Customer Reviews

The Avengers and Me

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If you are a fan of "The Avengers" series and even have a recollection of "The New Avengers" series, you will love <TheAvengers and Me" (TV Books, 1998) by Patrick Macnee "with" Dave Rogers. Now that I have all the Diana Rigg episodes on VHS and the last season of the Honor Blackman ones on DVD, while my fuzzy copies off late-night tv of the Linda Thorson entries await replacement by commercial ones--well, this book was a wonderful reminder of how much fun it was to await eagerly each new episode when they were still new and unabridged by the increasing time allowed for commercials.

What this book also tells us is how the participants did not particularly have as much fun making the series as we did watching them. When Diana Rigg announced that coal miners were making more than they were--a remark that did not endear her to coal miners--or when the cast of "The New Avengers" found they were not going to be paid--or when Joanna Lumley stood up at a gathering and let the others know how hard the cast worked while everyone else partied, we begin to reconsider what came over the tube in a new light and admire the actors even more for not showing their displeasure before the cameras.

As is common today in "confess all" autobiographies, Macnee is quite honest about his weight and drinking problems; and more interestingly, about his feelings of inferiority before such "real" actors (as he puts it late in the book) as Diana Rigg and Ian McKellen (but not Orson Welles, for reasons that you will find in the last chapter).

This edition boasts lots of good stills, especially the color shots of Honor Blackman episodes which we know only in black and white. I feel it could have used more behind-the-camera anecdotes and I certainly miss an index. But what there is is quite good and fans will certainly love it all.

Reading this book is like having a personal chat with Patrick MacNee as he recounts his experiences while making the avengers series. He is unassuming and generous in praising his co-stars, and colleagues although he is critical of some people who were behind the scenes. Patrick downplayed his own capabilities and contribution to the series.

Sure he had the support of many good female partners, but his own character was very integral to the series. Wild and outrageous ladies with this gentleman spy to balance the story.

The author also reflects on how he might handled things differently with his co-stars, vis-a-vis the producers, if he could do it again. As an avengers fan, i always wondered why Diana Rigg did not stay for more than 2 seasons. I also thought that the Linda Thorson series was under-rated. Some answers are offered in this book and i am glad i read it.

Though the stories were fantastic, and sometimes ludicrous, but it was a fun series to watch.

I also think Patrick deserves a little more credit han he has given himself in this book.

Macnee is. "The Avengers and Me" gives the reader a true sense of just what type of man Patrick Macnee is, more so, I feel, than his autobiography, "Blind in One Ear."

And while he downplays his role and acting abilities, we all know better. During the past few years, I'd taken to listening to his audio tapes of the "Sean Dillion" (Jack Higgins) stories, and his ability to take other's works and add so much character to them is astonishing. This book will not disappoint.

For true lovers of the show, this is a "must have" book. For those who strive to learn what makes the best actors tick, this is a "must have" book. Finally, if you want to learn a little more about British culture, this is a "must have" book.

Now here's a book worth buying! This book was interesting, witty, and insightful. The pictures are delightful. It is a wonderful read, allowing plenty of insight to the show as well as Patrick Macnee himself.

As humble as ever, Patrick Macnee takes us on a trip behind the scenes of the making of the international hit television series of the 1960s--The Avengers. He builds up the talents of his co-stars--especially Honor Blackman, Diana Rigg and Linda Thorson--at the expense of his own ego. While he submits that he was often weak in dealing with the producers, the reader who remembers well the series will have no doubt but that this is none other than the legendary John Steed himself writing. And the pictures, which appear on every page, are exceptional. These alone are worth the price of this large-format paperback book. Add in the wonderful anecdotes and--well, Mrs. Peel, this book is needed!

This is a "Must Have" if You are an Avengers Fan. The book focus mostly on Mr Mc.Nee history along the show from the begining to the end,included The New Avengers. It also includes a number of interviews to the different people involved in the show. Is like "The Biography of Mr Mc Nee". The photographs are great and it has plenty. Just a small complain:The book does not extend too much about the musical scores. But is a great book! Perhaps readers will be disapointed if they looking for an episode guide because that is not included. A detailed ep.guide can be founded in the other book of the Avengers "The Avenger Companion" But the two books does not repeat any information, so is great to have both and both complement each other.

As others have written, this book shows Macnee to be both humble and generous -- and makes you wonder how the show ever got made.

The total lack of support from the network, the grudging contempt towards the actors, the penny-pinching, it's all here in some detail. And lest you think that this is just sour grapes from Macnee, he allows others extensive space to explain their battles with the executives and how the network actually seemed upset that the show was a hit and the actors becoming famous.

Macnee is the same cheerful, positive, unruffled self here we know from "Steed" on the screen. His very rare sniping actually reinforces that image, for it's all on behalf of others. He's genuinely angry that Diana Rigg lost an Emmy award to Barbara Bain of Mission Impossible - and much as I loved MI, Rigg was twice the actress and playing a bigger more dynamic role. For himself, he dismisses his own abilities and minimizes his own contributions to the series. But we know better.

He's also honest about his failure to support Blackman and Rigg in their battles with the execs - a failure he attributes to cowardice on his part. He's also very open about his struggles with weight and diet pills.

I mentioned the space given to others in the book. This provides a wonderful platform for the set designer, the musician and others to explain some of what went into making the show. Unfortunately, none of the female leads are interviewed. I don't know, but I suspect that both Blackman and Rigg have some very bitter memories about how they were exploited on the show. For all that The Avengers put "emancipated" women on screen, the working environment was anything but. (But that was not due to Macnee.)

He covers all incarnations of the series, from before Diana Rigg through to the New Avengers.

Macnee seems like someone you'd love to have drinks with; someone who'd be a great neighbor and friend.

Being a fan of The Avengers ever since 1966, I always wanted to hear the inside story of the makers.
And here it is; from the man who knows best: Patrick Macnee himself.
His honestness is stunning and heart capturing.
A must have!

"The Avengers & Me" is a very good book if you love that wonderful British import to American TV. Patrick MacNee is really at the core of this book as he is without a doubt the one and only John Steed. It's really from his perspective. It is very insightful and full of great stories about the workings of this great TV show. A must have if you grew up with it.

You *may* notice that the title mentioned in some reviews is "The Avengers and Me" while the book being sold is "The Avengers: The Inside Story". That's because "The Inside Story" is simply a repackaging of the earlier book. Amazon should be more upfront about this rip-off. (They must be aware of it.) If you are a longtime fan of this series, you already bought "The Avengers and Me" more than ten years ago -- you do not need this title!

That said, if you are new to the series, it IS a wonderful book -- but be aware!!!