Emma Peel was a fictional television spy played by Diana Rigg in the British 1960s adventure series The Avengers. She was born Emma Knight, the daughter of an industrialist, Sir John Knight. Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg on the cover of a 1994 reprint of an Avengers novel co-written by Macnee. ... Dame (Enid) Diana (Elizabeth) Rigg, DBE, (born 20 July 1938) is an English actress. ... SPY may refer to: SPY (spiders), ticker symbol for Standard & Poors Depository Receipts SPY (magazine), a satirical monthly, trademarked all-caps SPY (Ivory Coast), airport code for San Pédro, Côte dIvoire SPY (Ship Planning Yard), a U.S. Navy acronym SPY, short for MOWAG SPY, a... Dame (Enid) Diana (Elizabeth) Rigg, DBE, (born 20 July 1938) is an English actress. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from January 1, 1960 to December 31, 1969, inclusive. ... The Avengers is a British 1960s television series featuring secret agents in a fantasy 1960s Britain. ...

Character

The partner of John Steed, Mrs Peel was introduced as a replacement for the popular Cathy Gale, played by actress Honor Blackman, who left the series at the end of the programme's third season to co-star in the James Bond film Goldfinger. John Steed is a fictional character, played by Patrick Macnee, on the British series The Avengers and The New Avengers. ... Fictional television spy played by Honor Blackman on the 1960s British series The Avengers. ... Honor Blackman (born in London on 12 December 1927) is an English actress. ... Flemings image of James Bond; commissioned to aid the Daily Express comic strip artists. ... For the villain in this film, see Auric Goldfinger. ...

Elizabeth Shepherd was cast as Emma Peel and production on the fourth season began. After filming all of one episode and part of a second, however, the producers decided that Shepherd was not right for the part, and she was dismissed. No footage of Shepherd as Peel is known to have survived.^[1] Elizabeth Shepherd (born 12 August 1936 in London, England) is a British character actress whose work has spanned the stage and both the big and small screens. ...

The producers scrambled to find a replacement and found her in Diana Rigg; the Shepherd episodes were subsequently re-filmed. Dame (Enid) Diana (Elizabeth) Rigg, DBE, (born 20 July 1938) is an English actress. ...

The character was notable for a number of characteristics. She is a feminist heroine, eschewing traditional "damsel-in-distress" portrayals of women (she is rarely bested in any fight and rescues Steed as often as he rescues her.) She is a master of martial arts and a formidable fencer. A certified genius, she specializes in chemistry and other sciences. She is often seen in episodes engaging in artistic hobbies and had success in industry at the helm of the company of her late father, Sir John Knight. The name "Emma Peel" is a play on the phrase "Man Appeal" or "M. Appeal", which the production team stated was one of the required elements of the character.^[2] Feminism is a social theory and political movement primarily informed and motivated by the experience of women. ... A poster for The Perils of Pauline (1914). ... Hawaiian State Grappling Championships. ... Fencing advertisement for the 1900 Summer Olympic Games This article is about the sport, which is distinguished from stage fencing and academic fencing (mensur). ... A genius is a person of great intelligence. ... Chemistry - the study of atoms, made of nuclei (conglomeration of center particles) and electrons (outer particles), and the structures they form. ...

Diana Rigg as Mrs Emma Peel

Her style of dress typified the period, and the character is still a fashion icon. John Bates was brought in as the costume designer for Emma Peel in the second half of Season 4. He created a wardrobe of black and white op-art mod clothing and mini skirts. Before this, people had believed that lines, circles and other bold patterns would not work on the television cameras of the day. It was also filmed before the mini skirt had become mainstream. Bates even had to stop leaving hems on the mini skirts because the production team kept lowering them again. He also licensed his designs to several manufacturers under the Avengerswear label and these pieces were sold in various shops throughout the country. She is often best-remembered for the leather catsuit she wore early on in her first season, but in fact Rigg disliked wearing leather and John Bates designed softer stretch jersey and PVC catsuits for her instead. For the colour season, the designer was Alun Hughes who used bold colours and lurid, psychedelic patterns. Hughes also created the Emmapeeler catsuit which was made of stretch jersey in bright block colours. The Emmapeelers and several other pieces from this season's wardrobe were also licensed and sold in the shops. She drove a convertible Lotus Elan at high speeds, and convincingly portrayed any series of undercover roles, from nurse to nanny. Her favorite guise was that of a women's magazine reporter, trying to interview big business tycoons and rich playboys. Image File history File links Emma-Peel_Avengers-Intro. ... Image File history File links Emma-Peel_Avengers-Intro. ... John Bates was a fashion designer who was part of the boutique scene that blossomed in London in the 1960s. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... A woman wearing a black latex catsuit and thigh-high boots. ... Lotus Logo with monogram of its founder, Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman Lotus Cars is a British manufacturer of sports and racing cars based at Hethel, Norfolk, England. ... Lotus Elan is the name of two convertible automobiles and one fixed head coupé produced by Lotus Cars. ...

Peel's interactions with Steed range from witty banter to sexual tension. The tension was never broken except for a chaste peck on the cheek she gives Steed at the end of her final episode before departing with her husband, Peter Peel. He was a test pilot and was lost on a mission. When he returns, at the end of "The Forget-Me-Knot", Peel leaves Steed and her spy career behind. In the distant shot in which he appears, Peter Peel looks suspiciously like Steed. For other uses, see Aviator (disambiguation). ...

In real life, Diana Rigg had chosen to leave the series for a number of reasons, one of which was in order to accept a role in the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service. She also experienced ongoing conflict with the series producers (she later said she discovered she was being paid less than the cameraman). ^[3] On Her Majestys Secret Service is the sixth film in the EON Productions James Bond series and the only one to star George Lazenby as British Secret Service agent, Commander James Bond, and the first and only film in which Bond settles on a single woman and marries her. ...

Emma Peel was replaced by the much younger agent Tara King played by actress Linda Thorson, but appeared one last time in an episode of The New Avengers entitled "K is for Kill." Rigg had declined an offer to appear on the series, so stock footage of her from an Avengers episode was used instead. Steed and King in The Avengers Tara King was a fictional character played by Canadian actress Linda Thorson in the 1960s television series, The Avengers. ... Linda as Rosemary King in Emmerdale. ... A 1970s New Avengers paperback features Mike Gambit (Gareth Hunt), Purdey (Joanna Lumley) and the ubiquitous John Steed (Patrick Macnee). ... Stock footage, also termed archive footage, library pictures and file footage is film or video footage that is reused in a film. ...

The character was revived and reworked for the 1998 film version of the show, with Uma Thurman playing Peel and Ralph Fiennes playing Steed. The Avengers is a 1998 film based on the British cult television series of the same name from the 1960s. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, the lead section of this article may need to be expanded. ... Ralph Fiennes, (IPA: ), born 22 December 1962 in Ipswich, Suffolk, England), is a Tony Award-winning, Academy Award-nominated and Genie Award-nominated English actor. ...

Videogames

Emma Peel seems to be the inspiration for the videogame character Cate Archer in the first-person shooter game No One Lives Forever. Catherine Ann Archer, better known as Cate Archer, is a video game character in the No One Lives Forever game series. ... No One Lives Forever, commonly abbreviated NOLF, is the name of a computer game and video game developed by Monolith Productions and published by Fox Interactive. ...

Dishwalla released the single Miss Emma Peel on the album Pet Your Friends. Dishwalla is a post-grunge alternative rock band from Santa Barbara, California. ... Pet Your Friends is an album by the alternative rock band Dishwalla. ...

References

• Alvarez, Maria (1998), "Feminist icon in a catsuit (female lead character Emma Peel in defunct 1960s UK TV series 'The Avengers')", New Statesman, Aug 14.
• Cornell, Paul; Day, Martin; & Topping, Keith (1998). The Avengers Dossier. London: Virgin Books. ISBN 0-86369-754-2.

1. ^ http://www.theavengers.tv/forever/bio-shepherd.htm
2. ^ http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0312031874&id=KSNQpAU5z80C&pg=PA87&lpg=PA87&dq=emma+peel&sig=QerAnDyu0BYYbKEJHazaTvSZ4gQ
3. ^ http://www.mindspring.com/~jglane/riggbio.htm

Paul Cornell (born July 18, 1967) is a British writer best known for his work in television drama as well as Doctor Who fiction, and as the creator of one of the Doctors spin-off companions, Bernice Summerfield. ...

External links

• Definitive Diana Rigg
• Emma Peel
• Mrs Emma Peel Page
• Mrs. Peel We're Needed!
• The Avengers Forever!