Episode #85 - 5-14

Escape Route

CAST:
John Gregson - Colonel Roberts
Wanda Ventham - Penny
Donald Sutherland - John Wood
Jean Marsh - Ann
Jeremy Burnham - Harry
Terry Yorke - Jim
Romo Gorrara - Dave
Vicki Wolf - Maggie
Tony Doonan - Snooper
Eric Mason - Hal
Edwin Brown - Wilson
Walter Horsbrugh - The Judge
George Zenios - Nicky

Directed by Roger Moore; Screenplay by Michael Winder

STORY:
Templar gets arrested for stealing jewelry and is sentenced to 10 years in Princetown prison. The reason for Simon doing this is to find out who organized several prison breaks. He works for Inspector Teal. The Saint soon makes the acquaintance of John Wood. Wood offers him the possibility to escape for 50.000 pounds. When they work outside they can break free through a helicopter. Soon they're going to meet the mastermind behind the escapes...

NOTES:
* Wanda Ventham also appears in Episode #48 "The Death Penalty"
* Donald Sutherland also appears in Episode #62 "The Happy Suicide"
* Donald Sutherland became a famous movie actor, see Roger Moore's comment below.
* Jean Marsh also appears in Episodes #33 "The Good Medicine", #49 "The Imprudent Politician" and #108 "The Scales of Justice"
* Jean Marsh also appears in the episode "Five Miles to Midnight" of The Persuaders. She later played housemaid Rose in the internationally known series "Upstairs, Downstairs" (1971-75)
* Jeremy Burnham also appears in Episode #49 "The Imprudent Politician" and #84 "Flight Plan"
* Eric Mason also appears in Episode #99 "The Best Laid Schemes"
* Edwin Brown also appears in Episode #106 "The Master Plan"
* After the show was shown on TV a viewer (who worked at the Board of Trade) sued because the helicopter escape seemed to have broken flying regulations. (Barer, p.157)
The same song was used in Episode #85 "Escape Route" (0:07) and in Episode #95 "A Double in Diamonds" but with different vocals. Even the following track "played" by the band is the same (0:38).
A trick often used in the series: the corridor behind the bars is just a painting (0:11)
  Note the yellow door - on the backlot, the HQ of the villains is right next to the fire exit of the club where Templar hid the diamonds. (0:20 and 0:24)
   In the closeup scenes with Jean Marsh the top of the cabrio mysteriously disappears! (0:41) [Submitted by Wojciech Trojanowski]
The double doors were frequently used as a set item in the colour episodes. In this episode the doors have a different colour.
* Commentary by Sir Roger Moore, Executive Producer Robert S. Baker & Production Supervisor Peter Manley on the Umbrella, the DD Home Entertainment and on the Koch Media DVDs

Roger Moore: <<I remember Donald Sutherland was in another one I directed, where we escaped from prison [...]. And he asked me if he could show it to some producers as he was up for an important part. In fact we were still in the middle of editing it so I couldn't send a copy to America, as he had hoped, but they came to view a rough cut at the studio and he got The Dirty Dozen.>> (Simper, p.30)

AIRDATE:
UK: 30rd December 1966

GERMAN TITLE:
Templar auf der Flucht

AVAILABLE ON:
* DVD (NTSC): AAE-70348 (2001)

THE SAINT
www.simontemplar.de

Last Updated: 02/24/2018