Simon Templar The Miracle Tea Party (1962–1969) watch online HD

It became an increasingly regular lament of the Saint author and creator Leslie Charteris, that in the adaptation of his original material for this celebrated TV series, his quirky and unconventional plots were frequently dismantled and then hammered out into the mundane and commonplace. This version of one of his most entertaining stories suggests he had a good cause for his complaints.

Here, Paddy Manning O'Brine has filtered out all the abundant humour of the original, much of it concerning Templar's old adversary Claud Eustace Teal who played a major role in the story, but who is now omitted altogether. Also gone is another potentially funny scene, in which Templar, having temporarily incapacitated crooked chemist Osbett, proceeds to flog various goodies in the shop to customers for next to nothing. Instead we get a rather grim tale of espionage at a naval base, including a number of absurd coincidences and a punch-up every ten minutes or so. Roger Moore was the ideal Saint, but he's not quite at his assured best here. He also directed the piece and has a couple of his old pals in the cast; versatile Robert Brown, whom he was to successfully nominate as 'M' years later, is a thug, but Charles Houston is lumbered with one of the most hackneyed of B movie type roles, the nervous little guy who gets involved in criminal activity over his head and wants out. "I'm not taking it any more, I'm going to the police". He's developing a stomach ulcer so why doesn't he try some Miracle Tea, after all, it's supposed to be a cure all for that sort of thing, as well as providing a cover for passing secrets. And how such a master of the English language as Charteris must have winced at the profusion of O'Brine's trite and shop-worn dialogue. It does have its moments, including a well-staged and vicious looking closing fight scene between Robert Brown and Sir Roger and good performances from Fabia Drake and Patrick Westwood, but it could have been so much better, as many in the series were.