The Baron

One of the better British formulaic series with the near mandatory American lead actor. Steve Forrest portrayed a charming very Texan antique dealer/undercover agent living in England. Forrest provided a solid presence that allowed the show to appeal to the US audience but somehow The Baron did not gather the anticipated audience. Somehow in SWAT Forrest never seemed as complete a character as he did playing Mannering. I recall envying Mannering his wealth, sophistication but most of all I envied him the real star of this show: the unique, incomparable lead *car*. Mannering drove a Jensen Interceptor. It was years later that I saw in real life this wonderful Chrysler V8 powered Aston-Martin competitor and saw that The Baron and his car were perfectly matched, much more so than The Saint (Roger Moore) and his Volvo or The Saint (Ian Ogilvey) and his Jaguar XJS. Besides, these were commonplace compared to a powerful and elegant Jensen Interceptor.

I know that my mark is nostalgia-influenced, but I really can't mark down any of the 60's ITC escapist adventure series as they were such a fun part of my childhood, watching classic shows like The Avengers, The Saint, Randall & Hopkirk Deceased, The Champions, Man In A Suitcase, Department S, The Persuaders and this.

Yes, The Baron is a minor-league Simon Templar, a globe-trotting adventurer with an unlikely cover as an antiques dealer who invariably ends up in some foreign intrigue, yes, the production values are fairly low, with studio-bound sets and stock footage of international airports dropped in to futilely attempt to convince the audience the locations are authentic but it's all shot briskly and efficiently, routinely delivering 50 minutes of easily digestible thrills and spills before the stirring theme music comes around again to signal the end (almost every ITC show and certainly the ones I mentioned above all had memorable theme tunes).

Steve Forrest, brother of Dana Andrews, lacks his sibling's personality and charisma but otherwise makes for an acceptable, well-dressed, chisel-jawed leading man while Sue Lloyd provided the glamour, parading the fashions of the day with no little humour, although she invariably is reduced to playing the damsel in distress, no Emma Peel her.

The Baron is a somewhat derivative and fairly light entertainment and probably wouldn't appeal much to anyone who doesn't, like me, remember first watching it on a black and white TV as a child in the mid-60's. But that child was me and decades later, I still can't bring myself to criticise it too much for all its derivation and lack of originality.

I.T.C. made 'The Baron' as a follow-up to 'The Saint' series starring Roger Moore. Terry Nation, Dennis Spooner and Brian Clemens ignored John Creasey's books and invented wholly original plots. Some such as 'Storm Warning/The Island' had a strong 'U.N.C.L.E./Avengers' flavour. The casting of Steve Forrest as 'John Mannering' worked because there were no previous screen incarnations to judge him by. As per the books, Mannering owned an antiques shop in London, but was now a part-time agent for British Intelligence, headed by John Templeton-Greene ( Colin Gordon ), hence the scope of the plots ran from crime to espionage to mystery. The presence of luscious Sue Lloyd ( as 'Cordelia' ) further distanced the show from the Moore series. While 'The Baron' failed to replicate the success of 'The Saint' in the U.S.A., it remains an enormously entertaining show and the only screen incarnation of the character to date. It also has one of Edwin Astley's best theme tunes!

'The Baron' series of novels was written/published between 1937 ('Meet the Baron') and 1979 ('Love for the Baron'), with a total of 47 books in the series. John Creasey also wrote the novels upon which 'Gideon's Way' was based, as well as several hundred other mainly detective novels, under a number of pseudonyms. They are all reprinted now under the authorship of John Creasey (when they ARE reprinted...)

It's curious that he's not credited here for The Baron series, as many of the character names and the basic plot are directly from the novels.

This show was made several years before my time, but I enjoy it immensely. I have always been a Steve Forrest fan. He was a such a hunky dreamboat, with tall, rugged handsome looks. I thought he suited the role of the charismatic playboy John Mannering to a tee. I like Sue Lloyd as an actress, but I have to say her talents were wasted as Cordelia. Her character was totally incompetent, and after a while it became tiresome to know Mannering would have to rescue her in just about every episode. I preferred his other assistant, David, who had at times also needed rescuing, but had the ability to problem solve and help Mannering out. I understand the audience wanted to see eye candy, therefore making the David character expendable and elevating Cordelia to be featured in the bulk of the 29 episodes.

I wish we could have seen more of Templeton Green, I liked the uneasy relationship he and Mannering had. Mannering would always show a reluctance in taking on Templeton's assignments. You also get to see some top notch actors guest starring in the series, such as the wonderful Peter Wyngarde, who does an excellent job playing dual roles in the episode The Legions of Ammack. I was also pleasantly surprised to see Edward Woodward guest star as a villain in Countdown. Most people remember Woodward as the vigilante in The Equalizer; a popular American series in the 1980s that took place in New York City.

I am sad The Baron had such a short expiration date, this wonderful series ended before its time.