Sharp change of image for Avenger Girl

Stand by for a surprise.  That blonde in the bubble bath is the new Avengers girl.  The TV series has lost the black-leather-and-judo image.  Instead the image will be Femininity - hence the bubble bath, the fluffy blonde hair and the champagne glass in the picture. (Picture to follow: Caption - Blonde in the bubble bath is Linda Thorsen (sic)... the new Avengers girl.)

But viewers who like things they way they were are not likely to be too disappointed.  The cigar looks quite promising...

The girl is Linda Thorson.  Yesterday, she was an unknown actress.   Today, she has the chance of winning stardom with the series.  Linda is 20.   She left the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art only a few months ago, but she was described by her teachers as "an exceptionally good actress."  ABC-TV, the weekend ITV company for the North and Midlands, signed her after a three-month search to find the right girl to replace Diana Rigg in The Avengers.  She will play Tara King, daughter of a wealthy farmer.

She said: "I win battles on the fact that I am a woman.  The clothes are all feminine - silk and chiffon.  And we are bringing back the bosom.  The dresses will have plunge neck lines."  Work on a new series of The Avengers starts at ABC-TV's studios on Monday.

Producer John Bryce said last night: "I think it's time to go back to femininity.  We've had all the leather business - the new girl will be essentially a woman.  She will be soft with all the female weaknesses - and attributes."

The black-leather image of The Avengers was created by Honor Blackman, who left for films, and carried on by Diana Rigg, who has left the series to concentrate on her film and stage career.  Even without the judo Linda obviously believes the role is going to be energetic.  She has spent a week at a health farm in Bedfordshire.   "I was just getting in trim," she said.

From The Daily Mail, England, October 30th 1967

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