Andrew Clarke is The Saint...

[MacNimon]

....or at least, he was for one rarely-seen single episode produced as a failed pilot for a proposed new tv series back in 1987. This rarity has now been released on DVD, finally completeing the set of Saint tv stories.

I've just watched my copy, and it's easy to see why it wasn't picked up as a series. It wasn't a complete disaster by any means though, and is worth searching out for the sake of curiosity and completion. Clarke, while looking more like Tom Selleck rather than Roger Moore or Ian Ogilvy, is recognisably the character of Simon Templar (with an Aussie accent) in a way that Val Kilmer wasn't. Many of his lines and mannerisms were pure Moore/Ogilvy but unfortunately you felt as if he was just an imposter playing the part as the charm didn't come just as naturally as it did for the other guys. Templar has moved up in the world, now driving a Lambourghini rather than a Volvo, and he now has a butler. The story itself though, while quite witty at times, was paced more like an episode of Murder, She Wrote rather than The Saint.

Still, a reasonably enjoyable 5/10 for this curiosty piece...worth a look for anyone who's interested

[SiHart]

Didn't ITV do a saint series around this time too?

[Stuart Wallis]

Didn't ITV do a saint series around this time too?

Wikipedia says - so it must be true! - that there was a six part series in 1989 starring Simon Dutton (Guy in not going out and Alastair in The Time Of Angels) as Simon.

[MacNimon]

I remember that Saint series at the time, it was well-advertised and publicised with articles/interviews stating that Dutton had been given his name because his mother had been a big fan of the character, a statement which was most likely just for the sake of publicity. I remember the series disappeared from our screens after only a couple of episodes had aired, and it was a number of years before I came across them again on one of the digital channels (probably Granada Plus).

Simon Dutton was actually a pretty good Simon Templar, and he played the character a bit differently from Moore and Ogilvy...although unsurprisingly the story quality was patchy at times. I've got a copy of his stories too, I think I'll check them out again soon just for the sake of comparison. It's nice to see other takes on the character rather than just trying to ape the style of Roger Moore.

[MacNimon]

I watched the Simon Dutton Saint pilot episode, The Brazilian Connection, (the first of 6 90-minute TV Movies) last night for the first time it was originally broadcast in an early evening ITV Saturday prime-time slot in 1989. On that occasion, I thought it was pretty dull and slow-moving with a Saint who was nothing like Roger Moore or Ian Ogilvy...watchable but not gripping and not a patch on what I remembered of those two great series. Presumably much of the audience agreed with me, as the series was pulled from the schedules after only two episodes.

It's interesting the difference 27 years makes though, I don't know what has changed...my tastes, or simply just the fact that I've become a bit more used to differnt portrayals of the character over the years from George Sanders and Vincent Price, to Val Kilmer. Or is it just because I watched it hot on the heels of the Andrew Clarke effort? But there's much more to the character than simply being a Roger Moore clone. Whatever, this time I actually really enjoyed the episode and am really looking forward to watching more of them. I can still recognise the things I picked fault with back in the day, but now I perversely enjoyed this simply because of those faults...yes, it was still quite slow moving compared with the Moore/Ogilvy series but after 25 years or so of slower paced dramas such as Frost, Midsomer Murders etc this time it wasn't an issue. I actually enjoyed the pace, just letting the story play out and in hindsight I have a feeling that this slower pace was probably deliberate rather than just being a dull storyline. The story is one of the flaws though, despite enjoying the pace the storyline was pretty basic (about a baby smuggling ring, babies from Brazil being sold to childless couples in Britain...the Saint gets involved when the opportunists kidnap a baby he has met minutes earlier) and padded at times to fill the running time...and the worst crime, I guessed who the villain would be from the start so no real sense of mystery there.


Still, I enjoyed the performances - particularly the interplay between the Saint, Inspector Teal and his boss. Dutton was actually quite impressive as Templar...he was stylish, and could be suave and charming when necessary but simply didn't ooze it from start to finish...certainly not a Moore clone - there weren't many of the mannerisms attempted by Clarke - this Saint reminded me more of George Sanders Saint from the 1940s films, a bit more talkative and a bit less action-packed than Moore's version...this time round I found this to be an enjoyable (but flawed) slice of 80s hokum. And this time I'm actually looking forward to seeing the other episodes

7/10

[MacNimon]

I've just been watching The Blue Dulac and it is, unfortunately, a much weaker effort than the first one. John Astin gives an OTT performance as the villain of the piece, with a set of really annoying twins with dodgy French accents being the eye candy here...and other supporting characters were just as weak and annoying. A pretty weak story overall which still managed to be enjoyable enough in its own right, the highlights being Dutton's performance and seeing The Saint in disguise as a chef!

5/10 for this one

Despite the dip in quality here, I'm still really enjoying this series and think I'll try to limit myself to one episode per week so that I'm not done with them too quickly...only four left!