The Persuaders starred Tony Curtis -an authentic Hollywood star - and Roger Moore who was just about Britain's biggest TV star after The Saint. It first showed during the late summer of 1971 and finished its first run in the February of the following year. It was broadcast on a Friday evening and was unmissable. It was repeated a couple of times in the seventies then disappeared for years. It was one of those programmes that had a nostalgia surrounding it almost as soon as it disappeared and I can remember in the late eighties having conversations with friends about the opening credit sequence, the John Barry theme tune, the cars, the gorgeous female guests and the episode where Tony Curtis turns up in drag at the end.
I can remember it cropped up in the Channel 4 season TV Heaven - introduced by the great Frank Muir- with the series opener- Overture- being broadcast. The BBC ran it in the mid90s and in a time of Cracker,Between the Lines, NYPD Blue and Trainspotting it seemed a bit lightweight and a bit jokey. But I saw the whole thing again recently and was pleasantly surprised at how good it still is.
The opening credits are as good as I remember them - a genuine masterpiece of editing- and Barry's theme tune though more serious in tone than many of the episodes which follow is a classic too. I had remembered from its last run 20 odd years ago that too many of the episodes veered too close to comedy but now in episodes like The Man in the Middle - with Terry-Thomas guesting- and A Death in the Family the humour seems right. Of course some of the episodes are a bit naff- the Gold Napoleons may have the considerable benefit of having Susan George in it but it is really not that great and Nuisance Value and Anyone Can play are pretty weak too. Mostly though the stories are less comedic and contrived than the show's camp reputation has it - it was once memorably spoofed by Harry Enfield as the Playboys- with Someone Like Me, The Morning After and the final episode Someone Waiting being especially good.
Legend has it that the two stars did not get on well - though neither ever said so- but they looked to be having a whale of a time. Curtis is a star of at least two cinema classics and although his hair colour seems to change between episodes he is fine as he usually was. Moore though is the real revelation. He is now looked on as something of a joke - largely because he overstayed his time as Bond and his increasingly lazy performances in the Saint - but here he is terrific as the privileged, titled Brett Sinclair.
The Persuaders is not perfect but if you are in need of cheering up and some glamour it comes close to perfection
I can remember it cropped up in the Channel 4 season TV Heaven - introduced by the great Frank Muir- with the series opener- Overture- being broadcast. The BBC ran it in the mid90s and in a time of Cracker,Between the Lines, NYPD Blue and Trainspotting it seemed a bit lightweight and a bit jokey. But I saw the whole thing again recently and was pleasantly surprised at how good it still is.
The opening credits are as good as I remember them - a genuine masterpiece of editing- and Barry's theme tune though more serious in tone than many of the episodes which follow is a classic too. I had remembered from its last run 20 odd years ago that too many of the episodes veered too close to comedy but now in episodes like The Man in the Middle - with Terry-Thomas guesting- and A Death in the Family the humour seems right. Of course some of the episodes are a bit naff- the Gold Napoleons may have the considerable benefit of having Susan George in it but it is really not that great and Nuisance Value and Anyone Can play are pretty weak too. Mostly though the stories are less comedic and contrived than the show's camp reputation has it - it was once memorably spoofed by Harry Enfield as the Playboys- with Someone Like Me, The Morning After and the final episode Someone Waiting being especially good.
Legend has it that the two stars did not get on well - though neither ever said so- but they looked to be having a whale of a time. Curtis is a star of at least two cinema classics and although his hair colour seems to change between episodes he is fine as he usually was. Moore though is the real revelation. He is now looked on as something of a joke - largely because he overstayed his time as Bond and his increasingly lazy performances in the Saint - but here he is terrific as the privileged, titled Brett Sinclair.
The Persuaders is not perfect but if you are in need of cheering up and some glamour it comes close to perfection