The WORST episodes of The Avengers

Every episode of The Avengers ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst 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.

Last Updated: 11/4/2024Network: ITV1Status: Ended
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Homicide and Old Lace
star
4.71
38 votes

#1 - Homicide and Old Lace

Season 6 - Episode 26 - Aired 3/26/1969

It's Mother's birthday and he is visiting two of his aunts, Harriet and Georgina. To celebrate he tells them a hair-colour changing story, 'The Great Great British Crime'.

Directors: John Hough
Watch Now:Apple TV
The Secrets Broker
star
5.30
37 votes

#2 - The Secrets Broker

Season 3 - Episode 19 - Aired 2/1/1964

One of Steed's colleagues has been murdered, and the subsequent investigation takes Cathy to a top-secret research establishment and Steed to a wine merchants.

Directors: Jonathan Alwyn
Watch Now:Apple TV
Esprit de Corps
star
5.33
36 votes

#3 - Esprit de Corps

Season 3 - Episode 25 - Aired 3/14/1964

The mysterious death of Corporal Craig of the Highland Guards sends both Steed and Cathy undercover into the army ranks. There, Steed finds himself under court-martial and Cathy becomes second in line to the throne.

Directors: Don Leaver
Writer: Eric Paice
Watch Now:Apple TV
Box of Tricks
star
5.43
42 votes

#4 - Box of Tricks

Season 2 - Episode 17 - Aired 1/19/1963

Classified information is finding its way into the wrong hands and Steed feels sure that this has something to do with the death of the magician's assistant at the club where Venus Smith is working. Steed investigates the lethal vanishing cabinet.

Directors: Kim Mills
Watch Now:Apple TV
School for Traitors
star
5.48
42 votes

#5 - School for Traitors

Season 2 - Episode 20 - Aired 2/9/1963

Steed, investigating the suicide of a University tutor, discovers that the man seems to have shot himself with a gun with a silencer attached. Venus is sent a tub of acid 'face-cream', and there is another mysterious suicide.

Directors: Jonathan Alwyn
Watch Now:Apple TV
Second Sight
star
5.51
41 votes

#6 - Second Sight

Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/16/1963

The cornea grafts that will, hopefully, restore the sight of blind millionaire Marten Halvarssen fascinate Steed: they're rumoured to be coming from a live patient, one Hilda Brauer. Steed suspects that all is not what it seems and so sends Cathy to Switzerland to oversee the operation.

Directors: Petter Hammond
Watch Now:Apple TV
Concerto
star
5.54
37 votes

#7 - Concerto

Season 3 - Episode 24 - Aired 3/7/1964

Soviet-British trade talks are coinciding with the first London concert of the brilliant young pianist, Stefan Veliko. A young girl accuses Veliko of assault, and is then murdered. If someone wants to disrupt the talks by incriminating the pianist, they seem to be going about it in the right way.

Directors: Kim Mills
Watch Now:Apple TV
Warlock
star
5.69
45 votes

#8 - Warlock

Season 2 - Episode 18 - Aired 1/26/1963

Steed is entrusted with the safe-keeping of a new fuel formula when its inventor is found in a coma. The scientist had been involved in a black magic circle which leads Steed and Cathy into the world of hexes and magic powers.

Directors: Peter Hammond
Watch Now:Apple TV
The Decapod
star
5.75
60 votes

#9 - The Decapod

Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/13/1962

Borb, the president of the Balkan Republic, is visiting London to sign a military deal. His private secretary is killed by a masked wrestler, the Decapod. Steed is assigned to augment the president's bodyguards, but the wrestler continues to kill those close to Borb.

Directors: Don Leaver
Writer: Eric Paice
Watch Now:Apple TV
Don't Look Behind You
star
5.78
41 votes

#10 - Don't Look Behind You

Season 3 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/14/1963

Invited to spend the weekend at the home of medievel costume expert Sir Cavalier Resagne, Cathy finds herself alone in the house, pestered by a young man who claims to be a film director, and haunted by her past. And where is Steed?

Directors: Peter Hammond
Watch Now:Apple TV
Conspiracy of Silence
star
5.98
42 votes

#11 - Conspiracy of Silence

Season 2 - Episode 23 - Aired 3/2/1963

The Marfia aren't about to let Steed get in the way of their lucrative drug-smuggling operation between Britain and North America, and arrange for him to be assassinated. Steed survives, and tracks his intended killer to a circus, where some of the clowns prove to be anything but figures of fun.

Directors: Peter Hammond
Watch Now:Apple TV
The Removal Men
star
5.98
54 votes

#12 - The Removal Men

Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/3/1962

Steed is trying to infiltrate a group of assassins currently based in the South of France. He robs the leader of some jewellery in order to impress him, then waits for them in the local club. It just so happens that Venus Smith is singing there.

Directors: Don Leaver
Watch Now:Apple TV
The Mauritius Penny
star
6.00
57 votes

#13 - The Mauritius Penny

Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/10/1962

The owner of a stamp shop is murdered when excitedly talking on the phone to a contact about the rare Mauritius Penny that has turned up on a list. Cathy Gale applies for a job in the shop, and she and Steed witness another murder in an auction room.

Directors: Richmond Harding
Watch Now:Apple TV
Love All
star
6.02
40 votes

#14 - Love All

Season 6 - Episode 21 - Aired 2/19/1969

Security lapses seem to point to top civil servants suddenly falling in love and giving secrets to an enemy agent disguised as a char lady. Steed investigates, but first has to save Tara from killing herself out of unrequited love.

Directors: Peter Sykes
Watch Now:Apple TV
Thingumajig
star
6.15
39 votes

#15 - Thingumajig

Season 6 - Episode 27 - Aired 4/2/1969

The Reverend Shelley, a wartime pal of Steed's, seeks his help when archaeologists beneath his church are murdered mysteriously. Do the killing have anything to do with small malevolent mobile metal boxes....?

Directors: Leslie Norman
Writer: Terry Nation
Watch Now:Apple TV
The Man in the Mirror
star
6.17
41 votes

#16 - The Man in the Mirror

Season 2 - Episode 22 - Aired 2/23/1963

Venus has her camera and films stolen whilst taking pictures in a fun fair. One film is missed, however, and when developed a face can be seen in the Hall of Mirrors - that of Trevelyan, the cypher clerk who has committed suicide. But Venus's photograph was taken after the man's death.

Directors: Kim Mills
Watch Now:Apple TV
Killer Whale
star
6.20
41 votes

#17 - Killer Whale

Season 2 - Episode 26 - Aired 3/23/1963

Cathy is managing the boxer Joey Frazer, but Pancho Driver's gym, where the man is training, is, Steed suspects, the centre for shipments of illegal ambergris.

Directors: Kim Mills
Watch Now:Apple TV
Build a Better Mousetrap
star
6.21
38 votes

#18 - Build a Better Mousetrap

Season 3 - Episode 21 - Aired 2/15/1964

What does Cathy joining a motorcycle gang, two elderly ladies who own a watermill and claim to be witches, and all of the clocks stopping at a local atomic research station have in common? They're all present in Brian Clemen's first great step into the bizarre.

Directors: Peter Hammond
Watch Now:Apple TV
Lobster Quadrille
star
6.28
43 votes

#19 - Lobster Quadrille

Season 3 - Episode 26 - Aired 3/21/1964

When an agent investigating radioactivity levels in shellfish is killed in a beach hut fire, Steed and Cathy get involved in the heady worlds of nightclubbing, chess and lobster fishermen.

Directors: Kim Mills
Watch Now:Apple TV
The White Dwarf
star
6.28
43 votes

#20 - The White Dwarf

Season 2 - Episode 21 - Aired 2/16/1963

Astonomer Professor Richter believes that the sun's stellar companion, a white dwarf, is returning to the solar system. If it does, that's the end of everything. So why on Earth would anybody want to murder him now?

Directors: Richmond Harding
Watch Now:Apple TV
The Golden Eggs
star
6.30
43 votes

#21 - The Golden Eggs

Season 2 - Episode 19 - Aired 2/2/1963

A burglar steals two gold-plated eggs from Dr Ashe, not knowing that they contain a deadly virus. The man quickly falls ill, but refuses to indicate where the case containing the eggs is buried.

Directors: Peter Hammond
Watch Now:Apple TV
The Big Thinker
star
6.39
49 votes

#22 - The Big Thinker

Season 2 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/15/1962

Plato, the most advanced computer in the world, which could be used to target intercepting missiles, keeps breaking down. The body of a professor on the team is found within.

Directors: Kim Mills
Watch Now:Apple TV
The Medicine Men
star
6.39
41 votes

#23 - The Medicine Men

Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/23/1963

Willis-Sopwoth, a top pharmaceutical firm, is being drained by cheap imitations of its products in foreign markets. The death of a member of staff while investigating the fraud brings Steed and Cathy face to face with a deadly artist and a plot to poison children.

Directors: Kim Mills
Watch Now:Apple TV
The Correct Way to Kill
star
6.39
79 votes

#24 - The Correct Way to Kill

Season 5 - Episode 9 - Aired 3/11/1967

Foreign agents are being killed, but not by British agents. Steed thinks it terribly unfair, and so does his opposite number, Nutski. They make an arrangement, and Steed and Emma find themselves with Soviet partners in an investigation of a group of very British killers.

Directors: Charles Crichton
Watch Now:Apple TV
Traitor in Zebra
star
6.45
49 votes

#25 - Traitor in Zebra

Season 2 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/8/1962

Secrets are finding their way from HMS Zebra, a naval base, to the enemy, rendering the Navy's missile-tracking equipment useless. Steed and Mrs. Gale investigate, and find their attention drawn to the local sweet shop.

Directors: Richmond Harding
Writer: John Gilbert
Watch Now:Apple TV