131 The Saint

First  watched  :  Uncertain

I  probably  first  saw  this  on  a  Sunday  afternoon  in  1973  but  can't  be  certain.

This  of  course  was  the  series  that  made  Roger  Moore  a  superstar  and  where  he  perfected  the  quizzical  raised  eyebrow  expression  beloved  of  satirists  everywhere. The  modestly  talented  actor  explained  it  by  saying  that  his  character  Simon  Templar  had  no  depth  whatsoever  and  consequently  he  never  knew  how  he  was  to  play  the  scene.

Besides  Roger  the  series's  main  ace, once  in  colour,  was  the  exotic location  work, expensive  but  it  paid  off  in  international  sales.  My  first  impressions  of  Europe, as  a  world  of  sun, yachts  and  casinos , came  from  this  and  jig-saw  pictures.

The  common  misconception  is  that  the  series  came  to  an  end  when  Moore  accepted  the  part  of  Bond  but  in  fact  he'd  turned  it  down  twice  in  the  sixties  in  favour  of  continuing  as  Templar.  The  series  actually  ran  its  course  until  1969  when  Moore   and  ITC   decided  to  develop  an  idea  from  one  of  the  final  episodes  as  a  new  show  The  Persauaders.

We'll  discuss  its  successor  series  in   a  separate  post.