ROBERT FUEST: JUST LIKE A WOMAN (1966)

Just Like A Woman was Robert Fuest’s debut as a film director, sandwiched between his work on The Avengers where, as an employee of ABC, he worked as a production designer from 1961 before returning after his film to direct eight episodes starring Linda Thorson as Steed’s latest partner to arrival seconds too late to prevent a string of bizarre murders.

Just Like A Woman - starring future Butterfly, Wendy Craig, and soon-to-be voice of Captain Scarlett, Francis Matthews, as a sparring television industry couple whose marriage has broken down - with its art deco and pop art design, cutting edge architecture, cusp of mod-into-swirly fashions, loopy characters and directorial quirks it couldn’t be more height of ‘66 if it tried; like the world didn’t exist before and wouldn’t after. Fuest wrote the screenplay, directed it and even wrote song lyrics for the film, released to minimum acclaim in early '67.

This recognisable style of Fuest’s was later apparent in The Abominable Dr Phibes (1971), with a suitably over-the-top Vincent Price out for revenge on a string of doctors who failed to save his wife’s life (very-Avengers storyline), but a better film and one with even more Avengers-related credits (screenplay by Brian Clemens and Terry Nation, produced by Albert Fennell and Terry Nation, music by Laurie Johnson, directed by Fuest) is And Soon The Darkness (1970). Stripped of garish sets and light-hearted fun, this straight, minimalist thriller is set in rural France where two holidaying girls on bicycles are followed by a mysterious French mod bloke on a Lambretta SX150, when one girl (Frank Spencer’s Betty, Michelle Dotrice) disappears…

Back to Just Like A Woman, it’s not the greatest film you’ll ever watch but visually it’s a treat and packed with fab little scenes and details. See full film below.

Many thanks to Melissa from In With The In Crowd shop for tipping me the wink.

MRS. PEEL... WE'RE NEEDED! THE AVENGERS 1961-1977 GUIDE

Not much to report from me this week so venture over to the most outrageously comprehensive guide to The Avengers you’ll ever see.

Mrs. Peel We’re Needed! provides a synopsis for all 187 episodes (including The New Avengers) but it’s some of the other details that make this site so impressive. All the cast and crew are searchable, there’s an Avengers calendar, a guide to the main characters' clothes, a catalogue of every vehicle featured (two Vespas, no Lambrettas), a body count, even what the characters had to drink.

The collection of programme stills number into the thousands (2080 from the Emma Peel episodes alone) plus in series five (the colour Diana Rigg ones, i.e. the best ones) all the cute “Mrs Peel We’re Needed” scenes that began the show are uploaded to view; as are the jokey end sequences.

Loads of other things to pass the time including a fun Avengers drinking game. Take a sip of Bollinger Maison Special Cuvee Brut "Every time Emma is coquettish". I'll drink to that.

Visit Mrs Peel We're Needed here.

Thanks to Number 6 over on the Modculture forum for flagging this up.

DIANA RIGG STARS IN MINIKILLERS (1969)

Here's a treat for fans of Diana Rigg - her rarely seen outing in Minikillers. The quality isn’t great but then the version officially released on the bonus DVD disc of The Avengers Complete 50^th Anniversary Collection isn’t much better. Minikillers was filmed on the Costa Brava on what looks like a home video camera and follows Diana through four seven minute episodes where she is caught up in a ridiculous Avengersesque plot involving remote control toy dolls that spray lethal liquid into the eyes of their victims, carry bombs in E-Type Jags, and conceal shipments of heroin. In each episode she manages to fight a group of baddies led by a shady geezer with a moustache and a Telly Savalas lookalike. There’s no dialogue just a funky jazz soundtrack which breaks from Avengers background music into freeform jazz into snatches of Laurel and Hardy. I’ve no idea where Minikillers was broadcast (if at all) or why she worked on such a low budget project (if she went for a holiday she was unlucky with the cloudy weather) but Diana is obviously still playing her part as Emma Peel and looks absolutely stunning in a series of bikinis and miniskirts (including the one above) which is reason enough to watch it.

And for more of the same (in much better quality), check this other short film, The Golden Key. 

SLOW NEWS DAY: DIANA RIGG AND A CAT

Yesterday, a post by Include Me Out prompted suggestions of ways to keep blogs ticking over when the blogger hasn't anything to say. I always stick up a picture of Diana Rigg and noted anything to do with cats will always increase site traffic. Here's Diana and a cat...

MRS. PEEL, YOU'RE NEEDED

Any excuse to post a picture of Diana Rigg and Monkey Picks will take it, so a doff of the bowler to Mrs. Peel You're Needed. They’ve amassed a phenomenal amount of photographs and press cuttings of The Avengers and beyond, including this one of Diana at home with her dog Poopie. Well worth investigating.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PATRICK MACNEE

Patrick MacNee is 90 today. Like, he really is. Not dead or anything. Happy birthday Steed.

THE OLD DISTRACTION ROUTINE

Sorry to neglect you gentle reader but I've been busy, so here's another picture of Diana Rigg. Gotta be better than me slagging off the new Manics single or Rifles LP hasn't it? Not that either are outta the woods yet...

PIN UPS

Typical. I've been waiting months for an excuse to use this picture and then flipping well missed Dame Diana Rigg's birthday yesterday. Oh well, if MonkeyPicks did pin-ups, this would be number one.