The Poppy Chain

Episode aired Oct 29, 1978
49m

IMDb RATING

6.9/10

YOUR RATING

Jenny Hanley and Laurence Naismith in Return of the Saint (1978)

Adventure Crime

Jane Platt, sister of the Saint's girlfriend Sandi, dies from a shot of impure heroin. Her father, a retired general, is bristling for revenge but the Saint prevents him and travels to the C... Read allJane Platt, sister of the Saint's girlfriend Sandi, dies from a shot of impure heroin. Her father, a retired general, is bristling for revenge but the Saint prevents him and travels to the Camargue, home of a ruthless family of drug racketeers headed by Scorbesi and his son Domin... Read allJane Platt, sister of the Saint's girlfriend Sandi, dies from a shot of impure heroin. Her father, a retired general, is bristling for revenge but the Saint prevents him and travels to the Camargue, home of a ruthless family of drug racketeers headed by Scorbesi and his son Dominic who control the traffic of drugs into London. The Saint plans to stop them for good.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.9/10

YOUR RATING

3User reviews

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos3

User reviews3

6.945

Featured reviews

5Prismark10

The Poppy Chain

Laurence Naismith is retired General Platt who launches a one man crusade after his daughter dies of a drug overdose.

Simon Templar is going out with Sandi, the general's other daughter.

General Platt discovers that a bowler hatted man is peddling drugs. He has a lead that takes him to Marseille.

It only interrupts the Saint who is already in Marseille posing as a drug trafficker but his cover is blown.

A gritty episode, there was a nice switcheroo when it came to the identity of the bowler hatted man. Of course there was no way Christopher Timothy was playing an extra.

The Saint and the General are a two man army taking on the French connection. It was a bit ridiculous and hokey.

The episode was directed by Charles Crichton who was Oscar nominated as best director for a Fish Called Wanda in the late 1980s.

8andrew-87-904401

The Gentleman

The drug-related death of a young woman leads the Saint to the Gent, a local London dealer, and onto much bigger events abroad. The Saint's drugs ring infiltrating persona reminded me of Hugh Grant's cocky character in Guy Richie's The Gentleman. He is helped by the girl's reactionary and volatile father, a retired general. Enjoyable, action packed, and international. It has the gritty, realistic feel of the rest of the series thanks to the advent of smaller, lighter cameras. There are no obvious films sets or green screens, which keep it looking modern. This really does set it apart from Roger Moore's 1960s Saint.

6coltras35

Ok episode

Being an old fashioned series with a saintly charm, The return of the Saint updates itself by being edgy, a little gritty and blatant in its show of drug use - at least in this episode. Which is very much like the professionals, though instead of Bodie and Doyle you got the Saint and Laurence Naismith taking on the drug dealers. A sort of youth and experience come together for a common cause. It's not a great episode, but it's watchable, bolstered by the action and performances.

Did you know

Edit

Trivia
The General (played by Laurence Naismith) says at the end , to help combat injustice "what we need is a small team...couple will do". Naismith also played Judge Fulton in the Persuaders (1971) who controlled a small team of two, Danny Wilde and Lord Brett Sinclair alias Tony Curtis and Sir Roger Moore .

Goofs
At about 15 minutes General Platt is loitering on a walkway, the Museum of London in the background. Around him are multiple extras holding up umbrellas. The problem is it's a clear dry day with no evidence of rain at all. Also the Saint is driving down a bone dry road just around the corner.

Quotes
Simon Templar: You have upset a nest full of hornets out there and they are buzzing. Do you have any idea how quickly things can change in this game? Within 24 hours the heavy mob will have obliterated their present organisation and started up a new one. When I say obliterated, I really mean obliterated. If the Gent is alive today, he'll surely be dead tomorrow. And that rather screws up your plan, doesn't it?