PURDEY
If you ask anyone who watched the series what they remember most about it, 9 times out of 10 they will say, Purdey. At the time, if you were a fan, all women wanted to be her and all men just plain wanted her.
Purdey was an unusual character. She was emancipated but still expected the old-fashioned values applied to her as a woman. Beautiful, charming and crazy is the best way to describe her.
Before she joined the Ministry, she was a ballerina and had been engaged to a young man called, Larry Doomer. Things had gone well until his father had been killed by Arab soldiers and Larry became bent on revenge. Purdey prevented him from killing an Arab representative and Larry had turned his rage on her and hit her causing them to go their separate ways. The experience seems to have changed her because she no longer appears to be the shrinking violet that Larry slapped and has hardened up considerably.
Larry turned up again in the episode, Obsession, and threw Purdey into a turmoil that
Steed persuaded her to face. Both he and Gambit knew there was some history between her and Larry but she never revealed to them what it was. It ended badly when Larry turned a gun on her and was about to kill her when he was gunned down himself by Gambit. Purdey was distraught and even admitted that if Larry had turned the gun on Gambit she wasn't sure that she could've shot him as Gambit had done for her.
Purdey lives in a basement apartment in London. Her bedroom is separated from the lounge by a hanging curtain of beads and Gambit and Steed either have access or are excellent at picking locks because they frequently manage to get in.
She's wears very feminine, flowing clothes and carries a gun either in her purse or on occasion thrust under her leg garter. She's particularly known for her ballerina style fighting which sees her high kicking her foe in the face and stomach. Gambit instructs her in martial arts so that she can obtain more varied self defence skills. Not quite up to par with Steed or Gambit, she's still formidable in her own right. It appears that Gambit has seniority over her which points to her being recruited after him. Due to her reckless and impulsive nature, however, she often races off alone without thinking and gets into trouble then, after being captured, has been used to get at Steed.
Her relationship with Steed is very good and she openly admires his gentlemanly manners. She has a definite soft spot for him and if she opens up to anyone, it's usually him.
With Gambit she has a light, teasing and quite often, bickering relationship. It's obvious she adores him but for some reason won't accept his advances. This must be frustrating for him as she seems to have dated most other men at the Ministry.
Who knows, perhaps she doesn't want to mix business with pleasure or perhaps she doesn't want to be another notch on his belt or maybe this is all just the after effects of her one time engagement and she doesn't want to take the chance of getting hurt again. The romantic in me likes to think it's the latter and that because she cares so much about him she's frightened it'd end up like her and Larry and she just dates the other guys because they don't mean anything to her. How's that for psycho-analysing a fictitious character!
At the end of the day, the Purdey we saw was a result of what she went through with her ex-fiancé. She was rash, emotional and at times downright foolish. That said, she was very likeable too and a great female role model for independence - if only she could stop getting caught!
Last note about her vehicles: Purdey drove a yellow MGB and a Honda motorcycle with her name printed on the helmet and her jump-suit. She later changed her car to a yellow TR7.
CLASSIC PURDEY QUOTE:
(Pointing her hands at Gambit in the form of a gun and putting on an American accent)
"Assume the position." (Gambit opens his arms to embrace her but she ducks under them with a tut) "Trust you to think of that position." TNA: Faces 
|
|
