Return of the Saint (TV Series) The Nightmare Man (1978) User Reviews

The Nightmare Man

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 2 May 2022]

Effectively a rehash of The Day of the Jackal.

Simon Templar comes across a hysterical woman in a Paris hotel room that has experienced a strange nightmare. Her husband the new Italian ambassador to Britain will be assassinated.

The Saint thinks that a hitman called Gunther (Joss Ackland) has been hired for the job. When Templar meets the ambassador's wife again, she is someone different.

The woman in the hotel room in Paris was an actress.

It is all an elaborate ploy and the real target is the Saint.

The story is silly but it has a humdinger of an ending. It really is a case of, for whom the bells toll!

Some good location filming of London. Ackland is both creepy and campy as the assassin.

Saved by the bell!

[ShadeGrenade · 8/10 · 27 June 2009]

'The Nightmare Man' saw the welcome return to the 'Saint' show of John Kruse, author of many of the best Roger Moore episodes and whose work was admired by Leslie Charteris himself.

It opens in a swank Paris hotel. Simon is about to get off with beautiful American Gayle ( Kathryn Leigh Scott ) when a scream from the next room grabs his attention. Margareta di Vallesi ( Moira Redmond ), wife of the new Italian Ambassador, has just experienced a strange dream in which her husband is assassinated while travelling through a London square in an open coach. On meeting the Ambassador, Templar finds that his wife is not the woman he met in Paris.

Gunther ( Joss Ackland ), a hit-man, receives a call to go to London and carry out an assassination. But just who is the intended target?

"I watched 'Return Of The Saint' this week to see if it would get exciting.", wrote Margaret Forwood of 'The Sun'. "It didn't. It got sillier.". It is true that this is not up to the standard of Kruse's best 'Saint' work. If the whole thing was an elaborate plot to kill Templar, then why? What was the point of the charade in Paris?

Joss Ackland is woefully miscast as 'Gunther'. Loping around in flared trousers and sporting Boris Johnson-styled hair, he looks ridiculous. Kathryn Leigh-Scott was one of the stars of the hit American Gothic soap 'Dark Shadows'. Norman Eshley, cast as 'Inspector George', reappeared in 'Yesterday's Hero'. Zienia Merton, the winsome 'Sandra Benes' of 'Space:1999', is seen briefly as 'Mila', Gunther's girlfriend, a woman with the unfortunate habit of having a panic attack every time he uses the word 'suitcase' in her presence. As 'Carmela', future 'Gold Blend' coffee lady Sharon Mughan ( later to alter her surname slightly to 'Maughan' ) looks sexy enough to have been cast as one of Templar's numerous girlfriends.

So, yes, this is complete nonsense. Templar's showing Gayle round London is worth tuning in for alone. "Over there we have the Tower Of London...". I love the junk shop whose sign reads: 'Dillions Junk Shop'. Now there's honesty for you. Who thought Reggie Perrin was original when he conceived the idea for 'Grot'?

My late father took an instant dislike to the show when it was first broadcast. "That bloody Saint!", he raged: "Every week he's somewhere different. With a pretty girl on his arm! Where does he get his money from? I bet he doesn't have to work hard like I do!". I tried telling him it was meant to be escapism, but it was no use. He preferred the searing social reality of 'The Six Million Dollar Man'.

Nice climax in Big Ben although for excitement it loses out to Will Hay's last film - 'My Learned Friend' ( 1943 ).