Dame Diana Rigg's final television appearance was in Channel 5's All Creatures Great and Small, where she played the eccentric Mrs Pumphrey, a role that aired during the coronavirus lockdown. The series offered viewers a welcome escape during the pandemic.
Mrs Pumphrey was a patient of Siegfried Farnon, played by Samuel West, and doted on her beloved dog Tricki-Woo. Dame Diana died on 10 September 2020 at the age of 82, just days after the show's first series premiered. She passed away at her daughter Rachael Stirling's home in London after a battle with cancer, diagnosed in March of that year.
Rachael Stirling recalled her mother's final days in an interview with The Guardian, describing a look she called the 'north face of the Eiger'. She said: 'You have seen it in Game of Thrones, that look. As the Queen of Thorns, she used it to great effect. Fixing me with it for the first time in these last months, she said: "Rachie, it's gone on too long - push me over the edge."'
Dame Diana trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art from 1955 to 1957 and later joined the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her final film role was in Last Night in Soho, and her last television performance was as Mother Dorothea in Black Narcissus, both released posthumously. Patricia Hodge took over the role of Mrs Pumphrey after Dame Diana's death.
Nicholas Ralph, who played James Herriot, paid tribute to Dame Diana, telling PBS: 'She was brilliant. Any anxiety you may have had before meeting her was completely washed away as soon as you did, because she was so lovely and easy to chat to. She had a twinkle in her eye, still had a wicked sense of humour, and she kept everyone on their toes.'
