Charlie Higson, Paul Whitehouse turned down chance to revive The Avengers
"At the time, we said no, but actually something like that would be fun."
Stylish 1960s spy-fi series The Avengers hasn't been revisited on screen since an ill-fated 1998 movie adaptation – but it appears there were conversations since then about reviving the show on television.
Speaking to RadioTimes.com, writer, comedian and actor Charlie Higson revealed that he and Paul Whitehouse once had conversations about bringing back The Avengers, which starred Patrick Macnee as suave secret agent John Steed alongside a number of different female leads, most famously Diana Rigg's Emma Peel.
Higson explained: "Years ago, me and Paul Whitehouse were approached to see if we were interested in revamping The Avengers, the original TV Avengers from the '60s. At the time, we said no, but actually, something like that would be fun."
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Higson and Whitehouse, who worked together on beloved BBC sketch series The Fast Show, turned down the project for fear of not matching up to fan expectations.
"We were busy on our own stuff at the time, and we thought, 'Do we really want to bring back something that's not going to be as good as the original?'" he said.
Higson previously revamped another cult '60s series, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), for television in the early 2000s, with Whitehouse co-writing one episode with Higson and playing a villain in another.
The original version of The Avengers first aired in 1961, running for six series until 1969, and followed Steed and his partners as they battled criminals, mad scientists and other miscreants.
A sequel series, The New Avengers, aired for two seasons between 1976 and 1977, while a big-screen remake of the original show was released to cinemas in 1998 starring Ralph Fiennes as Steed and Uma Thurman as Emma Peel, debuting to negative reviews from critics and fans.
Higson's latest project is On His Majesty's Secret Service – a James Bond novel published to mark the coronation of King Charles III, which sees 007 tasked with thwarting a usurper to the throne who is seeking to disrupt proceedings.
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On His Majesty's Secret Service is available to buy now. Higson's new podcast Willy Willy Harry Stee, a history of the British monarchy, launches on Friday 5th May.
No Time to Die is available to stream on Prime Video, with other Bond films also available to purchase – try Amazon Prime Video for free for 30 days.
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Authors
Morgan Jeffery is the Digital Editor for Radio Times, overseeing all editorial output across the brand's digital platforms. He was previously TV Editor at Digital Spy and has featured as a TV expert on BBC Breakfast, BBC Radio 5 Live and Sky Atlantic.
