A Touch of Brimstone

The episode received the highest UK viewing figures for any episode of The Avengers, attracting an estimated 8.4 million viewers, which made it the fifth most-viewed programme of that week.^[17] Michael Billington wrote in The Stage that the episode had "just the right mixture of extravagance and menace".^[18] He praised the lead actors, calling Macnee's playing of Steed "unimprovable", describing Wyngarde's part an "immaculate performance", and saying that although Rigg's portrayal of Emma Peel has received a mixed reception, he felt that she had "made a definable character out of Emma Peel, sometimes without much help from the scriptwriters".^[18]

The episode is known for the scenes in which Peel wears a kinky^[19] "Queen of Sin" costume (which Rigg designed herself), complete with a dog collar with three-inch spikes, whalebone corset, and high leather boots. Rigg also carried a large snake.^[20][21][22] The members of the Hellfire Club have been described as engaging in "uninhibited debauchery".^[23] Towards the end of the episode, Cartney, wielding a whip, confronts Peel. Clemens recalled in 2000 that there had been "four or five" lashes of the whip in the final cut. The full scene was included on a 1993 video release from Lumiere Pictures, from which the media historian James Chapman counted "up to 12 cracks" but noted that at no point was the whip seen to have made contact with Peel.^[24] Due to the content, the episode was not broadcast when The Avengers aired on American network television; it did air on British television, but with the whipping scene edited down to one crack of the whip in some ITV regions.^[17] The full scene was included on a 1993 video release from Lumiere Pictures.^[24]

The Media historian James Chapman wrote in 2002 of the episode, "With its visual references to sado-masochistic pornography",^[25] it was predictable that "A Touch of Brimstone" would experience censorship difficulties with the ITV network, and also not be broadcast in America.^[25] Chapman also considered that the episode highlighted inconsistencies in the way that women were portrayed in The Avengers, as although Peel is dressed as a dominatrix, Cartney tells his fellow club members to "do with her as you will" and she is taken away by them seemingly for their own agenda. Her escape is not shown, but she next appears fighting one opponent and then in the confrontation against Cartney, during which he attacks her with a whip. Chapman argues that Peel "is therefore made to play the roles of both dominatrix and victimised woman ... [she] embodies aspects of both dominant and passive femininity."^[26]

The Women's Studies scholar Sherrie A. Inness wrote in 1998 that the episode provides an example of how The Avengers "emphasized women's sexuality ... [by having] Emma expose her curvaceous form".^[27] Inness describes the Queen of Sin outfit and argues that this emphasis on the character's sexuality "reduced her tough image and showed viewers that, despite her karate abilities, she was all woman."^[27] Considering the character of Peel in the series overall, Inness concludes that although the character, with her combat abilities, was an unusual depiction of women at the time, and appealed to female viewers, the character nevertheless "helped to reinforce stereotypes about women."^[28] In contrast, in 2005 the film critic Anne Billson wrote that Peel's character demonstrated that heroinnes "could be sexy without being reduced to a dumb sex object" and notes that in A Touch of Brimstone, Peel's expression demonstrates her repugnance at a remark from Cartney that women are "mere vessels of pleasure".^[29] Journalist Maria Alvarez argued in New Statesman in 1998 that there was an "unyielding hardness rather than feminine softness" to Peel's demeanour while wearing the outfit.^[30] Alvarez commented that the combination of "danger and eroticism, seemed as integral to [Peel's] style and personality as the smooth leather and kinky boots that encased her were testaments to self-containment and enigma" and that Peel was an exemplar of a modern action woman.^[30]

Tom Lisanti and Louis Paul, authors of Film Fatales: Women in Espionage Films and Television, 1962–1973 (2002) cited the episode as one of Diana Rigg's finest.^[31] It was rated as one of the five best episodes of the fourth series by Paul Cornell, Martin Day and Keith Topping in The Avengers Dossier (1998).^[32] The authors wrote that it was the zenith of the series, describing it as camp, "and with the magnificent OTT [over the top] grandeur of Wyngarde. One laughs at the sheer verve of it".^[17]

This episode was Chris Claremont's inspiration for the Hellfire Club in Marvel Comics' "X-Men", in particular the story arc in Uncanny X-Men #132–134. Hellfire Club member Jason Wyngarde's name and likeness is based on Peter Wyngarde, who was later known for the role of Jason King^[33] and the outfit Jean Grey wears as the Hellfire Club's Black Queen is highly similar to Riggs' Queen of Sin costume.

It was reported in 1993 that fans were still sending Rigg postcards of her dressed as the Queen of Sin to be autographed.^[34]

Books

• Billson, Anne (2005). Buffy the Vampire Slayer. British Film Institute. ISBN 1-84457-089-4.
• Carruthers, Jo; Tate, Andrew (2010). Spiritual Identities: Literature and the Post-Secular Imagination. Peter Lang. ISBN 978-3-03911-925-7.
• Chapman, James (2000). "The Avengers: television and popular culture during the 'low sixties'". In Aldgate, Anthony; Chapman, James; Marwick, Arthur (eds.). Windows on the sixties : exploring key texts of media and culture. IB Tauris. pp. 37–69. ISBN 978-1-86064-383-5.
• Chapman, James (2002). Saints and Avengers: British Adventure Series of the 1960s. I.B.Tauris. ISBN 978-1-86064-753-6.
• Cornell, Paul; Day, Martin; Topping, Keith (1998). The Avengers Dossier. Virgin Books. ISBN 978-0-86369-754-8.
• Inness, Sherrie A. (1998). Tough Girls: Women Warriors and Wonder Women in Popular Culture. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-3466-4.
• Knight, Gladys L. (2010). Female Action Heroes: A Guide to Women in Comics, Video Games, Film, and Television. ABC-CLIO. p. 119. ISBN 978-0-313-37612-2.
• Lisanti, Tom; Paul, Louis (2002). Film Fatales: Women in Espionage Films and Television, 1962–1973. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-1194-8.
• Pratt, Douglas (2004). Doug Pratt's DVD: Movies, Television, Music, Art, Adult, and More!. UNET 2 Corporation. ISBN 978-1-932916-00-3.
• Richardson, Michael (2014). Bowler Hats and Kinky Boots: The Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to The Avengers (Kindle ed.). Telos. ISBN 1845838874.
• Rogers, Dave (1983). The Avengers. ITV Books in association with Michael Joseph. ISBN 978-0-907965-09-1.
• Rogers, Dave (1985). Avengers Anew. Michael Joseph. ISBN 978-0-7181-2604-9.
• Rogers, Dave (1989). The Complete Avengers. Boxtree. ISBN 978-1-85283-244-5.
• White, Ellen Emerson (2007). Long May She Reign. Macmillan. p. 636. ISBN 978-0-312-36767-1.

• "A Touch of Brimstone" at IMDb
• A Touch of Brimstone at Mrs. Peel... We're Needed! : The Avengers — 1961–69