Avengers and the 1960s.

The Swinging 60s.

Post war generation.

Children were more social and society was more innocent.

Single women were able to get the contraceptive pill - the generation of free love.

Most famous bands of the 60s:

• The Rolling Stones,
• The Beatles,
• The Who,
• Led Zeppelin,
• Pink Floyd.

Music was different as it was more 'rock and roll', people started enjoying less classical music and started enjoying dance music.

Most famous sportspeople:

• Muhammad Ali,
• Willie Mays,
• Wilt Chamberlain,
• Johny Unitas.

Political leaders:

• John F. Kennedy - American President,
• Robbert F. Kennedy, Attorney General,
• Martin Luther King - Peace Fighter,
• Richard Nixon - American President,
• Conservatives and Labour Parties.

Main Youth Group Fashions:

• Hippies - protesting violence and war, stereotyped to be school dropouts and smoke marijuana,
• Rioters - protesting war and poverty,
• The Youth Movement - Gender stereotypes were less common, men started having long hair, women started wearing blue jeans,
• The fashion started changing with the slogan "out with the old, in with the new" which meant that the fashion designers created new scandalous designs targeting young women. 

Scientific/Technological Developments:

• Space race,
• DOCTOR WHO,
• Contraceptive pills were improved,
• First Videogame console,
• First computer mouse,
• LEDs,
• Dynamic RAM.
• Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation,
• UNIX,

According to the media, drugs were a large part of youth and society, this is because the media focuses on negative stereotypes.

Wars such as :

• Vietnam 1955-1975
• The Cold War 1947-1991
• The Bay of pigs invasion 1961
• Portuguese Colonial war 1961-1974
• Indo-Pakistani War of 1965

In the 1960s there was a lot of segregation between races and gender, women were still stereotyped to look after the children at home and didn't have as many rights as today, however in media there were women carrying guns wearing miniskirts so they were portrayed as powerful still. However racism was at a high between all races, caucasians had more rights and so the Civil Rights Movement to stop the segregation of races was put into place.

The Avengers (1965).

ITV (ABC) produced the show.

Primary and secondary audience:

• adults (15+), working class, interested in action and excitement, male and female.
• adults (15+), upper class (represented by the characters) male and female.

The first episode aired 7th of January 1961.

There were six series.

The last episode aired 21st of May 1969.

For series 4, the budget per episode was £56,000.

The Avengers 'Hit it Big' in America and was one of the few ITV shows to do so.

The £2,000,000 from ABC.

• Since the producers were given this large then-unheard of sum of money, they could spend it on filming the show with 35mm film rather than videotape. This was essential as it was a method compatible with U.S. methods.
• The new filming type allowed for more flexibility during filming as they now used single camera set up.
• This also allowed for more diverse camera angles and shots as well as outdoor location shooting.
• There were also better props and better ways of filming (helicopters etc.).
• All location work on series four was shot mute with the soundtrack created in post production and dialogue scenes were filmed in the studio.
• The music was also much more sophisticated.

Series 4 brought with it new and old characters:

• Patrick Macnee remained John steed throughout the entire run of the show. Macnee had been called up for the United Kingdom Armed Forces. He joined the Navy as an ordinary Seaman in October 1942 and left as a lieutenant in 1946. He had also performed in Scrooge as the young Jacob Marley. As well as many small parts in American and Canadian television and theatre.
• 
• Diana Rigg took the role of Emma Peel, this was a character who was created to appeal to men. Rigg's professional debut was in the RADA production of The Caucasian Chalk Circle at the York Festival in 1957 which was a theatrical production. Appearing on The Avengers was her first television Debut.
• 

The BBC started to abolish its 'stuffy Auntie' image due to the competition that ITV brought. The class lines split class loyalty completely, with ITV tending to be more popular with the working class. Though when "youth culture" started to become popular it was 'cool' to be working class and so ITV's popularity and especially the popularity of The Avengers skyrocketed compared to the BBC's The Forsyte Saga which only lasted half a year. This was because of The Avenger's appeal to all classes giving the show more popularity. The rising youth culture was more interested in action and the image of powerful women in miniskirts rather than posh, upperclass-looking, non-relatable characters from the BBC.