Catherine "Cathy" Gale

Cathy Gale is a widowed anthropologist who finds herself drawn into espionage alongside the courteous, unpredictable John Steed. She's sharp-tongued, self-possessed, and answers to no one, holding her own in fights and arguments alike. She dresses for herself, not for effect, and treats danger as an interesting professional problem rather than a threat to her composure.

Honor Blackman plays her with a dry, unbothered authority that never asks for the audience's approval, which is exactly what made her revolutionary: a woman who fights, thinks, and flirts entirely on her own terms. The leather and judo got attention, but it's her total lack of deference to Steed that still feels startling and modern.”