The Avengers was a unique, genre-defying television series which blurred the traditional boundaries between 'light entertainment' and disturbing drama. It was a product of the constantly-evolving 1960s yet retains a timeless charm. The creation of The New Avengers, in 1976, saw John Steed re-emerge, alongside two younger co-leads: sophisticated action girl Purdey and Gambit, a 'hard man' with a soft centre. The cultural context had changed - including the technology, music, fashions, cars, fighting styles and television drama itself - but Avengerland was able to re-establish itself. Nazi invaders, a third wave of cybernauts, Hitchcockian killer birds, a sleeping city, giant rat, a deadly health spa, a skyscraper with a destructive mind...The 1970s series is, paradoxically, both new yet also part of the rich, innovative Avengers history. Avengerland Regained draws on the knowledge of a broad range of experts and fans as it explores the final vintage of The Avengers.

The Avengers was a unique, genre-defying television series which blurred the traditional boundaries between 'light entertainment' and disturbing drama. It was a product of the constantly-evolving 1960s yet retains a timeless charm. The creation of The New Avengers, in 1976, saw John Steed re-emerge, alongside two younger co-leads: sophisticated action girl Purdey and Gambit, a 'hard man' with a soft centre. The cultural context had changed - including the technology, music, fashions, cars, fighting styles and television drama itself - but Avengerland was able to re-establish itself. Nazi invaders, a third wave of cybernauts, Hitchcockian killer birds, a sleeping city, giant rat, a deadly health spa, a skyscraper with a destructive mind...The 1970s series is, paradoxically, both new yet also part of the rich, innovative Avengers history. Avengerland Regained draws on the knowledge of a broad range of experts and fans as it explores the final vintage of The Avengers.

Bright Horizons draws on the knowledge of a broad range of experts and fans of The Avengers - including scriptwriter Roger Marshall - offering critical explorations of all twenty-six 'mini-films' which made up Season 4, the collective peak of an extraordinary television series. The Avengers was a unique, genre-defying television series which blurred the traditional boundaries between 'light entertainment' and disturbing drama. It was a product of the constantly-evolving 1960s yet retains a timeless charm. At the crossroads between the Cathy Gale-era stricture of video tape and the glossy, surreal, comic-strip world of 'glorious Technicolor', the monochrome filmed Emma Peel season represents the artistic pinnacle of a show which was exported around the world and remains the only British television drama to be networked at 'primetime' in the USA. "Such sheer hard sweat, blood and tears went into it and such beautiful humour, wit and sexiness came out of it. In that way - for all its fantasy - it's closer to everyday human feelings than soaps or Shakespeare." (Frank Shailes) Edited by the author of the popular Subversive Champagne, Bright Horizons represents the first part in a unique, exciting four volume collection covering every single one of the 109 filmed Avengers episodes.