Emma Peel

Emma Peel is a fictional spy played by Diana Rigg in the British 1960s adventure television series The Avengers, by Diane Appleby in the South African radio series of The Avengers (1971–73), and by Uma Thurman in the 1998 film version of the show. She was born Emma Knight, the daughter of an industrialist, Sir John Knight.

Casting

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.

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.

The producers scrambled to replace her and gave the job to Diana Rigg; the Shepherd episodes were subsequently re-filmed.

Character