I think this is my favourite Saint episode ever. It was made at the perfect moment, when the production team were at the peak of their powers, they had made the move to colour and they still had some original Charteris stories to play with.
And what a story. Charteris, like so many crime writers and so few novelists was absolutely right about communism and here he beautifully captures the sheer nastiness of the Soviet Union.
Yootha Joyce is brilliantly chilling as the KGB station chief. It's not difficult to see how she bagged the role of Mildred Roper. Another brilliant piece of casting sees Tony Blair's father-in-law, Tony Booth, play the sinister KGB thug - a role he adapts to worryingly easily.
Even the minor characters like the hotel receptionist, the chief Russian diplomat and Inspector Kleinhaus are beautifully drawn.
And the final twist you (or, at least, I) just don't see coming.
And what a story. Charteris, like so many crime writers and so few novelists was absolutely right about communism and here he beautifully captures the sheer nastiness of the Soviet Union.
Yootha Joyce is brilliantly chilling as the KGB station chief. It's not difficult to see how she bagged the role of Mildred Roper. Another brilliant piece of casting sees Tony Blair's father-in-law, Tony Booth, play the sinister KGB thug - a role he adapts to worryingly easily.
Even the minor characters like the hotel receptionist, the chief Russian diplomat and Inspector Kleinhaus are beautifully drawn.
And the final twist you (or, at least, I) just don't see coming.