The Saint (TV series)

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
"You're the famous Simon Templar!"
—The end of every pre-credits sequence

The series started in 1962. Its hero is charming, intelligent, British and ready to fight the bad guys - not to mention played by Roger Moore. We're talking, of course, about The Saint.

Created by Leslie Charteris in a series of books Simon Templar, nicknamed The Saint[1], is a world-famous amateur detective who operates as a modern-day Robin Hood.

After it finished in 1969, it was followed by the TV show The Return Of The Saint in 1978 starring Ian Ogilvy.


Tropes used in The Saint (TV series) include:
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: Upon people recognising him, The Saint will often look upwards as an animated halo appears to segue into the credits.
    • He would also address the audience at the start of early episodes.
  • Cold Open: Home of the aforementioned fourth wall breaking.
  • Cool Car: The white Volvo P1800.
  • Disguised in Drag: The villain of the first episode drags up as an old woman so he can murder his wife.
  • Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Most episodes, especially in the black-and-white episodes, are called The Adjective Noun. ("The Careful Terrorist", "The Covetous Headsman", "The Romantic Matron", and so on.)
  • Inspector Antagonist: Chief Inspector Teal.
  • Just Like Robin Hood
  • Setting Update: The stories are contemporary, despite being based on a book series that started in the 1920s.
  • Values Dissonance: "The Golden Journey" opens with Simon Templar suggesting that his friend could 'cure' his fiancée's spoilt brat attitude by hitting her every now and then.
  1. Don't Explain the Joke because of his initials