J.Mac3 wrote:Good points, Frankymole! I almost edited my post to acknowledge that, had the producers/writers made Tara too similar to Emma, it wouldn't have worked. And your point regarding Steed being able to show a gentle, protective side hadn't occurred to me. Maybe in the long run, it worked out for the best. As a Peel fan, I confess that what I most missed was the character of the relationship between Steed and Peel. As this thread suggests, maybe I should learn to see the Steed-Tara relationship just as interesting but different. And Brian Clemens is on record for saying he felt the best scripts were written during Tara's series. Someone of his stature and history with the show can't be easily dismissed.Frankymole wrote:You have to salute them for trying something different though. Just trying to bring in yet another widow who was equal in status to Steed would've made them vulnerable to accusations of running on the spot, staleness, repetition, etc.
Arguably Liz Shepherd was too similar to Honor Blackman, and it's good they recast the part and went for a very different relationship between the partners. They recognised Diana Rigg's strengths and started writing for them.
It also allowed Macnee to show different aspects of Steed - going from the slightly sleazy spiv type to a charming elegant gentleman (but still with an inner steel and an undercurrent of danger). With Tara he could take this further, showing a protectiveness to an (initial) ingenue with a crush on him, and in The New Avengers he gets to be a father figure to Purdey (and also his resolve to keep a gentlemanly distance is sorely tested when Purdey, perhaps teasingly, flirts with him!).
Amusingly they got round the "dirty old man chasing a young girl" thing by having her chase him. Though arguably this fits in with the famous Avengers kinkiness.
I would have to agree with that assessment...i.e. best scripts were written and filmed her tenure...but it took me a long time to come to that conclusion...and it also took me a while to come to grips with the ' mother ' character..etc.....and yeah, when someone like Clemens points out the best scripts, etc...well that does hold well....