The BEST episodes of The Avengers
Every episode of The Avengers ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of The Avengers!
"Always keep your bowler on in time of stress, and watch out for diabolical masterminds." [Mrs Peel] The Avengers is one of the most popular and beloved television series of all time. Its outrageous blend of wit and style and its unique mix of the fantasy and spy genres, coupled with the marvellous characters of John Steed and Emma Peel make it one of television's great classics.
#1 - Dragonsfield
Season 1 - Episode 26 - Aired 12/30/1961
How has a research centre developing radiation-proof material managed to irradiate one of its scientists? Once more, Steed submits himself to scientific testing.
#2 - The Yellow Needle
Season 1 - Episode 16 - Aired 6/10/1961
After an unsuccessful murder attempt against Sir Wilberforce Lungi, Steed asks Keel, an old friend of the pro-Western African leader, to investigate Lungi's secretary, Jacquetta Brown. Meanwhile, Steed flies to Africa to meet Lungi's tribalist rival, Shebro.
#3 - Dead of Winter
Season 1 - Episode 23 - Aired 12/9/1961
The discovery of the body of Schneider, a wanted Nazi war criminal, deep-frozen in a consignment of meat at London docks brings Steed and Keel into the shadowy world of Phoenix, a new and terrifying Fascist party in Britain.
#4 - Death on the Slipway
Season 1 - Episode 17 - Aired 6/24/1961
An agent has been killed at the secret dockyard where submarines are built. Steed investigates, and finds that a foreign spy has been arranging 'accidents' for him.
#5 - The Far Distant Dead
Season 1 - Episode 21 - Aired 8/19/1961
Dr Keel, treating the victims of a cyclone struck Mexican village, uncovers a number of food-poisonings; emergency cooking oil is, in fact, hydraulic fluid.
#6 - Double Danger
Season 1 - Episode 18 - Aired 7/8/1961
Keel, called to deal with a man seriously injured by an accident, quickly discovers that the man is suffering from gunshot wounds, and that he may be implicated in a recent diamond robbery.
#7 - Ashes of Roses
Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired 3/4/1961
Steed, investigating a number of probable arson cases, is led to the hairdressing salon of Olive and Jacques Beronne. He asks Keel to let Carol investigate the salon, but after she enters, there is an explosion from within
#8 - A Change of Bait
Season 1 - Episode 25 - Aired 12/23/1961
An unusual and sprawling tale of heart disease, industrial unrest, and a consignment of rotten bananas.
#9 - The Deadly Air
Season 1 - Episode 24 - Aired 12/16/1961
An experimental vaccine is stolen, and the subsequent test proves deadly. Steed and Keel, suspecting that the human 'guinea pig' did not die directly from the vaccine, volunteer to be the next subjects.
#10 - Kill the King
Season 1 - Episode 22 - Aired 9/2/1961
A visit to London to sign an oil treaty from a monarch whose life is under threat brings Steed and Keel into the world of dissidents and assassinations.
#11 - Toy Trap
Season 1 - Episode 19 - Aired 7/22/1961
Keel is asked by the improbably named Bunty to help her find her missing friend. What is the connection between the department store where the women work and a call-girl racket?
#12 - The Springers
Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired 5/13/1961
Steed is trying to track down the organisers of a group who offer to spring any convict - even the dangerous ones - from prison if they're paid the right money. Keel impersonates a prisoner, and the trail seems to lead to a girl's finishing school.
#13 - Crescent Moon
Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 2/4/1961
A young girl, Carmelite Mendoza, has been kidnapped from a Caribbean island, but Steed suspects a political motive. His suspicions are confirmed when Vasco, the Mendoza family retainer, is observed killing the original kidnapper and abducting the girl himself.
#14 - Dance with Death
Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 4/15/1961
Dr. Keel resuscitates Elaine Bateman, the owner of a ballroom dancing school who has narrowly survived a murder attempt by gassing. When he returns to the school after dropping his scarf, he is arrested. His scarf has been used to strangle the woman.
#15 - The Radioactive Man
Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 2/25/1961
Dr Keel is asked to help in the search for a man who has picked up a radioactive isotope, not knowing that it will quickly kill him and harm anyone else he comes into contact with. But Marko, fearing that the police want to find him because of his forged passport, has already gone into hiding.
#16 - The Curious Case of the Countless Clues
Season 6 - Episode 19 - Aired 2/5/1969
Rich men are being blackmailed by two crime experts who plant clues to them all over the scenes of the crimes that they themselves commit. However, when they try to allege that Steed would murder Tara....
#17 - Hunt the Man Down
Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 3/18/1961
Frank Preston is released from prison and is intent on reclaiming the hidden proceeds of his robbery. So is Steed, who has been ordered to follow the man. So are a couple of thugs, who kidnap Carol. So is Preston's scheming wife, eager to get her hands on the one hundred thousand pounds hidden somewhere in the sewers.
#18 - Please Don't Feed the Animals
Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 4/1/1961
Steed trails a blackmailed civil servant to Brinkley House, a private zoo, only to observe the man throwing a package of money into the reptile pit. The package soon vanishes. The man is then ordered to steal a top secret file.
#19 - One for the Mortuary
Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 4/29/1961
When Keel attends a health conference in Geneva he is unaware that he is carrying, in microdot form, a vital new medical formula - unaware, that is, until he is arrested for murder.
#20 - Nightmare
Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 1/28/1961
Keel receives a 'phone call from one of his patients, and ends up assuming the identity of her missing husband, a scientist engaged in secret research. Shot in the chest, Keel needs a minor operation - but the anaesthetist has tampered with the oxygen.
#21 - Diamond Cut Diamond
Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 2/18/1961
Steed, attempting to break a gang of international diamond smugglers, is living in a bungalow near Heathrow Airport which was once owned by a suicide whom One-Ten suspects of involvement. Steed awakens one morning somewhat the worse for drink, when a phone call advises him to check the morning paper; the police are tracking a hit-and-run driver. Steed checks his car. It is damaged, and the front is covered with dried blood.
#22 - Who Was That Man I Saw You With?
Season 6 - Episode 25 - Aired 3/19/1969
Tara has been employed to test the security on the top-secret war-room computer 'The Field Marshall'. But when a strange foreign man starts sending her flowers, Mother suspects that she's doing her job a bit too efficiently.
#23 - Tunnel of Fear
Season 1 - Episode 20 - Aired 8/5/1961
Top-secret information is finding its way into the wrong hands, and the source seems to be a south coast fairground. Steed succeeds in getting hypnotised and winds up in the ghost-train tunnel. With frightening results, of course.
#24 - Brought to Book
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/14/1961
Steed has infiltrated a gang, led by Mason, which is implicated in Peggy's murder. Steed asks Keel to establish contact with a rival gang, and the doctor discovers that Vance's hitman, Spicer, has been sent to kill Steed.
#25 - Take-Over
Season 6 - Episode 30 - Aired 4/23/1969
The home of Steed's friends Bill and Laura Bassett is invaded by a group of ruthless criminals who implant explosives in their throats. Unfortunately, this is the weekend that Steed is coming to stay.