jimpayne1967 I like the old ITC action series of the 60s and very early 70s. I am old enough to remember the later shows such as the Persuaders and Jason King from when they were first broadcast and can remember when I was 6 or 7 being allowed to stay up to watch Danger Man, The Prisoner and The Champions. By the mid to late 70s when colour TV became commonplace these old shows were re-broadcast and I became familiar with all of them. They were quick moving, had great punch ups and were suffused with then contemporary anxieties about the Cold War, hard drugs and the length of women's skirts. Most of the shows re-ran again - I think on the BBC- in the mid 90s and then in the middle of the noughties some turned up on ITV 4. There was one which did not ever seem to turn up again and that show was the Baron. I only caught up with the show in recent times when I caught a few episodes on You Tube. Most of the episodes I saw were enjoyable enough - even the Rome set one with Peter Arne as a Mafia Capo which gets a low rating here was a perfectly decent way to spend 50 minutes.The problem with The Baron is though that it is just a bit, well, unremarkable. The stories are fine but are less crisp than Danger Man or Man in a Suitcase or even Department S. It is nowhere near as ludicrous as Randall & Hopkirk or the Champions or as downright awful as Jason King but the lack of gimmicks or bad moustaches works against it's reputation. The theme music written by Edwin Astley is clever but not as memorable as the same composer's themes for the Saint or Department S. The title character is played by Dana Andrews' brother Steve Forrest and he's fine but he lacks the panache of Roger Moore's Templar even if he is a better actor. The premise is not a bad one - a Texan exiled called John Mannering lives in London where he runs a high class antique business and his business takes him round the world (and even to Scotland!) and in the early episodes he does work for British Intelligence with whom he enjoys an ambivalent relationship. These early episodes are pretty good as they usually feature Colin Gordon as the Baron's Intelligence handler. But from episode 9 onward almost until the end the connection with espionage is ignored and many of the episodes are pretty much interchangeable with the then contemporaneous The Saint. The early episodes feature an actor called Paul Ferris who plays Mannering's PA David Marlowe. The shows backers in the States apparently did not like Ferris/Marlowe and he is pretty much dropped from episode 8 onward to be replaced by Sue Lloyd's character Cordelia who is transformed from being a cog in the British intelligence machine (as presented in a couple of early episodes) to being Mannering's female PA. Lloyd was fairly hot property at that time after her performance in the classic The Ipcress File and she was a decent actress. She also looks great but that is pretty much all she does as there is not one episode where she could not have been replaced by any one of the numerous other talented, beautiful English actresses of the era. There seems no great chemistry between Mannering and his female PA - certainly less than there is between the Baron and David Marlowe- nor does she seem to be a romantic interest as Mannering seems to be still playing the field. In short in most of her appearances Lloyd is wasted.Forrest is fine though. Although he is, unlike Templar, always on the side of the Angels the character is street smart and convincingly tough with an almost noirish edge to him - unlike all the ITC heroes except Drake and McGill I get the impression Mannering is a man who exists away from his adventures - it's a pity we do not see more of his hinterland. And he drives a great car- the glorious Jensen CV8 that was one of my own favourites as wee boy.6 out of 10 is maybe a wee bit low - 6 2/3s seems about right. Not a classic show but better than its obscurity suggests it is

perwilvil Boy is this show appalling, and this is unusual for ITC classics. Take a minor league American star like Steve Forrest to appeal to American audiences (supposedly), and set him up as a wealthy adventurer a la Simon Templar. It might have worked if the stories were any good, but they really weren't, and the production values were extremely cheap. The Saint had cheap production values, but this could easily be overlooked with Roger Moore's charisma and interesting stories. Danger Man/Secret Agent had comparatively high production values with some nice location/second unit work, and was probably done for similar money. If you're going to watch an ITC show, try The Saint, Secret Agent, or The Protectors.But see for yourself. Anyone want to buy a half used DVD set of The Baron?

Spondonman I watched this series first time round and remembered it fondly, never got to see it again when it was last repeated in the '70's but am now trawling through the entire series on DVD. And it holds up well enough too filmed on the usual ITC shoestring budget, old fashioned though it must look to most now used to flashy nervous roving cgi camera techniques. I've only read one Creasey novel - can't even remember the title now, but I believe the series was based more upon the TV Saint, there certainly was a similarity. They both had great theme tunes as well!"Diplomatic Immunity" broadcast 28.09.66: The first episode shown on UK ITV introduced us to Steve Forrest playing Captain John Mannering (not Mainwaring), and his London-centric world of antiques and cutting-edge British security issues. Over the eps plenty of gadgets cropped up for his use a la Bond, but post-digital they all look ancient enough to be made from Bakelite! Mannering is miffed when an expensive antique is stolen by an Iron Curtain (Pamaranea) state official and he decides (with UK Govt help) to get it back with no-holds barred. Sue Lloyd playing Cordelia is invaluable to him in this aim, but mainly to us as eye-candy. Nicely judged script, but along with most of the rest of the series unfortunately almost impossible to film in such a non-pc way nowadays - a lot of pre-'70's TV is in the same boat of course.Forrest was very similar in his style to his brother Dana Andrews - chunky, chiselled and dependable, I thought the Baron suited him down to the ground and something he never bettered. Great memories of ye olde TV programme entertainment standards.

skoyles One of the better British formulaic series with the near mandatory American lead actor. Steve Forrest portrayed a charming very Texan antique dealer/undercover agent living in England. Forrest provided a solid presence that allowed the show to appeal to the US audience but somehow The Baron did not gather the anticipated audience. Somehow in SWAT Forrest never seemed as complete a character as he did playing Mannering. I recall envying Mannering his wealth, sophistication but most of all I envied him the real star of this show: the unique, incomparable lead *car*. Mannering drove a Jensen Interceptor. It was years later that I saw in real life this wonderful Chrysler V8 powered Aston-Martin competitor and saw that The Baron and his car were perfectly matched, much more so than The Saint (Roger Moore) and his Volvo or The Saint (Ian Ogilvey) and his Jaguar XJS. Besides, these were commonplace compared to a powerful and elegant Jensen Interceptor.