And to add a few more leaves to Helen's tea:
1. Diana Rigg is a very, very gifted actress. She's proven that time after time after time, both on stage and on film. She took a job 40 years ago to pay the bills, get her name out there, etc. It was fun, it lasted all of two years, and it got her a few more jobs.
Those jobs got her more jobs where she proved herself to be an extraordinary woman. She's received awards and critical acclaim for most of her work
after the Avengers. But oddly enough, a good portion of her fans want to discuss Emma Peel and the Avengers.
To say that the show made her a star is almost an insult to the woman's obvious gifts as an actress. Obviously we'll never know, but I think it's safe to say she would have done just fine without the Avengers.
2. I'm sure that anyone would be sick and tired of hearing and discussing the same stuff for over forty years. Especially when other things, greater things, have happened since then.
3. A lot of fans fell in love with Emma Peel. They wanted to be like Emma Peel (at least those of the female persuassion did
). She was beautiful, strong, intelligent, rich. She could solve a crime in under 57 minutes, with or without Steed. All well and good. But I'd bet a million dollars right now, that
Dianna Rigg has never wrestled with a plant from outerspace, found out her husband had been missing in a jungle for several years, was nearly drowned by a group of crazy small town citizens, or gotten knocked in the head by a cybernaut. I'm even willing to bet she doesn't know any man by the name of John Steed. Unfortunately, some of her fans can't see the line between reality and fantasy and I'm sure after so many years of this, her patience has got to be at an end.
4. Almost every single interviewer will bring up the Avengers at one point or another, or will at the very least show a photo of her from 40 years ago.
Anyone would become sick and tired of it after awhile. Think of it this way. Did you do something as a child that family and friends bring up at every gathering? (if not, lucky you). It's hard enough after so many years, to hear about it once or twice a year. Now immagine it being brought up at least once a week for the rest of your life.
Kind of makes you want to put the Emma Peel pictures away and get out something a little more recent for her to autograph doesn't it?