commercial backing, production could not continue in Britain either, and the series ended in May 1969. The final scene of the final episode ("Bizarre") has Steed and Tara King, [[Champagne (wine)|champagne]] glasses in hand, accidentally launching themselves into orbit aboard a rocket, as Mother breaks the [[fourth wall]] and says to the audience "They'll be back!", before adding in shock "They're unchaperoned up there!"
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