The Saint (TV series)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Saint | |
|---|---|
 Reprint of a 1930s Saint novel tying-in with the series. Few episodes actually adapted the novels though many were based on Saint short stories. |
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| Genre | Adventure |
| Creator(s) | Leslie Charteris |
| Starring | Roger Moore |
| Country of origin |  United Kingdom |
| No. of episodes | 118 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 min. |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ITV |
| Original run | October 4, 1962 – February 9, 1969 |
The Saint was a long-running British action adventure television series, made by ITC Entertainment, that aired on ITV stations between 1962 and 1969, and on American television as a syndicated show (1962-1967) and on NBC (1967-69). Running six seasons, the series rivals The Avengers as one of the longest-running series of its genre produced in Britain, spanning 118 episodes. The series has recently been rebroadcast on ITV4, and can be seen occasionally on BBC America.
Contents |
[edit] Series overview
The Saint starred Roger Moore as Simon Templar, the fictional detective created by Leslie Charteris in the 1920s and featured in many novels and novellas over the years. Moore drove a white Volvo P1800 during the series. Moore's portrayal of Templar was considered a training ground for his later work as James Bond. He was reportedly offered the role of 007 at least twice during the run of the series, but had to turn it down both times due to his television commitments. In one early episode of the series, a character actually mistakes Templar for James Bond.
Although Moore had a few recurring co-stars, most notably Ivor Dean as Templar's nemesis/reluctant ally, Inspector Teal, he was the only constant performer for the entire run of the series. This was in keeping with the later format of the Charteris novels wherein the Saint usually worked alone; in early books, however, Templar had a team of compatriots (as well as a regular girlfriend) but these characters do not appear in the series.
The series began as a straightforward mystery series, but over the years adopted more secret agent and fantasy-style plots. It also made a well-publicized switch from black and white to colour production midway through its run. The early episodes are distinguished by having Moore break the fourth wall and speak to the audience (in character as Simon) at the start of every episode; with the switch to colour, this gimmick was replaced by simple narration. Invariably, the pre-credits sequence ended with someone referring to the Saint as "the famous Simon Templar", at which point an animated halo appeared above Templar's head as the actor usually looked at the camera -- or directly at the halo. Some episodes such as "Iris" broke away from this formula and had Templar address the audience for the entire pre-credits sequence, setting up the story that followed.
Many episodes of the series were based upon Charteris' stories, although a higher percentage of original scripts appeared as the series progressed; the novel Vendetta for the Saint (credited to Charteris but written by Harry Harrison) was one of the last Saint stories to be adapted. Some of the later stories were later novelised and published as part of the ongoing series of The Saint novels, such as The Fiction Makers and The People Importers. The first of these books -- which gave cover credit to Charteris but were actually written by others -- was The Saint on TV and the novelisations continued for several years after the series ended.
The series has been syndicated for many years, and reruns of the program aired to high ratings on CBS in the late 1970s. The last two colour seasons of the series are available on DVD in North America, with release of the black and white seasons underway. The company releasing The Saint in Region 1, A&E, initially was not planning to release the black and white seasons, but changed its mind due to public demand. A pair of two-part episodes from later seasons, Vendetta for the Saint and The Fiction Makers, were compiled into feature films which were distributed to theatres in Europe and often show up on late-night television in America; they are also available on DVD.
In 1978, the series was revived as Return of the Saint, starring Ian Ogilvy as Templar. Moore never played the role again after 1969, though he can be heard speaking on a car radio during the 1997 film The Saint, starring Val Kilmer as Templar. Although the film bore little similarity to the TV series, the executive producer of the film was Robert S. Baker, who developed and produced both The Saint and Return of the Saint.
[edit] Episodes
- Main article: List of The Saint episodes.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- The Saint at the Internet Movie Database
- British Film Institute Screen Online
- Saint on TV fanpage with lots of information
