The Persuaders!

The Persuaders!
Also known as	See list
Format	Action Adventure
Created by	Robert S. Baker
Starring	Tony Curtis Roger Moore Laurence Naismith
Theme music composer	John Barry
Composer(s)	Ken Thorne David Lindup Don Kirshner
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	24 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Robert S. Baker
Producer(s)	Roger Moore (uncredited)
Cinematography	Tony Spratling
Running time	49 mins
Production company(s)	Television Reporters International Tribune production
Distributor	ITC Entertainment
Broadcast
Original channel	ITV
Picture format	35 mm film 4:3 Colour
Audio format	Mono
Original run	17 September 1971 – 25 February 1972

The Persuaders! is a 1971 action/adventure series, produced by ITC Entertainment for initial broadcast on ITV and ABC. It was called "the last major entry in the cycle of adventure series that began eleven years earlier with Danger Man in 1960", as well as "the most ambitious and most expensive of Sir Lew Grade's international action adventure series".^[1] The Persuaders! was filmed in France, Italy and England between May 1970 and June 1971.

Despite its focus on the British and American markets, the show became more successful in other international markets.^[2] It won its highest awards from Australia and Spain,^[3] and Roger Moore and Tony Curtis were decorated in Germany and France for their acting. It persists in the memory of European filmmakers and audiences, having been casually referenced in 21st century productions from Sweden, France, Britain and Germany.^[4]

Premise

The Persuaders! are two equally-matched men from different backgrounds who reluctantly team together to solve cases which the courts cannot.

• Danny Wilde (Tony Curtis) is a rough diamond, educated and moulded in the back slums of New York City, who escaped by enlisting in the US Navy. He later became a millionaire in the oil business. (Curtis himself suffered a tough childhood in the Bronx, and served in the US Navy. He was 46 when he made The Persuaders, but he performed all his own stunts and fight sequences.)^[5]
• Lord Brett Sinclair (Roger Moore) is a polished Harrow and Oxford educated British aristocrat; a former British Army officer and an ex-racing car driver, who addresses his comrade-in-arms as "Daniel".^[6]

As a pair of globe-trotting playboys, the men meet on holiday in the French Riviera, instantly disliking each other and destroying a hotel bar with their fist-fight. Arrested, they are delivered to retired Judge Fulton (Laurence Naismith) who offers them the choice of spending ninety days in jail or helping him right errors of impunity. Grudgingly, Wilde and Sinclair agree to help solve Fulton's initial case. He then releases them from any threat of jail.

The men develop a sparing affection for each other, and are soon stumbling into more adventures: sometimes by chance, sometimes due again to Judge Fulton. Although the Judge recurs in the series, he has no formal relationship with his two agents. Several episodes depict his finding a way to convince Wilde and Sinclair to act on his behalf. For instance, in "Angie, Angie" he easily convinces one of the pair. In "The Man in the Middle" he endangers his agents, so that they must act in his behalf. When they are short of cash, he lures them with money. In "Powerswitch", he manipulates events from the shadows, with Sinclair and Wilde not knowing of the Judge's involvement. Some episodes rely on Danny being mistaken for other people, usually by some bizarre coincidence. In "Element of Risk", he is mistaken for a criminal mastermind named Lomax, played by Shane Rimmer. In "Anyone Can Play", he is mistaken at a Brighton casino for a Russian spy paymaster.

In episode 12, "That's Me Over There", it appears that Sinclair has had a longstanding interest in crime-fighting, as he has had installed a dedicated telephone line for an informer on a master criminal. In episode 17, "Five Miles to Midnight", he tells Joan Collins' character that he personally works for the Judge because it has given him something worthwhile to do after his failed motor racing career; Wilde never reveals nor explains his reasons.

Signature elements

Besides the premise and the characters, The Persuaders is distinguished from other television series by signature elements: the title sequence and the cars of the protagonists.

Title sequence

The Persuaders! titles and synthesiser theme, by John Barry^[7] establish the background and current identities of the protagonists via split-screen narrative technique:^[8] two folders, one red, one blue, labelled Danny Wilde and Brett Sinclair simultaneously narrate their lives. As the biographies approach their current ages, a series of four short sequences combine live footage with torn newspaper clippings, connoting their excitingly peripatetic lifestyles. The conclusion shows them together enjoying a life of sport, drink, women, and gambling. The titles were specifically designed so that neither actor would appear to have top billing, something both Moore and Curtis stipulated when they agreed to co-star.

The title sequence retains a cinematic technique cachet among professional film editors. In 1995, Peugeot released an advertisement for the 306 car, with the theme of the opening title sequence, the split screen process and even the voice of Michel Roux, who dubbed Tony Curtis in the French broadcast of the original series. In 2007, France 2 satirically used it to introduce a report about relations between the newly elected French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his first Prime Minister François Fillon.^[9]

Cars

The protagonists drive signature cars: Danny Wilde drives a Red left-hand-drive Ferrari Dino 246 GT, Brett Sinclair drives a UK-registered Bahama Yellow right-hand-drive Aston Martin DBS with V8 wheels and markings. As with Simon Templar (Roger Moore's character from The Saint television series), Lord Brett Sinclair's car has personalised number plates of his initials; Templar's were "ST 1", Sinclair's are "BS 1" (Except for one scene in the episode "The Gold Napoleon" where the car had its original UK registration number PPP 6H instead). In fact, the true owner of the plates at the time, Billy Smart, Jr. permitted their fictional use. The Aston Martin from the show was sold by the factory after filming ended, via HR Owen in London, to its first private owner. It was restored to a very high standard in recent years by the Aston Martin factory and is still in private ownership in the UK. In May 2013 it was an invited participant at Europe's most exclusive motoring concours, the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este. Danny Wilde's car bears Italian registration plates, 221400.MO (the 'MO' component represents the city of Modena, which happens to be the headquarters and manufacturing base of Ferrari). The exact whereabouts of the Dino today is unknown, but it is reliably believed to be alive and well in Italy with a private owner.^[10]

Both cars were provided to the show's producers courtesy of the respective vehicle manufacturers.

Production

The concept of The Persuaders! originated in one of the final episodes of The Saint titled "The Ex-King of Diamonds", wherein Simon Templar (Moore) is partnered with a Texas oilman (Stuart Damon) in a Monte Carlo gambling adventure. Liking that combination, Robert S. Baker and Lew Grade funded a new series. Unusually, production of the series began and continued without contracts among the producers and Moore.^[11] Moreover, Moore's role as producer is not obvious from watching the series, but Curtis confirmed the fact: "Roger was always like the host with the show, because it was his company that was producing it. I would say he was the largest independent owner of it; Roger and his company owned it with Bob Baker, and Sir Lew owned the rest of it."

Curtis became involved in the series because ITC knew it needed an American co-star to ensure the series would be picked up by US TV stations. Initially the role was offered to Rock Hudson and Glenn Ford but they both rejected the part. ITC then asked the American Broadcasting Company for a list of suitable actors that included Tony Curtis. He eventually agreed and flew to the UK in April 1970 to commence location filming. However on arrival at Heathrow Airport, Curtis was arrested for possession of cannabis. He was fined £50.

Filming was conducted on location in Europe (such as location filming in France, Spain, Sweden, and Italy) and at Pinewood Studios in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire. In total 24 episodes of the The Persuaders! were completed. Each episode cost £100,000, (or approx. £1,800,000 in 2007) to make. Only one series of The Persuaders was made because Roger Moore's accepted the role of James Bond in the Bond franchise. In the DVD documentary, "The Morning After", Bob Baker states that Lew Grade was prepared to finance a second series, despite its failure in America, by re-casting with Noel Harrison, son of Rex Harrison, as a replacement for Moore. Baker states that he convinced Grade that the dynamic that Moore and Curtis had worked out was unique and it was better to leave the series as it stood.

During the series Moore acted – officially and practically – as his own Wardrobe stylist. It stemmed from genuine sartorial interests and because he was marketing a line of clothes by bespoke mens' tailors, Pearson and Foster.^[12] Every episode carried the closing credit, "Lord Sinclair's clothes designed by Roger Moore", with "Roger Moore" written as a large signature.

Curtis and Moore relationship

There is much speculation about the professional relationship between Roger Moore and Tony Curtis on- and off-set. In her autobiography Second Act, Joan Collins detailed how they did not get along when she was a guest star. She cited Curtis' foul temper for why the set of the "Five Miles to Midnight" episode was tense. Episode director Val Guest, in a 2005 interview to the British Film Institute, confirmed Collins' assessment of Curtis:^[13]

Yes, it was great fun doing The Persuaders, despite Tony Curtis. [laughter] I'll tell you a funny story about that:

"Tony was on pot at the time, and I used to have to say 'Oh, go and have a smoke'm', because he always had some gripe of some kind, and, one day, we were shooting on the Croisette, in Cannes, and we'd been roped off our little thing, and there were crowds all around watching us film and everything, and Tony Curtis came down to do his scene and he was just carrying on at the wardrobe saying, 'You didn't do this, and you should have done that... and in Hollywood you would have been fired....' And dear Roger Moore walked over, took him by the lapels, looked him straight in the eyes and said, 'And to think those lips once kissed Piper Laurie'. [laughter] Well, the whole of the Croisette collapsed, the unit collapsed, and, I must say, even Tony had to laugh, but we were asked to do another... we got the award that year for the best TV series, I think it was, and they wanted to do a repeat, and I remember Roger saying, 'With Tony Curtis, not on your life', and he went on to become James Bond, so he did all right."

—Val Guest, Director

In his autobiography, Still Dancing, Lew Grade notes that the actors "didn't hit it off all that well", because of different work ethics. According to Roger Moore's autobiography Curtis' use of cannabis was so extensive that he even smoked it in front of a police officer whilst filming at 10 Downing Street.^[14] Despite third-party claims, Curtis and Moore consistently maintained they had an amicable working relationship. Moore says: "Tony and I had a good on- and off-screen relationship, we are two very different people, but we did share a sense of humour".^[2]

In a 2005 interview, Curtis referred to Moore with affection and revealed he would not participate in a remake of The Persuaders! without Moore.^[15]

Reception

UK and US

Although the series was placed in the 1971 top 20 of most-viewed shows in Britain,^[16] Lew Grade wanted it to do well in the profitable American TV market. It followed his earlier series such as Man in a Suitcase, The Champions, and The Baron.^[1] But The Persuaders made little impact in America, airing on ABC on Saturday nights opposite Mission: Impossible.^[1] Its poor ratings stood out as Mission: Impossible was not one of the US's top 30 of programs in 1971.^[17] ABC pulled the series before all 24 episodes were aired.

ITC tried to salvage its losses by re-editing eight episodes into four individual TV movies for the American market. They were:

• London Conspiracy from "A Home of One's Own" and "Greensleeves"
• Mission: Monte Carlo from "Powerswitch" and "The Gold Napoleon"
• Sporting Chance from "Someone Waiting" and "Anyone Can Play"
• The Switch from "The Ozerov Inheritance" and "Angie, Angie..."

International distribution

Despite the overall disappointment in the UK and USA, the series sold well in other international markets, particularly Continental Europe. This success allowed ITC to recoup much of its production costs soon after principal photography was completed.^[18] The series has remained popular in Germany, Denmark, France, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Russia, Hungary and Italy; episodes are still regularly repeated throughout Europe.^[2] For instance, DR2 in Denmark rebroadcast the entire series on weekday early evenings during Spring 2012.

In the UK, the series has had re-runs on Channel 4, Granada Plus, Bravo and ITV4 in the 1990s and 2000s. When the pilot episode, Overture, was screened as part of Channel 4's nostalgia strand TV Heaven in 1992, series' host, comedy writer Frank Muir, said in a Radio Times interview that The Persuaders "must have been the best bad series ever made... absolute hokum". However, BBC Radio 5 presenter Dave Aldridge later asked: "Was seventies TV really this good?"

Redubbed versions

Die Zwei, the German version of The Persuaders, became a cult hit in Germany. This was largely because the dubbing was substantively altered creating a completely different program.^[11] In France Amicalement vôtre (Yours, Friendly) also became a popular show because it was based on the redubbed German version instead of the English original.

The German dubbing was "a unique mixture of street slang and ironic tongue-in-cheek remarks" and that it "even mentioned Lord Sinclair becoming 007 on one or two occasions".^[19] Dialogue frequently broke the fourth wall with lines like "Junge, lass doch die Sprüche, die setzen ja die nächste Folge ab!" (Quit the big talk, lad, or they'll cancel the series) or "Du musst jetzt etwas schneller werden, sonst bist Du nicht synchron" (Talk faster, you aren't in sync any more).

Research from the University of Hamburg notes the only common elements between Die Zwei and The Persuaders! is they use the same imagery. Other than "the linguistic changes entailed by the process of translation result in radically different characterizations of the protagonists of the series. The language use in the translations is characterized by a greater degree of sexual explicitness and verbal violence as well as an unveiled pro-American attitude, which is not found in the source texts".^[20]

In 2006 a news story by CBS News on the German dubbing industry mentioned The Persuaders! The report discovered that many German dubbing artists believed that "staying exactly true to the original is not always the highest aim". Rainer Brandt, co-ordinator of the German dubbing of The Persuaders and Tony Curtis' dubbing voice, said "This spirit was invoked by the person who oversaw the adaption and also performed Tony Curtis' role: When a company says they want something to be commercially successful, to make people laugh, I give it a woof. I make them laugh like they would in a Bavarian beer garden."^[21]

Other researchers suggest international versions of The Persuaders! were given different translations simply because the original English series would not have made sense to local audiences. For instance the nuanced differences between the accents and manners of Tony Curtis, the American self-made millionaire Danny Wild from the Brooklyn slums, and Roger Moore, the most polished British Lord Sinclair, would be hard to convey to foreign viewers. Argentinian academic Sergio Viaggio commented "how could it have been preserved in Spanish? By turning Curtis into a low class Caracan and Moore into an aristocratic Madrileño? Here not even the approach that works with My Fair Lady would be of any avail; different sociolects of the same vernacular will not do—much less in subtitling, where all differences in accent are irreparably lost".^[22]

Awards and accolades

• Winner – Logie Award 1972 Best Overseas Drama (Australia)
• Winner – TP de Oro Award 1973 Best Foreign Series (Spain)
• Winner – Bambi 1973 for Curtis and Moore (Germany)

Episode list

Airdate is for LWT London. ITV^[23] regions varied date and order. The production number refers to the order on the Network DVD.

Ep #	Prod #	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original airdate
1	101	"Overture"	Basil Dearden	Brian Clemens	17 September 1971
Mysterious invitations lead millionaire playboys Danny Wilde and Lord Brett Sinclair to Monte Carlo, where a beautiful girl (Imogen Hassall) holds the key to a crime syndicate that appears to be operating with a dead boss. Olivia Mela is the blonde in the purple bikini.
2	106	"The Gold Napoleon"	Roy Ward Baker	Val Guest	24 September 1971
The niece (Susan George) of a jeweller (Harold Goldblatt) is marked for death when she discovers that reproduction gold coins are being marketed as real. Special Note : Toward the end of this episode, at 42m11s and again at 43m20s, you will see Lord Sinclair's Aston Martin – in a chase across the Italian border – perhaps reveal its true identity by way of the front number plate being black characters on a white background, "PPP 6H".
3	108	"Take Seven"	Sidney Hayers	Terry Nation	1 October 1971
When a supposedly dead man reappears to claim his inheritance, a beautiful aristocrat (Sinéad Cusack) asks Brett and Danny to expose him as an imposter.
4	111	"Greensleeves"	David Greene	Terence Feeley	8 October 1971
Lord Sinclair is cast to impersonate himself when a mysterious group takes over his long-unused family estate to play host to an African leader (Cy Grant), and finds he must trust to his old school motto: "Consilio et prudentia" ('translated' as: sneaky is best!)
5	105	"Powerswitch"	Basil Dearden	John Kruse	15 October 1971
A mysterious drowning leads Brett to a beautiful dancer (Annette Andre), and a man who appears to be an old business associate of Danny's.
6	117	"The Time and the Place"	Roger Moore	Michael Pertwee	22 October 1971
No one will believe that Danny has found a veteran political journalist dead at the country estate of a right-wing British politician (Ian Hendry), when the "corpse" appears to be alive and well.
7	109	"Someone Like Me"	Roy Ward Baker	Terry Nation	29 October 1971
Danny wants to meet Brett's reclusive multi-millionaire friend (Bernard Lee), but someone abducts Brett and places him in a mysterious hospital where a deadly operation is planned to create a perfect double of him.
8	116	"Anyone Can Play"	Leslie Norman	Tony Williamson	5 November 1971
Danny thinks he cannot lose when he plays his new betting system in an English casino, but while there he's mistaken for the paymaster of a very different system.
9	107	"The Old, the New, and the Deadly"	Leslie Norman	Brian Clemens	12 November 1971
Danny is mistaken for a blackmailer who is the target of both a cruel French Count (Patrick Troughton) and the beautiful daughter (Anna Gaël) of a disgraced politician. Special Note : In a hotel room scene, Danny rushes from the bathroom to answer the telephone – "Hello ... yes long distance ... huh. No, this is not Mr Schwartz ... you got the wrong room, you" – whilst a gunman simultaneously knocks at the door. Bernard Schwartz was the original birth name of Tony Curtis.
10	104	"Angie, Angie..."	Val Guest	Milton S. Gelman	19 November 1971
Bullets fly on the French Riviera when Danny encounters Angie (Larry Storch), his childhood buddy from the old neighbourhood, whose path to retirement may mean a deadly retirement for Danny.
11	110	"Chain of Events"	Peter Hunt	Terry Nation	26 November 1971
Danny gets himself chained to an attaché case intended for the British Secret Service (George Baker, Suzanna Leigh), and pursued by deadly Iron Curtain agents (Peter Vaughn et al.) who want the case back and the courier dead.
12	120	"That's Me Over There"	Leslie Norman	Brian Clemens	3 December 1971
With Brett kidnapped by henchmen (Allan Cuthbertson, Peter Gilmore, Neil Hallett) of his nemesis (Geoffrey Keen), Danny must impersonate Brett to get key evidence from an endangered informant (Suzan Farmer).
13	118	"The Long Goodbye"	Roger Moore	Michael Pertwee	10 December 1971
Fulton sends the boys to Scotland, where they find a wrecked plane, a dead scientist, and a formula for cheap synthetic fuel which attracts deadly interest – plus a string of beautiful girls, all claiming to be the late inventor's heiress.
14	124	"The Man in the Middle"	Leslie Norman	Donald James	17 December 1971
Fulton persuades Brett to help identify a traitor in British Intelligence; but when Brett and Danny fall foul of MI5 agent Kay (Suzy Kendall), Brett's untrustworthy cousin Archie (Terry-Thomas) must save the day.
15	114	"Element of Risk"	Gerald Mayer	Tony Barwick	24 December 1971
Brett must extricate Danny when he's mistaken for an American criminal mastermind (Shane Rimmer) whose suave confederate (Peter Bowles) is planning a gold heist.
16	119	"A Home of One's Own"	James Hill	Terry Nation	31 December 1971
Danny gets more than he bargains for when his newest acquisition, an English country cottage, proves to house a deadly secret. Actress Hannah Gordon guest stars.
17	103	"Five Miles to Midnight"	Val Guest	Terry Nation	7 January 1972
In Rome, a Mafia hitman is on the run from the Mob after offering to turn state's evidence. Fulton asks Brett and Danny to get him out of the country, but when a beautiful photographer (Joan Collins) gets involved the boys find themselves in a shooting war.
18	122	"Nuisance Value"	Leslie Norman	David Rolfe and Tony Barwick	14 January 1972
When the spoiled daughter (Vivienne Ventura) of an immensely wealthy man is apparently kidnapped, Danny and Brett discover the unsuspected perils of double-dating, when suspicion of being behind the kidnapping falls on them!
19	113	"The Morning After"	Leslie Norman	Walter Black	21 January 1972
Lord Brett wakes up from a wild party in Stockholm with a hangover – and a wife (Catherine Schell)! When the validity of the marriage is confirmed, Danny pursues clues that point to a Scandinavian diplomat (Griffith Jones) and a political conspiracy.
20	121	"Read and Destroy"	Roy Ward Baker	Peter Yeldham	28 January 1972
When Brett's friend Felix (Joss Ackland) has woman trouble (with guest star Kate O'Mara), Brett and Danny are drawn into a deceptive game of espionage, as ex-spy Felix tries to publish his memoirs.
21	123	"A Death in the Family"	Sydney Hayers	Terry Nation	4 February 1972
Someone is killing off Brett's aristocratic relatives one by one, and unless he and Danny can identify the murderer the next name on the family tomb will be his own. Guest starring Denholm Elliott. (In a homage to Alec Guinness in the 1949 film Kind Hearts and Coronets, Roger Moore plays three different members of the Sinclair family.)
22	112	"The Ozerov Inheritance"	Roy Ward Baker	Harry W. Junkin	11 February 1972
Grand Duchess Ozerov (Gladys Cooper) seeks Lord Brett's help in saving her family jewels; but her lovely granddaughter, the Princess Alexandra (Prunella Ransome), is not the only discovery the boys make when doing genealogical research.
23	102	"To the Death, Baby"	Basil Dearden	Donald James	18 February 1972
Brett and Danny try to save a beautiful heiress (Jennie Linden) who is the target of a slippery con man (Terence Morgan); but there are other potential targets the boys have not considered, including some menacing Spaniards (Roger Delgado et al.).
24	115	"Someone Waiting"	Peter Medak	Terry Nation	25 February 1972
Pursuing a beautiful ingénue (Penelope Horner), Brett and Danny are drawn into a multi-faceted affair with deadly implications when Brett resumes his motor racing career and an unknown saboteur seeks to wreck the next race.

DVD releases

The entire series was remastered for DVD release in Europe in 2001.

A&E Home Video released the entire series on DVD in Region 1 in 2 volume sets in 2003/2004.

In 2006, because of its popularity in Britain, a 9-Disc DVD special edition boxed set was released, with extra material to the complete, uncut, re-mastered twenty-four episode series.

In December 2010, Network DVD announced that Chain of Events would feature on a Blu-Ray disc of individual ITC episodes to be released in February 2011, with a Blu-Ray set of the entire Persuaders! series to follow later in the year. In September 2011, the Region B blu-ray box set containing all remastered, restored episodes of The Persuaders was released to considerable praise from reviewers.

Remake

A motion picture was announced in 2005 with Steve Coogan and Ben Stiller.^[24] In 2007 Hugh Grant and George Clooney were later announced as the stars with Stiller attached as producer. The film was slated for a December 2008 release.^[25]

References

External links

• The Persuaders! at the Internet Movie Database
• Cult TV
• Titles & Air Dates Guide
• Official Persuaders appreciation society
• Television Heaven
• The Theme LP
• retro-Action Volume 1 Network DVD Blu-Ray release.
• The Persuaders Aston Martin DBS photo gallery

v t e Films directed by Peter R. Hunt 1960s On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) 1970s Gold (1974) Shout at the Devil (1976) Gulliver's Travels (1977) 1980s Death Hunt (1981) Wild Geese II (1985) Hyper Sapien: People from Another Star (1986) Assassination (1987)