The Saint on TV

Episode 32: The Sporting Chance

"THE SPORTING CHANCE"

The Saint catches a very big fish when he goes on vacation to Canada. The
line he casts drags him into a plot to lure a German scientist back to the
East.

A fishing trip to a lake in Ontario brings Simon Templar, the Saint (ROGER
MOORE), into contact with a middle-aged German scientist named Professor
Mueller (GERARD HEINZ), but it is not until later that he discovers that
Mueller is, in fact, on his way back to East Germany. The Professor is
bitter at having been betrayed, he thinks, by the Canadian Government
because, he says, he agreed to defect to the West on one condition - that
his wife and daughter be brought out to him from East Berlin. He has waited
five years for the promise to be kept. Now he is preparing to return to the
East, and his contact is a man named Cleaver (BRANDON BRADY).

News reaches Canada that the Professor's wife and daughter have at last
escaped and are now safely in West Berlin, but efforts to contact Mueller
are in vain. The news is kept from him by Cleaver, and the new situation
means that plans have to be switched. The danger is increased for Cleaver
when he finds that the Professor and the Saint have struck up an
acquaintanceship.

It means the killing of an R.C.M.P. policeman and murder of an innocent old
man-of-all-jobs so that his body can be used to give the impression that the
Professor has been burned to death in a car smash.

The two killings lead the Saint to the man who is behind the plan to smuggle
the Professor out of the country - Julius Pavan (GODFREY QUIGLEY), master of
a timber empire which he built up through murder. Now the communists have
got the lowdown on him, and he has to play ball with them or be exposed.

His pretty secretary, Marion Kent (CAROL CLEVELAND), is persuaded by the
Saint to help him, and for her trouble is detected in what she is doing by
Pavan and whisked off to a remote fishing lake in the North with the
Professor.

The Russian escort arrives by seaplane. The Saint arrives at the same time,
but is overpowered. He is able, however, to reveal the truth to the
Professor. Once again, it is Marion who comes to the Saint's help....... and
the Saint, using his fishing prowess, dramatically hooks the biggest fish of
his life in saving the Professor from being forcibly taken to the seaplane.

CAST

Starring

ROGER MOORE as SIMON TEMPLAR

With
DERREN NESBITT as NETCHIDEFF
GERARD HEINZ as PROFESSOR MUELLER
GODFREY QUIGLEY as PAVAN
CAROL CLEVELAND as MARION KENT
BRANDON BRADY as CLEAVER

And
HARRY WEBSTER as BEAVER JOHNSON
BRUCE BOA as JACK WILLIAMS
NICHOLAS STUART as INSPECTOR HACKETT
NAN MARRIOT-WATSON as MRS. WHICKER
WILLIAM BUCK as DETECTIVE GORMAN
EVAN THOMAS as DR. BEAMISH

Produced by Robert S. Baker and Monty Berman
Directed by Jeremy Summers
Screenplay by John Kruse