Gareth Hunt Movies
Best known for sustaining the role of Mike Gambit in the hit television spy drama The New Avengers, British actor Gareth Hunt also attained popularity on his home side of the Atlantic as Frederick Norton on the popular weekly BBC drama Upstairs, Downstairs. Born on February 7, 1943, in London, Hunt joined the merchant navy at age 15 and, after a half-decade at sea, returned to England, where he trained with the infamous Royal Shakespeare Company. For at least ten years, Gareth's popularity remained confined to the U.K. theatrical circuit, but he started expanding his horizons in the early '70s with appearances on such British television programs as Bless This House and Doctor Who. Hunt's contributions to Upstairs -- a drama about the lives of servants and masters in a turn-of-the-century London home -- arrived fairly late in the series (he didn't join the cast until the program's final year of 1975) but helped it retain a sizeable audience through the very end of its run.In 1976, Britain's LWT (or "London Weekend Television," a weekend division of its ITV network) launched The New Avengers, a sequel to the popular '60s spy series The Avengers. Hunt and Joanna Lumley joined original series cast member Patrick Macnee (who reprised his role as John Steed) as a coterie of clandestine English spies who traveled the world outwitting insane, conquer-hungry villains. Hunt's turn as Norton on The New Avengers also represented his first transatlantic success; CBS acquired the rights to this 26-episode series and aired on its CBS Late Movie (as it would with Return of the Saint), alternating between this and reruns of Quincy, M.E. The program ran from November 1978 through the end of 1980.
In his later years, Hunt also appeared on such British series as Castle of Adventure (1990) and Harry and the Wrinklies (2001-2002). He died of pancreatic cancer, at age 65, on March 14, 2007. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- 1977
The gimmick on this episode is a mind-transfer machine which drains all conscious thoughts from people, leaving them in a vegetative state. The villain of the piece steals the machine, hoping to harvest a secret code from the minds of three captured agents, each of whom knows only a portion of the code. Steed (Patrick MacNee), who devised this "selective memory" strategy, must go it alone to stop the villains. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Macnee, Gareth Hunt, (more)
- 1977
Season two of The New Avengers begins with another revenge-motivated episode. Ten years ago, John Steed (Patrick MacNee) was forced to shoot down his old friend and fellow agent Mark (Clive Revill), who had defected to the East. Since that time, Mark has been slowly dying from his wound, as the bullet works its way towards his heart. But before he cashes it in, Mark intends to wreak vengeance by destroying everyone and everything that Steed holds near and dear--and, of course, Purdey (Joanna Lumley) falls into this category. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Macnee, Gareth Hunt, (more)
- 1977
Fifty secret agents and civil servants, all apparently healthy and robust, have died of unknown causes over a two-year period. Steed (Patrick MacNee), Gambit (Gareth Hunt) and Purdey (Gareth Hunt) investigate the health farm where all of the victims had worked out before their untimely demises. Cult-movie favorite Caroline Munro appears as a health-farm employee who may or may not be in on the sinister plot. Clips from previous episodes of The New Avengers) are seen during Steed's drug-induced flashback. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Macnee, Gareth Hunt, (more)
- 1977
The New Avengers investigate when a high-ranking military officer (Michael Barrington) disappears. Our heroes come across a band of mercenaries led by rogue colonel "Mad Jack" Miller (John Castle), who intends to launch an invasion of the Middle East and thus trigger World War 3. Ah, but Miller has reckoned without the resourceful Mike Gambit (Gareth Hunt), who when the need arises can become a "one-man army." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Macnee, Gareth Hunt, (more)
- 1977
The New Avengers wrapped up its first season with an episode which writer Dennis Spooner has confessed was based on "Attack of the Alligators",an installment of the "Supermarionation" series Thunderbirds (with, it would seem, a bit of "Monty Python" thrown in). An illicitly developed growth liquid seeps into the London sewer system, creating a giant, deadly rat. Kidnapped by the scientists who created the liquid, Purdey (Joanna Lumley) is set up as bait for the king-sized vermin--and our girl must also contend with a passel of killer tomatoes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Macnee, Gareth Hunt, (more)
- 1976
Steed (Patrick MacNee), Purdy (Joanna Lumley) and Gambit (Gareth Hunt) foil the latest mission of Soviet agent Perov (Peter Jeffrey). In retaliation, and in defiance of his superiors, Perov reactivates several "sleeper" agents who have been squirreled away throughout the U.K. for the past 20 years. At first, it would seem that Perov's sole motivation is to kill the Avengers--but there's far more to his sinister scheme. This is the episode in which Gambit poses as a pop star and Purdey impersonates a squealing teenage fan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Macnee, Gareth Hunt, (more)
- 1976
Previously seen on two episodes of the original Avengers, those malevolent metallic menaces, the Cybernauts, are at large again. This time, the man behind the Cybernaut invasion is Kane (Robert Lang), a crippled and disfigured double agent who has a score to settle with John Steed (Patrick MacNee). Part of the scheme involves the "rebirth" of the supposedly dead Kane with a new Cybernautic body--and the superpowers that go with it. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Macnee, Gareth Hunt, (more)
- 1976
The New Avengers begins its two-season run with "old" avenger John Steed (Patrick Macnee), as fastidious and gentlemanly as ever, teamed with two new, young, and attractive partners: Purdey (Joanna Lumley), a sexy, cool-headed martial arts expert (sound familiar?), and Mike Gambit (Gareth Hunt), a rough-hewn ex-mercenary. Their first assignment sends the trio to the remote island of St. Dorca, where another secret agent has already met his doom at the end of some poisoned fishing hooks. The new avengers must pick up where their dead comrade left off and seek out a kidnapped scientist. Their search takes them to a sinister monastery, populated by a very Teutonic-looking band of monks which is preparing to thaw out "Germany's Greatest Treasure," cryogenically frozen since 1945. Biggest surprise: guest star Peter Cushing is not the villain of the piece! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Macnee, Gareth Hunt, (more)
- 1976
Purdey (Joanna Lumley) heads to an obstacle-laden firing range in hopes of breaking Steed's (Patrick MacNee) perfect marksmanship record. Five of Steed's previous associates have attempted the same thing at the same range, have fallen short of a perfect score by a mere fraction--and have promptly died of poisoning. Unless Gambit (Gareth Hunt) can run the range and score 100%, Purdy will be Victim Number Six. Roy Boyd, the actor cast as Bradshaw, was a last-minute replacement for frequent Avengers guest star Frederick Jaeger), who caught a cold during filming and was "demoted" to a smaller part. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Macnee, Gareth Hunt, (more)
- 1976
Ian Hendry, who as Dr. David Keel had been one of the original stars of the original Avengers, is here cast as Gunner, an amnesiac secret agent. Having been missing for seventeen years, Gunner suddenly shows up, and just as suddenly recovers his memory, providing a strange coded message. This new information may or may not be able to lead Steed (Patrick MacNee), Purdey (Joanna Lumley) and Gambit (Gareth Hunt) to the whereabouts of a notorious double agent known only as the White Rat. As usual, however, the villain gets the upper hand along the way, forcing the New Avengers to gamble with their lives. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Macnee, Gareth Hunt, (more)
- 1976
The touch of Midas (Gilles Millinaire) is hardly golden in this episode. It seems that the young called Midas is a carrier of every known disease, and can kill with the slightest contact of his fingertips ("They died of everything!" is the diagnosis whenever one of his victims is found). Enticed with a huge prize of gold, Midas agrees to wreak havoc on England in general and the Avengers in particular on behalf of a sinister foreign diplomat. The pot is sweetened when Purdey (Joanne Lumley) is kidnapped and offered up as Mida's companion for the evening--an experience which of course will have fatal consequences for our heroine. Raiders of the Lost Ark bad guy Ronald Lacey guest stars as Hong Kong Harry. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Macnee, Gareth Hunt, (more)
- 1976
Blackballed by his peers, crackpot conservationist Zacardi (Vladek Sheybal) intends to get even with his highly trained birds, which swoop down and kill on his orders. Steed (Patrick MacNee), Purdey (Joanna Lumley) and Gambit (Gareth Hunt) endeavor to stop Zacardi in his plan to take over the world with his feathered friends. The climax of this episode (the top-rated installment of The New Avengers' first season) finds Purdey in perilous predicament that would even make Alfred Hitchcock nervous. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Macnee, Gareth Hunt, (more)
- 1976
Government scientists develop a knockout gas, designed to peacefully quell terrorist uprisings. The gas, and its antidote, inevitably fall into the Wrong Hands, those hands belonging to a gang of crooks who plan to send all of London off to slumberland so that they can embark upon a wholesale crime spree. To prevent this, the New Avengers once again go undercover--with Purdey (Joanna Lumley) posing as a department store window mannequin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Macnee, Gareth Hunt, (more)
- 1976
In exchange for providing valuable information to the government, a convict is set free. But no sooner has the prisoner set foot on the "outside" than he is mowed down by enemy gunfire. The New Avengers try to find out what he was going to tell, and why he was killed--with a tattered paperback copy of a Western novel as their only clue. Ingredients essential to the outcome of this story are a marathon cross-country chase and a deadly game of cards. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Macnee, Gareth Hunt, (more)
- 1976
Steed (Patrick MacNee) Purdey (Joanna Lumley) and Gambit (Gareth Hunt) go undercover in one of the seamier neighborhoods of London. The Reason? Several prominent governmnet officials, including a friend of Steed's, have turned up dead. It turns out that someone is using disguised derelicts to replace the dead officials. The real trouble begins when the identical doubles for Gambit and Purdey show up (though it does permit Purdey the plum acting assignment of doubling for her own double). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Macnee, Gareth Hunt, (more)
- 1974
In the fifth episode of the six-part story "Planet of the Spiders," the Doctor travels to the planet Metebelis 3, in hopes of rescuing his companion, Sarah (Katy Manning). There he is given an ultimatum: immediately return the precious blue crystal, which he stole from Metebelis during a previous visit, or all mankind will be destroyed. Grimly, the Doctor weighs the alternatives, which include his own likely death once the crystal is given back to its rightful owner, spider-empress the Great One. Written by Robert Sloman, "Planet of the Spiders, Episode 5" originally aired on June 1, 1974. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jon Pertwee, Elisabeth Sladen, (more)
- 1974
In the fourth episode of the six-part story "Planet of the Spiders," the crooked Lupton (John Dearth) has stolen the powerful blue crystal coveted by the spider empress of the planet Metebelis 3. The empress' minions take over Lupton's mind, enabling the Doctor (Jon Pertwee), who brought the crystal to Earth in the first place, to determine that mankind will be destroyed unless the precious item is returned to its rightful owner. Meanwhile, Sarah (Katy Manning) is captured and transported to Metebelis 3 as a means of drawing the Doctor out. Written by Robert Sloman, "Planet of the Spiders, Episode 4" originally aired on May 25, 1974. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jon Pertwee, Elisabeth Sladen, (more)
- 1974
In the third episode of the six-part story "Planet of the Spiders," three spider-like creatures from Metebelis 3 arrive on earth by way of an English monastery. There mission: To retrieve a powerful blue crystal, previously stolen from them by the Doctor (Jon Pertwee), which is highly coveted by the giant spider empress, the Great One. Unfortunately, the crystal is swiped from the Doctor's friend, Sarah (Elisabeth Sladen), by a crook named Lupton (John Dearth) -- who subsequently loses the valuable artifact to another crook named Tommy (John Kane). All of this has a profound effect on the Doctor, who knows that mankind will be destroyed unless the crystal is returned to its rightful owner. Written by Robert Sloman, "Planet of the Spiders, Episode 3" originally aired on May 18, 1974. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jon Pertwee, Elisabeth Sladen, (more)
- 1974
In the conclusion of the "transitional" six-part Doctor Who story "Planet of the Spiders," the Doctor returns the precious blue crystal to the Great One, the spider-empress of the planet Metebelis 3. As expected, the crystal endows the empress with incredible powers -- too incredible, in fact. The events of the past five episodes cause the Doctor to come face to face with his own fears, shortcomings, and inner demons -- leading, inevitably, to the fourth of his periodic "regenerations" (and a farewell to Jon Pertwee). Written by Robert Sloman, "Planet of the Spiders, Episode 6" originally aired on June 8, 1974, as the final episode of Doctor Who's 11th season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jon Pertwee, Elisabeth Sladen, (more)
