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saroz162's review
3.0
A pleasant trip back to the swinging sixties with everyone's favorite top professional, John Steed. Actor Patrick Macnee gives his own account of the show's production, told in a frank, anecdotal style that sometimes reveals just as much about his own neuroses as the famous program he worked on. It's light, entertaining stuff for the most part, but Macnee goes beyond self-deprication into a sort of self-doubt; he doesn't seem sure if he's deserving of his fame, or if he might've been happier with the more straightforward theatrical career he second guessed himself over, and he has a definite conflict over whether his upbringing simply made him subservient to women or able to finer appreciate their abilities in a sexist era. So it's occasionally a slightly uncomfortable experience reading the book; I'm not sure anyone really expects an actor to reveal his insecurities in a coffee table book!
That said, it's an interesting read, and a quick read, with Macnee's own thoughts punctuated by then-contemporary reviews and brief anecdotes from other production team members. Macnee doesn't favor any one period of the show, but the most insightful comments probably come at the conception of the show, and the early introduction of Honor Blackman as Cathy Gale - Macnee clearly remembers a lot about shaping the format of The Avengers. After the first Emma Peel is fired and Diana Rigg comes in, the tone becomes more generally anecdotal, but it's still good to see all the bases - even The New Avengers - covered.
This is a reprint of the earlier 1990s book, The Avengers and Me, with a new title and a new, glossy, photo-heavy format, which definitely makes the book more fun. It would've been nice to see the volume updated for the 2000s with Macnee's thoughts on what he refers to as the "prospective film version," but I suspect his own gentlemanly nature would, for once, restrict him from saying anything too revealing.
That said, it's an interesting read, and a quick read, with Macnee's own thoughts punctuated by then-contemporary reviews and brief anecdotes from other production team members. Macnee doesn't favor any one period of the show, but the most insightful comments probably come at the conception of the show, and the early introduction of Honor Blackman as Cathy Gale - Macnee clearly remembers a lot about shaping the format of The Avengers. After the first Emma Peel is fired and Diana Rigg comes in, the tone becomes more generally anecdotal, but it's still good to see all the bases - even The New Avengers - covered.
This is a reprint of the earlier 1990s book, The Avengers and Me, with a new title and a new, glossy, photo-heavy format, which definitely makes the book more fun. It would've been nice to see the volume updated for the 2000s with Macnee's thoughts on what he refers to as the "prospective film version," but I suspect his own gentlemanly nature would, for once, restrict him from saying anything too revealing.
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