Purdey is a fictional character in the British TV series The New Avengers played by Joanna Lumley from 1976 to 1977.
She was a spy working for British intelligence, partnered with John Steed (Patrick Macnee) and Mike Gambit (Gareth Hunt).
Joan Bakewell likened the eventual choice, Lumley as Purdey, to 'a hockey captain attending a royal garden party'.
Richard Afton went far enough to remark that 'sex has taken a long holiday', and Lumley looked back on it from the queer/libertarian-feminist credibility of Absolutely Fabulous to describe her Purdey as 'a huge disappointment, sex-wise'.
"[1] Writing of Purdey's debut, Alan Hayes in Avenger World: The Avengers in Our Lives says, "Purdey was certainly no Emma Peel, and her sharp tongue and habit of intentionally making life difficult for Gambit flew in the face of the warm mutual respect between Steed and Peel, so I found that she grated somewhat (my opinion of her would eventually soften considerably).