Diana Rigg miniature rail scene 'was thought risqué'

Rail volunteers have been recalling the day Dame Diana Rigg was strapped to a Leicestershire miniature railway line.

An image of The Game of Thrones and Bond star at Stapleford Miniature Railway, was widely used in her obituaries after her death on Thursday.

The scene from a 1965 episode of The Avengers, the show that made Rigg a household name, shows her awaiting rescue as a tiny steam train nears.

Nigel Spencer, from the railway, said the picture had become "iconic".

Mr Spencer, the press officer for the Friends of Stapleford Miniature Railway which operates the line, said television company ABC "got a lot of flack" over the scenes which showed Rigg - in her famous catsuit - tied to the tracks.

He said the episode was "considered risqué" at the time it was made but the image had now become "quite iconic".

"When she passed away this week they used that picture across the media," he said.

He said he did not know why the railway had been selected for filming the episode, named The Gravediggers.

It told the typically bizarre story of how Rigg's character Emma Peel and her secret agent colleague John Steed - played by Patrick MacNee - visited a home for retired railwaymen to investigate a deathly plot to sabotage Britain's radar.

It concluded with Peel strapped to the tracks while Steed fought off the villains on board the moving train, before rescuing her in the nick of time.

Mr Spencer said although stunt doubles had been used, the actors had had to learn how to drive the locomotives themselves.

There were two locomotives used in the sequence, one of which remains at the railway to this day.

Nowadays the 1.6 mile (2.5km) line - which has been run by volunteers since the 1990s - attracts many fans of the programme.

The site was also presented with a commemorative cast plate by ABC.

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