CAST:
Mary Peach - Smolenko
Campbell Singer - Fenton
Glynn Edwards - Igor
Nicholas Donnelly - Ivan
John Bennett - Muller
Burt Kwouk - Col. Wing
Vernon Dobtcheff - Vogel
Wolf Frees - Anton
Maurice Browning - Blagot
Stephen Hubay - Klaus
Peter Burton - Molliere
Stefan Gryff - The Waiter
Trudi Neilsen - Gretchen

Directed by Jim O'Connolly; Screenplay by John Kruse

STORY:
It seems like a third party tries to play the Russian secret service off against the English one. The little spy gadgets the Russians are using are booby-trapped. Simon learns of an assassination attempt on Russian Colonel Smolenko - little does he know that this top agent is a woman. They team up to find the mysterious assassins. The trail leads to a monastery in Switzerland where the assassins work under cover of liquor making monks.

NOTES:
* Burt Kwouk also appears in Episodes #57 "The Sign of the Claw and #106 "The Master Plan"
* Burt Kwouk appeared in "Goldfinger", was Blofeld's assistant in "You Only Live Twice" and also was Cato, Inspector Clouseau's servant
* Campbell Singer was the first Inspector Teal in Episode #11 "The Man Who Was Lucky" before Ivor Dean took over the role.
* Nicholas Donnelly also appears in Episode #70 "The Spanish Cow"
* Glynn Edwards also appears in Episode #103 "The Organization Man"
* John Bennett also appears in Episodes #28 "The Wonderful War", #33 "The Good Medicine" and #53 "The Contract"
* Vernon Dobtcheff would later appear as Max Kalba in the Moore 007 movie ""The Spy Who Loved Me" (1977)
*  Look at the glass pane: It's clear to see that it splinters! It should have exploded right into the Saint's face... In the next take it's still in perfect condition. (0:08)
*  It's not the small camera that explodes in this scene - it's the little box that was placed there. (0:26)
*  This scene is nicely done: Although you don't see their faces you know exactly what happens... (0:32)
*  Why does the Saint pay the monk with German Marks in Switzerland? (0:35)
*  Why do the bad guys always explain their evil schemes? That makes it easier for the Saint to destroy the explosives... (0:45)
*  This corridor was used several times in the colour episodes as a set.
*  The double doors were frequently used as a set item in the colour episodes. In this episode they were used without the columns.

Leslie Charteris, 10th January 1967: <<It is always a joy to read anything be John Kruse, and the synopsis called "The Gadget Makers" is no exception.
Event though I'm afraid I find it far from the best he has done, it is still solidly constructed and conscientously worked out - in contrast to so many outlines I have read [...]
Hoping that you may get him to write the script himself, with the subsequent likelihood of superior dialogue ...  this should be one of our better shows.>> (Barer, p.148)
Leslie Charteris, 31th January 1967: <<"The Gadget Makers" turned out to about as I anticipated - not Kruse's best, but better than almost anybody else's. [...]
There are a number of pretty wild improbabilities ... how could a large bunch of Chinese take over and inhabit a Swiss monastery without being noticed by any of the villagers?>> (Barer, p.149)

John Kruse: <<It was a lot of fun writing that kind of dialogue, giving Roger the chance to make laconic remarks to her all the time. It gave it all a little more spice and was actually a sure-fire thing that you could repeat again and again with different nationalities. You need that conflict throughout the story. Of course, the pair of them may see eye-to-eye and be shoulder-to-shoulder by the end, but earlier the conflict of those two different personalities is absolutely vital.>> (Simper, p.40)

AIRDATE:
UK: 21st April 1967

GERMAN TITLE:
Klosterlikör hat's in sich

AVAILABLE ON:
* VHS (PAL): ITC 1044 (1994)
* DVD (NTSC): AAE-70352 (2001)