The New Avengers 2.1 – Dead Men are Dangerous

And now back to 1977, for the second and final series of The New Avengers. Believe it or not, I’m really flying blind with this run. I’ve only seen five of these thirteen episodes, and didn’t enjoy them very much. Brian Clemens’ “Dead Men are Dangerous” isn’t bad at all, though. I liked it much better than the ones I’ve seen before. At least as far as I remember.

I do have a quibble with one intensely silly flaw, though. Like “The Last of the Cybernauts…??”, this begins with a pre-title sequence that the narrative later tells us happened in the past, in this case “ten years ago,” so call it 1967. Then, Steed drove his old school chum and rival, played by Clive Revill, over to a prepared breach in the border so Revill could smuggle himself into East Germany. But Revill is a double agent and guards were waiting to kill Steed. Revill took a bullet in the chest but was dragged away, and spent the next decade being a top spy for the other side while the bullet pressed closer and closer against his heart.

So with days left to live, Revill decides to avenge all of his old jealousies and second-place finishes behind Steed, their school’s “Victor Ludorum.” Gambit’s girlfriend-of-the-week, a teacher played by Gabrielle Drake, identifies Revill as being in his mid-forties. Which, admittedly, Revill himself was at the time, but come on, his character and Steed have to be at least ten years older than that. Were they trying to pretend that the star of the show wasn’t middle-aged?

Our son enjoyed it and thought it was really exciting in places. I liked it just fine, but I might have liked it a little more had we not seen at least three of Steed’s oldest friends die in this show already. Incidentally, Steed has a lovely new home in this series. It’s Fulmer Hall in Buckinghamshire, and it appears in at least four episodes. One of his old aunts must have left it to him, because I just don’t believe the Ministry pays nearly enough for the mortgage on it.