The Saint and Dr No turn 60. Roger Moore's Saint and Sean Connery's Bond first hit our screens in the same week in 1962. Andrew Roberts salutes them
The Saint On 4th October 1962, ITV aired the first television adaption of Leslie Charteris’s Saint novels. The star was the 34-year- old Roger Moore (1927-2017), then best known for Ivanhoe and Maverick. When the last adventure aired on 9th February 1969, 118 episodes later, many viewers regarded him as the ideal screen Simon Templar, surpassing even George Sanders. The Saint was made under the auspices of ITC, which specialised in ‘International Man of Mystery’ television series. The producers were the B-film veterans Robert S Baker and Monty Berman. Moore had previously attempted to buy the rights to the novels by Leslie Charteris (1907-93) but found the price beyond him. ITC’s MD, Lew Grade, wanted Patrick McGoohan to play Templar, but Baker and Berman thought he lacked humour. One early challenge was a car for the Saint. The producers intended to use a Jaguar Mk X, but the company refused...
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