A Death in the Family

Aug 21

Just watched all 24 episodes of The Persuaders and it appears i agree with the majority that this is the best episode.

Just played for laughs, apparently the idea came from Kind Hearts and Coronets.

Featuring Willie Rushton and Denholm Elliott

By the way i really like the whole series, but this is the best episode

9 out of 10.

In this version of the classic film 'Kind Hearts and Coronets', members of Brett Sinclair's family are being murdered to stop them gaining the title of duke. But who is the killer?

Like the earlier film, this mystery is presented with a light touch. There are also some interesting demises for the relatives - one or two almost Shakespearean. Guest stars include Denholm Elliott, Willie Rushton, and in a nod again to the Ealing classic, Roger Moore plays his own elderly aunt.

With guns, poison, bombs, dummies, bagpipes and many other things featuring in the plot, this episode keeps you guessing and keeps you smiling. The odd couple of Moore as Brett Sinclair and Tony Curtis as brash American Danny works well, and the cast look as if they are having a great time.

Somebody is killing off the members of the Sinclair clan. Just so they can be the next in line to inherit Sinclair title and fortune.

This is the Persuaders doing 'Kind Hearts and Coronets' and the story is penned by Terry Nation.

It is up to Brett Sinclair to protect his family members and for Danny Wilde to help out.

Both do an abysmal job, leaving their charges unprotected in vital moments.

With a guest cast that includes Diane Cilento, Denholm Elliott and Willie Rushton. As well as Roger Moore playing one of Brett's aunt.

This should had been good. Instead it is pretty awful in places like the ending with the bomb.

The episode just descends into something more juvenile.

Death stalks members of the Sinclair family and it's up to Brett and Daniel to find the murderer. While not a difficult whodunit to figure out, the supporting cast makes this an enjoyable episode.

Ivor Dean, better know for his role of Inspector Claud Eustace Teal in The Saint, plays a minor role as the local undertaker. William Ruston, who had a role in "Those Magnificent Men and Their Flying Machines, is one of Brett Sinclair's eccentric uncles. Denholm Elliot, who played Marcus Brody in the Indiana Jones movies, plays Brett's cousin from Australia. Roger Moore helps to round out the supporting cast with portrayals of other members of the Sinclair line. His role as Brett's hard-of-hearing aunt is fun to watch.

That's definitely the best episode of the series which the opening scene evokes THE AVENGERS series style. And the first victim character, played by Roger Moore, is of course a tribute to Alec Guiness' KING HEART AND CORONETS, I can't imagine anything different. This episode is my favourite, with A QUIET PLACE. It is funny, inventive, for instance the wine tank sequence is also, I suppose, a tribute to the movie TOWER OF LONDON. There is also a mystery element that was not in other episodes. Plus this episode is directed by Leslie Norman and Sidney Hayers; very strange. If there is one episode that you must absolutely watch, this is this one.