"The Avengers" The Forget-Me-Knot (1968)

Director:

James Hill

Writer:

Brian Clemens (teleplay)

TV Series:

"The Avengers" (1961)

Original Air Date:

20 March 1968 (Season 7, Episode 1)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

Steed's colleague Sean Mortimer comes to see him in a very confused state. He knows there is a traitor...

Plot Keywords:

Sexual Tension | Partner | Agent | British | John Steed

Cast

Patrick Macnee	...	John Steed
Linda Thorson	...	Tara King
Patrick Kavanagh	...	Sean Mortimer
Patrick Newell	...	Mother
Jeremy Burnham	...	Simon Filson
Jeremy Young	...	George Burton
Alan Lake	...	Karl
Douglas Sheldon	...	Brad
John Lee	...	Dr. Soames
Beth Owen	...	Sally
Leon Lissek	...	Taxi Driver
Tony Thawnton	...	Jenkins
Edward Higgins	...	Giles, The Gardener
Diana Rigg	...	Emma Peel

Trivia:

Emma Peel's final episode, #7.1, "The Forget Me Knot", had already been filmed prior to the announcement that Diana Rigg would leave the series. After her announcement, fresh footage introducing trainee spy Tara King was filmed and these scenes spliced in with the existing footage shot for "The Forget Me Knot" in order to set up Steed's replacement partner. As she had already left the series, Rigg does not appear in this new footage - King's scenes only feature Patrick Macnee as Steed - however, Rigg did agree to return to film one brief scene where it is hurriedly explained that her husband Peter, a test pilot whose plane disappeared in the Amazon, had returned from being missing in the jungle and that Emma is returning to him. It is in this tag scene that the only meeting of Emma and Tara takes place (Emma advises that Steed prefers his tea stirred anti-clockwise), and is also the only time Steed calls Mrs. Peel "Emma". The actor who plays Emma Peel's husband in the episode "Forgot-Me Knot" is in fact Patrick Macnee himself (his face is never shown).

Quotes:

Emma Peel: [saying good-bye to Steed] Always keep your bowler hat on in times of trouble, and beware diabolical masterminds.
John Steed: [as she walks away] Emma... Thank you.

Beginning of the end

To my mind, this is where the rot set in, before this, the Avengers might have been at times, ridiculous, far-fetched, outlandish, eccentric or even weird and bizarre. But this is where they started to be just silly.

The replacement of Emma with Tara doesn't help but it's not all her fault, following the Divine Mrs Peel was always going to be a thankless job and to give credit where it is due, Linda Thorson did the best with what she had to work with. It's just all about her, it was getting more daft and brainless, the previously shadowy control known on various occasions as the Ministry or the Treasury or some other organisation, is known be the person known as 'Mother.' A fat bloke in a wheelchair is overseeing England's secret service and the fate of the free world is in his pudgy (and usually filled with a glass) hands.

The plots become more zany and wacky, here a drug delivered by blow gun, makes the person lose memory, never fully explained why, it's just a hook to hang segments and set pieces about Emma, Steed and Tara losing their memories. Why the villains don't just kill them is never considered except to let them run around constantly saying, "who am I?"

The partnership with Steed is changed forever here too, before his female aides were very much equals with him. In many cases making crucial solutions to the crimes with their scientific knowledge. Neither Cathy Gale or Emma Peel were ever anybody's fools.

But Tara King is very much in Steed's shadow, secretly in love and always in awe of him, she is now the Dr. Watson to his Sherlock Holmes. Oh, she can kick and fight with the best of them, but is still the lost little girl who needs Steed's help. Making her far younger than the previous women doesn't help, she never seems in command of a situation like Cathy and Emma were, even when they were powerless in front of a gun! You knew they were just waiting for their moment.

There are nice moments in this episode as it is the farewell appearance of Mrs Peel and the meeting of Emma and Tara is handled well. And you tell that at the end, Patrick Macnee was going to miss her both professionally and personally.