Return of the Saint: The Complete Series [DVD]

In a way 'Return of the Saint' was / is a landmark TV series. It was without doubt the last of a genre that sporned action / adventure series such as 'The Saint', 'The Champions', 'Randall and Hopkirk Deceased', 'The Persuaders' and countless others. These ITC produced TV series were unique in that they were shot as feature films, rather than the video taped in studio with film inserts technique favoured by TV producers such as the BBC up until the late eighties.

The series is looked upon by some as being a failure, however this is an ill informed view based on the fact that a second series was never commissioned. The truth of the matter is that the series sold in excess of 70 countries worldwide, and won Ian Ogilvy a 'Most Compulsive TV Character Award' in 1978 at the then prostiguous 'TV Times Awards'. The main driving force behind ITC was the then Sir Lew Grade, however his retirement from the TV side along with the financial ITC Film disaster that was 'Raise the Titanic' both compounded to make sure that TV series of this type were never made again, and hence the second series of 'Return of the Saint' never happened.

In terms of production values, the series is, even now by television standards, almost without parallel. Whereas the Elstree Film Studios back lot was often utilised as an exotic local, albeit with rubber palm trees, for the other series previously mentioned. 'Return of the Saint' actually filmed in the countries / locations where the stories were set, locations such as Venice, Nice, The Camargue, Cortina, Rome, Florence to name a few - unheard of for a TV series back then and very possibly now.

The series also boasted a fine cast of actors, with the likes of Joss Ackland, Stratford Johns, Ian Hendry, Anton Rogers, Maurice Denham, George Cole and Stuart Wilson to name a few. And why have 'Bond Girls' when you can have 'Saint Girls' such as Britt Ekland, Mary Tamm, Kate O'Mara, Susan Penhaligon, Judy Geeson, Carolyn Seymour, Rula Lenska and Anouska Hempel! A fine company of Directors was also assembled, with film stalwarts such as Ealing Studio's Charles Crichton, 'A Night to Remember's' Roy Ward Baker, Barry Norman's father Leslie and Peter Medak and Peter Sasdy amongst others.

The series also boasted one of the most memorable theme tune and opening title credit sequences of all time, rather akin to an animated 'Pink Panther' film, albeit with a stickman - jumping of bridges, into cars and diving off boats. The incidental music was also supplied by celebrated British Film Composer John Scott.

Concerning the lead, Ian Ogilvy, his performance is extremely engaging and endearing. Casted at the time because of his similarity in looks and approach to Roger Moore, he brings to his performance every now and again a hardness / seriousness that Moore seldom did, and he also displays a light comedic touch every bit as good as Moore's. The only thing Ogilvy lacks is perhaps Moore's physicality, with him being of slighter build.

On the negative side the stories / scripts aren't exactly stand-out, but this is escapist fun, not 'The Wednesday Play'. Another downside, to an extent, were the fight sequences, certainly in comparison to other series such as 'The Sweeney' and 'The Professionals' made around that time. However this was a conscious decision made by the producers themselves to make the series more acceptable for American TV networks, and in particular the American censors. That said the fight sequence's aren't bad, and the series does boast some fine car chases / action sequence work.

All 24 episodes are presented here and each looks fine, that said no restoration work appears to have been undertaken on the prints. The boxset scores on its offering of Special Features. It starts off with the 45 min ' The Saint steps into....... the 70s' documentary narrated by none other than Roger Moore himself. The documentary charts the history of the series from its conception to its subsequent cancellation, and includes interviews, with members of the production and writing teams along with the lead, Ian Ogilvy, himself. Whilst the documentary isn't stand-out in terms of a production, it's very informative, watchable and definitive - after all it's written, directed and produced by the Honorary Secretary of The Saint Club , Ian Dickerson.

There are four commentaries on the episodes 'The Village that Sold its Soul', 'The Poppy Chain', 'Collision Course - Part 1' and 'Murder Carter', all include the lead joined by members of the production and writing teams. Again, all are very informative, amusing and enjoyable. The set also includes the music that resulted from the recording session of the legendary theme tune, with two or three different variations on it.

The remainder of the Special Features are made-up of the customary photo galleries, textless / mute rushes as well as an alternate theme tune curio entitled 'Taking it Easy' credited to an artist, would you believe, called Oliver Onions!

Whilst not perhaps the very best series of its genre, Return of the Saint, still remains rollicking good entertainment. It doesn't exhibit the fast cutting beloved by today's directors, but still boasts magnificent production values and remains more glamorous, exciting and expensive than anything the TV companies can churn out today. More than anything else, it was designed to be and still is....... FUN!

I can remember this as if it was yesterday; Sunday evenings, 8.00pm, ITV (the slot now owned by Heartbeat), this was essential viewing for me and my school friends back in 1979, probably with a side helping of a glass of milk and a Trio chocolate bar (remember them?). Glossy and comsopolitan (now, slightly amusing, chiefly for the fashions that were still very 70s, despite the 80s only being round the corner), with interantional locations, often in the sun and lots of women in bikinis. One of the last releases of Lew HGrade's ITC and still highly entertaining. If you remember Roger Moore's rendition of The Saint, then you'll probably prefer that version, but being a child of the 70s, this is the one for me. Not an item you are likely to race through in a short period of time, more something you will dip into when the mood takes. But, despite (or perhaps because of) the obvious age of this item, this is something to enjoy!

This was a completely contrived series that served the purpose of heralding the end of the ITC television format which usually involved a charismatic lead who always got their man (or in the case of Simon Templar, the girl too).

And yet, with tongue firmly planted in cheek I found myself enjoying some of the episodes, particularly the London based shows that were shot on location to pretty good effect with a good supporting cast. While the scenes based in Rome, Venice and Florence were quite picturesque, the decision to employ English actors with dubious foreign accents (it is almost worth having a competition to see who has the worst - there are plenty of candidates on offer) or Italian actors struggling to come to terms with an oversimplified English dialogue kind of spoiled the effect.

The ten year gap from the Simon Templar that Roger Moore left behind to the one that Ian Ogilvy acquired meant that a laid back playboy was more of an action hero aimed almost exclusively at impressionable six year olds (like me) who liked the white Jaguar XJS that he drove. But Ogilvy was still able to display some of the rakish charm that Moore had in the original series and he was a good deal more athletic despite of the shirts he wore being so tight fitting that if you painted him green you'd think he was the Incredible Hulk. However even this edgier Templar was still a lightweight compared to his contemporaries that included Regan & Carter, Bodie & Doyle and Starsky & Hutch (maybe he should have had a partner called Doom).

Return Of The Saint was an ambitious project in terms of the finance acquired through ITC's partnership with Italian broadcaster RAI. This allowed for location shots from across Europe, although with a tight recording schedule of no more than 10 days for one episode then there were compromises to the scripts which did not always do justice to the quality of the actors assembled, especially as there was a greater emphasis on the action sequences in an attempt to sell the programme to the US. Ironically, by the time the series was finished certain censorship regarding TV violence resulted in the programme being broadcast in a less lucrative non-prime time slot. This killed off any chance of a second series and ITC's involvement with television for good.

And this is a shame. Ogilvy's portrayal of Templar was most endearing and one that would have lived longer in the memory for the sake of some decent scripts which may well have materialised if the series was made in the UK at a fraction of the location budget. But this was an age of global television rights and the finished project had to tick certain boxes if it was to secure mass distribution. In short, it had to look the part of an all action series with a wholesome leading man, even if it lacked a certain artistic quality. Still, there are a few highlights to be had in this series; Duel in Venice stands out as it made particularly good use of its location (no prizes for guessing where) and featured a convincing nut job played with considerable relish by Maurice Colbourne - even if he did have one of those aforementioned dubious foreign accents.

What was even more regrettable was that Ian Ogilvy still managed to acquire so much popular appeal as a result of Return Of The Saint that he ended up appearing on commercials for Nescafe along with Diane Keen and the late Gareth Hunt. Like Hunt after his turn as Gambit in The New Avengers, Ogilvy struggled to find any meaningful work after ROTS having built his reputation on good performances in I Claudius, Upstairs Downstairs and (my personal favourite) as Grayson, the school bully in Tomkinson's Schooldays, one of the episodes recorded for Ripping Yarns.

Ironically, it is Ogilvy's comparative obscurity (he now lives in the US and picks up occasional acting work in US TV series of little or no consequence) that makes this series worth watching out of curiosity value, especially if you owned the model of Templar's Jaguar XJS (as I once did, although this has long since vanished too). And the title sequence and music is pretty jazzy too. So jazzy in fact that I currently have it as my ringtone.