Diana Rigg Rankings And Opinions

Some actors are remembered for one era-defining role. Dame Diana Rigg somehow
collected three or four of them and wore them like badges on a perfectly cut
blazer. For one generation she is Emma Peel in The Avengers, the
leather-clad, high-kicking spy who redefined cool in the 1960s. For another
she is Olenna Tyrell in Game of Thrones, the razor-tongued “Queen of
Thorns” who stole every scene with nothing more than an eye-roll and a
devastating one-liner. In between, she became a Bond girl, a Tony-winning
tragedian, and a formidable presence on British television.

This article looks at Diana Rigg’s most iconic performances and ranks them
based on critical reception, cultural impact, and fan opinion. Think of it
less as a rigid scoreboard and more as a love letter: a tour across six
decades of one of the sharpest, funniest, and most fearless performers to
grace stage and screen.

Who Was Diana Rigg?

Born in 1938 in Doncaster, England, Diana Rigg trained at the Royal Academy
of Dramatic Art and first made her name on stage before becoming a global TV
star. Over a career that ran from the late 1950s until 2020, she moved
effortlessly between Shakespeare, thrillers, sitcoms, and fantasy epics.
She collected a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play, an Emmy, a BAFTA
television award, and multiple Olivier nominations along the way.

Rigg’s range is what makes any ranking tricky. How do you compare a Greek
tragedy to a Bond movie, or a BBC psychological thriller to a fantasy
phenomenon like Game of Thrones? The fun is in trying and in
realizing that, whatever order you choose, you keep bumping into performances
that could easily sit at the top.

How These Diana Rigg Rankings Work

To build a fair (if opinionated) list of Diana Rigg’s best roles, several
factors come into play:

• Cultural Impact: Did the role shape pop culture, inspire fashion, or become a reference point decades later?
• Critical Reception: How did critics respond at the time and in retrospective reviews?
• Awards & Nominations: Tonys, Emmys, BAFTAs, and other honors matter, especially for stage and TV work.
• Fan Opinions: What do rankings, fan polls, and online discussions say about the performance?
• Rewatch Value: Does the character still feel fresh and compelling today?

With that in mind, here’s a ranking of Diana Rigg’s most celebrated
performances, along with some commentary on why each one continues to resonate.

Top Diana Rigg Performances, Ranked

1. Emma Peel – The Avengers (1965–1968)

If you say “Diana Rigg rankings” and Emma Peel doesn’t land near the top,
fans may stage a gentle but firmly worded protest. Peel is the role that
blasted Rigg into international fame: a stylish, witty, martial-arts-capable
secret agent partnered with Patrick Macnee’s John Steed. In a decade full of
spies, she managed to stand out.

Emma Peel was revolutionary for her time. She wasn’t a sidekick or a damsel
in distress; she was Steed’s equal. She traded quips, solved puzzles, and
did plenty of the physical work herself, all while wearing cutting-edge
fashion that inspired copycats on both sides of the Atlantic. The character
helped redefine what a female action hero could look like on television:
clever, independent, and unabashedly glamorous.

Fans still debate the best Emma Peel episodes, but installments like
“A Touch of Brimstone” and “The House That Jack Built” are common favorites.
Her mixture of deadpan humor and steely competence makes even the most
surreal plots feel grounded. Rigg reportedly disliked becoming a sudden sex
symbol, but she also refused to be underpaid or underestimated a real-life
toughness that mirrors Peel’s.

2. Olenna Tyrell – Game of Thrones (2013–2017)

Decades after The Avengers, Diana Rigg introduced herself to a new
generation as Olenna Tyrell, the master strategist of House Tyrell in
Game of Thrones. On a show overflowing with memorable characters,
Olenna still stands out as one of the most quotable and beloved. For many
viewers, she’s the sharpest mind in Westeros and the one person who can
genuinely rattle the Lannisters.

Rigg’s performance is a masterclass in doing a lot with a little. Olenna
spends most of her time sitting at tables, yet she commands every frame.
With a raised eyebrow and a single cutting line, she can dismantle a king,
shut down a scheming courtier, or make an entire audience gasp. Her final
scene, calmly confessing to a major assassination and telling Jaime Lannister
to “tell Cersei, I want her to know it was me,” immediately entered the
pantheon of iconic TV moments.

Many Game of Thrones rankings place Olenna among the show’s best
supporting characters. Even people who disagree about plot twists tend to
agree on one thing: if Olenna Tyrell was in the episode, it was worth
watching. Rigg received multiple Emmy nominations for the role, a late-career
reminder of her enduring power on screen.

3. Medea – Stage Production and Broadway Transfer

On television, Diana Rigg was cool and witty. On stage in
Medea, she was terrifyingly great. Her portrayal of the mythic
sorceress a woman betrayed so deeply that she commits an unthinkable act
earned her a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play in the mid-1990s and is
often cited as one of her crowning achievements in theater.

Playing Medea means navigating extremes: love, rage, grief, and cold
calculation. Rigg brought an emotional clarity to the role that made audiences
understand her pain even as they recoiled from her choices. Critics praised
the performance for its intensity and intelligence; it proved that the same
actor who could crack jokes in a catsuit could also carry one of the darkest
tragedies in the canon.

When fans rank Diana Rigg’s work as a whole, Medea is the performance
that often nudges her from “cult favorite” to “all-time great.” It’s a reminder
that her range went far beyond genre TV.

4. Tracy (Teresa) di Vicenzo – On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)

In Bond history, Diana Rigg holds a special distinction: she played the only
woman James Bond ever married. As Tracy di Vicenzo in
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, she brought depth to a character
who could have easily been just another glamorous love interest.

Tracy is complex wounded, rebellious, and emotionally guarded. Rigg gives
her both vulnerability and swagger, creating one of the most emotionally
affecting relationships in the entire Bond franchise. The film’s tragic
ending lands as hard as it does because you believe in Tracy as a real
person, not just a plot device.

Among Bond fans, opinions about the film itself can vary, but Rigg’s
performance is consistently praised. When people rank Bond women in terms of
character development and acting, Tracy usually sits at or near the top.

5. Helena Vesey – Mother Love (1989)

If you think Diana Rigg only played heroes and witty schemers, meet Helena
Vesey from the BBC miniseries Mother Love. Here she plays an
obsessive, controlling mother whose love curdles into something dangerous.
The role is disturbing, but it’s also one of the strongest showcases of her
dramatic powers on television.

Rigg’s Helena operates with quiet menace. She rarely explodes; instead, she
manipulates, guilt-trips, and slowly tightens her grip. The performance earned
her a major British television award and proved that she could be just as
compelling and terrifying without fantasy costumes or spy gadgets.

6. Mrs. Danvers – Rebecca (1997)

In the TV adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, Diana Rigg
takes on the iconic role of Mrs. Danvers, the housekeeper haunted by the
memory of her former mistress. It’s a part filled with repressed emotion,
power games, and psychological tension basically a playground for an actor
who thrives on nuance.

Rigg’s Danvers is icy but never one-note. You sense the grief, jealousy, and
twisted devotion simmering under the surface. The performance earned her an
Emmy and cemented her reputation as an actress who could elevate any gothic
drama into something unforgettable.

7. Mrs. Bradley – The Mrs Bradley Mysteries (2000)

For sheer fun, it’s hard to beat Rigg as sleuthing psychoanalyst Mrs.
Beatrice Bradley in this BBC mystery series. Part cozy crime, part stylish
character study, the show gives Rigg room to play: she’s sardonic, clever,
and clearly enjoying every second behind the wheel of Mrs. Bradley’s classic
yellow car.

While the series didn’t run for many episodes, it has a cult following among
mystery fans. In many “underrated Diana Rigg roles” lists, Mrs. Bradley ranks
high proof that even when the production is modest, she can turn a character
into an instant favorite.

8. Veronica in Detectorists and Mrs. Pumphrey in All Creatures Great and Small

In her later years, Diana Rigg continued to delight audiences in smaller but
memorable roles. As Veronica in the gentle comedy Detectorists, she
plays the prickly mother of one of the leads (played by her real-life
daughter, Rachael Stirling). Their scenes together are quietly funny and
emotionally rich.

In the modern adaptation of All Creatures Great and Small, she plays
Mrs. Pumphrey, the wealthy and eccentric dog owner whose devotion to her pet
is both absurd and oddly touching. These roles might not dominate rankings,
but they round out the portrait of an actress who never coasted. Even in
supporting parts, she brought specificity, warmth, and impeccable timing.

Diana Rigg on Stage vs. Screen: Different Arenas, Same Brilliance

Comparing Diana Rigg’s stage work to her screen roles is a bit like comparing
thunder to lightning: they’re part of the same storm, just experienced in
different ways. On stage, she embraced big, emotionally demanding parts like
Medea, Lady Macbeth, and other classic roles that required stamina and
intensity. These performances earned her some of her most prestigious awards
and the deep respect of theater critics.

On screen, she leaned into subtlety the small shift in expression, the
perfectly timed pause. Emma Peel, Olenna Tyrell, Tracy di Vicenzo, and
Helena Vesey couldn’t be more different, yet all feel completely lived-in.
That versatility is why any list of “best Diana Rigg performances” will
always be incomplete. There’s always one more role someone will insist belongs
higher.

What Fans Say: Opinions on Diana Rigg’s Best Role

Ask a room of fans for their favorite Diana Rigg performance, and you’ll
quickly discover there is no consensus only passionate arguments.

• Spy-era fans swear by Emma Peel, citing the groundbreaking portrayal of a capable, independent female agent.
• Fantasy lovers pick Olenna Tyrell, often describing her as “goals” for aging gracefully while still burning everyone with withering sarcasm.
• Theater enthusiasts bring up Medea almost immediately, framing it as her most technically demanding work.
• Crime and mystery fans gravitate toward Mother Love or Rebecca, where she twists maternal or domestic roles into something chilling.

What unites these opinions isn’t agreement on a single “best” performance,
but admiration for her consistency. Whether the material was highbrow or
pulpy, she refused to phone it in. That’s why her rankings remain fluid: once
you rewatch a particular role, you suddenly decide it deserves to be two
spots higher.

How to Explore Diana Rigg’s Work Today

If you want to build your own Diana Rigg rankings and opinions, it’s worth
sampling from across her career rather than sticking to just one era. A
good starter marathon might look like this:

1. Pick two or three classic Emma Peel episodes of The Avengers.
2. Watch On Her Majesty’s Secret Service to see her dynamic with James Bond.
3. Jump ahead to a handful of Olenna Tyrell episodes in Game of Thrones.
4. Seek out clips or recordings of Medea or other stage work where available.
5. Finish with Mother Love or Rebecca for a darker, psychological turn.

By the end of that mini-festival, you’ll probably find yourself re-ordering
the list above and that’s the point. Diana Rigg’s career isn’t a straight
line; it’s a constellation. Different stars stand out depending on your mood
and tastes.

Experience: Living With Diana Rigg’s Characters

Beyond rankings and awards, what really sticks with people is how Diana
Rigg’s characters feel to live with over time. Many viewers don’t just
remember a specific episode or film; they remember phases of their life that
happened to line up with discovering one of her roles.

For some, Emma Peel arrived right when television needed a different kind of
heroine. Imagine being a girl in the 1960s turning on the TV and seeing a
woman who wasn’t waiting to be rescued, who traded quips and punches with the
men and never apologized for being smarter than everyone else in the room.
Many fans describe Emma Peel as their first glimpse of a truly independent,
stylish, and unapologetically capable woman on television a kind of secret
permission slip to take up more space in their own lives.

Decades later, a new generation met Rigg as Olenna Tyrell. By then, the
culture had changed, but the thrill of watching her work had not. Olenna is
older, physically frailer, and yet somehow the most dangerous person at the
table. For viewers who grew up with grandparents or older relatives who could
slice through family drama with a single sentence, there’s something oddly
familiar about her. You can feel the years of watching people underestimate
her, right up until she reminds them why that’s a mistake.

Her stage work, especially in roles like Medea, speaks to another kind of
experience: the way theater can shake you. People who saw her live often talk
about leaving the theater stunned, needing a few minutes just to process what
they had witnessed. That’s not just about plot; it’s about the feeling that
you’ve watched someone mine the deepest corners of human emotion and then put
them back in some new order.

Even in smaller roles the mysteries, the comedies, the late-career cameos
there’s a sense of trust. When Diana Rigg appears in the cast list, you know
you’re about to see something worth your time. That’s a rare kind of
relationship between performer and audience: she doesn’t know you, but she’s
built up such a track record that you relax the moment she steps on screen.

Building your own “Diana Rigg rankings and opinions” can be an ongoing
project. Maybe Emma Peel is your number one forever. Maybe, after rewatching
Mother Love, you decide her darkest work deserves pride of place.
Or maybe you hold a quiet affection for a single scene in a show most people
have forgotten. However you arrange your list, the real joy is in the
discovery realizing just how many times, across how many decades, she found
a new way to surprise you.

Final Thoughts

In the end, Diana Rigg’s legacy isn’t just about who tops the rankings. It’s
about the sheer breadth of what she accomplished: an action icon, a
Shakespearean powerhouse, a Bond bride, a gothic villain, a fantasy mastermind,
and a dependable presence in everything from quiet BBC dramas to global
phenomenon series.

When people debate her best role, they’re really celebrating a career that
never settled for one type. That’s the fun of “Diana Rigg rankings and
opinions” whichever character you champion, you’re still talking about the
same remarkable artist. And if your personal list keeps changing as you
discover more of her work, she’d probably approve. After all, reinvention was
one of the things she did best.