'The Avengers' Radio Series adapted by Tony Jay and Dennis Folbigge

‘The Avengers’ radio series began transmission in 1972, and was produced by Sonovision Ltd. for the South African Broadcasting Company. The series producer was David Gooden, the owner of Sonovision at the time; Tony Jay adapted and directed the first six months of episodes, and then Dennis Folbigge took over for the remainder of the run. The radio show was sponsored by Lever Brothers, who were credited at the beginning of each episode as "the makers of Cold Water Omo."

The stories were adapted from Emma Peel and Tara King episodes, although the character of Tara was usually replaced by Emma. The length of each serial varied; initially, each story was delivered in five fifteen-minute instalments, but later on in the series, episode counts per serial ranged between five and eight.

The Series were transmitted on Springbok Radio, a commercial station run by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (it is no longer on-air); the episodes were stripped across Mondays to Fridays at 7:15 pm, which worked fine for the five-parters, but got a little messy with the six- and seven-episode stories.

Cast as John Steed was English actor Donald Monat, who played the part with notable style and aplomb. Emma Peel was played by Diane Appleby, who, to her credit, took over from Diana Rigg's portrayal and made the part her own. Hugh Rouse, already famous in South Africa as a radio newscaster, contributed the tongue-in-cheek narration for each episode. Featuring in the episodes that were sourced from Tara King stories was the character of Mother, played by Colin Fish (he was also mentioned by name in many of the other serials).

The series ran for eighteen months, and it is believed that between sixty and eighty serials were been produced; unfortunately, only nineteen of these are currently known to exist in their entirety, and all of these hail from the later Dennis Folbigge era. They are:

Title	Eps	Info
Escape in Time (Version 1)	5 Parts	(only ep 1 exists)
A Deadly Gift	6 Parts	(Based on ‘The Cybernauts’, although the Cybernauts are referred to as 'Pabulum Robots')
The Quick Quick Slow Death	6 Parts	-
The Fantasy Game’	7 Parts	(Based on ‘Honey For the Prince’)/TD>
Escape in Time' (Version 2)	6 Parts	(only eps 1-3 exist)
From Venus With Love	7 Parts	-
Train of Events’	6 Parts	(Based on ‘A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Station’)
The Joker	6 Parts	-
Super Secret Cypher Snatch	6 Parts	-
Not To Be Sneezed At	7 Parts	(Based on 'You'll Catch Your Death')
Who Shot Poor George?	7 Parts	(Based on 'Whoever Shot Poor George Oblique Stroke XR40?')
All Done With Mirrors	7 Parts	-
Stop Me If You've Heard This	6 Parts	(Based on ‘Look – (stop me if you’ve heard this one) But There Were These Two Fellers…’)
Too Many Olés	6 Parts	(Based on ‘They Keep Killing Steed, and set in Spain)
A Case of Interrogation	7 Parts	(Based on 'The Interrogators')
The Morning After	6 Parts	-
Love All	6 Parts	-
Getaway (a.k.a. ‘Clean Getaway’)	6 Parts	(Based on ‘Get-a-Way!’)
Straight From the Shoulder	6 Parts	(Based on 'Invitation to a Killing' / 'Have Guns... Will Haggle')
A Grave Charge	6 Parts	(Based on 'Bizarre')

Other stories known to have been made include:

‘A Sense of History’
‘The Correct Way to Kill’
‘The £50,000 Breakfast’
‘Who’s Who?’
‘Killer’
‘Wish You Were Here’
'Pandora'


Donald Monat (John Steed), Diane Appleby (Mrs. Emma Peel), Colin Fish (Mother), Hugh Rouse (Narrator)

Directed by Tony Jay and Dennis Folbigge
Produced by David Gooden

TX:
The South African Broadcasting Company - 1972

Notes:
*Featuring John Steed and Mrs. Emma Peel