Diana Rigg, vastly overrated as Mrs Peel

I totally agree with spotlightne , Rigg is very overrated . First she basically only has the same superiority look on her face all the time . I always found her "Who's Who??" performance phenomenally poor , all her bad girl characterization consists in chewing gum . Apart from that she actually acts exactly the same way she does in every other episode , using the same two old , boring facial expressions .

She's always very artificial and never seems to put any real emotion in what she does , and episodes like "The Joker" , "Murdersville" or "House That Jack Built" lose many points because of her monotonous performances . I'm also very annoyed by her hyper-theatrical approach to those that are supposed to be the character's great dramatic moments . In her final scene where she says goodbye to Steed it seems like she's thinking of playing Clytemnestra saying farewell to Iphigenia , rather than saying some idiotic lines written by Brian Clemens . She actually goes so over the top that I find that scene the only comical sequence in an episode made entirely of depressing jokes . She's also frankly ridicolous everytime she puts an act à la Sarah Bernhardt when she's losing a fight or is knocked down ( Castle De'ath , "Girl From Auntie" , "Man Eater" etc. ) And her attempts to look cool and funny at every cost are really tiresome as well . She simply hasn't any attitude for comedy and should have understood it immediately . Well , I hope she finally realized it after the "success" of her unspeakable 70's sitcom , "Diana" .

Also The character is not as smart or tough as the writers would like the audience to think . Steed actually saves her and the day much more often that the opposite thing happens . With Cathy Gale it was exactly the contrary .
And she always makes so many stupid things . In "Positive Negative Man" for example after having spent half the episode deriding Cynthia , the secretaty , for her stupidity , she actually touches the van's handle and gets electrocuted to unconsciousness . This perfectly remembering that the same thing had happened to Steed previously in the ep . She only has luck because the killer is a booby like her and doesn't even check that she's dead despite the fact he should have remembered as well that Steed had survived that accident .

In "Something Nasty in The Nursery" she knocks herself out again sniffing one of the balls that had been used since the beginning of the episode to make people revert to childhood . This despite the fact that the phrase "Recently treated" should have probably arisen some slight suspicions .

In "See-Through-Man" it is clear from the very first scene that an invisible man is at loose . Emma hears someone knocking at the door,opens,sees that no one is there , takes a look at a half-smoked cigar on the floor and happily goes back into her apartment so that the invisible man can put her to sleep . By the way the whole scene makes a plot hole , since it is eventually revealed that the killer isn't an invisible man , but a guy keeping his head hidden under the jacket , so she should have seen him entering . Well , one of too many , in one of the worst scripts in tv history .

And Spotlightne is also right about Diana needing a stunt double just to cross the street ... literally ! Watch in Castle De'Ath when she enters the courtyard at night . It's a woman with longer , blonde hair !
And she has to be the most inept fencer I've ever seen on the small or big screen . Ray Austin should have told her not to keep her arm cramped like she had polio in her duel scene in "The Danger makers" . Well , that was the only occasion where she tried to do a bit of fencing anyway , since in all her other eps all she had to do was putting on a mask so that her stuntwoman would have replaced her . But at least her double was fully rewarded in the end , with Charles Crichton giving a good , amateurish close-up to her face in "The Correct Way To Kill".

As I believe you can easily tell , I'm not a big Emma Peel fan .

The fact is Diana Rigg's Emma Peel has reached the level of iconic character that happened fairly rarely back in the day.
She's up there with Vaughn's Napoleon Solo and Jansen's Richard Kimble. You may as well bellyache about Telly Savalas's Kojak.

Sure, most modern viewers don't realize when they're seeing characters inspired by Emma Peel even when it's as blatant as in a Mike Myers film, but she's reached the level of a Jungian archetype -- lodged in the collective unconscious -- like some Greek or Egyptian goddess.

That said, my own take can't touch the fact that Cathy Gale is not an icon -- Emma Peel is

If they remake the series or movie again in twenty years, it'll be Emma Peel in the Diana Rigg mold that shows up. Tara and Cathy will be lucky if they get an honorary mention!

We'll simply have to agree to disagree. Going through the entire series since early December, I would find it difficult to go back to the Cathy Gale episodes having watched so many favorite Emma Peel entries. I was amazed that only two of Cathy's episodes ("Propellant 23" and "The Golden Eggs") had been reviewed on IMDB (one more than Venus Smith! - "The Decapod"), while there was at least one review for all but 12 of Emma's 52 (only 6 of Tara's have yet to be reviewed, I'll get to them). There isn't a single partner that I didn't like, as they all had something to add to the show. I always liked Tara King, as the series still had the quality writing from seasons past, it's only the American backers who put the show to a premature end. Her relationship with Steed was different from the others, as she was much younger, therefore she was the only partner who openly idolized Steed. Of course, the farewell in the rocket was no match for the genuine goodbye between Emma and Steed, either a remarkable bit of acting, or there were real emotions being expressed between two performers who truly brought out the best in each other. Diana Rigg allowed Patrick Macnee to broaden his style, and both prospered by emphasizing the humor in every situation, and the worldwide audience was enthralled (120 nations, still an unbroken record). There were so many differences between Cathy and Emma that certain items must be pointed out. While Cathy certainly cared for Steed ("The Wringer"), she wouldn't grant him his ego, and often came off as superior in her attitude, and the actress herself did not enjoy the lighter touch that was coming into vogue by the time she left. There is no question that Cathy Gale was a powerful character ("Bullseye"), but Emma Peel was hardly in her shadow, carving out her own legacy that made viewers miss Cathy far less than they otherwise might have (Tara wasn't so successful, hardly the fault of the hard working Linda Thorson). Cathy never showed any jealousy with Steed, but Emma did, on rare occasions (it was quite common for Steed to show jealousy, especially with Peter Cushing around). Diana Rigg was almost as tall as Patrick Macnee, unlike the much shorter Honor Blackman, and when she first appeared as Emma Peel, the camera just fell in love with her. Many early Rigg entries show a clear fetish for all things Emma, spotlighting one costume after another, actually moving from toe to head, and vice versa. Thanks to excellent writing, Emma Peel proved to be more well rounded and likable than her often overbearing predecessor Cathy Gale, not the kind of character that Honor Blackman would have enjoyed playing (yet both characters had a habit of throwing back their hair after each fight). Emma's first season showed a remarkable aptitude to be both serious and humorous, often in the same episode ("Too Many Christmas Trees"). The color episodes were indeed sillier, but gems like "Never, Never Say Die," "The Superlative Seven," "Who's Who???" "Return of the Cybernauts," "Death's Door," "You Have Just Been Murdered," and "Murdersville" confirm that there are truly few weak entries in the bunch. "The Gravediggers," "Castle De'ath," "Silent Dust," "Small Game for Big Hunters," "The Bird Who Knew Too Much," "Something Nasty in the Nursery," "The 50,000 Breakfast," and "Dead Man's Treasure" are the only Peels that I don't care much for. The Cathy Gales are there for those willing to look, but Emma will be the one best remembered (only Diana Rigg can be found at my public library). Everyone has their favorites, so there's really no wrong answer. THE AVENGERS remains in my top five favorite TV shows.

"I take pleasure in great beauty" - James Bond