#twitlure

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Finally catching up on my backlog of Big Finish...

"Nyssa is possessed by an evil ringmaster and unleashes her inner dom on the Doctor" is NOT what I was expecting, but I am... enjoying this far too much. 😅😳

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Why Mary Tyler Moore's Capri Pants May Have Been The Most Important Costume On TV

Women have had a long and hard history when it comes to their relationship with pants, which is why Mary Tyler Moore's capri pants may have

Mary Tyler Moore putting slacks on for the Dick Van Dyke show made CBS very nervous in 1961, and she was limited to doing it in one scene per episode.

The US has a surprising amount of residual puritanism. So I'm trying to get a sense of what was normal for Britain at the time.

As far as I can tell, January 1961 was a seminal moment for British TV quite by accident. Honor Blackman replaced a male actor playing Steed's partner in The Avengers at the last minute, inheriting a man's lines and fight scenes. Those running the show had the good sense (A) to let her do it, because she was kickass, and (B) to put her in a leather bodysuit which would stand up to outdoor stunts (Blackman knew judo, and needed to be able to roll and kick).

She set the prototype for female action heroes to this day, but unfortunately her episodes are lost, so she's not as well-known as the undeniably brilliant Diana Rigg who succeeded her.

Carole Ann Ford was told Susan would be an "action girl" of the same mold as Emma Peel. She left largely because this turned out not to be true.

Here's what I'm getting at. Leather catsuits aside, even trousers were new and modern for female TV characters in 1963. Again, I'm not sure how much to apply US attitudes to British television, but I'm guessing the trousers Barbara picked up from the Thals in The Daleks, with the cutouts down the sides, were quite daring. (Sorry, I'm on mobile, and I'm afraid I'll lose my post if I go looking too much for a better photo):

And we should celebrate the fact that in 1963-65, Susan, Barbara, Vicki and Polly were trotting over alien landscapes in sensible shoes and capris.