Best known for her role as Emma Peel in the 1960s spy show The Avengers, Dame Diana Rigg's television career has undergone something of a renaissance recently thanks to her roles in Doctor Who and Game of Thrones. In Doctor Who, she appeared in the Series 7 episode The Crimson Horror as the villainous Mrs Gillyflower. A ruthless and wilfully evil character, Mrs Gillyflower plans to kill everyone on Earth by releasing a poison gas into the atmosphere - at least, everyone except those she has deemed worthy enough to survive who are kept preserved in the town she has created, Sweetville. Her plan is foiled by the Doctor and his friends, though, and she dies from her injuries having fallen from the top of a staircase. There are worse ways to go... Rigg plays Olenna Tyrell, also know as the Queen of Thorns, in Game of Thrones. Lady Olenna is the matriarch of the Tyrell family, ruling it in a similar way to how Tywin ruled the Lannisters. She is a scheming figure but also compassionate, taking pity on Sansa's plight and devising a plot to allow her to escape King's Landing. Furthermore, she was responsible for what might be many fans' favourite moment of the series, having been behind Joffery's death in order to save her granddaughter Margaery from his abusive ways. However, Olenna may have lost some of the fan goodwill for this by letting fan favourite Tyrion Lannister take the blame instead.
