"The New Avengers"
Sleeper (1976)

Director:

Graeme Clifford

Writer:

Brian Clemens (writer)

TV Series:

"The New Avengers" (1976)

Original Air Date:

19 December 1976 (Season 1, Episode 10)

Genre:

Action | Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Bowler Hat | Based On Cult TV Series | 1970s | Femme Fatale | London

Cast

Patrick Macnee	...	John Steed
Gareth Hunt	...	Mike Gambit
Joanna Lumley	...	Purdey
Keith Buckley	...	Brady
Arthur Dignam	...	Dr. Graham
Mark Jones	...	Chuck
Prentis Hancock	...	Bart
Sara Kestelman	...	Tina
Gavin Campbell	...	Fred
Dave Schofield	...	Ben (as David Schofield)
George Sweeney	...	Phil
Peter Godfrey	...	Carter - Pilot
Leo Dolan	...	Bill
Jason White	...	Policeman
Tony McHale	...	Policeman

"One of the classic New Avengers episodes."

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Two cannisters of S95 sleep gas are stolen from the ministry of defense by small time crook Brady (Keith Buckley) who then sets about putting the city of London to sleep whilst he goes on a bank robbing spree before double crossing the gang he has duped into helping him and hooking it with the money to Rio with his girlfriend Tina (Sara Kestleman). Purdey, Gambit and Steed find themselves the only people awake within the sleep perimeter as they had been given inoculations when they attended the demonstration of the gas. Trouble is though, they have no idea how long it will be before the inoculations run out and they keel over themselves. Therefore, they must round up Brady and company on their own before it is too late...

One of the classic New Avengers episodes, which harks back to some of the delightful fantasy adventure and comedy asides that made the original series such a joy to watch. The plot has the aura of having been written by an over imaginative school boy and is all the better for it. There is a hilarious car chase across the London back streets as Purdey tries to out run a couple of Brady's thugs armed with machine guns in a mini whilst her passenger, an innocent member of the public put out by the gas, is sound asleep beside her unaware of the dice with death that's going on. The episode marked the directorial debut of Graheme Clifford (a former editor) who stages the action with a slick sense of style. Macnee, Hunt and Lumley are their usual impressive selves (if this series had been without them, it wouldn't have worked) whilst the supporting cast is more than competent but not exactly inspiring.

All in all, Sleeper comes highly recommended for those who are just starting to get into this series because its fanciful plot and well staged action sequences are worthy of those from the original Avengers series. The only real drawback being that there are not any real recognisable faces in the supporting cast yet that does not mean to say that the actors are bad, not by a long way, just not over inspiring.