Was There Always Only One Steed?
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Emma Peel Steed (1965-1967)

Steed changes from the Gale season to the Peel season by practically 100%. Also the circumstances were completely different. The show was now made on film instead of being videotaped, and a trio of innovative scriptwriters and producers (Julian Wintle, Albert Fennell and Brian Clemens) took over the reins from that time forwards. Even Johnny Dankworth's jazzy music made way for the more portentous, energetic and orchestral tunes of Laurie Johnson.

Although these elements barely had an effect on Steed, they were landmark factors in the history of "The Avengers," revealing that the house had been completely remodeled and everything appeared in a fresh way.

Of course, one of the essential pillars in the transmutation of the Steed of the film era, was the arrival of an actress who wasn't like Honor Blackman and nor would she play Cathy's role. The new actress, Diana Rigg, would give creative life to her character Mrs. Emma Peel.

If the rapport between Steed and Cathy Gale (in the third season particularly) was worthy of mention, the one enjoyed by the duo of Steed and Emma Peel would reach new heights. Perhaps due to the meeting of minds and to the absolute confluence of two people who had much in common (except for their age), Patrick and Diana led their respective characters to their zenith, making them work as a fully integrated, compact team, which made up for their differences.

Since the very first episode they filmed together, "The Murder Market," Patrick insisted that Emma Peel would have to be Steed's partner, not his assistant. And that's the way it always worked—the duo was represented as a team of equal partners, in which Steed had now left his male chauvinism behind (not to mention forgotten it), becoming protective towards Emma—in spite of both of their manifest independence, emancipation and determination—and admitting without any kind of resentment the superior intelligence she demonstrated on occasion.

Emma Peel's intelligence is clearly evident in "The Master Minds," an episode in which Steed and Emma get into an organization called "The Ransack Club," a diabolic version of MENSA, to which Emma easily joins, passing the entrance exam with no difficulties. Steed, however, has serious trouble obtaining an acceptable qualification proving he also has a high IQ. Nevertheless, with a "little help" from Emma, Steed also gets into the club. This is achieved via his own cheating using answers Emma supplied him with-we see Steed sweating it out during the examination, pretending he thinks conscientiously with the pencil into the mouth, whilst unfolding from his sleeve a little paper containing the right answers, copying the answers out, in the inimitable style of a mischievous student. The cheating scene is memorable, mainly because Steed in no way looks ashamed for "apparently" showing lower intellectual abilities than his female partner, demolishing a barrier prevailing since the time immemorium.

When we say that Steed had become protective towards Mrs. Peel, indeed it is evident in many episodes including "The Gravediggers," "The Hour That Never Was," and especially those played mostly solo by her. In "The House That Jack Built," as well as "The Joker," "Epic," and "Murdersville," the few minutes in which Steed appears are always reserved to his concern for Mrs. Peel, who headed for a place soon revealed as a sinister one, where her life would be in danger. Invariably, Steed rushes out (even despite being injured, as in "The Joker") to rescue Mrs. Peel.

Naturally this determination to rescue the partner in distress was also reflected on the other side of the mirror—Emma gets worried about the recurrent Steed's nightmares in "Too Many Christmas Trees," takes care of his wounds in "Silent Dust," and comes out to help him at the end of "The Hidden Tiger," "The Living Dead," "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Station," and "The Superlative Seven." This last episode turned out to be quite controversial, according to Patrick's account in his book "The Avengers and Me," since in the eyes of ABC executives, Steed's character looked "so weak, so unmasculine" by being rescued not by one, but by two women—Mrs. Peel and Hannah Wild (played by actress Charlotte Rampling). Apparently, this was one of the reasons for prolific scriptwriter Brian Clemens being (albeit temporarily) fired at the outset of the Tara King era, yet luckily, he was involved in all the Emma shows.

To all intents and purposes, Steed and Mrs. Peel were the ideal couple proving it was possible to be close friends without winding up in bed... But sometimes tricky scenes occurred, which gave us clues to the true nature of their relationship. At the beginning of "Honey for the Prince," we see Steed and Emma returning to his apartment from a party, having fun playing childishly with balloons, almost as though they were teenagers enjoying a youthful romance. Likewise in many other episodes, jealous glances or behavior from both are evident. This is perhaps most perceptible in "The Return of the Cybernauts," where the wicked (character name Paul) Peter Cushing attempts to woo Emma for his devious purposes, and Steed in no way seems to enjoy the "romantic" scenes between Emma and her "suitor."

Due to their perfect working partnership, Emma Peel and Steed were able to develop a witty and ironic banter. This humor was a characteristic that Patrick and Diana shared and that reinforced the magic chemistry between the two, about which much has been said. They were, dare we suggest it, the British version of Hollywood's legendary golden era couple, Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. Their unique, magical rapport colored every performance they gave together: "Don't fight it, Mrs Peel... we're inseparable," says Steed in the tag scene of "The Positive-Negative Man." At that moment, Steed was "stuck" to the Bentley's bodywork, held there by an electrical charge. When a smiling Emma tried to help remove him from the car, she wound up "stuck" to him. There is another example of their witty sexual innuendo-filled banter in "Death's Door": "You know my wavelength...", says Emma when they communicate by walkie-talkie while guarding a Ministry dignitary. "I do, indeed," comes the reply from a libidinous Steed. Shortly after, in "Mission... Highly Improbable," Emma is astounded to discover that Steed has been shrunk to the size of her own hand. "Hmmm... Tell me Steed... is everything to scale?" she asks cheekily. Steed's rejoinder is a lewd laugh. And even beyond these, there are still so many examples worthy of mention...

As we indicated above, the Peel Steed was not only deprived of pets, but also of superiors. "We were there at the scene," says Patrick, "It didn't have to be explained how we got there, we just were. We weren't cute, we weren't clever—we were real, two people who had a lot of common sense... Where we came from didn't matter. We arrived. We investigated. We left. Things didn't have be stated or made obvious."

Many episodes featured mentions of Steed and Emma working for a supposed "Ministry" linked to officialdom. However, unlike the earlier seasons, there were no visits from One-Ten or his colleagues to be given instructions on what to do. On several occasions, we've seen them providing security to diplomats or to government organizations, often pursuing villains intent upon putting that security in jeopardy ("Honey for the Prince," "A Touch of Brimstone," "Death's Door," "Who's Who," "Mission... Highly Improbable" and many more episodes). But... who were those villains? There were a great many "diabolical masterminds" doing nefarious deeds in order to take over the world. Also, at a time when the Cold War was in its most volatile, it wasn't surprising that allusions were made towards the Russians, although, determined not to show too serious a reality, Clemens and the remaining scriptwriters gave the subject a large dose of humor. The episodes that dealt most strongly with this conflict were fashioned in flippant and amusing tones, such as "The Correct Way To Kill," "The See-Through Man," "Mission... Highly Improbable" and others. This topic was virtually unexplored in the Mrs. Gale seasons and would be continued, although to a lesser extent, in the Tara King shows.

One of the many advantages offered by producing the series on film was the ability to set up incredibly detailed, realistic scenes (impractical for the videotaped Gale episodes), especially the fight scenes. It was now possible for stunt performers to be hired to replace Diana and Patrick in these potentially dangerous sequences, covering against injury to the series stars. That's why our heroic Peel Steed wasn't, at times, all that heroic personally. Freezing certain shots in episodes with our VCRs, we clearly see that the Steed who fights, for example, with Christopher Lee's infuriated doppelganger in "Never, Never Say Die," or the Steed who, in "The Fear Merchants," tries desperately to climb out of the pit he's trapped in, or the Steed who on countless occasions drives the Bentley... is in fact not Patrick Macnee at all. But... relax! It is Patrick who so deftly rides that gallant white horse in "Silent Dust."

Actually, we've by no means exhausted the subject of the Emma Peel Steed. Probably no one can. This was the Steed who put the cigarette aside, who adopted the three-piece suit as a routine uniform (mostly during the color season) and who, like never before, got involved in the most unusual, fantastic, magical, surreal, suggestive and creative plots in the program's history. It was the time of the diabolical masterminds; the time when Steed could disappear as an Aladdin's lamp was rubbed, or be miniaturized to the size of a toothpick, or wear a tartan kilt (as Patrick had been forced to during his childhood), or travel back to 1740 after stepping into a time portal. It was the time of the kingdom of "Avengerland," a unique, private, original and exclusive place, where the most unusual happenings were possible. It was a time that imposed no boundaries on the imagination. And not surprisingly, Steed didn't hover in the background.