The It's About TV Interview: Alan Hayes, co-author of Escapades—An Exploration of Avengers Curiosities

It's been awhile since we've done an interview here, and I can't think of anyone better to rectify than my friend Alan Hayes. I first met Alan through his late, lamented website The Avengers Declassified, but now I'm happy to bring him back as the co-author of the new book Escapades—An Exploration of Avengers Curiosities, which, true to its title, delves into various offshoots of the series, including stage, radio and comic book adaptations. It's so new, in fact, it was just published this past Monday.
For some reason which I still can't quite fathom, Alan agreed to be the latest victim—that is, subject—of the "It's About TV Interview." I think—no, I know—you'll enjoy our conversation, which has been lightly edited for clarity.
l  l  l
It's About TV: What was your introduction to The Avengers?

 

Alan Hayes: Somehow, despite being born in the 1960s, I didn't learnabout The Avengers until the color Emma Peel episodes screened on the UKTV station Channel 4 in the early 1980s. Perhaps bizarrely though, I hadwatched The New Avengers—its sequel—on first transmission in 1976and 1977 and absolutely adored it. I wanted to be Mike Gambit but I was a bitof a nerd and about as convincing a Gambit as Woody Allen would have been! Myunquestioning nature didn't lead me to think "Why is this called TheNEW Avengers?"—it never occurred to me that there was a previousincarnation of the show. The penny dropped with those Channel 4 showings.

 

I quickly came to enjoy those earlier adventures too and itgrew into a favourite series, particularly when I met and eventually married ayoung woman who was just as enthusiastic about The Avengers and othershows I loved as I was. We both found it an incredibly enjoyable, witty andinteresting show, and along with Doctor Who, The Prisoner, The Persuaders!,Kolchak: The Night Stalker and Dark Shadows, it became an integralpart of our lives.

 

At some point, though, your appreciation of the showwent beyond that of simply being a fan, right? How did that happen?

 

It started when I went on to produce a series of websitesabout The Avengers, normally about leftfield aspects of the show—thelost first season, the South African radio series (much of which my wife and Irecovered and restored, though much of it remains lost), the doomed 1971 Birmingham/Londonstage show... the list goes on. These were all ultimately brought together intoone, monster-big website, The Avengers Declassified, which you canprobably find now via Wayback Machine! So, the Avengers websites are allgone, but I thought, "What can I do with all that great content?" Theanswer was go back to it, undertake further research, improve, expand it, andtake it to the next level—and to a publisher!

 

Although I’d set up The Avengers Declassified as anall-encompassing Avengers resource, it didn't really develop along those linesas I found writing about things that others had either ignored or barelytouched upon far more rewarding. That's why Richard McGinlay and I investigatedthe lost first season and ended up writing a book about it rather than goingin-depth about, for instance, the color Emma Peel shows which were covered sowell elsewhere. I'd already produced a website about the radio series, and Declassifiedfollowed its lead, checking out things that Avengers fans probably hadn't eventhought of looking for. In a way, that's what Escapades is about—proving that while the series is more than sixty years old now, there are stillplenty of fun things to explore, about it and the pop culture it influenced.

 

Escapades isn’t your first book about The Avengers,though. Tell us a little about your other books.

 

Yes, happy to. Avengerworld: The Avengers in Our Liveswas a fan anthology which I edited, comprising essays written by forty Avengersfans in which they revealed how the series had touched their lives and led themto do amazing and interesting things. The book was published in aid of acharity supporting a primary school in Southern Tanzania and proceeds paid fora water harvesting system to be installed there. Just thinking of that makes mesmile. I later co-edited a similar book about ITC spy series—Playboys,Spies and Private Eyes: Inspired by ITC—and this is available from QuoitMedia, with proceeds going to Born Free.

 

I've also co-written two books with Richard McGinlay, oneabout the first season of The Avengers, Two Against the Underworld—TheCollected Unauthorised Guide to The Avengers Series 1, and the other aboutthe series that inspired The Avengers, Police Surgeon. Entitled DrBrent's Casebook—An Unauthorised Guide to Police Surgeon, this exploresin depth the short-lived series that today is almost entirely lost. These andother books are available via www.hiddentiger.culttv.uk

 

But Escapades is a little different from thesebooks, and from other books and websites about The Avengers.  

 

I have to be honest and say that there are many Avengersbooks and websites out there and I'd happily recommend a great many of them butthe last thing I've ever wanted to do is just present my twist on the episodeguide or the location tour; I've always been keen to explore the less wellwalked paths—and in JZ Ferguson I found a great co-author who was interestedin doing the same.

 

JZ and I have looked at aspects of the series that simplyhaven't been covered elsewhere—at least beyond Declassified, where some ofthe chapters began their lives, but even those have been expanded and improved.There are chapters about the Brian Clemens Avengers revivals, plusothers that look at the Diana Rigg 8mm films made in Germany and Spain in thelate 1960s, the South African radio series, the Avengers stage play,unmade television scripts for the Emma Peel colour season and The NewAvengers, and even a Mexican 'luchadoras' wrestling movie featuring barelydisguised Cybernauts! The chapters and others go in depth about one particular'curiosity' and uncover much about these often unusual parts of The Avengersstory.

 

You mentioned your co-author, JZ. As a writer myself,I’m always interested in how collaborations work; how did yours develop?

 

JZ’d written a couple of pieces for The AvengersDeclassified that focused on Brian Clemens' attempts to revive the seriesin the 1980s and initially I asked if she'd mind if I used them in the book Iwas beginning to put together. JZ was happy for them to be included on theproviso that I would allow her to revisit the text and rewrite where she feltnecessary, which of course I was pleased to agree to.

 

As we discussed the book and its possibilities, I quickly realisedI'd found the perfect co-author for the project (which I'm pleased to say wasexactly the case in practice). The collaboration was such that, with JZ'sinput, the book developed considerably from what was effectively "the bestof a dead website" into something with much more of an identity of itsown.

 

In terms of how the work was divided up, we each tackledsubjects that particularly interested us, wrote those chapters individually,and then each fed back on the other's work, taking on board the comments andideas of the other. Hopefully JZ thinks the same, but I have no qualms insaying that my own chapters were greatly improved thanks to her valued input.

 

Were there things you discovered that surprised you,as a fan of the show?

 

It's actually been a fascinating process. Several of thesubjects chosen have long intrigued me as a fan of the series and have alwaysbeen more than a bit mysterious. What inspired Diana Rigg to make those 8mmmovies? Why was the stage play considered a flop? What could The Avengers havebeen like if it had been revived on TV or the silver screen in the decade afterThe New Avengers? It's been thrilling to have been able to explore many suchquestions in great depth, particularly regarding productions that other booksand websites have touched upon but only in passing, as—quite rightly—theywere not their main focus.

 

Was there any type of information out there thatserved as a kind of Holy Grail for you, that you thought you might not everdiscover?

 Getting an interview with the director of the Minikillers8mm film would qualify in that respect, though when I spoke to Wolfgang vonChmielewski in 2009, it didn't occur to me just how lucky I was. I think mydiscussions with him represent the only interview he gave on the subject, andsadly he passed away in 2021. Likewise, two other important contributors havealso passed since I spoke to them for the research that led into the book—Donald Monat (the radio Steed) and Simon Oates (Steed in the stage play). It'sgood to include their voices in this book, and Escapades is dedicated tothe memory of these three fabulous gentlemen.

 What do you think readers will discover in the bookthat they weren't aware of, or that might surprise them? That "Wow, Ididn't know that!" moment?

 

JZ and I hope the answer to that is "Lots and lotsof things"—but I think all the chapters abound with new and interestingmaterial. We've certainly learned plenty about The Avengers in writingEscapades and hopefully even the most ardent fans of the series will come awayfrom reading the book with a deeper understanding of the productions wediscuss.

 

Is there anything out there that you're continuing tolook for, that would really cap off your research?

 

I'd be delighted if further episodes of the Avengersradio series were recovered, but since I was involved in the recovery andrestoration of the surviving 19-and-a-bit serials many years ago, nothingfurther has come to light. But there's always hope...

 Looking at The Avengers as a whole, where doyou think it fits into the television pantheon, especially in England?

 I don't think the impact of The Avengers can beunderstated. It was on the scene before the James Bond films truly launched thespy boom in the early 1960s. It blazed the trail for the representation ofwomen as strong characters in television, showed that they could be the equalof or better than their male equivalents in TV drama. It was one of the fewBritish TV series that broke into the America networks and became a globalphenomenon.

 

I suppose you've been asked this many times, but doyou have a favorite episode? A favorite companion for Steed?

 I do get asked that a lot and I'm always very boring andsay that I don't really. There are many episodes that I adore, but if Inominated a favourite it'd be a different one next week and again the weekafter! I'm particularly fond of the very early episodes from the videotapedera, particularly the Ian Hendry episodes I know I will likely never see asthey are lost, the monochrome Emma Peel season (favourites among that one wouldbe 'A Surfeit of H2O', 'Too Many Christmas Trees' and 'The Hour That NeverWas') and The New Avengers (from that 'Target!', 'Cat Amongst thePigeons' and 'Sleeper'). And I adore the radio series beyond my capability forwords—which is an awful admission from a writer!

 

As for a favourite partner for Steed, I'd take two: Purdeyand Gambit, both of whom are peerless to my mind, and with Steed make a greatteam.

 

Alan HayesSupposing that you could reboot The Avengerstoday, a la Doctor Who, would it work? How would the series change? Andwho would you have playing the leads?

 

I'm not sure The Avengers really could be broughtback without seeming to be a copy of so many other things that in many ways itoriginally inspired. I think the 1998 movie signalled that you couldn't put iton the big screen without it trying to emulate James Bond—which is somethingit never was—and Doctor Who seems unable to escape the idea that ithas to compete with big screen blockbusters albeit on a paltry budget to thepoint where it compromises what made the series successful in the first place.I'd be sad to see The Avengers twisted to the point that it wasn'treally The Avengers any more. I'd prefer the Emma Peels, Tara Kings and TheNew Avengers to be restored in 4K, released, rebroadcast and find a newgeneration of fans that way. But I'm probably hugely naive!

 

What’s next for Alan Hayes?

 

My focus these last couple of years has been heavily onthe Escapades book, so I'm taking the opportunity for a breather—justpottering around on my Randall and Hopkirk (Declassified)website, which covers a British series that US TV fans might remember better asMy Partner the Ghost. Since we completed Escapades, JZ has beenwriting for a book about children's television with Rodney Marshall (son of TheAvengers writer Roger Marshall), and I'm waiting until inspiration for mynext writing project presents itself. If Escapades ends up being thelast book I write—which is quite possible—then it's one that I'm very proudof and which was a thoroughly enjoyable collaboration with a fabulous writerand friend. I think together we've shown that it's possible to write somethingfresh and new about a television series that debuted in 1961 and has been muchstudied. I'll take that!

 

Escapades—An Exploration of Avengers Curiosities waspublished in the United Kingdom in paperback on Monday March 10 2025. USpurchasers are advised to purchase via ebay soon after the publication date asthis will ease the journey through Customs. Otherwise, purchases and enquiriescan be made at quoitmedia.co.uk. TV