Mrs Peel, We're Needed - Rodney Marshall

Following the success of Bright Horizons, Mrs. Peel, We're Needed (The Avengers on Film volume 2) explores the glorious Technicolor world of Emma Peel. (Please note that this second edition includes substantially re-edited and cut versions of four chapters which some readers felt uncomfortable with due to their embellishments and voyeurism.) The Avengers was a unique, genre-defying television series which blurred the traditional boundaries between 'light entertainment' and disturbing drama. It was a product of the constantly-evolving 1960s yet retains a timeless charm. The monochrome filmed Emma Peel season had established a cult following for a series which became an intrinsic part of the 'Swinging Sixties'. Backed by US dollars, the show was now filmed 'in color' and Avengerland becomes stranger and more playful than ever: Steed is shrunk to the size of a desk pad, forced to evade a machine-gun-toting nanny; Emma Peel is tortured in a medieval ducking stool and turned into a living cybernaut. Mrs. Peel, We're Needed draws on the knowledge of a broad range of experts and fans of The Avengers as it explores the wonderfully mad Technicolor world of Emma Peel. "The Avengers in pop culture is The Avengers with Diana Rigg and Patrick Macnee, in colour. It is this season that defines the show. Look anywhere - shallow musing on online blogs, television history websites, pub trivia nights, internationally broadcast quiz shows...They all imagine Mrs. Emma Peel in a blue and purple catsuit when they think of The Avengers. I do too, even though I know better..." (Piers Johnson)