Something I did not know – and it comes as a surprise about that wonderful Television Series  The Avengers.

Diana Rigg  was not the original choice to play Emma Peel in The Avengers. The original actress cast for the role was Elizabeth Shepherd who, most unusually, had not been screen-tested.

ABOVE:  Patrick Macnee as Steed and Diana Rigg as Emma Peel in The Avengers

ABOVE:  Diana Rigg as Emma Peel in The Avengers

Julian Winkle was executive producer. and he made the choice of  Liz Shepherd who had done some things on television and she was undeniably very beautiful but it wasn’t until after one and a half episode that the decision to drop her was made.  She was  not a bad actress, but apparently didn’t have a sense of humour at all and that was essential in The Avengers.

So those episodes were scrapped and her services were dispensed with – and out of the tests came Diana Rigg. Other actresses were tested such as  Moira Redmond  and one or two unknowns like Sarah Brackett – sadly she died many years later in 1996 in Westminster – but Diana Rigg was head and shoulders above everybody else.”

ABOVE: Elizabeth Shepherd

Brian Clemens worked for a total of six years on various Avengers series and then, when Diana Rigg left the show, he was suddenly thrown out.