Diana Rigg interview: the Game of Thrones actress on fighting for equal pay in The Avengers and her live show, An Evening with… | Culture

Diana Rigg turns up for our interview walking a little slowly — she is 80, after all — but as ever she is quick to the point. “Are you alcoholic?” she asks me sweetly when we’re offered something to drink in a Soho brasserie. Actually, she might even have said “an alcoholic”, but the effect is much the same — cheeky and surprising. She orders us two proseccos. It’s 2pm.

We are here today because Dame Diana is promoting a talk she’s giving, one of those An Evening with. In it she promises to go over six decades that have seen her evolve from Emma Peel in The Avengers into Olenna Tyrell in Game of Thrones, as well as a host of other successes, notably…