"The Persuaders!" The Long Goodbye (TV Episode 1971) Poster

(TV Series)

(1971)

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8/10
Plane mysterious...
canndyman23 June 2020
Brett and Danny stumble onto the wreck of a light plane (complete with the now skeletal remains of its pilot) hidden deep in the wilds of Scotland, where it crashed a decade earlier. It appears the pilot was a professor who had discovered a secret formula which could be worth millions - which they also discover in the wreckage.

It appears the Judge had set them up for their Scottish vacation in the hope they'd find the missing plane on their travels - and it now seems there are various desperate parties vying for the formula, including more than one young woman who all claim to be the dead Professor's only daughter.

This is a memorable and enjoyable episode with a strong cast - not least the lovely actresses who have guest roles, including a fun appearance from Valerie Leon as the soap-promoting 'Space Queen', complete with roadworthy space buggy!

We also later see Peter Sallis - many years later of course to find international fame providing the more talkative half of the Wallace and Gromit duo. We also see Roger's young daughter Deborah Moore in a cameo as a schoolgirl. Danny's observational skills serve him well when he's taken hostage in a London taxi cab, and the pursuit by Brett is fun to watch as he desperately tries not to lose his partner. The story is intriguing, and keep you guessing till the end as we wait and see exactly who will end up with the hotly-desired formula.
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7/10
Easy on the eye
timsmith3720 December 2017
The plot is the usual fluff carried by the leads charm. but the episode is notable for the presence on screen of four iconic Seventies beauties: Valerie Leon, Madeline Smith, Anouska Hempel and Nicola Pagett.
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5/10
An unrealistic script that spoils it somewhat.
davidhiggins-8975613 January 2021
Warning: Spoilers
**Does contain spoilers** **Does contain spoilers**.

So we start off with the preposterousness of the Judge who has no particular hold upon these Multi millionaires in those later days, he gets them to romp around what I imagine is a large forest somewhere, we assume to be Scotland, or BS has a liking for wearing kilts.

They then find a downed single engine aircraft. Like more people would not have found it in the time span of 12 years! other than 1 who just happened to go tell the Judge, who was based in Europe wasn't he?.

The daughter we hear who was 9 at the time of her fathers demise in the crash, that happened 12 years previous. Thus making her around 21. So we then get 2 impostors & 1 real daughter who turn up.

These being the actors A Hemple, N Pagett and M Smith. Then aged around 30, 26 & 22, maybe each a year younger depending on the filming date. So other than Smith that particular part was not all that credible. We can 'add up' scriptwriters! and judge the age of people! even in those days.

Then we go on to this synthetic oil formula. That only 3rd party rogue entrepreneurs we see seem to know anything about it. Not the US, UK or European Governments who would desperately want it. The Judge not bothering to tell any Govt's about it at all, despite it being of great benefit to the World.

Not even DW an Oil Man puts in an offer anywhere along the way and then we all get the improbable ending situation where Pagett burns the only known copy of the formula (The judge not even taking a photocopy in case he loses it!). Burns it despite the worlds benefits & her own massive financial benefit. Not very likely.

A garbage script then, had to turn it all off in disgust just before the actual formula burning part as I knew we'd have this 'burning of the formula' malarkey towards the end. Such a simplistic unlikely ending.

I thought DW had a US based business to be getting on with. He just seems to fiddle around with BS based in London for months on end. Oh and SHOCKING security BS has at his London pad. Just one Yale lock that gets bypassed very often with no security system installed at all.

And just remembered too, also the implausibility of BS meeting the Rocket Car woman yet again, with DW just happening to come across an ice cream van again and some random school girl making a racket with a stick against some railings.

So all in all a highly unlikely script that script writers for their convenience did not mind insulting our intelligence. They used to do it all the time, maybe people were considered more 'thick' in those days.

Still looks like RM & TC had fun making the series, on the whole it is not too bad if watched in 720p or even in full HD if you can be bothered fiddling around with Blu-ray disks and of cause actually paying for them.

Many of these similar productions of Lew Grade & ITC , Man in a Suitcase, Randall & Hopkirk, Department S etc are well worth watching, Dep S is, especially if they can be seen in HD. I find it brings out the texture of the clothing, furnishings and scenery, making it even in these days well worth watching.

Lew Grade insisting the filming of these series of his in 35mm film was a great foresight. They convert very well into 1080p making them still a viable viewing option to binge on. He did well with most of the series his outfit brought out. The sinister UFO, 50 odd years on, still being about the best short term Sci-Fi series the UK has ever produced.

This particular Persuaders episode can't be worth more than 5 stars, even if the entire series is worth more. We get to see two very likeable actors having a bit of fun & getting paid for it. RM being RM & TC being TC, with random guest actors who usually went on to do other things. (Always best to obstruct your gaze of the brief opening guest star credit part of the credits, THEN there is a 'surprise' part to it all, making it usually more worth watching).

So 7 stars taken off then for the useless unrealistic script, but an appropriate two stars added on, for something that surely does not need elaborating on.
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