Great plots and a brilliant trio of actors - what made The New Avengers fabulous

It stars – Patrick Macnee, Gareth Hunt and Joanna Lumley – the billing was in order of the then fame factor – were on the front of the TV Times, for goodness’ sake. That was better than millions of streams or followers.

Trailers ran for months before the first episode aired in October 1976.

The series is an updated version of The Avengers which also starred Macnee. During the nine-year run, he had three female assistants – Honor Blackman as Cathy Gale, Diana Rigg as Emma Peel and Linda Thorson as Tara King.

I was too young to appreciate The Avengers first time around and despite re-runs, it never captured my imagination.

Sci-fi, parody, espionage and adventure were the staple ingredients of the original – but the 1976 remake had all but the spy element jettisoned.

The emphasis was on plot – twisty, turny, intriquing and gripping. Each episode was a masterpiece.

The New Avengers lived up to its hype – it looked good and was good.

When it was silly – giant creatures from the sewers – it knew it and played it up to the hilt.

The trio of agents took on kidnappers, double agents, monsters, murderers and maniacs bent on world domination.

It had a host of household names as guest stars including Peter Cushing, Trevor Baxter, Peter Jeffrey, Gwen Taylor, Ed Devereaux and Keith Barron.

The chemistry between the three leads added fizz to what was already a heady cocktail.

Hunt, fresh from playing footman Frederick Norton in Upstairs Downstairs, was the ruggedly handsome muscle Gambit – the name means taking a risk and every episode the character did.

Joanna Lumley was the gorgeous, resourceful, high-kicking Purdy – the name of a gun. She had brains, could scuba dive, ride a motorbike, shoot straight and had a magazine of one-liners to keep Gambit’s romantic advances at bay.

Talk of her hairstyle – which, to me, looked like a meringue had been put on her head and then melted – never took away from how good, now, Dame Joanna is in The New Avengers.

Hunt was obvioulsy brought in for sex appeal but I always loved the older man.

Always immaculately dressed – complete with bowler hat and umbrella, and with esquisite manners, Macnee’s steadfast John Steed was the epitome of charm. He never took off his jacket for a fight and always apologised after thumping someone.

Macnee was the best James Bond we never had.

The New Avengers is on Great! TV each weekday.