Honor Blackman - fighting for Equitable pensioners

20/01/2010

 Honor Blackman is angry – and doesn’t mind anyone knowing it. “People who did all the right things and provided for their own futures have been let down,” she says firmly. “Not only that, but the company was still selling pensions when they knew perfectly well that they were broke.”

 

She is talking about Equitable Life, the scandal that has ruined a million people’s retirements: she herself lost half of her own pension. More to the point: “Putting the Treasury in charge of payment amounts for victims in 2001 was like putting the fox in charge of the hen house,” she says.

 

The compensation for policyholders, as readers may know, is currently being reviewed, but she describes the way that those who lost out have been treated as “cruel”. “There have been delays after delays, and with each day that passes another 15 policyholders die. If one was cynical one might think they were waiting for us all to go.”

 

There seems little chance of Honor shuffling off this mortal coil quite yet. She may be well into her 80s, but she retains all the vim and vigour of her days clad in black leather, casting villains aside with a judicious judo throw. The trademark glamorous good looks remain intact too.

 

“When we presented our petition to Parliament we stacked up 15 coffins,” she tells me, “to symbolise those 15 people who have died without compensation.”

 

Like another former Avengers heroine, Joanna Lumley, Honor has put her celebrity to good use campaigning on behalf of something she feels strongly about.

 

In fact it soon emerges that she is passionate about many things in life – including the royal family. “Monarchy – it’s an anachronism in our laughably described ‘democracy’,” she insists. “They are people who are there because of their blood – not what they have achieved, and we now know just how fallible they are too. I think that some of them – like Princess Anne – do terrific work. But they could do it without all the privileges.”

 

Has she thought about going into politics? “Absolutely not,” she says. “I support the Lib Dems, but I’ll leave standing for office to others.”

 

Which is a shame… the Commons would be a livelier and more human place with people like Lumley and Blackman in it. Not that she believes politics and acting necessarily mix. While she reserves her warmest praise for the acting skills of Sean Connery, and the fact that he was “sex on two legs” to play opposite, she remains critical of someone who gets involved in British politics – but elects to pay their taxes elsewhere.

 

Eventually the conversation turns to her more familiar persona as an actress. The last time I interviewed Honor was when ‘The Upper Hand’ 

was proving to be one of the most popular programmes on television and this interview coincides with the release of the series on DVD. How does she look back on that programme? “I loved it – and it was just so popular then,” she recalls. “I still get people coming up to me and wanting to talk about it – just as much as The Avengers and Goldfinger.”

 

Upper Hand, of course, famously had a very strong older woman character – something of a rarity in television, and she says that most of the fan mail at the time was from older women delighted to see such a positive portrayal. It was a neat twist to her career coming after such potent roles in the 60s. And she maintains her ability to command some great parts.

 

More recently she played Fraulein Schneider in the stage production of Cabaret – a far darker version of Isherwood’s tale of 1930s Berlin than the film. She has also just finished filming ‘Re-uniting the Rubins’, a comedy which centres around a completely dysfunctional Jewish family. “I’m a Jewish Holocaust survivor and the lovely Timothy Spall is my son,” she says. “Oddly, it premieres at the Berlin Festival.”

 

So no slacking off on the work front, that’s for sure. Her next venture is already planned – a series of one nighters called ‘Word of Honor’ – which is just herself and an audience. So is it all about her? “I didn’t mean it to be that way,” she says thoughtfully. “But I suppose it is.”

 

If the show is half as entertaining as her interviews, it will be one not to be missed.

 

And you can catch up with Honor in ‘The Upper Hand – The Complete 
First Series’ from  18th January 2010, also starring Joe McGann and 
Diana Weston. This 2-disc set is available to buy from all good 
retailers, RRP £19.99.