The Avengers backdrop
Action & Adventure•Crime•Sci-Fi & Fantasy

The Best Episodes of The Avengers Season 1

Every episode of The Avengers Season 1 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of The Avengers Season 1!

Binge this in 1h 41m•Peaking at 7.8/10

A quirky spy show of the adventures of eccentrically suave British Agent John Steed and his predominantly female partners. Jonathan Steed - an urbane, proper gentleman spy - teams with various assistants throughout the series'

Airs on
ITV1
BestEpisodes
WorstEpisodes
BestSeasons
AllEpisodes

Seasons6

All123456

Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    The Avengers Season 1 Episode 20 - Tunnel of Fear
    7.8/10(92 votes)

    S1:E20

    Top-secret information is finding its way into the wrong hands, and the source seems to be a south coast fairground. Steed succeeds in getting hypnotised and winds up in the ghost-train tunnel. With frightening results, of course.

    Director:Guy Verney
    Writer:John Kruse

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  2. The Avengers Season 1 Episode 26 - Dragonsfield
    7.8/10(43 votes)

    S1:E26

    How has a research centre developing radiation-proof material managed to irradiate one of its scientists? Once more, Steed submits himself to scientific testing.

    Director:Peter Hammond
    Writer:Terence Feely

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  3. The Avengers Season 1 Episode 7 - Diamond Cut Diamond
    7.7/10(38 votes)

    S1:E7

    Steed, attempting to break a gang of international diamond smugglers, is living in a bungalow near Heathrow Airport which was once owned by a suicide whom One-Ten suspects of involvement. Steed awakens one morning somewhat the worse for drink, when a phone call advises him to check the morning paper; the police are tracking a hit-and-run driver. Steed checks his car. It is damaged, and the front is covered with dried blood.

    Director:Peter Hammond
    Writer:Max Marquis

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  4. The Avengers Season 1 Episode 9 - Ashes of Roses
    7.7/10(39 votes)

    S1:E9

    Steed, investigating a number of probable arson cases, is led to the hairdressing salon of Olive and Jacques Beronne. He asks Keel to let Carol investigate the salon, but after she enters, there is an explosion from within

    Director:Don Leaver
    Writer:Peter Ling

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  5. The Avengers Season 1 Episode 19 - Toy Trap
    7.6/10(41 votes)

    S1:E19

    Keel is asked by the improbably named Bunty to help her find her missing friend. What is the connection between the department store where the women work and a call-girl racket?

    Director:Don Leaver
    Writer:Bill Strutton

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  6. The Avengers Season 1 Episode 24 - The Deadly Air
    7.6/10(40 votes)

    S1:E24

    An experimental vaccine is stolen, and the subsequent test proves deadly. Steed and Keel, suspecting that the human 'guinea pig' did not die directly from the vaccine, volunteer to be the next subjects.

    Director:John Knight
    Writer:Lester Powell

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

    7. Trending NowTRENDING NOW

    The 20 BEST Episodes of The Avengers

    READ
  7. The Avengers Season 1 Episode 11 - Please Don't Feed the Animals
    7.5/10(36 votes)

    S1:E11

    Steed trails a blackmailed civil servant to Brinkley House, a private zoo, only to observe the man throwing a package of money into the reptile pit. The package soon vanishes. The man is then ordered to steal a top secret file.

    Director:Dennis Vance
    Writer:Dennis Spooner

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  8. The Avengers Season 1 Episode 23 - Dead of Winter
    7.5/10(42 votes)

    S1:E23

    The discovery of the body of Schneider, a wanted Nazi war criminal, deep-frozen in a consignment of meat at London docks brings Steed and Keel into the shadowy world of Phoenix, a new and terrifying Fascist party in Britain.

    Director:Don Leaver
    Writer:Eric Paice

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  9. The Avengers Season 1 Episode 2 - Brought to Book
    7.4/10(45 votes)

    S1:E2

    Steed has infiltrated a gang, led by Mason, which is implicated in Peggy's murder. Steed asks Keel to establish contact with a rival gang, and the doctor discovers that Vance's hitman, Spicer, has been sent to kill Steed.

    Director:Peter Hammond
    Writer:Brian Clemens

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  10. The Avengers Season 1 Episode 3 - Square Root of Evil
    7.4/10(46 votes)

    S1:E3

    Steed impersonates Riordan, a forger soon to be released from prison, and gains the trust of gang-leader Hooper. Things seem to be going well until Hooper's second-in-command, known as the Cardinal, announces that Riordan's girlfriend is outside waiting to see him.

    Director:Don Leaver
    Writer:Richard Harris

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  11. The Avengers Season 1 Episode 8 - The Radioactive Man
    7.4/10(41 votes)

    S1:E8

    Dr Keel is asked to help in the search for a man who has picked up a radioactive isotope, not knowing that it will quickly kill him and harm anyone else he comes into contact with. But Marko, fearing that the police want to find him because of his forged passport, has already gone into hiding.

    Director:Robert Tronson
    Writer:Patrick Brawn

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  12. The Avengers Season 1 Episode 22 - Kill the King
    7.4/10(42 votes)

    S1:E22

    A visit to London to sign an oil treaty from a monarch whose life is under threat brings Steed and Keel into the world of dissidents and assassinations.

    Director:Roger Jenkins
    Writer:James Mitchell

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  13. The Avengers Season 1 Episode 4 - Nightmare
    7.3/10(44 votes)

    S1:E4

    Keel receives a 'phone call from one of his patients, and ends up assuming the identity of her missing husband, a scientist engaged in secret research. Shot in the chest, Keel needs a minor operation - but the anaesthetist has tampered with the oxygen.

    Director:Peter Hammond
    Writer:Terence Feely

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  14. The Avengers Season 1 Episode 5 - Crescent Moon
    7.3/10(40 votes)

    S1:E5

    A young girl, Carmelite Mendoza, has been kidnapped from a Caribbean island, but Steed suspects a political motive. His suspicions are confirmed when Vasco, the Mendoza family retainer, is observed killing the original kidnapper and abducting the girl himself.

    Director:John Knight
    Writer:Geoffrey Bellman

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  15. The Avengers Season 1 Episode 10 - Hunt the Man Down
    7.3/10(37 votes)

    S1:E10

    Frank Preston is released from prison and is intent on reclaiming the hidden proceeds of his robbery. So is Steed, who has been ordered to follow the man. So are a couple of thugs, who kidnap Carol. So is Preston's scheming wife, eager to get her hands on the one hundred thousand pounds hidden somewhere in the sewers.

    Director:Peter Hammond
    Writer:Richard Harris

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  16. The Avengers Season 1 Episode 12 - Dance with Death
    7.3/10(42 votes)

    S1:E12

    Dr. Keel resuscitates Elaine Bateman, the owner of a ballroom dancing school who has narrowly survived a murder attempt by gassing. When he returns to the school after dropping his scarf, he is arrested. His scarf has been used to strangle the woman.

    Director:Don Leaver
    Writer:Peter Ling

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  17. The Avengers Season 1 Episode 25 - A Change of Bait
    7.3/10(40 votes)

    S1:E25

    An unusual and sprawling tale of heart disease, industrial unrest, and a consignment of rotten bananas.

    Director:Don Leaver
    Writer:Lewis Davidson

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  18. The Avengers Season 1 Episode 17 - Death on the Slipway
    7.2/10(42 votes)

    S1:E17

    An agent has been killed at the secret dockyard where submarines are built. Steed investigates, and finds that a foreign spy has been arranging 'accidents' for him.

    Director:Peter Hammond
    Writer:James Mitchell

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  19. The Avengers Season 1 Episode 13 - One for the Mortuary
    7.1/10(44 votes)

    S1:E13

    When Keel attends a health conference in Geneva he is unaware that he is carrying, in microdot form, a vital new medical formula - unaware, that is, until he is arrested for murder.

    Director:Peter Hammond
    Writer:Brian Clemens

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  20. The Avengers Season 1 Episode 16 - The Yellow Needle
    7.1/10(41 votes)

    S1:E16

    After an unsuccessful murder attempt against Sir Wilberforce Lungi, Steed asks Keel, an old friend of the pro-Western African leader, to investigate Lungi's secretary, Jacquetta Brown. Meanwhile, Steed flies to Africa to meet Lungi's tribalist rival, Shebro.

    Director:Don Leaver
    Writers:Reed De Rouen, Patrick Campbell

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  21. The Avengers Season 1 Episode 18 - Double Danger
    7.1/10(43 votes)

    S1:E18

    Keel, called to deal with a man seriously injured by an accident, quickly discovers that the man is suffering from gunshot wounds, and that he may be implicated in a recent diamond robbery.

    Director:Roger Jenkins
    Writers:John Lucarotti, Gerald Verner

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  22. The Avengers Season 1 Episode 15 - The Frighteners
    7.0/10(163 votes)

    S1:E15

    To stop his daughter seeing suspected conman Jeremy de Willoughby, Sir Thomas Waller has hired arch-criminal the Deacon to 'put the frighteners on'. Steed is on the trail of the Deacon and, with the aid of Dr. Keel, stops two thugs from seriously wounding de Willoughby. They set a trap for the Deacon and the lovers.

    Director:Peter Hammond
    Writer:Berkely Mather

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  23. The Avengers Season 1 Episode 21 - The Far Distant Dead
    7.0/10(41 votes)

    S1:E21

    Dr Keel, treating the victims of a cyclone struck Mexican village, uncovers a number of food-poisonings; emergency cooking oil is, in fact, hydraulic fluid.

    Director:Peter Hammond
    Writer:John Lucarotti

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  24. The Avengers Season 1 Episode 1 - Hot Snow
    6.9/10(157 votes)

    S1:E1

    Following the death of his fiancee Peggy at the hands of heroin smugglers, Dr David Keel vows to track down the killers and avenge his lost love. He is aided in his quest by a mysterious stranger, John Steed.

    Director:Don Leaver
    Writers:Ray Rigby, Patrick Brawn

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  25. The Avengers Season 1 Episode 6 - Girl on the Trapeze
    6.9/10(165 votes)

    S1:E6

    Keel, reviving a young woman who has jumped into the Thames, is led to the Radeck State Circus, where the trapeze girl is guarded, her face covered by bandages because of an accident. The 'trapeze girl'proves to be the daughter of a defecting scientist, who will be used to force her father to return home. When Keel discovers this, he and Carol are captured by Zibbo the Clown, who will shoot Carol if the police investigation is not called off.

    Director:Don Leaver
    Writer:Dennis Spooner

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

Season 1 Ratings Summary

"Tunnel of Fear" is the best rated episode of "The Avengers" season 1. It scored 7.8/10 based on 92 votes. Directed by Guy Verney and written by John Kruse, it aired on 8/5/1961. This episode is rated 0.0 points higher than the second-best, "Dragonsfield".