(Photographs courtesy of ABC Television)
John Carson and Patrick McNee in
( the first blind villain, I believe . . . )
do recall the evening we all spent in a Thames-side pub deciding, with no dissent,
that the sexual fantasies of the average middle-class Englishman included being dominated
by a beautiful woman, clad preferably in leather. Sidney Newman, who was senior producer
at ABC television at the time, was doubtful about this concept but Verity Lambert,
who later went on to be the youngest -- and the first female -- TV producer at the
BBC, agreed with us and, well, that’s how things happened the way they did. . .
.
When I ran across them in 1962, “THE AVENGERS” were two blokes, Patrick McNee and
Ian Hendry.
But Ian had just just quit the series - I think he saw himself as suited to more
serious roles - and the creative people at ABC Television were wondering where to
go next. I can’t recall exactly where the notion of “the female lead who wasn’t
just a fashion accessory to the story” sprang from, but I
