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"The Saint" (1962-1969) - ITC Mystery Spy Thriller Series Starring Roger Moore


DonRocks

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I loved watching "The Saint" when I was in high school - I felt like I'd snuck into a movie theater, and was watching James Bond for free.

Last night, I watched Season 1, Episode 1, "The Talented Husband" for the first time ever, and I can honestly say it was one of the single finest hours I have ever seen on television. If you're a Hulu subscriber, I *urge* you to watch this first episode - you will not regret it. I remember the series as being really good, but not *this* good. Sometimes, people have one, great idea, and that's what they use for the pilot in order to sell the show - I suspect that's what happened with "The Talented Husband." It's really extraordinary television, and it's on Hulu here (subscription required) - do *not* watch the version on YouTube: The background of that version is awful; the free version on Vimeo looks like it's of good quality, but I haven't watched it, so I'm not sure.

More than Wikipedia, I highly recommend this website - The Saint - as your home base for each episode. Unfortunately, it's set up so that each episode doesn't have its own URL, so I can't link to them - if you want a real, dedicated, fan-based website, this is the one for you: I'd link to it if I could.

"The Saint" car: a 1962 Volvo P1800 with license plate ST 1 - Screenshot 2017-01-09 at 11.09.15.png

Season One (Oct 4, 1962 - Dec 20, 1962)

1.1 - "The Talented Husband" -Screenshot 2019-01-15 at 01.02.41.png Screenshot 2017-07-10 at 9.10.53 AM.pngScreenshot 2017-07-09 at 10.20.48 PM.png
Directed by Michael Truman (Director of "Girl in the Headlines"), Written by Jack Sanders
Featuring Derek Farr as John Clarron (John Whitworth in "The Dam Busters"), Shirley Eaton as Adrienne Halberd (Jill Masterson in "Goldfinger"), Patricia Roc as Madge Clarron (Caroline Marsh in "Canyon Passage"), Norman Mitchell as Mr. Smith (Gunner 'Parky' Nigel Parkin on "It Ain't Half Hot Mum")

1.2 "The Latin Touch" - Screenshot 2017-07-10 at 9.04.14 AM.pngScreenshot 2017-07-10 at 9.08.30 AM.pngScreenshot 2017-07-10 at 9.01.28 AM.png
Directed by John Gilling (Director of "Shadow of the Cat"), Written by Gerald Kelsey (Writer of 43 episodes of "Dixon of Dock Green") and Dick Sharples (Writer of 35 episodes of "In Loving Memory")
Featuring Suzan Farmer (Diana Kent in "Dracula: Prince of Darkness"), Warren Mitchell (BAFTA Television Award Winner for Best Actor on "Till Death Do Us Part")

1.3 - "The Careful Terrorist"Screenshot 2019-01-15 at 01.07.52.pngScreenshot 2019-01-15 at 01.08.46.png

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I do not remember this series from my youth, but I recently watched Season 1, Episode 1 and I loved it! Season 1, Episode 2 was a flop, so I am looking forward to seeing a third episode to see if it comes close to the brilliance of Episode 1.

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I guess 89 years is about as much as you can hope for, but I was still pretty disturbed to see that Roger Moore has passed away:

"Sir Roger Moore, James Bond Actor, Dies Age 89" on bbc.com

For those who only know Roger Moore as James Bond, I would urge you to watch Season 1, Episode 1 of "The Saint" (see the first post above) - I've been slowly working my way through season one, and after 10 episodes, about 4-5 have been great, 3-4 have been good, and only 2 have been misses. Episode 1, in particular, "The Talented Husband," is one of the best single TV shows I've ever seen.

Plus, in season one of the series, the cold openings of the episodes are uproariously entertaining - I heard that they changed the format of the openings in the later seasons, and I just can't imagine why. In particular, episode 6, "The Pearls of Peace," has the best cold opening out of the first 10 episodes - I rewound it, and watched it about ten times.

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