Last week saw the release of one of this summer’s most anticipated blockbuster sequels, Avengers: Age of Ultron. In Britain, the first Avengers movie was renamed Avengers Assemble, due to a much loved, if sadly little recognised these days, ’60s television program beating the comics to the original title on these shores by two years. The series was Sydney Newman’s first major hit, with his second being the more widely celebrated Doctor Who. Starting out as a gritty spy thriller, the British Avengers came to define the swinging sixties through its playful embrace of abstract imagery, empowered women in risqué clothing, and intrinsically English sense of humour.
