The TV audience's first view of Mrs. Cathy Gale, John Steed's second partner in The Avengers.
The Avengers is one of the most popular TV shows to come out of England from the 1960s. John Steed as the male lead, partnered with Cathy Gale, most well-loved with Emma Peel, and finally with Tara King, set the standard for future action adventure shows with strong male-female partnerships.
How'd it get started?
The first season of the Avengers starred Ian Hendry as a doctor whose fiance is killed by drug crimals. He vows revenge, and is shortly recruited by the mysterious John Steed to help him fight crime. Steed at this point wears a fedora and casual clothing....the iconic bowler hat and brolly won't make its appearance for some time. At this point Steed carries a gun, is tough, and sarcastic.
Although the season was a success, Steed was getting more press than Hendry's character, so Hendry decided to leave. Several scripts were left over, so the producers got a novel idea...why not make Steed's next partner a woman?
It was at this point, in late 1961/early 1962, that Peter O'Donnell's Modesty Blaise comic strip had just begun, and was very popular. Brits in this time period may also have been familiar with the "Ju Jitsu Suffragets" led by Emily Garrud. As I posted previously, Garrud was one of the first women to teach martial arts in the Western world, in the early 1900s, and during 1913 was the baritsu and ju jitsu trainer of the 30-women strong Bodyguard of Emmeline Pankhurst, who was agitating for women to be given the right to vote.
Tomorrow, I'll start synopsizing the plots for each episode of the two seasons of The Avengers co-starring Honor Blackman as Mrs. Cathy Gale.
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