MovieChat Forums > The New Avengers (1978) Discussion > thoughts on Gambit

thoughts on Gambit

posted 17 years ago by martang66
15 replies | jump to latest

I'm just re-watching the episodes after about 10 years, and it occurs to be that Gambit gets a lot of unfair criticism. Sure, his character is a little useless, and lots of his dialogue is corny, but Gareth Hunt never gives less than an enjoyable performance, and sometimes he's downright brilliant (faces, the best NA episode, showcases him to great effect). On the other hand, I'm finding Purdey more and more annoying. I really like Joanna Lumley in some things, but in NA she seems to be playing the character in a detached way which i find really offputting! anyone else agree?

roasted beef and roasted dave

[–] keel_teek-1 17 years ago

i quite like gambit. he is after all a stand-in for steed.
pat was already in his mid 50's when he did 'na', so would have looked rather foolish running around and fighting. so they made gambit do all the stuff steed could not get away with. sadly for gambit, steed got too keep all the 'one linrs' that made steed such a great character.
so in gambit, we had all the action, but none of the witticism.
so gambit could 'walk the walk' but not 'talk the talk' ..so too speak.
but, i still liked him.
as for joanna, i thought she was great as purdy.
she was not a trained actress, she was one of the most popular models of the 60's and apart from one line ''i know what he's allergic too'' <i'm a bond fan> in 'on her majestys secret service' and a few episodes in 'coronation street' this was her first major acting role.

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] simongilmour 17 years ago

I've just read that Gareth Hunt, who played Gambit, died today of pancreatic cancer.

When I was growing up I always thought that Gambit and Purdey were lovers, so I was quite jealous of him and his red Jaguar XJS parked next to Purdeys yellow TR7, outside his London Mews!

Aaaah, happy memories.....

Anyway hope that he didn't have a long illness.

Dagless, what is it with you and this Renwick customer?

[–] scrowson 17 years ago

I haven't seen the series since it aired in the 1970s, when I was a teen. It wasn't the best series ever, but it was a continuation of the Avengers, which I loved. And, to top it off, it was partly filmed in Canada, where I grew up.

I hadn't thought much of the New Avengers until I read of Gareth Hunt's death. It's a bit of a shock -- he was someone I remembered as a handsome, physical, young man. And now he's gone, dead at 65. In some sense, as a kid watching that show, I thought it would be great to be Gareth's character and have those adventures, and, yes, being partnered with Purdey woundn't be too bad, either!

Where does the time go? I feel like a part of my youth, one of my teenage fantasies, has died. And I guess it has -- officially today, in reality long ago.

Farewell, Gareth.

[–] tapoliver 17 years ago

I too was a fan of The New Avengers, having watched it late night on CBS I think, back in my college days. I was sorry to hear of Gareth Hunt's passing. For those of you who get BBC America on cable they have in the past run the series. I actually taped most of the episodes a couple of years ago. It was great fun seeing them again..except maybe the last few done in Canada.

[–] browncal 17 years ago

r.i.p gambit. he wasn't the best character i will admit, but he got some good cars and a few dramitic shots and dialogue. he too got a lot of unfiar slaggings. god rest his soul.

[–] keith-149 17 years ago

Gareth took a critical bashing for his Maxwell House advert and wooden performance in NA.

But, from what I've read, he was one of the nicest guys in showbusiness and will be greatly missed.

[–] gregoryshnly 17 years ago

I was lucky enough to met Gareth Hunt a few years ago,what a funny,warm down to earth man he was,I was very sad when I learnt he had died.
I really like The New Avengers,Joanna Lumley is great as Purdey,great to see Steed back,Gambit was a neccessary additon to the show,due to Pat Macnee's age.
I think the three worked great togethor,the first season was really good,Steed did get more of a role in the 2nd series,fait enough as Patrick Macnee was such an established figure,putting Gambit more in the background.
Of the three actors,Gareth Hunt was always the one,who talked fondly of the show,I'm very fond of the show too,although the Avengers was a better show.

[–] daer-5 17 years ago

Gambit was an extremely charismatic character. I too was very saddened to hear about Gareth Hunt's passing on.

[–] h-ahmad-1 16 years ago

Apparently, Gareth was one of the initial choices to play Bodie in The Professionals. Anthony Andrews got the role, before being rightfully replaced by Lewis Collins.

[–] profh-1 14 years ago

I always thought of Gambit as "Steed without the pretensions". Like the facade which sometimes makes you forget Lt. Columbo is brilliant, with Steed one often forgets he's NOT a "gentleman", but a cad. (When I read they originally wanted a "George Sanders type", the entire series suddenly made more sense to me.) Gambit looks up to and admires Steed, Steed is clearly his role model, but he's a lot rougher-- and maybe a bit more honest.

He did, thankfully, get SOME great dialogue here and there. Witness...

"There's a man!"
"Yes."
"He's got a gun!"
"I know."
"He's in that chair!"
"Unconscious."
"......WHAT?"
"I got here just as he was breaking in-- and clobbered him for you. He'll be out for a couple of hours I'd say."
"Well, WHY didn't you SAY anything? WHY did you want until I'd...???"
"Silly question?"

I somehow can't picture Steed doing this without getting slapped.

[–] profh-1 13 years ago

Martango66 wrote:
"On the other hand, I'm finding Purdey more and more annoying."

Funny you should mention that.

I ADORED Joanna Lumley back then, and the longest time after. However, watching the show again right now... I still think Joanna is fantastic, she does an amazing job. It's PURDEY who's getting on my nerves. I used to think, "Why doesn't she give Mike more of a break?" It seems to me in every episode I'm watching, she's just got too much 'ATTITUDE'. It's like, she goes out of her way in all things at all times to be "superior" to everyone around her-- especially Mike, but EVEN Steed! While simultaneously being detached, facetious, sarcastic, and sometimes downright insulting. And as I keep watching, the irony is, she ISN'T the best at what she does. In "TARGET", she gets very pissed off to find she got hit 3 times instead of matching Steed's perfect score. (Later, Gambit DID match Steed's perfect score. Heh.) And in several other episodes, her "playing around" and showing off while not taking things serious enough ALMOST gets her KILLED!! (CAT AMONGST THE PIDGEONS, TO CATCH A RAT)

It's funny, but recently I had the same change in attitude toiward DOCTOR WHO's Sarah Jane Smith. For decades she was my favorite girl on the show, but when I recently watched my entire collection, she was one of the few girls I had almost no reaction to. She just gets angry too often at too many things. Maybe my taste in women is just changing...

So my current feeling is, I think I'd still love to meet Joanna Lumley, but if I met "Purdey" in real life, I don't think I could put up with her *beep*

[–] onwardsandupwards 13 years ago

My issue is that it comes down to the way both the characters of Mike Gambit & Purdey were written......

Gareth Hunt and Joanna Lumley were talented actors and gave strong performances during the show's run. However both were often left down by dialogue that came off as corny and at times, down right annoying....

Instead of having the level of sophisicated wit and banter that Steed and Mrs Peel had, the lines Gambit and Purdey were given comes across as repetitive and even immature. The verbal sparing that was a cornerstone of the original series was largely absent in "The New Avengers"......

Both Gambit and Purdey are still likeable, but more attention to the writing and character development should have been a bigger priority......

[–] profh-1 13 years ago

I agree. There was some of that in the earlier episodes, like "The Eagle's Nest", "House of Cards", "Faces" (3 of my favorites). But Purdey in particular often acts immature, not to mention careless, almost getting killed several times because of her own behavior. Gambit just seemed under-developed.

I'm nearing the end of re-watching the series in PRODUCTION order, and it's quite noticable that after the traumatic "Obsession", Purdey genuinely lightens up a lot. He wardrobe becomes more expressive and feminine, and she stops giving Mike such a hard time. I can only imagine a 3rd season might have shown her growing up and past her longtime heartache.

Sometimes I wish they'd done a later series with just the two of them, and Steed taking an office job (as seen in THE MAN FROM UNCLE: "The 15-Years-Later Affair"). It would have been nice to have Gambit get more screen time and slowly develop into a more sophisticated version of himself.

[–] grendelkhan 12 years ago

Gambit suffers from a lack of imagination on the part of the writers. He was intended to be the action man for Steed, but Patrick MacNee proved more than capable of still fulfilling that area, so Gareth Hunt wasn't left with much to do. Steed and Purdey got the best lines, so Gambit tended to just come across as the muscle. Hunt des the best he can with what he was igven, but I suspect he was frstrated with the role. I've seen him in other things, like Fierce Creatures and new tricks and he is great. Macnee has said that working on the show wasn't a great experience, from a production standpoint, as the producers said one thing to the press, then went as cheap as possible behind the scenes. I'm sure Hunt felt the same, though he didn't have the clout to do much about it, like MacNee did (like increasing Steed's role).

"Fortunately, Ah keep mah feathers numbered for just such an emergency!"