"Talented Amateurs"

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Post dedicated to would be Avenger Girls -as I'm currently immersed in Avengerland -as that's my next big project comic strip wise in my research discovered would be Emma's Tara's ,Cathy's and Venus Smith's- above is Contessa Caroline Di Contini of 70's crime fighting show The Protectors played by Nyree Dawn Porter.. I have vague memories of this show as a young kid they would show re-runs in the afternoons if I was off school, this and The Champions -these kinds of shows I guess were formulaic Nyree starred in a very early of episode of the Avengers and was offered the role of Cathy Gale which she turned down, as she had other work- but she was the first choice of the makers of show whilst Honor was the third choice -Fenella Fielding been the second - they definitely got the casting right in the end though.. but here's a few more images of Nyree as Contessa Caroline.
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One of the original choices for the role of Venus Smith who was Steeds   nightclub singing recruit (Steeds companions weren't really trained spies  but people who came from all walks of life -Doctor Keel and King first love would be medicine whilst Cathy was a anthropoligist and photographer -Emma well she seemed to skilled in nearly everything-a genius-) Venus was more down to earth  and Steed was very sly in the way he'd use her - but did she have anything to Avenge? Keel certainly did , Cathy's origins haven't really been explored -she lived in Kenya was married to a farm owner who was killed in the Mau Mau uprising -I read somewhere in a early interview she was in Cuba when the  revolution kicked off  and prior to that worked with Steed in the early 1950's in Berlin(all this is in an episode entitled "Don't Look Behind You) I may feature that  early encounter somewhere down the line.Poor Venus though I think she wasn't in the same category as Cath,Emma or Tara- the role went to Julie Stevens  but another familiar face from an earlier episode  was also considered who'd later appear in a Emma Peel episode The Living Dead as Mandy Mackay-(Pamela Anne Davy)

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She had better dress sense than Emma in this episode... the Emmapeeler killed off kinkimania unfortunately.

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I'll probably order The Season 5 Box-set sometime this week -If there are any images of Pamela or Diana I haven't featured here before I'll probably post them later in the year.(I think I'm all screen-capped out as far as The Avengers is concerned)

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A few more pictures of the original Emma Peel Elizabeth Shepherd - from  "Town of No Return" they have photos of this un-screened episode and I've seen Liz's hand in the actual Diana Rigg version,So does that mean somewhere out there there is a version of this featuring the first Emma?  I think the red leather was Elizabeth's idea I don't think she wanted the character to be a carbon copy of Cathy -which of course Emma wasn't - she also had the idea of having all these computerized gadgets which makes sense  too seeing as Emma's super smart but the makers of show wouldn't go with her ideas -I'll certainly include the futuristic watch she wanted to sport  when I  get around to featuring her character in comic -hopefully that will happen sometime next year.
Another candidate for the role of Emma was  Elenor Brom who starred in The Beatles movie Help
I can see why.
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yep she did wink at you.

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Also up for the role was Goldfingers victim Shirley Eaton

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I'll round off with a few Potential Tara's

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Tracy Reed and my favourite..

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If you ask me Gabrielle Drake (Nicks Sis) was born to be a Avenger girl ..she would of been great... she does appear in two episodes though...
There were others considered for the roles -I may do a follow up or may do a retrocrush type post on LBII or something-I'm just not in a very 21st Century mood today .