Here comes Honey!

by Kimberly Lindbergs | January 1, 2008

Categories | News, Spies & Secret Agents, Television


Anne Francis as Honey West with her pet ocelot (1965)

Honey West is one of my favorite television shows from the sixties and I just discovered that VCI Entertainment will be releasing the entire short-lived series on DVD sometime in 2008. The series has been available in the U.K. on PAL Region 2 DVD for awhile now, but this will mark the first time that Honey West has been released on DVD in the U.S.

The fabulous Anne Francis plays Honey West, a beautiful judo expert who holds a black belt in karate. After inheriting her late father’s high-tech detective agency, Honey and her partner Sam Bolt (John Ericson) become crime fighters who use lots of James Bond style gadgets and weapons to stop the criminals they go after. Naturally Honey also uses her seductive charms and wits to stop various villians as well. Honey West had a cute, but deadly exotic cat as a pet and she often wore animal prints and fabulous sixties fashions on the show. Anne Francis looks amazing in Honey West, which is a lot of fun to watch. In many ways she resembled an American version of the lovely Honor Blackman from the season two of The Avengers.

If you enjoy great television shows like The Avengers or The Girl From U.N.C.L.E., you’ll probably enjoy Honey West as well. Unfortunately the show only aired for one season in 1965, but all 30 episodes are scheduled to be released on DVD by VCI Entertainment. To get a taste of what to expect from this terrific series check out the opening credits from the show below:


13 Comments »

  1. Jeremy says; January 2, 2008 @ 5:35 am

    Excellent, I have always wanted to see this show so I am thrilled that it is getting a release. Thanks for the heads up and for the cool pics and clip…

  2. Marilyn says; January 2, 2008 @ 8:37 am

    This is excellent news indeed! I was a huge “Honey West” fan–always wanted that lovely beauty mark. Thank you for this information and for posting that delicious photo of Miss Francis.

  3. Keith says; January 2, 2008 @ 11:56 am

    Being a fan of spy and detective entertainment, I’ve often heard of this show. Unfortunately I’ve never had a chance to see it. It always looked so cool. I’m thrilled that I’ll soon enough have a chance to see what all the talk is about.

  4. cinephile says; January 2, 2008 @ 4:40 pm

    Cool! Between this and the recent U.N.C.L.E. box, there’s certainly a lot of spy tv out there that could put a strain on my credit card.

  5. Pete Emslie says; January 2, 2008 @ 5:31 pm

    I’ve never seen “Honey West” and admittedly hadn’t even heard of it until now. It looks intriguing from that clip you posted and the jazzy theme music is great! Anne Francis is one of those iconic 60’s actresses that I used to enjoy seeing in the many films and TV shows she showed up in. Yeah, I liked that birthmark too - it always looked like a little blob of chocolate that I wanted to lick off her the side of her mouth! :)

  6. cinebeats says; January 3, 2008 @ 11:55 am

    I like seeing all the love for Honey! As I mentioned above, you can currently get the series on PAL Region 2 DVD if you happen to have an all-region player and I recommend it. Hopefully the U.S. DVDs will come out sooner than later. It’s a really fun show and Anne is terrific in it! And as Pete pointed out, it does have a great jazzy score by the composer Joseph Mullendore too. Mullendore worked on a lot of good shows in the sixties like Star Trek and all the early Irwin Allen productions which I wrote about earlier this year.

  7. Anna says; January 6, 2008 @ 6:55 pm

    How intriguing - never heard of the show, I confess. Sounds great, though - wonderfully campy?

  8. adrien says; January 9, 2008 @ 2:57 pm

    I just caught that mannequin episode (After Hours) of the Twilight Zone during the New Year’s marathon. And she was the professor’s daughter in Forbidden Planet. How cool!

  9. Fred says; February 1, 2008 @ 5:22 pm

    “Honey West” is a cult classic. Being a huge fan of The Avengers, but especially the early episodes with Honor Blackman, “Honey West” is right up my alley. Can’t wait for this series to get a legit US DVD release. Anne Francis is a real glamourpuss in this show. Sharp, amusing dialogue and excellent, exciting pre-credits scenes really make this show a knockout. The production values are top-notch. Of the 11 episodes I’ve seen so far, “The Gray Lady” is my favorite, with great guest stars such as Kevin McCarthy and Nancy Kovack.

  10. Fred says; February 1, 2008 @ 5:36 pm

    From the copy above, just wanted to make a correction. Honor Blackman appeared as Cathy Gale in The Avengers’ second and third seasons. The first season featured Ian Hendry and Patrick Macnee in the lead roles.

  11. cinebeats says; February 1, 2008 @ 7:27 pm

    I appreciate the feedback Fred and correction was made thanks to your sharp eye!

  12. Turbo Ferbo says; March 19, 2008 @ 1:19 pm

    Honey West was the gal who was responsible for jump-starting my puberty. I’m so glad that this fun show will finally be getting the DVD treatment that it so well deserves!!!

  13. Kerman says; September 4, 2008 @ 4:17 am

    I have been a fan of Anne in Honey West since I saw the first episode, Sept. 26, 1965. I watched for 1/2 hour and then said “Wow!” Who was that woman?
    Unlike other shows, it never spent much time in reruns. I am so happy to see it’s US DVD release this week.
    Anne Francis deserves a swirl of publicity from those of us who are fans!


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