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The Saint (TV series)

The Saint
Image of The Saint matchstick man alongside series title
Titlecard of the black and white episodes
Created by Leslie Charteris
Starring Roger Moore
Theme music composer Edwin Astley (B/W)
Edwin Astley and Leslie Charteris (colour)
Composer(s) Edwin Astley
Country of origin United Kingdom
Original language(s) English
No. of series 6
No. of episodes 118 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s) Robert S. Baker
Monty Berman (B/W)
Producer(s) Roger Moore
Running time 49-51 minutes
Production company(s) New World (B/W)
Bamore (colour)
Distributor ITC Entertainment Group
Peter Rodgers Organization
Release
Original network ITV
Picture format 35 mm 4:3
Black and white (first 71 episodes)
Colour (last 47 episodes)
Audio format Mono
Original release 4 October 1962 – 9 February 1969
Chronology
Followed by Return of the Saint

The Saint is an ITC mystery spy thriller television series that aired in the UK on ITV between 1962 and 1969. It was based on the literary character Simon Templar created by Leslie Charteris in the 1920s and featured in many novels over the years. He was played by Roger Moore. Simon Templar was essentially a Robin Hood who stole from criminals, but kept the money. His nemesis was Chief Inspector Claude Teal who considered Templar a common criminal no matter whom he stole from (shades of Les Miserables).

As a result of the strong performance in the US of the first two black-and-white series in first-run syndication, NBC picked up the show as a summer replacement in its evening schedule in 1966. The programme therefore ended its run with both trans-Atlantic prime time scheduling and colour episodes. It also proved popular beyond the UK and US, eventually airing in over 60 countries, and made a profit in excess of £350m for ITC. With almost 120 episodes, the programme is exceeded only by The Avengers as the most productive show of its genre produced in the UK. As with The Avengers, the colour episodes were originally broadcast in the UK in black and white, predating the advent of colour transmissions on ITV.

Roger Moore had earlier tried to buy the production rights to the Saint books himself and was delighted to be able to play the part. Moore eventually became co-owner of the show with Robert S. Baker when the show moved to colour and the production credit became Bamore Productions. Most of the wardrobe Moore wore in the series was his own.

He was reportedly offered the role of 007 at least twice during the run of the series, but had to turn it down both times owing to his television commitments. In one early episode of the series (titled 'Luella'), another character actually mistakes Templar for Bond.


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