"Return of the Saint" The Imprudent Professor (1978)

Director:

Kevin Connor

Writer:

Terence Feely (screenplay)

TV Series:

"Return of the Saint" (1978)

Original Air Date:

19 November 1978 (Season 1, Episode 11)

Genre:

Adventure | Crime

Plot:

Emma Bartlett asks the Saint to guard her father, a scientist who has recently invented a petrol substitute...

Plot Keywords:

Criminal | Drugs | Mission | Terrorist | Agent

Cast

  (Episode Credited cast)

Peter Childs	...	Cartwright
Godfrey James	...	Inspector le Beau
Richard LeParmentier	...	Demmell
John Moreno	...	Pierre
Ian Ogilvy	...	Simon Templar
Susan Penhaligon	...	Emma Bertlett
Catherine Schell	...	Samantha
Bill Simpson	...	Professor Edmund Bartlett
Anthony Steel	...	Boothroyd

That Riviera Touch

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

At a scientific conference in Nice, Professor Edmund Bartlett ( Bill Simpson ) announces to the world that he has created a petrol substitute. A man rises to his feet to denounce the Professor as a fraud. The man question is none other than Simon Templar.

Bartlett's daughter, Emma ( Susan Penhaligon ) is concerned that foreign powers will attempt either to kill her father or kidnap him, so she has hired Templar to act as bodyguard. The British Secret Service are on the scene too, in the shape of Boothroyd ( Anthony Steel ).

The Saint is distracted by the ravishing Samantha ( Catherine Schell ) long enough for Bartlett to be snatched. The chase is on...

One of the best episodes. Certainly it looks as though the budget is higher than usual, what with a speedboat, helicopter and yacht all figuring prominently in the action. Several people commented at the time on Ian Ogilvy's suitability as 'James Bond' and, although I am glad he did not land the role ( he would not have been the first 'Saint' to become 007 ) you can see why they thought this.

Scottish actor Bill Simpson was best known for 'Dr.Finlay's Casebook', while Anthony Steel was a British matinée idol of the '50's. In a nice dig at the Bond movies, when we first see his character ( he is a British spy ) he is relaxing around a pool with lots of sexy ladies in bikinis. Susan Penhaligon would have recently been seen in that steaming pile of rubbish called 'Bouquet Of Barbed Wire' and its equally inane sequel 'Another Bouquet'. Catherine Schell had worked with director Kevin Connor recently on the second season of 'Space: 1999'.

This was one of the few 'Return' episodes to be novelised; though credited to Leslie Charteris, the author was in fact Peter Bloxham. Other stories to see the light of print included 'Duel In Venice' and 'Collision Course' ( retitled 'Salvage For The Saint' ).