My fourth Avenging month is over already. I think I’m a bit off track after this one… I calculated I’d need to watch about 11 a month to see the whole run in a year and I’ve only watched 8 this month. The clocks went back… there was more daylight… so there’s less telly watching. This doesn’t bode well for the #avenging2014. The only thing that might get it back on track is… Mrs Peel.
By the beginning of June I should be getting into series 4 which is this series that introduced me (like most of the non-UK audiences, when it was originally sold overseas) to the Avengers. I first came across it in France when TF3 were showing it without dubbing (unlike most imports) at 10.30 every morning. My sister and I were hooked, instantly. As a huge Monty Python fan, I didn’t expect the day to come when I would be disappointed to see Flying Circus, but when TF3 started showing it instead, I was. So I didn’t get to see the whole lot – just a small handful. A wonderful handful.
Later, while I was doing my A levels, Channel 4 started repeating them – then, cruelly, stopped and jumped ahead to the colour episodes of series 5 (which I hadn’t seen either, and I enjoyed them, but they were still a consolation prize). Later that year they started screening black and white Mrs Peel at half past midnight – Wednesdays and Saturdays – so I stayed up until 1.30 to watch them on my 12″ black & white telly (perfect for the job). I recorded them onto VHS too, for rewatching – but I stayed up anyway because I didn’t want to wait…
I bought myself a cane handled umbrella. And a three-piece suit. It was a wool suit, and quite hot in June. Foreign students whispered and pointed. But I didn’t care – I just twirled my umbrella by its handle.
So there’s a possibility, in my excitement, I might blaze through series 4 quite fast, unless I ration myself. I do love Cathy Gale, and the first three series have been great fun – but series 4 is something else.
Anyway, back to series 3 from which I watched 8 episodes in April:
- The Grandeur That Was Rome
- The Golden Fleece
- Don’t Look Behind You
- Death a la Carte
- Dressed to Kill
- The White Elephant
- The Little Wonders
- The Wringer
Pick of April: I’ve not watched many but there have been three real corkers, Don’t Look Behind You, Dressed to Kill, and (very, very, narrowly my favourite) The Little Wonders.
Episodes remaining: 92 (11.5 per month)
