The
lowdown: Roger Moore starred as Simon Templar, otherwise
known as 'The Saint', in six seasons from October
1962 and February 1969.
It was made by the prolific production house ITC and broadcast on ITV1.
The series was often
set in exotic locations,
with the Saint coming to the assistance of people in peril, helping old
friends or assisting the
wronged to get justice.
Templar often ran afoul of the local law, but in the TV series he generally
worked with the police
rather than against them.
In the original series of books by Leslie Charteris, The Saint was portrayed
as a gentleman
thief, but this aspect of
his character was toned down for the TV series.
'Locate and Destroy' was
the 12th episode of the fifth season, and was first broadcast on ITV1 on
16 December 1966.
The episode is set in Lima,
Peru and begins with Simon Templar foiling an attempted robbery at an art
store. The target
was a painting owned by
wealthy businessman Hans Coleman. He claims that it is merely a reproduction
of an expensive
painting, but Templar suspects
that it is the real thing. Coleman refuses to let the local police chief,
Captain Rodriguez
(Roger Delgado) take the
matter any further, and when Templar presses Rodriguez on the issue the
Captain says that
Coleman is a very influential
man with friends in high places. Templar decides to investigate on his
own, and he is soon
looking into the death of
an Israeli agent who is tracking down a Nazi war criminal (a popular plotline
for British action
shows in the 1970s). Roger
Delgado is only in two scenes, and his character is very much like his
role of Captain
Garozzo in 'Jason
King'.
The
verdict: Like many TV shows from the 1960s, 'The Saint'
is showing its age, although the colour episodes are
much more fast-paced than
the early black and white ones. It s still a very enjoyable series for
fans of British action-
adventure shows of the 1960s,
particularly for those of us who grew up watching it.
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