7.8/10164 votes#1 - Brief for Murder
Season 3 Episode 1 - Aired 9/28/1963
Thanks to the clever briefing of the Lakin brothers a man charged with treason is found not guilty. Mrs Gale believes that Steed is implicated, and contacts the newspapers. Steed threatens her: either withdraw her allegations or pay the consequences. Soon Steed is on trial for Gale's murder.
Director: Peter Hammond
Writer: Brian Clemens
7.2/10140 votes#2 - The Undertakers
Season 3 Episode 2 - Aired 10/5/1963
All the occupants of a rest home, Adelphi Park, are multi-millionaires. And most of them are refusing to see anyone, including Professor Renter who was due to fly to America with Steed to show off his latest invention. His wife is unable or unwilling to help and, curiously, the neighbour, Madden, another millionaire, is missing.
Director: Bill Bain
Writer: Malcolm Hulke
7.6/10140 votes#3 - Man with Two Shadows
Season 3 Episode 3 - Aired 10/12/1963
Agent Borowski has been brainwashed by the enemy, but between moments of multiple-personality disorder he tells Steed that three 'doubles' have been created. Steed tracks down one likely replacement to a holiday camp, but then discovers that he, himself, is about to be replaced.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.6/10137 votes#4 - The Nutshell
Season 3 Episode 4 - Aired 10/19/1963
The Director of Operations (Disco) of the Nutshell, a subterranean World War III bunker, tells Steed and Cathy that Big Ben, a file giving details of all their double agents, has been copied. Security cameras point to a young girl, but she is later found dead. Evidence implicates Steed, and Disco orders that he be apprehended.
Director: Raymond Menmuir
Writer: N/A
6.8/10130 votes#5 - Death of a Batman
Season 3 Episode 5 - Aired 10/26/1963
At the reading of the will of Wrightson, Steed's former batman, the man's family are shocked to discover his estate is worth a fortune. Steed and Cathy set out to find out where a twenty pounds per week draughtsman acquired such a huge amount of money, and whether it was legal.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
6.8/10131 votes#6 - November Five
Season 3 Episode 6 - Aired 11/2/1963
Michael Dyter, the newly elected MP for South-East Anglia is shot shortly after making his acceptance speech in which he had threatened to expose a major scandal involving the government. Steed knows that the subject of this was the recent theft of a nuclear warhead near London. So was Dyter killed to keep him quiet, and if so, by whom?
Director: Bill Bain
Writer: N/A
7.4/10141 votes#7 - The Gilded Cage
Season 3 Episode 7 - Aired 11/9/1963
Steed's trap for criminal mastermind J.P. Spaggs involves a brilliant plan to steal a million pounds in gold bullion. But when two detectives arrive at Steed's flat and arrest Cathy for Spagge's murder things don't seem to be going to plan.
Director: Bill Bain
Writer: N/A
6.8/10129 votes#8 - Second Sight
Season 3 Episode 8 - Aired 11/16/1963
The cornea grafts that will, hopefully, restore the sight of blind millionaire Marten Halvarssen fascinate Steed: they're rumoured to be coming from a live patient, one Hilda Brauer. Steed suspects that all is not what it seems and so sends Cathy to Switzerland to oversee the operation.
Director: Peter Hammond
Writer: N/A
7.0/10123 votes#9 - The Medicine Men
Season 3 Episode 9 - Aired 11/23/1963
Willis-Sopwoth, a top pharmaceutical firm, is being drained by cheap imitations of its products in foreign markets. The death of a member of staff while investigating the fraud brings Steed and Cathy face to face with a deadly artist and a plot to poison children.
Director: N/A
Writer: Malcolm Hulke
6.5/10132 votes#10 - The Grandeur That Was Rome
Season 3 Episode 10 - Aired 11/30/1963
Strange diseases are being reported in various parts of the world, and Steed's suspicion is that somebody has been tampering with the insecticides and fertilisers of United Foods and Dressings. Cathy Gale is captured whilst investigating, and will be the 'guinea pig' for a test on the new strain of bubonic plague.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
6.6/10130 votes#11 - The Golden Fleece
Season 3 Episode 11 - Aired 12/7/1963
Steed and Cathy eat at a Chinese restaurant, but, as ever, it's not just for fun: Steed suspects the owner, Mr Lo, of gold smuggling. He also seems to be allied with Army types who are smuggling ammunition to support ex-servicemen.
Director: Peter Hammond
Writer: N/A
7.6/10150 votes#12 - Don't Look Behind You
Season 3 Episode 12 - Aired 12/14/1963
Invited to spend the weekend at the home of medievel costume expert Sir Cavalier Resagne, Cathy finds herself alone in the house, pestered by a young man who claims to be a film director, and haunted by her past. And where is Steed?
Director: Peter Hammond
Writer: Brian Clemens
6.7/10131 votes#13 - Death A La Carte
Season 3 Episode 13 - Aired 12/21/1963
Emir Abdulla Akaba is visiting London for his annual medical, and Steed suspects an assassination attempt. Despite Steed assumming the guise of a chef, the Emir seems to have been poisoned while eating a meal.
Director: N/A
Writer: John Lucarotti
7.8/10147 votes#14 - Dressed to Kill
Season 3 Episode 14 - Aired 12/28/1963
An incoming missile attack, which is detected by all but one of the country's early warning stations, proves to be a false alarm. Steed finds himself attending an exclusive New Year's Eve fancy-dress party on a train. The train terminates at a remote, deserted station, and a guest is killed with an arrow.
Director: Bill Bain
Writer: Brian Clemens
6.7/10116 votes#15 - The White Elephant
Season 3 Episode 15 - Aired 1/4/1964
The disappearance of an albino elephant from Noah Marshall's zoo seems to be linked to Steed's investigation of ivory dust in a gun shop. Steed sets out to rescue Cathy from the tiger's cage, find Snowy and investigate the ivory smugglers.
Director: N/A
Writer: John Lucarotti
7.1/10123 votes#16 - The Little Wonders
Season 3 Episode 16 - Aired 1/11/1964
Bibliotek are a criminal organisation who are fronted as a church. A coming 'Bible Class' will decide who runs Bibliotek. It could be Steed...
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.3/10121 votes#17 - The Wringer
Season 3 Episode 17 - Aired 1/18/1964
Six agents have died on an escape route through Hungary and Austria. Anderson, a friend of Steed's, has also gone missing. Steed finds his friend but is then accused of being a traitor and taken to a brainwashing unit in Scotland run by the Wringer.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.5/10121 votes#18 - Mandrake
Season 3 Episode 18 - Aired 1/25/1964
After attending the funeral of an old friend in a lonely Cornish village cemetery, Steed discovers a plot to poison millionaires.
Director: Bill Bain
Writer: N/A
7.1/10117 votes#19 - The Secrets Broker
Season 3 Episode 19 - Aired 2/1/1964
One of Steed's colleagues has been murdered, and the subsequent investigation takes Cathy to a top-secret research establishment and Steed to a wine merchants.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
6.8/10117 votes#20 - Trojan Horse
Season 3 Episode 20 - Aired 2/8/1964
Jockeys and stable hands are being trained in the use of firearms and poisons, so Steed delves deep in the murky world of horse racing.
Director: N/A
Writer: Malcolm Hulke
7.3/10127 votes#21 - Build a Better Mousetrap
Season 3 Episode 21 - Aired 2/15/1964
What does Cathy joining a motorcycle gang, two elderly ladies who own a watermill and claim to be witches, and all of the clocks stopping at a local atomic research station have in common? They're all present in Brian Clemen's first great step into the bizarre.
Director: Peter Hammond
Writer: Brian Clemens
7.5/10114 votes#22 - The Outside-In Man
Season 3 Episode 22 - Aired 2/22/1964
Arabian revolutionary Sharp is visiting Britain and Steed is put in charge of security. He thinks it is ironic that they are now protecting a man they were trying to kill five years before. Two agents were thought to have died during the violent bloodshed in Abarain but now one of them is very much alive.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.5/10131 votes#23 - The Charmers
Season 3 Episode 23 - Aired 2/29/1964
The opposition believe Steed is responsible for the death of their agent Vinkel. Steed, however, had nothing to do with the murder and, as a show of good faith, agrees to a swap of partners with Keller in a bid to find the real killer.
Director: Bill Bain
Writer: Brian Clemens
7.0/10127 votes#24 - Concerto
Season 3 Episode 24 - Aired 3/7/1964
Soviet-British trade talks are coinciding with the first London concert of the brilliant young pianist, Stefan Veliko. A young girl accuses Veliko of assault, and is then murdered. If someone wants to disrupt the talks by incriminating the pianist, they seem to be going about it in the right way.
Director: N/A
Writer: Malcolm Hulke, Terrance Dicks
7.2/10126 votes#25 - Esprit De Corps
Season 3 Episode 25 - Aired 3/14/1964
The mysterious death of Corporal Craig of the Highland Guards sends both Steed and Cathy undercover into the army ranks. There, Steed finds himself under court-martial and Cathy becomes second in line to the throne.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
The Best Episodes of The Avengers Season 3
Every episode of The Avengers Season 3 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of The Avengers Season 3!
The Avengers is a British television series created in the 1960s. It initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed. Hendry left...
Genres:Action & AdventureCrimeSci-Fi & Fantasy
Network:ITV1
Season 3 Ratings Summary
"Brief for Murder" is the best rated episode of "The Avengers" season 3. It scored 7.8/10 based on 164 votes. Directed by Peter Hammond and written by Brian Clemens, it aired on 9/28/1963. This episode is rated 0.6 points higher than the second-best, "The Undertakers".