Stars: Patrick Macnee, Diana Rigg

Director: Robert Day

Summary: This collection presents six episodes from the classic 1960s television series that follows secret agents John Steed (the ever-suave Patrick Macnee) and Emma Peel (the ever-lovely Diana Rigg) on various crime-fighting adventures. The set contains the episodes A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Station, Something Nasty in the Nursery, The Joker, Who's Who

WIN DVDs by rating this DVD

Average User Rating:

WIN DVDS by being amongst the first to review this DVD. Reviewing DVDs earns you bonus entries and lets you WIN DVDs!Please login before reviewing this DVD. If you're a new user, register for free and enter to WIN FREE DVDs!

1967 was a good year for the Avengers: The Definitive Dossier, Files 5 and 6 contains six classic episodes in which Patrick McNee and Diana Rigg get to flirt with stylish decadence as John Steed and Mrs Emma Peel.

As they are at pains to point out at the end of one episode, their adventures often start with the mysterious death of an agent, and their involvement usually means at least one more death along the way--one of them gets tied up and the other has to engage in some perfunctory martial arts to save them. Yet none of this is important--it is the charm that matters, and the fact that the show was so aware of its own clichés is part of that charm. Another factor was the parade of British character actors in minor roles. Here Peter Cushing is a silkily vengeful villain, John Laurie a railway enthusiast and, in a body-switching episode, Freddie Jones and Patricia Haines are Steed and Emma themselves.

The plots involve killer robots, engineered premonition in nightmares and hypnotic regression to childhood; the touches of surreal are part of The Avengers style blended with 60s fashions and loopy plots to create something effectively original and hugely influential.

On the DVD: the DVDs are presented in a standard 4:3 television visual aspect with good mono sound for their date. As with other releases in this series, the special features consist of short biographies, a picture gallery and a "Follow the Hat" feature (modelled on the "White Rabbit" from The Matrix) in which Patrick McNee introduces each episode and interesting facts about cast and designers are flashed onto the screen.--Roz Kaveney

Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Trailer, Follow-the-Hat Information Feature, Scene Selection, Interactive Menus, Photo Gallery, Biographies
Year:	1967
Release Date:	December 26, 2001
Runtime:	280 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	K L T 21003
Label:	Canal Plus / Kult T V
Keywords:	Five, Action, Six, Two, Box, General, Three, Set, Files, Avengers, Tv, Adventure, Definitive, Discs, Dossier
Genre:	Action/Adventure