![Confused :?](./images/smilies/icon_confused.gif)
I love Emma Peel. I only watch series 4 & 5 because she's not in the others so they hold no interest whatsoever. Even Steed, though I love him, I only like him with Mrs Peel, on his own I wouldn't want to watch him. But although I adore her /them together, I really wish they'd killed her off in her last episode. That might sound odd from someone who professes to love the character but I think it would have been a better and more fitting end than her husband returning and her leaving with him. I don't believe for a second that by that point she would have willingly left Steed for anything or anyone. They were joined at the hip, knew each other in and out, almost telepathic in knowing the mind and thoughts of the other and quite obviously adored one another. It's really hard to swallow that she would have just dropped all that because some long lost husband suddenly turned up.
Killing her off on the other hand would have been much more believable. Death is the only thing that realistically would part her from Steed, and also imo the only realistic way he could have moved on to another. I don't know why they didn't go this route, the actress obviously wasn't coming back so they had nothing to lose. The alternative, which I'd have preferred even better is that the series ended when Emma left. I've not seen any of the other series and don't want to, but I think some characters are so iconic that the show is no good without them. Murder She Wrote with JB Fletcher, Life On Mars with Gene Hunt or Fawlty Towers with Basil & Sibyl spring to mind. These shows would never work with out those characters played by those specific actors, and personally for me, The Avengers don't work without the Steed & Peel pairing.
I've only seen The Forget Me Knot once and am unlikely to watch it again. Seeing Steed and Mrs Peel part ways once is hard to watch once never mind repeated viewing. For me, the series ends at TFMK but in my head Emma tells the returned Mr Peel to foxtrot oscar and returns to Steed, whereby to this day they're having enticing exciting adventures full of dastardly deeds, diabolical masterminds, dangerous encounters and the UST between them is finally resolved on screen. I say on screen because it was clearly done off screen in the other 50 episodes
![Razz :P](./images/smilies/icon_razz.gif)