..: The Return Of The Saint :..

The Saint has been hugely popular on film, radio and television since Charteris first wrote his books, with Roger Moore representing him throughout the 60s in the UK. but in 1978 ITV decided to revive the series but update it for the times and Ian Ogilvy stepped into the role. It was decided to keep him an adventurer who was always willing to save his country or a damsel in distress, but there was more realism and, acoountants forbid, some actual location shooting rather than stock footage inserts, and quite a bit of energetic action.

The series attracted a number of famous guest stars and like many other series of the time, reflected the changes in cultural and global politics, with a harder edge to the stories. There were criticisms levelled at the time that Ogilvy was merely a pretender to the throne, but I certainly find the series more gripping than its 60s counterpart and more well-rounded, and I thoroughly enjoy Ogilvy's performance.

All 24 episodes of the series have been issued in a DVD boxed set that sets the standard for all future sets. Not only are the episodes complete and uncut, with four coming complete with commentaries, the last disc in the set of 7 is crammed full of extras. These include The Saint Steps In...to the 1970s: An exclusive documentary on the making of the series, narrated by Roger Moore and written and produced by Leslie Charteris' biographer, Ian Dickerson, Script PDFs, including one which was unproduced, PDFs of The Return of the Saint annuals and publicity material, Episodic image galleries, and unseen raw footage of the title sequence. If this wasn't enough there is the feature-length version of The Saint and the Brave Goose. The price tag for this set is Ł59.99 (a mere Ł3.60 a disc!) for a total running time of 1200 minutes, but there is added incentive to buy as 5% of the gross profits from each unit sold will be donated by Network DVD to the Heaven's Angels Campaign, charity that provides specially adapted motor-cycles for healthcare service in Saharan Africa, so you can feel a warm glow when treating yourself to the set.

I will be adding a synopsis for each episode as soon as I have watched them all.

title	Tx. Date	Notes
The Judas Game	10.9.78
The Nightmare Man	17.9.78
Duel in Venice	24.9.78
One Black September	1.10.78
The Village That Sold Its Soul	8.10.78
Assault Force	15.10.78
Yesterday's Hero	22.10.78
The Poppy Chain	29.10.78
The Arrangement	5.11.78
The Armageddon Alternative	12.11.78
The Imprudent Professor	19.11.78
Signal Stop	26.11.78
The Roman Touch	3.12.78
Tower Bridge is Falling Down	10.12.78
The Debt Collectors	17.12.78
Collision Course: The Brave Goose	7.1.79
Collision Course: The Sixth Man	14.1.79
Hot Run	21.1.79
The Murder Cartel	28.1.79
The Obono Affair	4.2.79
Vicious Circle	11.2.79
Dragonseed	25.2.79
Appointment in Florence	4.3.79
The Diplomat's Daughter	11.3.79

Don't want to buy?
Then why not rent?

For every unit sold for the life cycle of this title (five years) Network will donate Ł1.70 per unit to the Heaven's Angels campaign, a major initiative addressing the issue of healthcare delivery in sub - Saharan Africa. This amount constitutes 5% of Network's gross profits. 100% of the monies donated from Network and The Heaven's Angels campaign will go directly to frontline organisations to help build this army of health workers. This two wheel campaign aims to reach those who find themselves in 'The Last Mile', the expression used for the place in which the world's rural poor find themselves. Cut off from infrastructures we take for granted they have little or no opportunity to develop their own prospects and restricted access to healthcare. Backed by Richard Branson's charity foundation Virgin Unite, the Heaven's Angels campaign is raising funds to provide a force of trained health workers on motorbikes to transport vital medicine to remote rural communities. Currently, it is estimated that over 10,000 people die from treatable and preventable diseases such as HIV/Aids, TB and Malaria in this region. Costing five thousand pounds for the first year of operation each bike can reach over ten thousand people. Network and a range of affiliated companies are aiming to fund the recruitment of local health workers and the purchase of the new motor bikes which deliver the medicines - with the goal of providing at least one hundred bikes - a practical solution to the above diseases.

This has been replicated with THE SAINT THE COLOUR YEARS and THE SAINT THE MONOCHROME YEARS, as well as any repackaged versions of THE SAINT titles released by Network between now and 2011.