User Reviews

Templar is driving through France when he is overtaken by a pretty girl hotly pursued by gangsters. She is almost thrown from a cliff, but he saves her in the nick of time. The girl is Marie De La Garde ( Lynn Dalby ), daughter of the French Ambassador. Her brother Pierre ( Murray Head ) has landed himself in hot water through his drug habit and the thugs are putting pressure on him to smuggle heroin into Britain using a secret compartment in the Ambassador's car. But all is not as it seems...

This final episode boasts a corking script by Michael Pertwee ( another veteran scribe from the Moore days ) and the usual accomplished direction by Charles Crichton. The villains of the piece know of Templar's reputation as a knight in shining armour, and decide to exploit it for their own ends.

Lynn Dalby was 'Hazel' in the excellent Adam Faith comedy drama 'Budgie'. Murray Head played Peter Finch's lover in John Schlesinger's 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' ( 1971 ). David Garth, cast as the Ambassador', was 'Dr.Matthew Armstrong' in the A.T.V. medical soap 'General Hospital'.

Though popular in Britain, 'Return' lacked sufficient American interest to warrant a second season. A shame in my view as Ogilvy had been promised the chance to direct episodes ( as happened with Moore ) and Templar would have been kept on home soil rather than gallivant around Europe. I believe Ogilvy also would have improved over time ( and thankfully we'd have seen the back of those trendy clothes! ).

A letter in 'The T.V. Times' circa 1982 queried why shows such as this were no longer being made. The editor's reply was that rising costs had made them far too expensive, and that the public's appetite for light-hearted adventure romps was thought to have waned ( although hit U.S. imports such as 'Hart To Hart' and 'Scarecrow & Mrs.King' seemed to indicate otherwise ). Repeats of this and other I.T.C. series ( 'The Champions', 'The Baron', 'Randall & Hopkirk ( Deceased ) ) thrived on I.T.V. well into the '80's and moved to B.B.C.-2 and Sky's 'Bravo' in the '90's. They have sold well both on V.H.S. and D.V.D. The Sky station 'Alibi' is currently home to the Ogilvy Saints, so it has not been forgotten.

Templar was resurrected a decade later in a made-for-television movie entitled 'The Saint In Manhattan' starring Tom Selleck-lookalike Andrew Clarke, and then in a dreadful six-part series with Simon Dutton ( it was cancelled after only two editions were broadcast in Britain ). Philip Noyce's 1997 cinematic disaster featuring Val Kilmer seemed to put the final nail in the coffin of Leslie Charteris' hero. But even now rumours persist of a possible comeback for the man with the halo. Let's hope they get it right next time.