Return Of The Saint- episode guide.

[Hawkman]

21. VICIOUS CIRCLE

This one I admit is my favourite.
Murder and intrigue in the Italian fashion world. A friend of Simon, ex racing driver Roberto is killed when his car is forced off the road and down a ravine. We have a number of suspects; the wife , the Queen of Italian fashion fed up with being humiliated by Roberto's drunken behaviour, a doctor ,an ex lover of the wife Renata jealous after Roberto married her and no longer able to stand by and watch Renata's unhappiness. It is clear Antonio Fargas pushed Roberto off the road,but who paid him. The fact that Fargas is a psychotic thug and an ex patient of Dr Broli heaps more suspicion on the good doc. Templar engages the help of Renata's secretary Anna to help find the person responsible. A great twist at the end makes this a bit special.

 

[Hawkman]

22. DRAGONSEED

Sam Wanamaker a director of some of these episodes gets in front of the camera playing Domenico Cavalcante, a rich tycoon who is extremely dodgy. He is involved in an illegal arms deal with an African country , selling ballistic missiles, and when his only son Leo is blown up as his helicopter is attacked by a missile stolen from Cavalcante's armoury, the irony isn't lost. Cavalcante has made enemies, and Simon a friend of Leo is determined to find the killers.
But when Cavalcante's fiance is shot at, it seems someone has it in for the family. Also present is an American, Falco, hired as a security chief , who on Dom's orders suppresses evidence of a piece of missile found at the helicopter crash site , in order that Cavalcante's illegal arms deal stays hidden. Dom's ex wife theorizes that perhaps the attack on the helicopter was organised by Falco trying to kill his master and free himself from the chains that tie them together, chains of guilt, as Falco has committed many crimes on Dom's orders including killing Dom's daughter Carla's husband, which makes her a suspect too.

 

[Hawkman]

23. APPOINTMENT IN FLORENCE

Templar is skiing with a male friend when the friend is snatched by terrorists and ransomed . The ransom is paid by the wife but the terrorists murder him anyway and dump his body in a cable car. The terrorists are German marxists and believe they have the mission to execute capitalist " pigs".
One of the gang ,Ingo is genuinely sickened by the murder and while the gang drive out the ski resort with their ransom money, Ingo steals the money and runs. Ingo with his former buddies and Templar pursuing him ends up in Florence to meet his girl and persuade her to run away with him. Lea, the girl is horrified at the thought of living on blood money and dumps Ingo . However the gang find her and Manfred the leader threatens to hang her from her own balcony if she doesn't cooperate. Templar rescues her and the gang flee, Lea is grateful but will not betray Ingo. Templar and a Florence teenager on a moped he met track Ingo down hopefully before the gang by following Lea. But the gang have the same idea, they want their money and will kill anyone in their way.

 

[Hawkman]

24. THE DIPLOMAT'S DAUGHTER

A rather low key final episode involving a drug smuggling gang trying to get drugs from France into England. Templar rescues a lady from the clutches of hoodlums from the U.S. who tried to run her off the road. She is the daughter of the new ambassador to Britain, and her brother is in deep debt and has been forced to help the drug smugglers to pay off the debt. They plan to smuggle the stuff in a secret compartment in the ambassador's car going across the ferry into England . Marie the daughter was trying to get her brother out of this mess by paying the gang the money her brother Pierre owes, but the gang want him in their debt to force him to cooperate with this diplomatic caper.
In a twist it turns out that the attempt to kill Marie was a hoax, but why? Templar locates the garage the gang are using to do work on the ambassador's car, installing a secret compartment, operated by depressing the cigar lighter, all ready for the trip across the English Channel at 4pm the next day. Templar hiding in the garage hears all this , and wonders if this is all a bit too pat and obvious. Is he meant to hear this and if so why?

THE END

 

[Hawkman]

 

[Hawkman]

This much underrated series like the original always started with a nice tease