Two Against the Underworld - the Collected Unauthorised Guide to the Avengers Series 1

Book excerpt: Two Against the Underworld brings together eight years of research to tell the story of The Avengers from both sides of the camera. It has now been further revised following the recovery of the episode Tunnel of Fear. The authors lift the lid on all 26 Series 1 episodes. Comprehensive chapters detail the narratives in extended synopsis form, as well as the production, transmission and reception of each episode, and the talented personnel who made them. The creation of The Avengers, Ian Hendry's departure, the series' destiny and the mystery of the missing episodes are explored in a series of essays, each of which has been revised. Avengers writer Roger Marshall and Neil Hendry both contribute forewords to this volume. The book also boasts black-and-white illustrations by Shaqui Le Vesconte and 70 pages of appendices that deal in depth with the unproduced episodes of Series 1, Keel and Steed's further adventures in the comic strip The Drug Pedlar and the novel Too Many Targets, and much more.