How Purdey’s perfect hair almost ended on the cutting room floor
AS HIGH-kicking Purdey in The New Avengers TV series, she saw off more than her fair share of villains. But Joanna Lumley has revealed that her toughest fight in the 1970s show was over her iconic haircut. The actress says producers tried to stop her cutting off the long brown hair she had sported at her audition for the part. She recalled: ‘I said her [the character’s] hair will be cut short and they said, “No, you cannot do that because no heroine has ever had short hair”, which was true.
‘I said if I cut it you will like it. They said if you cut it and we don’t like it you’ve got to pay for the wig. I cut it and they liked it.’
Speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival, Lumley, 72, who starred in the show in 1976 and 1977, also said her character’s name was going to be Charlie but she objected because that was the name of a popular perfume at the time.
Lumley instead named her after the make of a shotgun.
The actress praised her co-stars, especially the late Patrick Macnee, who played John Steed. ‘Patrick was The Avengers. He thought he acted Steed but he actually was Steed. He refused to use a gun in the show. Having been in the war, he couldn’t bear anything like that.’
Lumley, who had previously appeared in single episodes of shows such as On The Buses, said The New Avengers transformed her career.
‘As an actress there is nothing like being known for something.
‘Purdey and The New Avengers stuck.
‘I wouldn’t have cared now if I had done it for nothing for what it gave me. It gave me an identity.’