List of The Avengers (TV series) episodes

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (June 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

This is an episode list for the 1960s British television series The Avengers. The series was aired in Britain, on ITV, between 1961 and 1969.

The first four series were made in black-and-white; the first three were pre-recorded on videotape (except where noted) with occasional filmed inserts. Beginning with series 4 the series moved to all-film production, shot using the single-camera method. From series 5 onward, the episodes were filmed in colour.

Series overview[]

Series	Episodes	UK Premiere	UK Finale
1	26	7 January 1961	30 December 1961
2	26	29 September 1962	23 March 1963
3	26	28 September 1963	21 March 1964
4	26	2 October 1965	26 March 1966
5	24	14 January 1967	18 November 1967
6	33	25 September 1968	21 May 1969

Series 1 (1961)[]

Note: The only episodes from the first series known to exist in complete form are "Girl on the Trapeze" (which does not feature John Steed), "The Frighteners" and "Tunnel of Fear"; additionally, the first 20 minutes—the first reel—of the premiere episode, "Hot Snow", have been rediscovered and released on DVD.^{[citation needed]} The most recent discovery was in 2016, when "Tunnel of Fear" was found intact in a private collection.^{[citation needed]}

Cast: Unless noted in the table below, all episodes in the first series feature Ian Hendry (as Dr. David Keel) and Patrick Macnee (as John Steed).

Episode No.	Original air date (UK)	Episode title	Directed by	Written by	Guest cast	Episode status
1–01	7 January 1961	"Hot Snow"	Don Leaver	, Ray Rigby	Catherine Woodville, Philip Stone, Godfrey Quigley, Moira Redmond, Murray Melvin, Alister Williamson,	Only Act 1 (the first 20 minutes) is Intact. Acts 2 and 3 are Missing.
1–02	14 January 1961	"Brought to Book"	Peter Hammond	, Brian Clemens	Philip Stone, Robert James, Godfrey Quigley, Neil McCarthy, Charles Morgan, Michael Collins, Alister Williamson,	Missing
1–03	21 January 1961	"Square Root of Evil"	Don Leaver	Richard Harris	Alex Scott, George Murcell, Heron Carvic, John Woodvine	Broadcast live, Missing
1–04	28 January 1961	"Nightmare"	Peter Hammond	Terence Feely		Broadcast live, Missing
1–05	4 February 1961	"Crescent Moon"		,	Roger Delgado, Patience Collier, Eric Thompson	Broadcast live, Missing
1–06	11 February 1961	"Girl on the Trapeze" (Keel only)	Don Leaver	Dennis Spooner	Kenneth J. Warren, Edwin Richfield, Ivor Salter, David Grey	Intact (as a 16 mm film telerecording, this episode was originally broadcast live)
1–07	18 February 1961	"Diamond Cut Diamond"	Peter Hammond		Sandra Dorne	Broadcast live, Missing
1–08	24 February 1961	"The Radioactive Man"	Robert Tronson		George Pravda, Gerald Sim, , , Paul Grist,	Broadcast live, Missing
1–09	4 March 1961	"Ashes of Roses"	Don Leaver	Peter Ling,	Mark Eden, Gordon Rollings,	Broadcast live, Missing
1–10	18 March 1961	"Hunt the Man Down"	Peter Hammond	Richard Harris	Melissa Stribling,	Missing
1–11	1 April 1961	"Please Don't Feed the Animals"	Dennis Vance	Dennis Spooner	Tenniel Evans	Missing
1–12	15 April 1961	"Dance with Death"	Don Leaver	Peter Ling,	Caroline Blakiston, Angela Douglas, Geoffrey Palmer,	Missing
1–13	29 April 1961	"One for the Mortuary"	Peter Hammond	Brian Clemens	Frank Gatliff, Peter Madden, ,	Missing
1–14	13 May 1961	"The Springers"	Don Leaver	, John Whitney	Charles Farrell, Arthur Howard, Douglas Muir, Brian Murphy, David Webb,	Missing
1–15	27 May 1961	"The Frighteners"	Peter Hammond	Berkely Mather	Willoughby Goddard, Stratford Johns, Doris Hare, Philip Locke, Godfrey James, ,	Intact
1–16	10 June 1961	"The Yellow Needle"	Don Leaver	Patrick Campbell	Wolfe Morris, Eric Dodson, Michael Barrington, Margaret Whiting	Missing
1–17	24 June 1961	"Death on the Slipway"	Peter Hammond	James Mitchell	Nyree Dawn Porter, Peter Arne, Frank Thornton, Hamilton Dyce, Gary Watson, Tom Adams, Patrick Connor	Missing
1–18	8 July 1961	"Double Danger"	Roger Jenkins	John Lucarotti, Gerald Verner	Kevin Brennan, Ron Pember, Peter Reynolds	Missing
1–19	22 July 1961	"Toy Trap"	Don Leaver	Bill Strutton	Tony Van Bridge,	Missing
1–20	5 August 1961	"Tunnel of Fear"		John Kruse	John Salew, Morris Perry	Intact
1–21	19 August 1961	"The Far Distant Dead" (Keel only)	Peter Hammond	John Lucarotti	Katharine Blake, Tom Adams, Reed De Rouen, Francis de Wolff	Missing
1–22	2 September 1961	"Kill the King"	Roger Jenkins	James Mitchell	Burt Kwouk, Peter Barkworth, Patrick Allen, Moira Redmond, Andy Ho	Missing
1–23	9 December 1961	"Dead of Winter"	Don Leaver		John Woodvine, Neil Hallett	Missing
1–24	16 December 1961	"The Deadly Air"			John Stratton, Allan Cuthbertson, Ann Bell, Geoffrey Bayldon, Michael Hawkins, Keith Anderson	Missing
1–25	23 December 1961	"A Change of Bait"	Don Leaver		John Bailey, Tim Barrett, Henry Lincoln,	Missing
1–26	30 December 1961	"Dragonsfield" (Steed only)	Peter Hammond	Terence Feely	Sylva Langova, Alfred Burke, Barbara Shelley, Ronald Leigh-Hunt, Michael Robbins, Eric Dodson, Keith Barron, Morris Perry,	Missing

Note: Following series 1, a lengthy Equity actors' strike prevented development of the second series, and Ian Hendry decided to leave the show. When The Avengers eventually returned, its premise had been considerably retooled, with Macnee moved to the lead role, accompanied by an attractive and highly capable female sidekick, and a much more whimsical tone.

Series 2 (1962–1963)[]

Cast: Series 2 featured Patrick Macnee as John Steed in all 26 episodes. Either Jon Rollason (as Dr. Martin King, in 3 episodes) or Julie Stevens (as Venus Smith, in 6 episodes) accompanied him as noted in the table; with all of the other 17 episodes featuring Honor Blackman (as Mrs. Cathy Gale) accompanying Steed.

Episode No.	Original air date (UK)	Episode title	Written by	Directed by	Guest cast
2–01	29 September 1962	"Mr. Teddy Bear"	Richmond Harding	Martin Woodhouse	Michael Robbins, John Ruddock, Michael Collins
2–02	6 October 1962	"Propellant 23"		Jon Manchip White	Catherine Woodville, Justine Lord, Nicholas Courtney, Geoffrey Palmer, , , ,
2–03	13 October 1962	"The Decapod" (with Venus Smith)	Don Leaver		Philip Madoc, Paul Stassino, Wolfe Morris, Raymond Adamson, Valentino Musetti
2–04	20 October 1962	"Bullseye"	Peter Hammond		Ronald Radd, Judy Parfitt, Bernard Kay, Fred Ferris,
2–05	27 October 1962	"Mission to Montreal" (with Dr. Martin King)	Don Leaver		Patricia English, Mark Eden, Alan Curtis, John Bennett, Pamela Ann Davy, ,
2–06	3 November 1962	"The Removal Men" (with Venus Smith)	Don Leaver	Roger Marshall, Jeremy Scott	Edwin Richfield, Edina Ronay, Reed De Rouen, Andria Lawrence,
2–07	10 November 1962	"The Mauritius Penny"	Richmond Harding	Malcolm Hulke, Terrance Dicks	Alfred Burke, David Langton, Sylva Langova, Richard Vernon, Anthony Rogers
2–08	17 November 1962	"Death of a Great Dane"	Peter Hammond	Roger Marshall, Jeremy Scott	Frederick Jaeger, John Laurie, Leslie French, Roger Maxwell, , ,
2–09	24 November 1962	"The Sell Out" (with Dr. Martin King)	Don Leaver	Anthony Terpiloff,	Frank Gatliff, Carleton Hobbs, Arthur Hewlett
2–10	1 December 1962	"Death on the Rocks"			Naomi Chance, Hamilton Dyce, Gerald Cross
2–11	8 December 1962	"Traitor in Zebra"	Richmond Harding		William Gaunt, Richard Leech, John Sharp, Noel Coleman,
2–12	15 December 1962	"The Big Thinker"		Martin Woodhouse	Tenniel Evans, Antony Booth, , ,
2–13	22 December 1962	"Death Dispatch"			Gerald Harper, ,
2–14	29 December 1962	"Dead on Course" (with Dr. Martin King)	Richmond Harding		Donal Donnelly, Bruce Boa, Edward Kelsey, .
2–15	5 January 1963	"Intercrime"		Malcolm Hulke, Terrance Dicks	Julia Arnall, Kenneth J. Warren, Angela Browne, Jerome Willis, Patrick Holt, Alan Browning
2–16	12 January 1963	"Immortal Clay"	Richmond Harding	James Mitchell	Paul Eddington, James Bree, Gary Watson, Steve Plytas
2–17	19 January 1963	"Box of Tricks" (with Venus Smith)		Peter Ling,	Edgar Wreford, Royston Tickner, Robert Hartley,
2–18	26 January 1963	"Warlock"	Peter Hammond	Doreen Montgomery	Peter Arne, John Hollis,
2–19	2 February 1963	"The Golden Eggs"	Peter Hammond	Martin Woodhouse	Peter Arne, Donald Eccles
2–20	9 February 1963	"School for Traitors" (with Venus Smith)		James Mitchell	Anthony Nicholls, Melissa Stribling, Reginald Marsh, Richard Thorp,
2–21	16 February 1963	"The White Dwarf"	Richmond Harding	Malcolm Hulke	Philip Latham, Peter Copley, George A. Cooper, Constance Chapman, Keith Pyott, George Roubicek,
2–22	23 February 1963	"Man in the Mirror" (with Venus Smith)		Geoffrey Orme, Anthony Terpiloff	Ray Barrett, Michael Gover, David Graham,
2–23	2 March 1963	"Conspiracy of Silence"	Peter Hammond	Roger Marshall	Robert Rietti, Sandra Dorne, ,
2–24	9 March 1963	"A Chorus of Frogs" (with Venus Smith)	Raymond Menmuir	Martin Woodhouse	John Carson, Eric Pohlmann, Frank Gatliff, Michael Gover,
2–25	16 March 1963	"Six Hands Across a Table"	Richmond Harding	Reed De Rouen	Guy Doleman, Campbell Singer, Philip Madoc, Edward de Souza, John Wentworth, Ilona Rodgers,
2–26	23 March 1963	"Killer Whale"		John Lucarotti	Patrick Magee, Morris Perry, John Bailey, Kenneth Farrington, John Tate,

NOTE: The episode "Death of a Great Dane" was later re-made during series 5 as "".

Series 3 (1963–1964)[]

Cast: Series 3 stars Patrick Macnee as John Steed and Honor Blackman as Mrs. Cathy Gale. It was the last series to be shot "as live" on videotape.

Episode No.	Original air date (UK)	Episode title	Directed by	Written by	Guest cast
3–01	28 September 1963	"Brief for Murder"	Peter Hammond	Brian Clemens	John Laurie, Michael Goldie, Fred Ferris,
3–02	5 October 1963	"The Undertakers"	Bill Bain	Malcolm Hulke	Lee Patterson, Jan Holden, Patrick Holt, Lally Bowers, Mandy Miller
3–03	12 October 1963	"Man with Two Shadows"	Don Leaver	James Mitchell	Geoffrey Palmer, Paul Whitsun-Jones, Robert Lankesheer , ,
3–04	19 October 1963	"The Nutshell"	Raymond Menmuir		Charles Tingwell, John Cater, Patricia Haines, Edina Ronay
3–05	26 October 1963	"Death of a Batman"		Roger Marshall	André Morell, Philip Madoc
3–06	2 November 1963	"November Five"	Bill Bain		David Davies, David Langton,
3–07	9 November 1963	"The Gilded Cage"	Bill Bain	Roger Marshall	Patrick Magee, Edric Connor, Norman Chappell, , , ,
3–08	16 November 1963	"Second Sight"	Peter Hammond	Martin Woodhouse	John Carson, Peter Bowles, Ronald Adam,
3–09	23 November 1963	"The Medicine Men"		Malcolm Hulke	Peter Barkworth, Harold Innocent
3–10	30 November 1963	"The Grandeur That Was Rome"			Hugh Burden,
3–11	7 December 1963	"The Golden Fleece"	Peter Hammond	Roger Marshall,	Warren Mitchell, Tenniel Evans, Michael Hawkins, Robert Lee, Barbara Yu Ling
3–12	14 December 1963	"Don't Look Behind You"	Peter Hammond	Brian Clemens	Kenneth Colley, Janine Gray,
3–13	21 December 1963	"Death a la Carte"		John Lucarotti	Robert James, Gordon Rollings, David Nettheim, Valentino Musetti, Henry Lincoln, Ken Parry
3–14	28 December 1963	"Dressed to Kill"	Bill Bain	Brian Clemens	Leonard Rossiter, Richard Leech, John Junkin, Anneke Wills, Alexander Davion,
3–15	4 January 1964	"The White Elephant"		John Lucarotti	Godfrey Quigley, Edwin Richfield, Judy Parfitt,
3–16	11 January 1964	"The Little Wonders"			Kenneth J. Warren, David Bauer, Lois Maxwell, Harry Landis, Tony Steedman, Christopher Robbie,
3–17	18 January 1964	"The Wringer"	Don Leaver	Martin Woodhouse	Peter Sallis, Gerald Sim, Barry Letts, Paul Whitsun-Jones,
3–18	25 January 1964	"Mandrake"	Bill Bain	Roger Marshall	John Le Mesurier, Annette Andre, Philip Locke
3–19	1 February 1964	"The Secrets Broker"			Patricia English, John Ringham, Jack May, Ronald Allen, Valentino Musetti
3–20	8 February 1964	"Trojan Horse"		Malcolm Hulke	Basil Dignam, T. P. McKenna, Derek Newark
3–21	15 February 1964	"Build a Better Mousetrap"	Peter Hammond	Brian Clemens	Athene Seyler, Nora Nicholson, John Tate
3–22	22 February 1964	"The Outside-In Man"			Ronald Radd, James Maxwell, Valentino Musetti, Eddie Powell, ,
3–23	29 February 1964	"The Charmers"	Bill Bain	Brian Clemens	Fenella Fielding, Warren Mitchell, Vivian Pickles, Frank Mills, ,
3–24	7 March 1964	"Concerto"		Malcolm Hulke, Terrance Dicks	Nigel Stock, Sandor Elès,
3–25	14 March 1964	"Esprit de Corps"	Don Leaver		Duncan Macrae, Roy Kinnear, John Thaw, Hugh Morton,
3–26	21 March 1964	"Lobster Quadrille"			Burt Kwouk, Leslie Sands, Gary Watson, Jennie Linden, Valentino Musetti

NOTE: The episode "Don't Look Behind You" was later re-made for series 5 as "", "The Charmers" was re-made, again for series 5, as "The Correct Way to Kill" and "Dressed to Kill" was in large part re-made, once again for series 5, as "The Superlative Seven". At the end of the third series, Honor Blackman left The Avengers to star in the James Bond movie Goldfinger.

Series 4 (1965–1966)[]

Cast: Series 4 starred Patrick Macnee (as John Steed) and Diana Rigg (as Mrs Emma Peel). It was the last series to be made in black and white, but also the first series to be shot entirely on film as opposed to mainly on videotape.

Nº	Episode title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date (UK)	Guest stars
4–01	"The Town of No Return"	Roy Ward Baker	Brian Clemens	2 October 1965 (1965-10-02)	Alan MacNaughtan, Terence Alexander, Patrick Newell, Robert Brown, Jeremy Burnham, Juliet Harmer
Steed and Emma, on the trail of several murdered agents, visit Little Bazeley by the Sea—a town that strangers rarely leave alive—and discover it is being secretly infiltrated by enemy agents.
4–02	"The Gravediggers"	Quentin Lawrence	Malcolm Hulke	9 October 1965 (1965-10-09)	Ronald Fraser, Paul Massie, Caroline Blakiston, Charles Lamb, Wanda Ventham, Ray Austin, Steven Berkoff, Bryan Mosley, Lloyd Lamble
A hospital for railwaymen is a front for a plot to destroy Britain's early warning radar system.
4–03	"The Cybernauts"	Sidney Hayers	Philip Levene	16 October 1965 (1965-10-16)	Michael Gough, Frederick Jaeger, Bernard Horsfall, Burt Kwouk, John Hollis, Ronald Leigh-Hunt
Industrialists are being killed off with inhuman efficiency by an assassin who is just that—inhuman!
4–04	""	Charles Crichton	Brian Clemens	23 October 1965 (1965-10-23)	André Morell, T. P. McKenna, Allan Cuthbertson, George Selway, John Cater, Peter Howell, Ronnie Stevens, Diane Clare
The murder of an agent carrying a receipt from a department store leads Mrs Peel to join its sales staff, where she stumbles upon a sinister plot involving nuclear terrorism.
4–05	""	James Hill	John Lucarotti	30 October 1965 (1965-10-30)	Gordon Jackson, Robert Urquhart, James Copeland, Jack Lambert, Russell Waters
A Scottish castle is the scene for a family feud—and a plot to engineer a fishing crisis.
4–06	""	Peter Graham Scott	Robert Banks Stewart	6 November 1965 (1965-11-06)	Bernard Archard, Patricia Haines, Ian MacNaughton, John Wentworth
After an apparently respectable politician is caught trying to steal top-secret documents, Steed and Emma discover a plot by renegade intellectuals to steal a nuclear missile.
4–07	""	Peter Graham Scott	Tony Williamson	13 November 1965 (1965-11-13)	Patrick Cargill, Suzanne Lloyd, Naomi Chance, Peter Bayliss, John Woodvine, Edward Underdown
Steed and Emma pose as eligible singles in order to infiltrate an assassination service posing as a matchmaking agency.
4–08	"A Surfeit of H2O"	Sidney Hayers	Colin Finbow	20 November 1965 (1965-11-20)	Noel Purcell, Sue Lloyd, Talfryn Thomas, Albert Lieven, Geoffrey Palmer
After two men are drowned by sudden freak rainstorms, Steed's attention is drawn to a winery under a suspiciously cloudy sky.
4–09	"The Hour That Never Was"	Gerry O'Hara	Roger Marshall	27 November 1965 (1965-11-27)	Gerald Harper, Dudley Foster, Roy Kinnear, Roger Booth, David Morrell
After crashing their car, Steed and Emma visit an airfield and find a baffling mystery of stopped clocks, dead milkmen and a naughty dentist.
4–10	""	Don Leaver	Roger Marshall	4 December 1965 (1965-12-04)	Clifford Evans, Jan Holden, Anthony Newlands, John Carson, Peter Bowles, Gerald Sim, Michael Trubshawe, Norman Chappell, John Bailey, Edward Cast
The duo combat malfeasance in the London financial world, after paged businessmen start dropping dead from heart attacks.
4–11	""	Sidney Hayers	Philip Levene	11 December 1965 (1965-12-11)	Derek Farr, Athene Seyler, Gillian Lewis, David Hutcheson, Joby Blanshard
Steed and Emma encounter their most bizarre enemy yet—a carnivorous alien plant with plans for world domination.
4–12	""	Roy Ward Baker	Philip Levene	18 December 1965 (1965-12-18)	Warren Mitchell, Alec Mango, Wolfe Morris, Julian Glover, John Bluthal
Steed "creates" a double of himself to outwit an enemy master spy who loves deadly toys.
4–13	""	Roy Ward Baker	Tony Williamson	25 December 1965 (1965-12-25)	Mervyn Johns, Edwin Richfield, Jeanette Sterke, Alex Scott, Robert James, Barry Warren
A villainous mastermind steal secrets telepathically from agent's brains, killing the subjects in the process—and Steed is next on the list.
4–14	""	Roy Ward Baker	Roger Marshall	1 January 1966 (1966-01-01)	William Franklyn, Jack Watson, Conrad Phillips, Norman Bird, Isobel Black, Charles Lloyd-Pack, Aubrey Morris, Robert Dorning
Rural villains hold the British government to ransom with a devastating new biological weapon; our heroes join the hunt.
4–15	""	Roy Ward Baker	Roger Marshall	8 January 1966 (1966-01-08)	Paul Whitsun-Jones, Peter Jeffrey, Richard Bebb, Philip Latham, Peter Arne, Vernon Dobtcheff, Peter Madden
Dr Wadkin is one of seven scientists to go missing. When he reappears and attacks his wife, the trail leads Steed and Mrs Peel to a shady tycoon and Room 621 of the Chessman Hotel.
4–16	""	Gerry O'Hara	Philip Levene	15 January 1966 (1966-01-15)	Bill Fraser, James Villiers, Liam Redmond, Peter Burton, Paul Danquah, Tom Gill,
An English tropical jungle harbours a pompous professor, a mad colonel, a war-painted spy, and a bioweapon against an African nation.
4–17	""The Girl from AUNTIE""	Roy Ward Baker	Roger Marshall	22 January 1966 (1966-01-22)	Liz Fraser, Alfred Burke, Bernard Cribbins, David Bauer, Mary Merrall, Sylvia Coleridge, Yolande Turner, Maurice Browning
An Emma impersonator and a string of murders put Steed onto the trail of a villainous art dealer.
4–18	""	Roy Ward Baker	Tony Williamson	29 January 1966 (1966-01-29)	Patrick Allen, Hugh Manning, Peter Jones, Victor Maddern, Francis Matthews, Donald Hewlett, Richard Marner
Death on a golf course brings Emma into a sand trap, Steed into a tournament, and light upon a spy ring.
4–19	""	James Hill	Robert Banks Stewart	5 February 1966 (1966-02-05)	Eunice Gayson, John Woodnutt, Maurice Kaufmann, Graham Armitage, ,
Spy death leads to investigation of a dance school, unattached bachelors, and a tattoo.
4–20	""	Charles Crichton	Roger Marshall	12 February 1966 (1966-02-12)	Nigel Davenport, Douglas Wilmer, Fabia Drake, Moray Watson, Adrian Ropes, Richard Coleman
Several military officers are engaging in reckless daredevil antics—all part of an unscrupulous psychiatrist's plan to steal the Crown Jewels.
4–21	"A Touch of Brimstone"	James Hill	Brian Clemens	19 February 1966 (1966-02-19)	Peter Wyngarde, Carol Cleveland, Colin Jeavons, Jeremy Young, Steve Plytas, Alf Joint, Robert Cawdron
An eccentric band of libertines (called the Hellfire Club) who commit deadly practical jokes is revealed to have much bigger plans in mind.
4–22	"What the Butler Saw"	Bill Bain	Brian Clemens	26 February 1966 (1966-02-26)	Denis Quilley, John Le Mesurier, Thorley Walters, Kynaston Reeves, Howard Marion-Crawford, Humphrey Lestocq, Ewan Hooper
Steed enlists at a butler training school to find out who is selling military secrets to the enemy.
4–23	""	Don Leaver	Brian Clemens	5 March 1966 (1966-03-05)	Michael Goodliffe, Keith Pyott,
Emma inherits an electronic key to the house of her late, unknown uncle—and finds herself trapped in a maze, target of a former employee's mind-bending revenge.
4–24	""	Peter Graham Scott	Martin Woodhouse	12 March 1966 (1966-03-12)	Nigel Stock, John Barron, John Glyn-Jones, John Ringham, Patrick Mower, Robin Phillips, Peter Blythe, Peter Bourne
Steed and Emma investigate an assassination plot among a university's boisterously merry men.
4–25	""	Don Leaver	Brian Clemens	19 March 1966 (1966-03-19)	Sarah Lawson, Angela Browne, Jerome Willis, Christopher Benjamin, Kevin Brennan,
Efficient, militant, physically fit and bespangled secretaries are assassinating key businessmen – but who's behind the curtain?
4–26	""	James Hill	Brian Clemens	26 March 1966 (1966-03-26)	Ron Moody, Zia Mohyeddin, George Pastell, Roland Curram, Bruno Barnabe, Jon Laurimore, Peter Diamond, Ken Parry, Richard Graydon,
Genie brings Steed and Emma to fantasy world of cricket, harem dance, and creative assassination.

Starting with this series, the production budget was increased considerably, location shooting was used extensively. With an eye toward getting the series shown on US television, the show was now shot using 35mm film instead of being videotaped, leading to an increase in picture quality. This brought The Avengers in line with other contemporary ITV series such as Danger Man (airing in the US as Secret Agent) and The Saint.

Actress Elizabeth Shepherd was originally cast as Emma Peel; one complete episode, "The Town of No Return", was filmed. Partway through filming of the second episode, "The Murder Market", the producers closed down production in order to recast the part. The Shepherd footage has never been televised and is believed to be lost. Canal+ once claimed it had the original footage, then later retracted this claim. Publicity photos of Shepherd as Mrs. Peel survive.

For American broadcast, all episodes of the 1965–1966 series included a specially-shot prologue preceding the main credits, showing Steed and Peel walking across a giant chessboard while a narrator introduces the characters and the concept of the series. This opening never aired in the UK and wasn't widely seen in the show's home country until the DVD release.

"The Strange Case of the Missing Corpse" was filmed in colour on the set of "Honey for the Prince" and was, as Brian Clemens originally wrote it, intended to be tagged on to the end of the final b/w episode transmitted in America to advertise the upcoming colour episodes (though the b/w sequence titled "Preamble for USA", written by Clemens to introduce the item, which was to have featured Rigg and Macnee explaining/introducing this short colour test film, is either lost or was never filmed). It was also cut down into a trailer for the colour episodes coming soon to ABC Network in America. Just like the prologue to the b/w Rigg episodes, it was never meant to be screened anywhere but the US. There is a myth that it was to have originally been a twenty-minute mini-episode, but the version presently available on video is three minutes long and doesn't appear to be missing any substantial narrative content.

Series 5 (1967)[]

Cast: This series featured Patrick Macnee (as John Steed) and Diana Rigg (as Emma Peel). From this series onwards, all episodes were filmed in colour, but as ITV did not begin colour transmissions until November 1969, all were originally broadcast in the UK in black and white.

Nº	Episode title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date (UK)	Guest stars
5–01	"From Venus with Love"	Robert Day	Philip Levene	14 January 1967 (1967-01-14)	Barbara Shelley, Philip Locke, Jon Pertwee, Derek Newark, Jeremy Lloyd, Adrian Ropes, Arthur Cox, Paul Gillard, Kenneth Benda,
Astronomers studying the planet Venus are being killed, by what appears to be a death-ray, as Steed and Mrs Peel investigate reports of an invasion from space.
5–02	"The Fear Merchants"	Gordon Flemyng	Philip Levene	21 January 1967 (1967-01-21)	Patrick Cargill, Brian Wilde, Garfield Morgan, Annette Carell, Andrew Keir, Jeremy Burnham, Edward Burnham, Bernard Horsfall, Ruth Trouncer, Declan Mulholland
Executives in the ceramics industry are driven out of their minds with fear at the behest of a competitor, by the application of science.
5–03	"Escape in Time"	John Krish	Philip Levene	28 January 1967 (1967-01-28)	Peter Bowles, Geoffrey Bayldon, Judy Parfitt, Imogen Hassall, Nicholas Smith, Clifford Earl, Edward Caddick
An organisation is apparently sending criminals into the past to escape arrest.
5–04	"The See-Through Man"	Robert Asher	Philip Levene	4 February 1967 (1967-02-04)	Warren Mitchell, Moira Lister, Roy Kinnear, Jonathan Elsom, John Nettleton, Harvey Hall
A Russian spymaster seemingly purchases the secret of invisibility from an eccentric English scientist, in order to penetrate British security.
5–05	"The Bird Who Knew Too Much"		Brian Clemens	11 February 1967 (1967-02-11)	Ron Moody, Ilona Rodgers, Kenneth Cope, Michael Coles, John Wood, Anthony Valentine, John Lee
Steed and Emma chase a missing parrot that holds a clue to Soviet espionage activities.
5–06	"The Winged Avenger"	Peter Duffell, Gordon Flemyng	Richard Harris	18 February 1967 (1967-02-18)	Nigel Green, Jack MacGowran, Neil Hallett, Colin Jeavons, John Garrie, Donald Pickering, William Fox, Ann Sidney, Roy Patrick
A comicbook character is brought to life to commit murder, killing a number of men in the publishing industry – by walking up walls.
5–07	"The Living Dead"	John Krish	Brian Clemens	25 February 1967 (1967-02-25)	Julian Glover, Pamela Ann Davy, Howard Marion-Crawford, Jack Woolgar, Jack Watson, Edward Underdown, John Cater, Vernon Dobtcheff, Alister Williamson
The late Duke of Benedict, who perished in a mining disaster, returns to haunt a sleepy English village. But is he really dead?
5–08	"The Hidden Tiger"	Sidney Hayers	Philip Levene	4 March 1967 (1967-03-04)	Ronnie Barker, Lyndon Brook, Gabrielle Drake, John Phillips, Stanley Meadows, Jack Gwillim, Frederick Treves,
Men and animals are being mauled to death in rural England by what seems to be a tiger or puma; but no one who sees it lives to tell the tale.
5–09	"The Correct Way to Kill"	Charles Crichton	Brian Clemens	11 March 1967 (1967-03-11)	Anna Quayle, Michael Gough, Philip Madoc, Terence Alexander, Peter Barkworth, Graham Armitage, Timothy Bateson, Edwin Apps
Seeking an organisation of murderous City gents, who are assassinating both British and enemy agents, Steed gets a glamorous but tall Russian partner, and Emma a short-lived one.
5–10	""	Robert Day	Philip Levene	18 March 1967 (1967-03-18)	Christopher Lee, Jeremy Young, Patricia English, David Kernan, Christopher Benjamin, John Junkin, Peter Dennis, Arnold Ridley, Alan Chuntz
A motorist finds that wherever he goes he's involved in yet another traffic accident, repeatedly killing the same pedestrian – Dr Frank N. Stone (Christopher Lee).
5–11	""	James Hill	Brian Clemens	25 March 1967 (1967-03-25)	Peter Wyngarde, Isa Miranda, Kenneth J. Warren, David Lodge
A demented movie mogul with an Eric von Stroheim fixation lures Mrs Peel to an abandoned movie studio, to star in a film of her own death.
5–12	""	Sidney Hayers	Brian Clemens	1 April 1967 (1967-04-01)	Charlotte Rampling, Brian Blessed, James Maxwell, Hugh Manning, Leon Greene, Donald Sutherland, John Hollis
A mysterious invitation that strands him on a remote island, with six companions who are murdered one by one, makes Steed a Little Indian.
5–13	""	John Krish	Brian Clemens	8 April 1967 (1967-04-08)	James Hayter, John Laurie, Drewe Henley, Isla Blair, Tim Barrett, Richard Caldicot, Dyson Lovell, Michael Nightingale
In a spoof of the movie "The Lady Vanishes", a bride and groom keep catching the same railway train, to a station that doesn't exist. Steed starts to suspect that a novel espionage network is being created when the agent following them vanishes.
5–14	""	James Hill	Philip Levene	15 April 1967 (1967-04-15)	Dudley Foster, Yootha Joyce, Paul Eddington, Clive Dunn, Patrick Newell, Trevor Bannister, Paul Hardwick, Dennis Chinnery
Government ministers suddenly revert to childhood, when exposed to a new type of nerve gas.
5–15	""	Sidney Hayers	Brian Clemens	22 April 1967 (1967-04-22)	Peter Jeffrey, Ronald Lacey, John Stone
Mrs Peel is lured to a big, lonely country house by a man who wants revenge.
5–16	""	John Llewellyn Moxey	Philip Levene	29 April 1967 (1967-04-29)	Freddie Jones, Patricia Haines, Campbell Singer, Peter Reynolds, Arnold Diamond,
A pair of assassins changing their minds (for Steed's and Emma's) bring double trouble.
5–17	""	Robert Day	Philip Levene	30 September 1967 (1967-09-30)	Peter Cushing, Frederick Jaeger, Charles Tingwell, Fulton Mackay, Roger Hammond, Noel Coleman, Aimi MacDonald, Redmond Phillips
Scientists are being kidnapped. Mrs Peel is to be the next victim: receiving a new wristwatch the Cybernauts can home-in on, from a deceitful admirer.
5–18	"Death's Door"	Sidney Hayers	Philip Levene	7 October 1967 (1967-10-07)	Clifford Evans, Allan Cuthbertson, William Lucas, Marne Maitland,
Top Civil Servants are manipulated into believing that if they go through the door to a vital conference they will die.
5–19	""	Robert Day	Roger Marshall	14 October 1967 (1967-10-14)	Cecil Parker, Yolande Turner, David Langton, Anneke Wills, Cardew Robinson, Nigel Lambert, Jon Laurimore
A Switzerland-bound ventriloquist in a coma has a bellyful of diamonds. This is a remake of episode 2.08 'Death of a Great Dane'.
5–20	""	Sidney Hayers		21 October 1967 (1967-10-21)	Arthur Lowe, Valerie Van Ost, Edwin Richfield, Neil McCarthy, Norman Bowler, Ivor Dean,
A missing briefcase full of secrets propels Steed and Emma into a treasure hunt by car.
5–21	""	Robert Asher	Philip Levene	28 October 1967 (1967-10-28)	Barrie Ingham, Robert Flemyng, George Murcell, Leslie French, Geoffrey Chater, Simon Oates, Frank Maher, ,
Millionaires are being blackmailed into paying a mystery enemy not to murder them, as he repeatedly demonstrates how vulnerable to assassination they are.
5–22	""	Robert Day	Tony Williamson	4 November 1967 (1967-11-04)	Ray McAnally, Michael Latimer, Caroline Blakiston, Peter Blythe, Sandor Elès, Bill Wallis
Scientists are being eliminated by a highly charged hitman, whose touch brings instant death by electrocution.
5–23	""	Robert Asher	Brian Clemens	11 November 1967 (1967-11-11)	Colin Blakely, John Ronane, Ronald Hines, John Sharp, Sheila Fearn, Eric Flynn, Norman Chappell, Tony Caunter, John Chandos, Robert Cawdron, ,
A childhood chum of Mrs Peel's retires to a quiet, friendly little English village – that is now the headquarters of Murder Incorporated.
5–24	""	Robert Day	Philip Levene	18 November 1967 (1967-11-18)	Ronald Radd, Jane Merrow, Noel Howlett, Francis Matthews, Richard Leech, Stefan Gryff, Nicholas Courtney, Kevin Stoney, Nosher Powell
In a spoof of the television series "Mission: Impossible", a new ray machine, which makes everything smaller, miniaturises Steed!

"The Fear Merchants" was the first episode of the Avengers to be produced/filmed in colour, although "From Venus with Love" aired first.

Series 6 (1968–1969)[]

Cast: All episodes feature Patrick Macnee (as John Steed) and Linda Thorson (as Tara King). In episode 17, ("Killer") Tara makes a brief appearance before going on holiday. For the remainder of "Killer", Patrick Macnee as John Steed is paired with Jennifer Croxton as Lady Diana Forbes-Blakeney.

In episode 1 ("The Forget-Me-Knot"), Diana Rigg as Emma Peel makes her final appearance.

Patrick Newell (as "Mother") features in seventeen of the episodes, with his mute sidekick "Rhonda" (Rhonda Parker) joining him for the latter sixteen.

Nº	Episode title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date (UK)	Guest stars
6–01	""The Forget-Me-Knot""	James Hill	Brian Clemens	25 September 1968 (1968-09-25)	Patrick Kavanagh, Jeremy Burnham, Jeremy Young, Alan Lake, Douglas Sheldon, John Lee, Leon Lissek
A new drug that causes instant amnesia makes his fellow agents forget Steed. Diana Rigg bows out as Mrs Emma Peel and her replacement, Miss Tara King, is introduced (the two women pass each other on the stairs, and Peel advises King about how to prepare Steed's tea) together with Steed's new boss: a plump, jovial man, codenamed 'Mother' (who, in a spoof of the US television series "Ironside", runs the department from his wheelchair).
6–02	""""	Robert Fuest	Richard Harris	2 October 1968 (1968-10-02)	Peter Jeffrey, Garfield Morgan, Anthony Newlands, Alex Scott, Aubrey Richards,
An ex-soldier, thought to be dead, takes his revenge on Steed and five other former Army officers, who helped to court-martial him, by trapping them into participating in a series of deadly games that invariably end in death.
6–03	""""	John Hough	Tony Williamson	9 October 1968 (1968-10-09)	John Carlisle, Simon Oates, Allan Cuthbertson, Ivor Dean, Angela Scoular, Nicholas Smith, David Quilter, Clifford Earl, , ,
An espionage ring is stealing secrets from the Government's top secret Cypher HQ, by posing as window cleaners. MI-12 is assigned to the case. When its man Jarett is murdered, Steed takes over, to investigate Classy Glass Cleaning; but Tara, posing as a new secretary inside Cypher HQ, swears no one has penetrated its security.
6–04	""""		Jeremy Burnham	16 October 1968 (1968-10-16)	Ronald Culver, Valentine Dyall, Fulton Mackay, Sylvia Kay, Dudley Sutton, Charles Lloyd-Pack, Henry McGee, Hamilton Dyce, Bruno Barnabe, Geoffrey Chater, Willoughby Gray
Empty envelopes are delivered to top Government officials, who are then found dead. The only clue is that each man seems to have died from a fit of sneezing. Steed investigates a clinic for researching the common cold, which seems to have purchased some unusual stationery supplies.
6–05	""""	Roy Ward Baker	Brian Clemens	23 October 1968 (1968-10-23)	Nigel Davenport, Julian Glover, Bernard Archard, Iain Anders, Christopher Benjamin, ,
When agents in Lord Barnes's department at the Ministry of Top Secret Information are murdered, all the evidence points to an enemy agent named Kartovski. The snag is that Kartovski was killed by Steed five years earlier.
6–06	""""	Cyril Frankel	Tony Williamson	30 October 1968 (1968-10-30)	Dennis Price, Clifford Evans, Judy Parfitt, Anthony Nicholls, Frank Windsor, Adrian Ropes, Arthur Cox, Tony Wright, Valerie Leon
A mystery enemy is targeting Britain's most important government computer with a series of sabotage attempts. Steed investigates the machine's designer, following up a clue the computer has provided, and plants Tara in his household as a spy.
6–07	""""	Charles Crichton	Jeremy Burnham	6 January 1968 (1968-01-06)	John Bennett, Barry Warren, Tony Steedman, Simon Lack, Arthur Pentelow, Jimmy Gardner,
When all the witnesses involved in the prosecution of Lord Edgefield, suspected of blackmailing key security and foreign service personnel, suddenly start lying – including Tara – Steed must discover how they have been got at. Meanwhile, Tara becomes suspicious of DreemyKreem Dairies, but discovers she is literally incapable of telling anyone.
6–08	""""	Ray Austin		13 November 1968 (1968-11-13)	Dinsdale Landen, Peter Copley, Edwin Richfield, Michael Trubshawe, Nora Nicholson, Tenniel Evans, Michael Nightingale, Robert Sidaway, Edina Ronay (uncredited),[1] David Grey, ,
Secrets are leaking from a defence research establishment, thanks to a new invention: an eavesdropping device, which can use any shiny surface to reflect and amplify sound waves. But with Steed unavailable, Tara must investigate with only an inexperienced new agent for support.
6–09	""""	Don Chaffey	Terry Nation	20 November 1968 (1968-11-20)	Stratford Johns, Ronald Lacey, Richard Hurndall, John Hollis, Tutte Lemkow, Michael Bilton
For revenge on Steed, an old enemy leaves him a deadly legacy in his Will: a jewelled oriental dagger worth a million dollars, known as the Falcon, which various dangerous men are anxious to acquire. Steed is cast in the role of Sam Spade, in a spoof of the Humphrey Bogart movie "The Maltese Falcon", with dead bodies piling up in his apartment as one man after another tries to kill him to get hold of the item. Ronald Lacey guest stars as Mr Green, and Stratford Johns as Mr Street, in a homage to Bogart's co-star, Sydney Greenstreet.
6–10	""""	Peter Sykes	Terry Nation	27 November 1968 (1968-11-27)	T. P. McKenna, Ray Brooks, Griffith Jones, Lyndon Brook, Peter Bromilow, Patrick Newell, Peter Halliday, Anthony Ainley, John Glyn-Jones
An injured Steed is being treated in a top secret hospital, with an assassin named Kafka, the former head of Murder International, on his trail. With the aid of an accomplice on the inside, Kafka penetrates the security guarding the hospital, and Tara finds herself in a race against time to save the helpless Steed.
6–11	""""	James Hill	Dennis Spooner	4 December 1968 (1968-12-04)	Jimmy Jewel, Julian Chagrin, Bernard Cribbins, John Cleese, William Kendall, John Woodvine, Garry Marsh, Bill Shine, Richard Young, Robert James, Talfryn Thomas
Two old-time music hall performers dressed as clowns (one played by real-life music hall star Jimmy Jewel), with assistance from a group of ex-vaudeville acts, are killing the businessmen they blame for closing down the variety theatres which were their livelihood.
6–12	""Have Guns — Will Haggle""	Ray Austin	Donald James	11 December 1968 (1968-12-11)	Johnny Sekka, Nicola Pagett, Roy Stewart, Timothy Bateson, Michael Turner,
Steed attends an underworld auction and bids for three thousand stolen state-of-the art rifles to try to prevent them falling into the wrong hands.
6–13	""""	Robert Fuest	Brian Clemens	18 December 1968 (1968-12-18)	Ian Ogilvy, Ray McAnally, Norman Jones, Bernard Horsfall, Angharad Rees,
Enemy agents disguised as Steed penetrate a peace conference for which he is in charge of security, to assassinate the delegates. With Steed also present, trying to stop them, chaos arrives because no one can tell the real Steed from the imposters. As Tara investigates, she finds herself falling over dead Steeds wherever she goes!
6–14	""""	Charles Crichton	Richard Harris, Brian Clemens	1 January 1969 (1969-01-01)	Christopher Lee, Philip Bond, Glynn Edwards, Neil McCarthy, Cardew Robinson,
Agents in Steed's department are being fooled into giving away secrets, by men posing as Army officers at a fake Government training establishment. And their next victim will be... Tara King.
6–15	""""	Robert Fuest	Dave Freeman	8 January 1969 (1969-01-08)	Gerald Sim, Jerome Willis, Eric Barker, John Nettleton, Frank Middlemass, Harold Innocent, Amy Dalby, John Stone, Charles Morgan, Noel Davis
Steed investigates a firm named WormDoom, whose proprietor, a businessman widely thought a bit of a rotter, is killing off his business competitors, all experts on timber decay. To get at his victims he has stolen a new chemical that, while simulating dry rot, causes wood to rot instantaneously: turning doors, walls and windows all to powder.
6–16	""""	Don Sharp	Terry Nation	15 January 1969 (1969-01-15)	William Lucas, Christian Roberts, Lucy Fleming, Wendy Allnutt, Chris Chittell, Warren Clarke, George Roubicek
Steed and Tara investigate an unusual school: a military academy for young men and women, that hides a secret astronaut training centre.
6–17	""""	Cliff Owen	Tony Williamson	22 January 1969 (1969-01-22)	Jennifer Croxton, Grant Taylor, William Franklyn, Richard Wattis, Harry Towb, John Bailey, Michael Ward, James Bree, Anthony Valentine, Clive Graham, Oliver MacGreevy,
While Tara is on leave, Steed takes on a temporary new partner, the aristocratic Lady Diana Forbes-Blakeney. Together they confront REMAK: the Remote Electro Matic Agent Killer – a computerised assassin.
6–18	""The Morning After""	John Hough	Brian Clemens	29 January 1969 (1969-01-29)	Peter Barkworth, Joss Ackland, Brian Blessed, Donald Douglas
A double-agent, codenamed Merlin, steals a new sleep gas and tries it out on Steed. Awaking 24 hours later, with Merlin his prisoner, Steed can find no one to hand him over to: everywhere he goes the streets are completely deserted.
6–19	""""	Don Sharp	Philip Levene	5 February 1969 (1969-02-05)	Anthony Bate, Kenneth Cope, Tony Selby, Peter Jones, Tracy Reed, Edward de Souza, George A. Cooper,
In a spoof of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Doyle (Peter Jones) – equipped with pipe, cape and deerstalker hat – is investigating a seemingly careless criminal, who leaves masses of clues wherever he goes. But no-one can solve the crimes, not even Steed, because all the clues are fakes: left behind by a blackmailer, who is planting them to incriminate wealthy men, as part of a sophisticated extortion racket.
6–20	""""	Don Chaffey	Tony Williamson	12 February 1969 (1969-02-12)	Liam Redmond, Robert Urquhart, Brook Williams, Dudley Foster, Derek Newark, Gary Watson, Louise Pajo, Richard Caldicot,
In a spoof of the 1967 British TV series "The Prisoner", Tara finds herself trapped in a posh prison without bars or guards, which, on the surface, appears to be merely an elegant hotel in a quiet English town.
6–21	""""	Peter Sykes	Jeremy Burnham	19 February 1969 (1969-02-19)	Terence Alexander, Patsy Rowlands, Brian Oulton, Frank Gatliff, Peter Stephens, Larry Taylor,
Steed investigates a publishing house which specialises in romantic fiction, when looking into a mystery in which top civil servants are unexpectedly falling in love and betraying military secrets in 'pillow talk'.
6–22	""""	Don Chaffey	Tony Williamson	26 February 1969 (1969-02-26)	Gary Bond, Kate O'Mara, Duncan Lamont, Howard Marion-Crawford, Roger Delgado, Harold Kasket, Ewan Roberts
Steed returns from holiday with no memory of where he has been or what he has been doing for the past three weeks. He is behaving oddly and seems to have been brainwashed—implanted with a post-hypnotic suggestion to kill someone in the department.
6–23	""""	Robert Fuest	Terry Nation	5 March 1969 (1969-03-05)	Patrick Barr, John Ronane, Michael Robbins, Penelope Keith, Hugh Cross, Michael Hawkins, Bryan Kendrick, Raymond Adamson, Henry Stamper
Steed and Tara are tracking the movements of a red attaché case containing money and documents intended for a top enemy agent. The case also contains taped messages that inform a series of couriers where to take it.
6–24	""""	John Hough	Jeremy Burnham	12 March 1969 (1969-03-12)	Nigel Green, Guy Rolfe, Terence Brady, Paul Whitsun-Jones, Norman Chappell, Patsy Smart, John Garrie, Frederick Peisley, Arnold Diamond, John Barrard
The Gaslight Ghoul, a Victorian mass murderer similar to Jack the Ripper, strikes again a century later. In a fog-shrouded London, the Ghoul is intent on assassinating all the foreign delegates attending the international disarmament conference. Steed invents a fictitious additional Gaslight Ghoul murder in order to investigate a gentlemen's club, dedicated to uncovering the identity of the Ghoul, which Steed suspects is involved in the new killings.
6–25	""""	Don Chaffey	Jeremy Burnham	19 March 1969 (1969-03-19)	William Marlowe, Ralph Michael, Alan MacNaughtan, Alan Wheatley, Bryan Marshall, Alan Browning, ,
Whilst on a top-secret security assignment, Tara comes under suspicion of being a double agent. She must cast similar suspicion on Steed if she is to prove that she has been framed. An enemy agent, Gregor Zaroff, hopes to put the Government's new anti-missile defence system, codenamed 'Field Marshall', out of action by convincing Steed and Mother that Tara has betrayed the system's secrets.
6–26	""""	John Hough	Malcolm Hulke, Terrance Dicks	26 March 1969 (1969-03-26)	Joyce Carey, Mary Merrall, Gerald Harper, Keith Baxter, Edward Brayshaw, Bryan Mosley, Donald Pickering, Gertan Klauber, Kevork Malikyan, ,
Mother's two elderly aunties are all a-twitter over an improbable tale that he spins them: a dastardly plot to steal the Crown Jewels, illustrated with clips from earlier episodes.
6–27	""""	Leslie Norman	Terry Nation	2 April 1969 (1969-04-02)	Jeremy Lloyd, Iain Cuthbertson, Willoughby Goddard, Hugh Manning, John Horsley, Edward Burnham, Vernon Dobtcheff, Russell Waters
A fiendish, and lethal, device that eats electricity, designed as the ultimate killing machine, gets loose in a rural English village and electrocutes everyone it comes into contact with.
6–28	""""	Robert Fuest	Philip Levene	7 April 1969 (1969-04-07)	Peter Vaughan, Derek Godfrey, Edward Fox, Susan Travers, Philip Madoc, Tom Kempinski, John Savident, Hugh Moxey
Acme Precision Combine's directors are dying. A series of quite ordinary men have been hypnotised into committing the murders—by making them believe it's all a dream.
6–29	""""	Don Chaffey	Brian Clemens	16 April 1969 (1969-04-16)	Angela Douglas, John Cairney, John Paul, Denis Shaw, Katya Wyeth,
Tara finds herself attending a Requiem service for Mother, when Steed inaugurates a one-man witness protection program for a key witness against Murder International: taking the witness to Fort Steed, a hiding place supposedly known only to him. But agents bent on murdering the witness boobytrap Steed's apartment. When the bomb explodes, Tara is severely injured and Mother is killed. Now Tara must find Steed in time to warn him.
6–30	""""	Robert Fuest	Terry Nation	23 April 1969 (1969-04-23)	Tom Adams, Elizabeth Sellars, Michael Gwynn, Hilary Pritchard, Garfield Morgan, Keith Buckley, John Comer, Anthony Sagar
Steed is spending the weekend with two of his oldest friends, Bill and Laura Bassett, who, unknown to him, are being held prisoner in their own home by the other house guests. If they reveal this to Steed, or the reason why, he will be murdered: but he nevertheless begins to suspect something is amiss. Then an unsuspecting Tara blunders in.
6–31	""""	Robert Fuest	Brian Clemens	30 April 1969 (1969-04-30)	Julian Glover, James Cossins, Kathleen Byron, John Laurie, Geoffrey Whitehead, Peter Madden,
Tara is kidnapped by two brothers, who drug her and seek to brainwash her into believing that she is Pandora, a young woman she closely resembles, who was once engaged to their elderly father—a retired spy, codenamed the "Fierce Rabbit". He had been a British agent in the First World War, and Tara has to be convinced that she is now living in the year 1915.
6–32	""""	Don Sharp	Philip Levene	14 May 1969 (1969-05-14)	Andrew Keir, Peter Bowles, Peter Bayliss, Terence Longdon, Michael Culver, Michael Elwyn, Robert Russell,
Three captured Russian spies, one of whom is assigned to assassinate Steed, escape from a seemingly escape-proof prison hidden in Oldhill Monastery. Steed investigates a suspicious consignment of vodka recently delivered there, while Tara finds a clue in a magazine article about camouflage.
6–33	""""	Leslie Norman	Brian Clemens	21 May 1969 (1969-05-21)	Roy Kinnear, Fulton Mackay, George Innes, John Sharp, Sheila Burrell, Michael Balfour, Patrick Connor, Ron Pember
When a man who was buried a year previously is found newly dead, Steed investigates the cemetery where the dead man was supposed to be. One exhumation leads to another, as more and more discrepancies are uncovered. Steed then has himself buried alive—to see what transpires.

"The Fear Merchants" was the first episode of the Avengers to be produced/filmed in colour, although "From Venus with Love" aired first.

John Bryce replaced Brian Clemens and Albert Fennell as producer for the start of series six. By the time Clemens and Fennell returned, three episodes had been filmed: two 90-minute episodes, named "Invitation To a Killing" and "The Great Great Britain Crime", as well as a standard-length episode, "Invasion of the Earthmen". These were considered to be extremely flawed episodes; they would likely have been scrapped, except that time did not exist in which to film new episodes and still meet the American contract. Hence, "Invitation To a Killing" was heavily edited and had several new shots filmed to become "Have Guns — Will Haggle", while "The Great Great Britain Crime" was heavily edited and had some old footage from previous episodes added, as well as some new footage, to become "Homicide and Old Lace". "Invasion of the Earthmen" was slightly edited as well. No known copies of the original versions of these episodes exist.^{[citation needed]}

This series was produced in two batches: seven episodes (mostly without Patrick Newell as "Mother", and none with Rhonda Parker as "Rhonda") were added to the last eight Diana Rigg episodes for broadcast in the US in the spring of 1968: this made up the third series on ABC in America. On the original American broadcasts, these episodes featured the original 'Shooting Gallery' opening/closing titles featuring Tara in a tight-fitting tan outfit with a short skirt, and gunshots as Steed and Tara are shot at by an unseen gunman, which was filmed by Harry Booth. The seven episodes that aired in the US in the spring of 1968 aired in the following order: "The Forget-Me-Knot" on 20 March, "Invasion of the Earthmen" on 27 March, "The Curious Case of the Countless Clues" on 3 April, "Split!" on 10 April, "Get-A-Way" on 24 April, "Have Guns — will Haggle" on 1 May, and "Look- (Stop Me If You've Heard This One) But There Were These Two Fellers..." on 8 May.^[2]

These seven episodes were added sporadically into the 26 episodes produced in the next block, and the whole was transmitted in Britain as a single 33-episode run. The standard title sequences, the 'field/suits of armour' opening and 'playing card' ending, were filmed by Robert Fuest, originally for the first US transmission of the final 26 episodes, which made up the fourth series on the ABC network in America. These were tacked on to all 33 episodes when broadcast in the UK, apart from "The Forget-Me-Knot" which retained the amended Emma Peel opening credits and its original Tara King 'Shooting Gallery' end credit sequence.^{[citation needed]}

Notes:

• In the episode "Killer", Tara King is only seen departing for and returning from holiday. Steed's fellow agent for this episode is Lady Diana Forbes-Blakeney (played by Jennifer Croxton).
• In the US, on all episodes which had the field/suits of armour opening titles, the sequence was re-edited to 23 seconds (the UK sequence runs 49 seconds), to accommodate more commercials.
• The original 1968 German-dubbed episodes of this series had the field/suits of armour opening titles, but the 'Shooting Gallery' end titles.
• The original 1968 French-dubbed episodes of this series featured a variant in the opening title music: a gunshot sound is heard during the shot of Tara running between two rows of suits of armour toward Steed, and the sound of the sword swipe at the beginning is missing.
• The original title music for the opening 'Shooting Gallery' sequence featured gunshots. The version of the episode "Split!"—the only episode featuring this title sequence—that is included in the current DVD release (and aired on TV channel True Entertainment in the UK) nevertheless retains the standard title music, with the opening sword swipe sound effect where the first gunshot should be.

See also[]

• The New Avengers

References[]