Return of the Saint
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Return of the Saint | |
|---|---|
 Reprint of an early Saint novel published as a tie-in with the series |
|
| Genre | Action adventure |
| Running time | 60 min. |
| Creator(s) | Leslie Charteris |
| Starring | Ian Ogilvy |
| Country of origin |  United Kingdom |
| Original channel | ITV |
| Original run | September 10, 1978–March 11, 1979 |
| No. of episodes | 24 |
Return of the Saint was a British action-adventure television series that aired for one season in 1978 and 1979 in Britain on ITV, and was also broadcast on CBS in the United States. It was produced by ITC Entertainment and ran for 24 episodes.
The series starred Ian Ogilvy as Simon Templar, an independently wealthy, somewhat mysterious "do-gooder" known as "The Saint" who was created in 1928 by Leslie Charteris and featured in a long-running series of novels and novellas. The series itself is a revival of The Saint, a long-running 1960s series that starred Roger Moore as Templar. One major difference between the two series is that the original was mostly filmed in British studios and locations, while many episodes of Return were filmed on location throughout Europe.
According to Burl Barer in his history of The Saint, the series was originally conceived as Son of the Saint, with Ogilvy's character identified as the offspring of Simon Templar. As production neared, it was decided to drop the relative angle and make the series about the original character, albeit updated to the late 1970s.
The series borrowed a few elements from its predecessor. Once again, each episode began with Simon narrating an introduction to set the scene for viewers, and each pre-credit sequence ended with an animated halo appearing above Templar's head as he was identified. The series also made a recurring reference to the 1940s radio series that starred Vincent Price as Templar: as the halo appears over Simon's head and just before the opening credits begin, a short phrase of music is heard; this is not actually part of the specially composed theme music for the Return of the Saint series, but is in fact the theme melody of the Price radio series.
Oglivy became very popular in Britain and Europe because of the series, and in the early 1980s was considered a major contender for replacing Moore as James Bond. Oglivy never got the role, but did record a series of popular audio book adaptations of the Bond novels in the late 1970s and played a Bond-like character for a 1980s TV commercial.
Unlike the earlier series, Return of the Saint did not adapt any Leslie Charteris stories, however several teleplays (such as "The Imprudent Professor" and "Collision Course") were adapted as novels that were credited to Charteris but written by others. A number of Saint books were reprinted with covers depicting Ogilvy as Templar as a tie-in with the series; these collectable volumes carried the Return of the Saint title. The adaptation of "Collision Course", retitled Salvage for the Saint was published in 1983 (several years after the series ended) and was the 50th and final Saint book to be published in a series of publications dating back to the 1920s. The two episodes of "Collision Course" were also edited together to form the syndicated TV-movie, The Saint and the Brave Goose.
Broadcasts of the series on CBS, which lasted into 1980, sparked a revival of interest in Moore's original series.
Robert S. Baker, who developed and produced the earlier The Saint series for Roger Moore, performed the same duties with Return of the Saint. Years later, Baker would also serve as executive producer of the 1997 Saint film starring Val Kilmer as Templar.
[edit] Charteris cameo
Saint creator Leslie Charteris makes an Alfred Hitchcock-style walk-on cameo appearance in the "Collision Course" two-parter.
- Return Of The Saint Theme excerpt (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- An excerpt from the theme music to Return Of The Saint
- Problems listening to the file? See media help.
[edit] Episodes
[edit] External links
- Return of the Saint at the Internet Movie Database
- Return of the Saint Opening (Video) on YouTube.com
- Episode guide to The Saint on TV on saint.org
