THE AVENGERS - THE TARA KING ERA
Ask anyone about The Avengers and you will normally get memories of Emma Peel. She has always been the majority of fans favourite sidekick. I, too, have spent many hours watching Videos and now DVD's featuring Mrs. Peel and agree that she was probably the best companion for John Steed. However, I'm never one to go with the flow.
In 1968, I was 12 years old and had maybe fewer recollections of Diana Rigg. I really grew up with Linda Thorson and over the years have discovered that unlike Honor Blackman, Diana Rigg and even Joanna Lumley, Linda Thorson never really gets her fair share of credit. The controversy surrounding the signing of Linda Thorson is well documented, but to give her her due she played the part with gusto and should surely gain her rightful place in Avengers folklore!
This is by no means an Avengers web site. In fact the best web site I have found is The Avengers Forever which is the most comprehensive site I have visited. It really tells you everything you need to know about the series and, of course, it explains the full story of the hiring of Linda Thorson.
Finally, the few pictures I have on this page and scanned from my own DVD collection and are placed here just to give the page some colour and substance. If any of these pictures infringe any copyrights, please let me know and I will have them removed.
So now I present my 10 favourite Tara King episodes - and a few that just missed out!
1.
WHO WAS THAT MAN I SAW YOU
WITH When I have a
rest from watching The Avengers on DVD, this is the episode I watch when I
restart them. One of Linda's best performances as she is framed as a spy and has
to fight to prove her innocence. The villain is camp and I always look forward
to the final fight at the end as Steed says to the villain "What a Lovely Suit"
before throwing the first punch.
2.
PANDORA
By all accounts, Linda Thorson's favourite episode and also my second. Probably
one of the least "played for laughs" episodes of Tara King's era. Linda gives a
great performance as the drugs she is being fed start to make her lose her
identity and become "Pandora".
3.
TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER
Steed and Tara have to follow the trail of a briefcase that is passed from spy
to spy and will eventually end up with a traitor in Steed's organisation. I
normally hate child actors, but the small girl in this episode is wonderful as
she waves away Steed's offers of lollipops and insists on hard cash for handing
over the briefcase. Penelope Keith in the same scene is also "screamingly"
wonderful.
4. KILLER I
have to include this fantastic episode even though Tara is away on holiday for
its duration and Steed gets a replacement assistant. The scenes where Steed
enters the building housing the villainous computer REMAK are some of the best
in this season.
5. THE INTERROGATORS
Using a taped recording of Mother's voice, agents are being taken to a bogus
course and tested under interrogation, not realising that the danger starts as
the interrogation finishes. Tara is taken to the course by guest villain,
Christopher Lee - always the sign of a good episode.
6. ALL DONE WITH MIRRORS
With Steed under house arrest, Tara goes it alone to investigate strange voices
and a conveniently placed lighthouse. More proof that Linda Thorson had the
ability to carry a whole episode.
7. REQUIEM
Steed is guarding a star witness against Murder International at a safe place
not even known to Tara. The villains fake an explosion at Steeds flat apparently
fatally killing Mother and injuring Tara. With Tara recuperating in a bogus
hospital, the villains tell her that a pen belonging to Steed has a bomb planted
in it and only Tara's help in remembering small bits of information gained over
time about Steed's haven will save him.
8. LOOK (STOP ME IF YOU'VE HEARD THIS ONE) BUT
THERE WERE THESE TWO FELLERS... Definitely
played for laughs and a real enjoyable romp. Tara sports rare longer hair for a
lot of this episode. An ex-Vaudeville Clown and his silent sidekick begin
murdering the Directors of The Land and Development Company, making a mad music
hall dance exit after each murder. Some great comic talent for this hilarious
episode including Jimmy Jewel, John Cleese and Bernard Cribbens.
9. STAY TUNED
Steed loses three weeks of his life and thinks he is having a breakdown. In fact
he is being brainwashed into murdering Mother.
10. LOVE ALL
Finally, another fairly amusing episode featuring small microdots in a book that
cause the person reading to fall in love with the first person they see. All are
civil servants from the Ministry. A haggard cleaning woman, in reality a
beautiful woman in disguise, is always first on the scene and the men tell her
all their secrets for love!! When Tara gets to close to the truth, the chief
villain forces Tara to fall in love with him with a copy of the book and tells
her that their love can never be and Tara tries to commit suicide. Cracking
stuff!!
So that's my favourite ten Linda Thorson episodes. Now for the four that just missed the top 10.
For full synopsis of all The Avengers episodes plus tons more I once again recommend The Avengers Forever web site.