Alice Cochrane. What an exiting time in Film, TV, music, and art, and Diana was a wonderful product of that time. She was an integral part, and the only actress to be chosen to marry James Bond in 1969's "On Her Majesty's Secret Service".
Short but I enjoyed it. As the years have passed it is good to hear both Patrick and Diana recall their Avengers days fondly and with pride. I have the series on DVD and play it at least once a year. To me it's stood the test of time.
I fancied Emma Peel like mad, I was about 5 years old at the time! Always had a thing for confident, sexy women. RIP Diana Rigg, a wonderful actress playing one of the most iconic parts ever.
Diana Rigg is now the host of Mystery. What an understatement! She appeared in and usually starred in almost 300 movies, TV dramas and series and was one of the greatest classical, Shakespearean and contemporary stage actresses of all time, laden with nominations and awards. He couldn't have known all of it at the time this was made, but she was a helluva lot more than a TV host.
It's great seeing this video on RUclips. I remember seeing The Avengers right when it started in the U.S. in 1966. I recently saw on Memory TV a replay of all episodes from beginning to end including Diana, Honor Blackman, and Linda Thorson (AND THOSE PRIOR TO THE WOMEN). Previously, the United States only showed episodes from Diana Rigg forward back in the 1960s. I really enjoyed the episode where Diana takes off to leave with her husband Mr. Peel and Linda becomes his new partner, since I did not remember seeing it. Each woman had a unique way working with Mr. Steed. I really liked this TV show. I would say that Mrs. Peel went on to have a very good life. It made me happy actually seeing England in peson a couple of times many years later. Thank you. From St. Louis
On her death, it has become even more evident how beloved Dame Diana was, and not hard to see why. She was exceptionally beautiful, intelligent, engaging and way ahead of her time. Appropriate that she concluded her acting career in the greatest TV series of all time.
@@svendbosanvovski4241 Good excerpt and I'm impressed. Amazon Prime doesn't have Game of Thrones here, so I might have to be stealthier than Steed and half-inch it from elsewhere.
The six leftover episodes discussed in this piece were originally written for Ian Hendry's. Dr. Keel, but were shot with Honor Blackman playing Cathy Gale. That set the tone for the brilliant, no-nonsense heroine partner for Steed. Diana Rigg continued it with Emma Peel before the troubled final season with Linda Thorson as Tara King. Fantastic series. One of my all-time faves. And yeah, Steed and Emma definitely did it. 😄 Also, props to Pat Macnee for holding this classic show together over FOUR different partners. 👍 ETA:. Yes, Diana, we found it beguiling. 😄 For such an intelligent, accomplished woman, I wish she could have come to terms with Emma Peel sooner than she did. In her very later years, I think she did. But here, I think she still thinks of it as a frivolity. There was real emotional depth in the undercurrent of the show. Everything we surmised was happening with Steed and Emma that was hinted at, but the viewers never got to see. It registered deeply with people, probably in ways most didn't realize, until it was suddenly over when Peter Peel returned from the jungle. That impact has resonated with people for 50+ years. The Avengers never really recovered from it, which ultimately makes the story a tragedy.
Patrick Macnee was 68 yrs.old here but still very sexy. I wasn't even born yet when The Avengers was on television. But loved watching it in reruns. Been a fan since I was a 4yr.old little girl. Been crushing on Macnee ever since. My favorite show of all time. Patrick Macnee never lost his good looks. So handsome and debonair.
When British Television was leading the way with this series, Amazing then Amazing now as a time capsule of Britain Fantasy Spies. No woman was ever killed in any episode. Classy.
Been watching the early morning re-runs on ITV4 and it's been a joy. What I hadn't appreciated before was the effort put into the character development of the guest stars - some of which may have only had a few minutes screen time. John Cleese and Bernard Cribbins were the latest and they appeared to be having an absolute blast. Brilliant show that never took itself too seriously and was always presented with grace and great humour.
RIP Diana Rigg. Thank you for this tribute to Diana Rigg. She was brilliant in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream.' Diana was an AMAZING actress, Gorgeous, Sexy and oh so intelligent. I loved her as a child. She was my role model from The Avengers yet she had idea how much so for young girls in those times. She should had been Jill Penny Bond 007 instead of only a Bond wife killed. And her cheek bones were as bold as those of Grace Jones.
The Rigg / Macnee partnership was the classic era of the show. When Diana left, the series should have ended. The subsequent versions just did not work.
Well, ABC in the US wanted another series, which was odd as they put it up against Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, where it had no chance of surviving. I was probably one of the few stalwarts who stuck with The Avengers (I thought Laugh-In was brainless--which it was--I didn't see the humor). At first I wasn't crazy about Tara King and Mother, but it grew on me, and I liked the stories. They were goofier than with Emma Peel, but funnier. And I started to fall for Linda Thorson. I also really liked the target credits and was disappointed when they were replaced with the roses/knights/cards.
Loved the show as a boy,but watching them now shows a reduction in quality during the Tara King episodes.Feels like the production team were running out of ideas.
Harvey H it is in the uk. USA got a not so great season 5 Blu-ray but UK has totally remastered hi def sets. Don’t know why they haven’t been released state side?
She is 81 years old now and was only 27 years old when started on The Avengers and this interview she was 51-52 years old. People can change as they age including their voices and Diana Rigg was a heavy smoker for years and had stopped in 2017. By 2009 she was still smoking up to 20 cigarettes a day.
Patrick MacNee was and is still handsome looking, Diana Rigg...... OMG I’ve fallen in love with her 🌹when I first encountered ‘The Avengers’ in the late 60s and became crazier when she played the Bond lady in ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’. I must have watched this movie at least 50 times throughout the years. She was so elegantly beautiful, classy, awesomely attractive, superbly witty...... Tracy in the movie just possessed all the plus a man would have asked for, OHMSS was a great romantic movie packed with plenty of thrilling actions, but the ending was heartbreaking. It still moves me tremendously ! Huge Credit must also be given to the theme song ‘We have all the time in the world’, it’s one of the top Oldies. In short, it’s year 2020 and I’m still in love with Diana Rigg, OHMSS, and the theme song. Diana is so gifted in all aspects of an actress nobody else would or could have come close to her, never !!! Wish you well, healthy and happy 💜💜💜 goddess 😘
Too hard to pick a favorite avenger girl. All of them were quite different from each other but all were perfect partners for Steed. I remember arguing with my babysitter who was better: Peel or King After learning and seeing so much of the series for decades later, I can honestly say I loved them ALL for their differences. Considering Steed himself changed a bit with each "new" partner, the series was a great study in the evolution of television
What!. Brian Clements wrote the script for Highlander 2.... According to wikipedia, He and another guy wrote the story, but someone else wrote the script.
Agree. The only woman we had in the states, at that time, that came the closest, in beauty, sex appeal and style, was Julie Newmar, as Catwoman on Batman. But, she wasn't on each week.
It pisses me off when i have to pay for internet service, am forced to watch commercials, and then i am expected to pay to see Mrs Peel in the Avengers.. well i'm not paying. I'm sorry to see Diana Rigg go but we must all go in the end. Bye bye Mrs Peel.
Stupid comment, she would not have agreed with u, u clearly didn't know her that well . ruclips.net/video/HC_PVOveB5s/видео.html&ab_channel=JamesSpeirs
And in America, they hacked and cut and chopped it to pieces!..Some of it was just too risque for American tv..I actually saw the cuts that were made to 14 episodes in which Emma Peel displayed more of her delightful anatomy than was acceptable for the American flag waving, bible clutching audience!..At least, thats what the "guardians of Americas morals" thought!..What a pity!
Some of us over here in America. Can we have our flags and drool over beautiful women at the same time. Don't regurgitate the same old bible-thumping waving flag in garbage. Because not all of us are like that. Maybe you should try it sometimes !
@@charlest.velten6983 Your quite right, not all of you were..But the ones who mattered, and made the rules at the time, calling themselves the "Moral majority". Were, at the time, the ones who actually did matter!..That is, until you woke up to the fact that their 'moral majority' was full of con artists, money grubbers, perverts and deviates and some very nasty racists! Some of them stil hanging about and trying it on yet again! Therefore, be alert!..The world needs it's lerts!
It's odd that the repeated question did they go to bed together often comes up. I know they wouldn't have so when Clemens says he thinks they did go to bed together, that's his kinky fantasy. You wouldn't ask if The Man From Uncle's Illya Kuryakin and Napoleon Solo went to bed together, so why ask if Mrs Peel and Steed did? It only spoils it.
They VERY MUCH slept together. Town of No Return: When he says shouldn't you be getting to bed? She doesn't leave the room. Dead Man's Treasure: Emma shows up at Steeds at 3:30 for one reason--BOOTY CALL. Yes they slept together.
Patrick, once told me a story about when Lorne Greene and he used to act on stage in Toronto, I do not remember the name of the troupe, he told me this around 1988.... Every time they would get a 'pittance' of pay, back then, Lorne would try to cajole Patrick into giving some of Pat's $ to him, to invest in a fledgling company. Patrick would always, politely, decline. Patrick said, to me, that when Lorne went off to Hollywood, for that "silly Bonawnza thing"(trying to get his accent) that Lorne was doing 'quite well'! "You see, Allen, that fledgling company was/is...........................................I.B.M. ! Lovely man, was Patrick Macnee! 🪐🌠
This was the best television series ever. Smart, witty, fashionable for the time, and with well-written scripts.
Still as much fun to watch today as it was 50 years ago
REALITY
You'll be missed Diana. Steed and Emma Peel. The epitome of 60s British cool. RIP ❤
Alice Cochrane. What an exiting time in Film, TV, music, and art, and Diana was a wonderful product of that time. She was an integral part, and the only actress to be chosen to marry James Bond in 1969's "On Her Majesty's Secret Service".
Both Diana Rigg and Honor Blackman have passed in 2020 RIP .
Love & miss them both... damn good actors and iconic 1960s heroes forever. 🇬🇧 🕵️♀️ 🕵️♂️ ⚔️
Short but I enjoyed it. As the years have passed it is good to hear both Patrick and Diana recall their Avengers days fondly and with pride. I have the series on DVD and play it at least once a year. To me it's stood the test of time.
I'm watching the early versions right now. Always loved this show even as a kid. Thank you for posting this interview.
I fancied Emma Peel like mad, I was about 5 years old at the time! Always had a thing for confident, sexy women. RIP Diana Rigg, a wonderful actress playing one of the most iconic parts ever.
I too.
Diana Rigg is now the host of Mystery. What an understatement! She appeared in and usually starred in almost 300 movies, TV dramas and series and was one of the greatest classical, Shakespearean and contemporary stage actresses of all time, laden with nominations and awards. He couldn't have known all of it at the time this was made, but she was a helluva lot more than a TV host.
He was only talking to American TV audiences, most of whom wouldn't know Shakespeare if they tripped over him.
@@dangler1907 Shakespeare? Can you stream that? Is it on Netflix or Prime?
It's great seeing this video on RUclips. I remember seeing The Avengers right when it started in the U.S. in 1966. I recently saw on Memory TV a replay of all episodes from beginning to end including Diana, Honor Blackman, and Linda Thorson (AND THOSE PRIOR TO THE WOMEN). Previously, the United States only showed episodes from Diana Rigg forward back in the 1960s. I really enjoyed the episode where Diana takes off to leave with her husband Mr. Peel and Linda becomes his new partner, since I did not remember seeing it. Each woman had a unique way working with Mr. Steed. I really liked this TV show. I would say that Mrs. Peel went on to have a very good life. It made me happy actually seeing England in peson a couple of times many years later. Thank you. From St. Louis
My all time favorite tv actress and tv show. I loved it and have watched every episode over and over. Such fun.
one of the best TV ever made and Diana Rigg was the jewel of it
On her death, it has become even more evident how beloved Dame Diana was, and not hard to see why. She was exceptionally beautiful, intelligent, engaging and way ahead of her time. Appropriate that she concluded her acting career in the greatest TV series of all time.
And that series was...?
@@Ndlanding Game of Thrones.
@@svendbosanvovski4241 Thanks. Actually I've never watched that.
@@Ndlanding Please do. It's a record breaking cultural event not to be missed. Here is Diana:
ruclips.net/video/z3JGVV6juPY/видео.html
@@svendbosanvovski4241 Good excerpt and I'm impressed. Amazon Prime doesn't have Game of Thrones here, so I might have to be stealthier than Steed and half-inch it from elsewhere.
Nice little upload thanks!
The six leftover episodes discussed in this piece were originally written for Ian Hendry's. Dr. Keel, but were shot with Honor Blackman playing Cathy Gale. That set the tone for the brilliant, no-nonsense heroine partner for Steed. Diana Rigg continued it with Emma Peel before the troubled final season with Linda Thorson as Tara King. Fantastic series. One of my all-time faves. And yeah, Steed and Emma definitely did it. 😄
Also, props to Pat Macnee for holding this classic show together over FOUR different partners. 👍
ETA:. Yes, Diana, we found it beguiling. 😄 For such an intelligent, accomplished woman, I wish she could have come to terms with Emma Peel sooner than she did. In her very later years, I think she did. But here, I think she still thinks of it as a frivolity. There was real emotional depth in the undercurrent of the show. Everything we surmised was happening with Steed and Emma that was hinted at, but the viewers never got to see. It registered deeply with people, probably in ways most didn't realize, until it was suddenly over when Peter Peel returned from the jungle. That impact has resonated with people for 50+ years. The Avengers never really recovered from it, which ultimately makes the story a tragedy.
Diana Rigg was 52 years old in this interview and she looked as good as ever! One classy broad!
Diana rigg was many things but never a broad!! Munroe was a broad like others who never had the class diana rigg always had.
good memories are there for a reason. Thanks for the reminder.😊
Patrick Macnee was 68 yrs.old here but still very sexy. I wasn't even born yet when The Avengers was on television. But loved watching it in reruns. Been a fan since I was a 4yr.old little girl. Been crushing on Macnee ever since. My favorite show of all time. Patrick Macnee never lost his good looks. So handsome and debonair.
I loved Diana Rigg as emma
When British Television was leading the way with this series, Amazing then Amazing now as a time capsule of Britain Fantasy Spies. No woman was ever killed in any episode. Classy.
Just learned Dame Diana Rigg had passed away aged 82 💔 RIP 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Besides Emma Peel, my favorite part was theme music. Days of my youth. Miss them.
Oh yes, the theme. So evocative...
Been watching the early morning re-runs on ITV4 and it's been a joy. What I hadn't appreciated before was the effort put into the character development of the guest stars - some of which may have only had a few minutes screen time. John Cleese and Bernard Cribbins were the latest and they appeared to be having an absolute blast. Brilliant show that never took itself too seriously and was always presented with grace and great humour.
RIP Diana Rigg. Thank you for this tribute to Diana Rigg. She was brilliant in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream.'
Diana was an AMAZING actress, Gorgeous, Sexy and oh so intelligent. I loved her as a child. She was my role model from The Avengers yet she had idea how much so for young girls in those times. She should had been Jill Penny Bond 007 instead of only a Bond wife killed. And her cheek bones were as bold as those of Grace Jones.
Interesting!
I remember that this was my parent's favorite TV series in the 60's....
I wonder????
now only joanna lumley and linda thorson are alive...it was a great tv show..RIP to Patrick Macnee,gareth Hunt,honor Blackman, and diana Rigg.
I will always be grateful to Channel 4 for airing this show from 1982 .
The swinging sixties...so much more fun to live than the invading twenties...
What is the 'invading twenties' supposed to mean?
I'd forgotten how beautiful Diana Rigg was.
It does come as quite a shock when you re acquaint yourself with her as E. P. I am devastated.
The Ema Peel era. My favorite part of the series.
The Avengers is PG by today’s standards. A great series!
Diana Rigg R.I.P.
The Greatest!!
Nothing substitutes from a happy family life!
The Rigg / Macnee partnership was the classic era of the show. When Diana left, the series should have ended. The subsequent versions just did not work.
Well, ABC in the US wanted another series, which was odd as they put it up against Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, where it had no chance of surviving. I was probably one of the few stalwarts who stuck with The Avengers (I thought Laugh-In was brainless--which it was--I didn't see the humor). At first I wasn't crazy about Tara King and Mother, but it grew on me, and I liked the stories. They were goofier than with Emma Peel, but funnier. And I started to fall for Linda Thorson. I also really liked the target credits and was disappointed when they were replaced with the roses/knights/cards.
Loved the show as a boy,but watching them now shows a reduction in quality during the Tara King episodes.Feels like the production team were running out of ideas.
Daniel.......duh her voice changed...how much older is she? She was always georgeous!
It was neither short-lived nor from the USA. Apart from that, you're 100% correct.
Diana rigg,est pour moi la plus jolie, en tout cas la plus sexy de toutes les partenaires de l'excellent Patrick mac nee.
Hopefully we'll see the original Avengers re-mastered and in hi-def as Star Trek was.
Harvey H it is in the uk. USA got a not so great season 5 Blu-ray but UK has totally remastered hi def sets. Don’t know why they haven’t been released state side?
@Harvey H...I have quite a few episodes by De Wrekke (a Dutch or German company) which have definitely been remastered into hi def.
Her Voice has changed since the Avengers.
Yeah boss, it”s been 50 years
She is 81 years old now and was only 27 years old when started on The Avengers and this interview she was 51-52 years old. People can change as they age including their voices and Diana Rigg was a heavy smoker for years and had stopped in 2017. By 2009 she was still smoking up to 20 cigarettes a day.
I also loved Anne Francis in 'HoneyWest': It was a different era - nouveaux television.
I love Mis Emma Pell!
Patrick MacNee was and is still handsome looking, Diana Rigg...... OMG I’ve fallen in love with her 🌹when I first encountered ‘The Avengers’ in the late 60s and became crazier when she played the Bond lady in ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’. I must have watched this movie at least 50 times throughout the years. She was so elegantly beautiful, classy, awesomely attractive, superbly witty...... Tracy in the movie just possessed all the plus a man would have asked for, OHMSS was a great romantic movie packed with plenty of thrilling actions, but the ending was heartbreaking. It still moves me tremendously ! Huge Credit must also be given to the theme song ‘We have all the time in the world’, it’s one of the top Oldies. In short, it’s year 2020 and I’m still in love with Diana Rigg, OHMSS, and the theme song. Diana is so gifted in all aspects of an actress nobody else would or could have come close to her, never !!! Wish you well, healthy and happy 💜💜💜 goddess 😘
The worst film ever lmao. Tracy dies at the very end of it. 2 and a half hours of garbage.
When was the "Hellfire" episode banned in the US? I saw it as part of the weekly broadcasts, and I watched the show from the FIRST showing here!
It was terribly fun.
It was Honor Blackman who played Steed's partner in the episodes that were written for two men. Diana Rigg, who replaced her, did not.
Don't forget Venus Smith.
Yes. Honor Blackman was the first.
Too hard to pick a favorite avenger girl. All of them were quite different from each other but all were perfect partners for Steed. I remember arguing with my babysitter who was better: Peel or King
After learning and seeing so much of the series for decades later, I can honestly say I loved them ALL for their differences. Considering Steed himself changed a bit with each "new" partner, the series was a great study in the evolution of television
@@Sennmut Venus was a great, fun character. There was also Dr. King on a couple of episodes as Steed's partner.
Never take an umbrella to the gun fight.
What!. Brian Clements wrote the script for Highlander 2.... According to wikipedia, He and another guy wrote the story, but someone else wrote the script.
Marjory looks like her Grandmother Olenna Tyrell in this interview.
Dianna Rigg played Emma Perl PERFECTLY and the Character was BEFORE it’s TIME stood the TEST of TIMEp
Agree. The only woman we had in the states, at that time, that came the closest, in beauty, sex appeal and style, was Julie Newmar, as Catwoman on Batman. But, she wasn't on each week.
Dont bring an umbrella to a gunfight.
Unless you're John Steed lol.
I'm a big fan of Diana Rigg....I thought, acting wise, she was the best Bond girl ever.....and as a young woman she had sex appeal.....
It pisses me off when i have to pay for internet service, am forced to watch commercials, and then i am expected to pay to see Mrs Peel in the Avengers.. well i'm not paying. I'm sorry to see Diana Rigg go but we must all go in the end. Bye bye Mrs Peel.
I thought Honor Blackman was the first Avengers lady. If so, this programme is way-wonky in parts.
Rest in Peace Diana. You done more for feminism than today's snowflake generation.
Stupid comment, she would not have agreed with u, u clearly didn't know her that well . ruclips.net/video/HC_PVOveB5s/видео.html&ab_channel=JamesSpeirs
And in America, they hacked and cut and chopped it to pieces!..Some of it was just too risque for American tv..I actually saw the cuts that were made to 14 episodes in which Emma Peel displayed more of her delightful anatomy than was acceptable for the American flag waving, bible clutching audience!..At least, thats what the "guardians of Americas morals" thought!..What a pity!
@Laurence Hirst....i've always found that odd as some pretty serious hardcore porn is made in US. Strange country!
Some of us over here in America. Can we have our flags and drool over beautiful women at the same time. Don't regurgitate the same old bible-thumping waving flag in garbage. Because not all of us are like that. Maybe you should try it sometimes !
@@charlest.velten6983 Your quite right, not all of you were..But the ones who mattered, and made the rules at the time, calling themselves the "Moral majority". Were, at the time, the ones who actually did matter!..That is, until you woke up to the fact that their 'moral majority' was full of con artists, money grubbers, perverts and deviates and some very nasty racists! Some of them stil hanging about and trying it on yet again! Therefore, be alert!..The world needs it's lerts!
It's odd that the repeated question did they go to bed together often comes up. I know they wouldn't have so when Clemens says he thinks they did go to bed together, that's his kinky fantasy. You wouldn't ask if The Man From Uncle's Illya Kuryakin and Napoleon Solo went to bed together, so why ask if Mrs Peel and Steed did? It only spoils it.
They VERY MUCH slept together. Town of No Return: When he says shouldn't you be getting to bed? She doesn't leave the room. Dead Man's Treasure: Emma shows up at Steeds at 3:30 for one reason--BOOTY CALL. Yes they slept together.
@@emmasdilemma258 I still disagree!!
Patrick, once told me a story about when Lorne Greene and he used to act on stage in Toronto, I do not remember the name of the troupe, he told me this around 1988.... Every time they would get a 'pittance' of pay, back then, Lorne would try to cajole Patrick into giving some of Pat's $ to him, to invest in a fledgling company. Patrick would always, politely, decline. Patrick said, to me, that when Lorne went off to Hollywood, for that "silly Bonawnza thing"(trying to get his accent) that Lorne was doing 'quite well'! "You see, Allen, that fledgling company was/is...........................................I.B.M. ! Lovely man, was Patrick Macnee! 🪐🌠
diana rigg looks like kim cattrall here
I thought the same thing.
The Quill
Without Diana this show would have sucked.
It did. Linda Thorson, as Tara King, could not be held up to Diana Rigg or Honor Blackman.
Emma in fetish wear .....😵