Diana Rigg

lotsofbrolly · Post by **lotsofbrolly** » Tue Oct 16, 2012 11:12 pm

Wasn't there rumours around the time of filming that Diana and George didn't get on at all. And it got so bad it leaked to the newspapers? I remember reading that George was quite awful to Diana. To the extent that Patrick Macnee wrote to a newspaper defending Diana and basically telling George to "leave her alone?!". I haven't read the exact article. But I would love too. As I'm sure Pat really has a go at George in it. And I'm sure they argued "via" newspaper about Diana.

I'm sure I read it in Pat's autobiography somewhere.

Can anyone back me up?

Lotsofbrolly

Anne xxx

cyberrich · Post by **cyberrich** » Wed Dec 26, 2012 2:26 pm

Yes, the situation with Lazenby was worse than I thought. In a recent interview on Sky arts, Diana called George a 'shitbag'.

I'm 99% sure I saw Diana in the trailer for forthcoming Dr Who episodes. She was in Victorian apparel. Something to look forward to! Rich.

mousemeat · Post by **mousemeat** » Wed Dec 26, 2012 7:35 pm

cyberrich wrote:Yes, the situation with Lazenby was worse than I thought. In a recent interview on Sky arts, Diana called George a 'shitbag'.
I'm 99% sure I saw Diana in the trailer for forthcoming Dr Who episodes. She was in Victorian apparel. Something to look forward to! Rich.

As bad as george was...I wouldn't be too harsh on him...being tossed into the whole frenzy of BOND, having no acting experience..and dealing with the director Peter Hunt...who gave him no support..and the producers as well..

George screwed up..but hey, that was over 40 yrs ago...he's paid the price in more ways than one..

Cariheart · Post by **Cariheart** » Sat Dec 29, 2012 6:42 am

mousemeat wrote:
cyberrich wrote:Yes, the situation with Lazenby was worse than I thought. In a recent interview on Sky arts, Diana called George a 'shitbag'.
I'm 99% sure I saw Diana in the trailer for forthcoming Dr Who episodes. She was in Victorian apparel. Something to look forward to! Rich.
As bad as george was...I wouldn't be too harsh on him...being tossed into the whole frenzy of BOND, having no acting experience..and dealing with the director Peter Hunt...who gave him no support..and the producers as well..

George screwed up..but hey, that was over 40 yrs ago...he's paid the price in more ways than one..

I agree, Mousemeat. There's no reason to rehash whatever animosity lies between them. Although, I thought this was all swept under the rug eons ago. Personally, I feel more compassionate since the death of his son.

Timeless A-Peel · Post by **Timeless A-Peel** » Thu Jan 03, 2013 1:43 pm

So I borrowed Diana Rigg at the BBC from my library (for which there was a hugely long waiting list, I'm pleased to report), and I've been watching it daily in hopes I can get through the bulk of it before I have to return it next week. I started off with The Mrs. Bradley Mysteries, which I've been meaning to watch for years, but I'd only ever seen a part of one episode. I was surprised that there were only five episodes, as I thought it ran longer. Diana gets lots of good oppurtunities to break the fourth wall and make little knowing asides to the camera, all while wearing a wide assortment of hats. Or "hatties" as Diana calls them in her little interview on the set. Which tickles me.

They got a really nice line-up for guest stars in it as well. Every episode has someone notable: David Tennant, Peter Davison, Phyllida Law, and, much to my delight, John Bowe, whom I've loved ever since I watched Class Act, but never see enough of. That makes two Avengers women he's worked with, unless he's done something with Linda or Honor I don't know about. And I coincidentally heard Neil Dudgeon on Radio 2 promoting Midsomer Muders yesterday. No mention of his Bradley stint, though.

Other than Bradley, I've only managed to make a start on Three Piece Suite, which I thought was a one-off, not a series, for some reason. The sketches are supposed to be comedies, but a lot of them are actually quite melancholy or tragic. Diana acts them all wonderfully, though. It's actually almost more fun to watch them for the people who pop up as her guest stars. Jennifer Croxton is in the first episode!

I'd actually really love to know when the episodes were actually produced, because they're dated 1977, the year when Diana had Rachael, and I think the actual episodes started showing in March. In the first episode she wears some pretty revealing costumes without looking pregnant. All the subsequent ones I've seen so far, though, they've put her in quite loose-fitting costumes, or covered her up in beds with sheets and blankets, so I can only assume she started to show. I suppose, technically speaking, this makes the show Rachael's earliest screen appearance.

It's also fun because Diana was obviously doing these at the same time as TNA, which means that Patrick would have been staying with her at the time. I love the idea of them coming home from their respective sets and having a nice chat about their days. Also makes me wonder if actors who ended up on both sets (Dinsdale Landen, Coldstream from Angels of Death, figures prominently in one sketch) would have mentioned it to Patrick or Diana on breaks. Perhaps while Gareth and Joanna were busy attending to their newest crop of cuts and bruises.

I still have some TPS, and the balance of the set in an Ibsen play, Unexplained Laughter, and Genghis Cohn to go. I don't know if I'll get to all of it, but it has been fun having the set.

Dandy Forsdyke · Post by **Dandy Forsdyke** » Thu Jan 03, 2013 2:22 pm

I've not seen Three Piece Suite since it was first transmitted and I can't remember when that was exactly.

She was very lucky to have some of the best British writers on that show - Charlotte Bingham & Terence Brady (Upstairs Downstairs, No Honestly), Roy Clarke (Keeping Up Appearances, Last of the Summer Wine), Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais (Porridge, the Likely Lads), John Esmonde & Bob Larbey (The Good Life. One of my favourite sitcoms of all time), Keith Waterhouse (newspaper columnist and writer of Billy Liar) etc.

Timeless A-Peel · Post by **Timeless A-Peel** » Thu Jan 03, 2013 2:32 pm

Dandy Forsdyke wrote:I've not seen Three Piece Suite since it was first transmitted and I can't remember when that was exactly.

She was very lucky to have some of the best British writers on that show - Charlotte Bingham & Terence Brady (Upstairs Downstairs, No Honestly), Roy Clarke (Keeping Up Appearances, Last of the Summer Wine), Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais (Porridge, the Likely Lads), John Esmonde & Bob Larbey (The Good Life. One of my favourite sitcoms of all time), Keith Waterhouse (newspaper columnist and writer of Billy Liar) etc.

There's a Radio Times article promoting TPS on dianarigg.net dated March 5, 1977 (while Patrick would have been shooting Dead Men are Dangerous and Trap

), so it must have started airing around then. It's very hard to find information about it online, which surprises me. At the start of each episode, Diana outlines the titles, writers, and major guest stars of each sketch (along with their pictures popping up onscreen), and I've been trying to see if I recognised any of the names. I haven't thus far, except maybe Terence Brady from when I watched UpDown. I don't think I ever attended to the credits well enough to notice who wrote Keeping Up Appearances.

But it does seem like she got good people on both the writing and acting front to work with her. Diana says in her little retrospective that the series didn't do particularly well critically, but it wasn't for lack of trying on her part.

Here's the article on dianarigg.net, if you're interested:

http://www.dianarigg.net/htmldir/transc ... .1977.html

Dandy Forsdyke · Post by **Dandy Forsdyke** » Thu Jan 03, 2013 3:34 pm

That's a good interview - thanks. I didn't know she worked on Canadian radio.

Timeless A-Peel · Post by **Timeless A-Peel** » Thu Jan 03, 2013 4:16 pm

Dandy Forsdyke wrote:That's a good interview - thanks. I didn't know she worked on Canadian radio.

Neither did I! I was really surprised to read that. Amazing the number of cast members who had some sort of Canadian connection: Patrick, Diana, Linda, even Gareth and Joanna because they ended up filming here. Must be the spirit of Sydney Newman wielding influence.

Frankymole · Post by **Frankymole** » Thu Jan 03, 2013 5:11 pm

Timeless A-Peel wrote:It's also fun because Diana was obviously doing these at the same time as TNA, which means that Patrick would have been staying with her at the time. I love the idea of them coming home from their respective sets and having a nice chat about their days. Also makes me wonder if actors who ended up on both sets (Dinsdale Landen, Coldstream from Angels of Death

I always think of him from All Done With Mirrors - wasn't he Mother's nephew or something? Got paired up with Tara for the case, not that he did much, she did all the hard work!

Excellent review of the Diana Rigg at the BBC set. I've got the Mrs Bradley episodes as a series set, they're all worth watching, and it had a nice twist in the last one.