Emma Peel - Departure

Departure

When Peter Peel returns, at the end of "The Forget-Me-Knot", Emma leaves Steed and her spy career behind. In the distant shot in which he appears, Peter Peel looks suspiciously like Steed (and was played by the same actor), and also drives a two-door convertible Bentley, albeit a contemporary model. Emma meets her replacement, Tara King, coming in as she's going out, and tells her that Steed likes his tea stirred "anti-clockwise".

In real life, Diana Rigg had chosen to leave the series for a number of reasons, one of which was to accept a role in the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service. During her first season, as she eventually learned, she was making less than the cameraman—her salary was tripled, and that, combined with her loyalty to Macnee persuaded her to come back for 25 additional episodes (including her farewell episode, which was actually shot well into the Tara King season). Eventually, the arduous shooting schedules, conflicts with the producers, the lure of film and stage roles, and a desire to challenge herself as an actress all combined to make her decide to leave the show for good.

Emma Peel, last in a string of "talented amateurs" John Steed worked with regularly, was replaced by a neophyte professional agent named Tara King, played by actress Linda Thorson, but appeared one last time in an episode of The New Avengers entitled "K is for Kill." She speaks briefly with Steed over the phone and mentions in passing that her last name isn't Peel anymore, to which Steed replies, "You'll always be Mrs. Peel to me."

After leaving the series, Rigg played Emma Peel in two unofficial German short films produced for the 8mm market: The Diadem and The Mini-Killers. Little information has survived regarding these films, though the films themselves survive.