MovieChat Forums > The Avengers (1966) Discussion > Cathy Gale is Underrated

Cathy Gale is Underrated

posted 9 years ago by Cat_Eyes200
8 replies | jump to latest

Like a lot of people, I love Emma Peel/Diana Rigg but I also feel like it's not said enough how much of a trailblazer Cathy Gale/Honor Blackman was. Honor learned judo for the role & definitely helped to perpetuate the image of "a woman who can take care of herself", even releasing a self-defense book. I think these things cushioned the entry of Emma Peel into the series and obviously that turned out splendidly. So I wish I saw a bit more Cathy Gale memorabilia & such, don't you?

[–] j_w_pepper 9 years ago

I'd be glad to agree, but I never managed to see a single Cathy Gale episode in the last fifty years (I understand most of them are lost anyway), and I was sort of weaned on Emma Peel, starting about 1966. Is any of that Cathy Gale stuff actually available -- as Region 2, that is? Or even better, Region B Blu-ray.

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[–] louiseculmer 9 years ago

Series 2 and 3 are available complete on amazon.

[–] popculturejunkie85 9 years ago

Without Honor Blackman there would have been no Avengers. The show didn't take off until she arrived. Her character was truly groundbreaking in that essentially she was the first ever woman on tv who was smart, sexy and could take care of herself. The interplay and dialogue exchanges between Steed and Cathy were sharp, witty and fun. There was a real sense of respect between the characters, but it was alway great fun watching Cathy disapprove of Steed or argue with him or be irritated by him. There was also a great sense of sexual tension between the two. Steed was always trying to come on to her and she always rebuffed his advances. Steed seemed to have sex on the mind quite a bit in the earlier seasons.

What is interesting is that although Emma Peel had the mod sexiness which everyone identifies as The Avengers, I think the show actually softened and lost some of its edge after Honor Blackman left. The show was noticeably retooled and Steed became lighter and more humorous. In the Blackman episodes Steed had a more darker, rougher quality and was not against getting the job done at any cost, whether it was morally correct or not. I found steed to be a bit sexier and sexist in the early seasons. This was refreshing and played perfectly off of Mrs. Gales moral standing, and this friction between the two characters was what generated fireworks. Steed and Mrs Peel were more easy going buddies and they never really had that same kind of relationship.

All credit goes to Honor Blackman. She really put her all into her performance. She had no stunt doubles and had to learn how to do everything. No one could toss a man over their shoulders like Cathy Gale. Patrick Macnee and she spent tremendous amounts of time rehearsing and molding their onscreen relationship to benifit the show. It is interesting that Honor Blackman loves being a part of the legacy of the show and is very proud of it and looks back at it with fondness, while Diana Rigg really tries to distance herself from it.

Honor Blackman deserves a lot of respect and I think Cathy Gale is the strongest and toughest of all The Avengers women

[–] louiseculmer 9 years ago

I much prefer the Honor Blackman episodes. They seem to be much more adult in tone than the Diana Rigg episodes many of which seem to me to have very silly plots and cartoonish villains. And cathy gale is a much stronger cahracter than Emma Peel.

[–] jjk50 9 years ago

It's too bad Honor Blackman is almost unknown to American viewers of the Avengers because they only started to show the Diana Rigg color episodes in the late 60's on American TV.

[–] louiseculmer 9 years ago

it is a pity, though I don't think they are shown here in the Uk very much either. They always seem to repeat the Diana Rigg episodes.

[–] ratgirlagogo 9 years ago

j w pepper: I'd be glad to agree, but I never managed to see a single Cathy Gale episode in the last fifty years (I understand most of them are lost anyway)

For those who are in the US, COZITV has been running the entire Avengers series from start to finish, and then starting over, for the last couple of years. The Cathy Gale episodes are most certainly not lost - we'e been DVRing and watching them over the last few months.
I very much agree with you popculturejunkie85 that The Avengers really becomes The Avengers with the entrance of Cathy Gale. It's weird watching all those early Peter King episodes, where it just seems like a kind of standard crime/adventure show. And the Venus Smith episodes! I see what they were trying to do with Venus, but wow they miss the mark - she doesn't seem like a hip young coffeehouse chick, though she does look the part - she seems like the square to end all squares and Steed is a manipulative a-hole to her.

[–] louiseculmer 9 years ago

I don't much care for the Venus Smith episodes - all that singing is rather tiresome.