Return of the Saint - Definition and Overview

Return of the Saint was a British action-adventure television series that aired for one season in 1978 and 1979 in Britain on ITV, and was also broadcast on CBS in the United States. It was produced by ITC Entertainment and ran for 24 episodes.

The series starred Ian Oglivy as Simon Templar, an independently wealthy, somewhat mysterious "do-gooder" known as "The Saint" who was created in the 1920s by Leslie Charteris and featured in a long-running series of novels and novellas. The series itself is a revival of The Saint, a long-running 1960s series that starred Roger Moore as Templar. Early publicity for Return suggested that it was originally to have been titled Son of the Saint. One major difference between the two series is that the original was mostly filmed in British studios and locations, while many episodes of Return were filmed on location throughout Europe.

Oglivy became very popular in Britain and Europe because of the series, and in the early 1980s was considered a major contender for replacing Moore as James Bond.

Broadcasts of the series on CBS, which lasted into 1980, sparked a revival of interest in Moore's original series.

Episodes