New ‘Avengers’ with immaculate Steed

Press, 23 May 1977, Page 15

New ‘Avengers’ with immaculate Steed

It’s time to kiss Emma i Peel goodbye and raise an admiring eyebrow for the long-legged, lean and lovely > Purdey — the leading lady in “The New Avengers.” Purdey, played by Joanna Lumley, is different. She is ultra-feminine, preferring frilled and flowing gowns to the leather gear and jumpsuits of her predecessors. She is liberated too. She does her own thing with little regard for convention in dress or anything else. And she is athletic. She was once a ballet dancer, until] those long legs made her too tall.

Purdey takes her name from the most revered and expensive shotgun in the world: often described as “beautiful, sensuous, magnificent. . Joanna Lumley won the role from hundreds of other! girls who auditioned for the! part. The daughter of a Gur-’ kha major, she spent the: first eight years of her life] in India, Hong Kong and] Malaya.

Her television roles in-i elude eight episodes of “Co-1 ronation Street” (in which she earned the wrath of all Ken Barlow fans when she broke his heart). He had proposed to her but was turned down with a curt “No, you’re a bore.”

Joanna has also appeared in episodes of “Steptoe and I Son,” "Cuckoo Waltz” and! "Up the Workers” in addi- ] tion to numerous stage and! film roles, the most recent i

being “The Satanic Rites of Dracula.”

Gareth Hunt Starring alongside Joanna as the second “New Avenger” is Gareth Hunt as Gambit. Gambit is a very private person with a hint of mystery in hi;s background. He is tall, dark, handsome and deceptively quiet. Undrneath it all Gambit is a man of action. His Formula One racing experience is put to good use in his Jaguar XJS and there are few villians who can match him. Hunt himself is something of a mystery man too. From school he joined the Merchant Navy and six years later jumped ship at Napier. That earned him three months in jail. On returning to Britain Hunt took a variety of stage-hand jobs in theatres

and also for ITV. He then switched camps and did a BBC design course before moving back to the theatres. Hunt was keen to get front-stage and eventually talked his way into a role, and then into the Webber

Douglas Drama School. He I emerged from there two ! years later for his first real i acting job at the Ipswich Arts Theatre. I Many years of rep. fol-

lowed, including a year with the Royal Shakespeare Com-

pany. Hunt is still with the National Theatre and would like to do a lot more there as time permits. Hunt and Joanna Lumley are the “New Avengers” but of course Patrick MacNee, as John Steed, is still very much on the scene. Steed is “The Avengers” — he is the experience, the pivot, the hub of the whole operation. He is as immaculate as ever, bowler-hatted, spreading British good manners and charm wherever he goes. Steed still enjoys the “better things of life” — a good brandy, a ’2B Claret, Ascot, the click of leather against willow, and of course the Bentley. He is a realist though, and now the Bentley is saved for quiet outings. In its place is the “Big Cat” — a wide-wheeled,

hig h 1 y-tuned, road-going replica of Jaguar’s XJC racing coupe, a docile monster capable of over 180 mph. And if cross-country work is called for, there is a Range Rover on hand, fitted out to Stead’s impeccable taste. But how does Steed get along with his new' partners? Poles apart they may be but there is one thing that welds them together — mutual respect. They need all that respect to deal with the situations they find themselves in, for the stories in “The New Avengers” are as bizarre as those that characterised the first series. They flow predominantly from the pen of Brian Clemens who is also known for his thrillers, some of which screened recently during TVl’s thriller series. “The New Avengers” will begin screening on TVI on Wednesday night.