"The Persuaders!" Read and Destroy (1972)

Director:

Roy Ward Baker

Writer:

Peter Yeldham (screenplay)

TV Series:

"The Persuaders!" (1971)

Original Air Date:

28 January 1972 (Season 1, Episode 20)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Playboy | British Lord | Cult TV | Retired Judge | British Countryside

Cast

Tony Curtis	...	Danny Wilde
Roger Moore	...	Lord Brett Sinclair
Joss Ackland	...	Felix Meadowes
Nigel Green	...	John Cavendish
Kate O'Mara	...	Heidi Schulman
William Mervyn	...	Sir Charles Worthington
Magda Konopka	...	Ingrid Meadowes
Harvey Hall	...	Col Ivan Ivanov
George Merritt	...	Chivers
Carl Bohen	...	Dieter Schultz (as Carl Bohun)
Elliott Sullivan	...	Joe Pfeiffer
Brian Hayes	...	Benson

Runtime:

52 min

Filming Locations:

Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Television Reporters International Tribune

Read and Destroy

Spy-for-Hire, Felix Meadowes (played by Joss Ackland) is being exchanged for a Communist spy captured by the West at a remote border crossing. The United States and Great Britian both play a role in retrieving Felix from the East, but with mixed emotions. Felix manages to escape from both East and West when gunshots disrupt the prisoner exchange. Everyone is after the memoirs that Felix was in the process of writing before he was captured by the Soviets.

Felix turns to his old school chum, Brett Sinclair, to help him lay low until the excitement settles down. The British government contacts Brett to obtain the memoirs before Felix can sell the manuscript of top secret information to the highest bidder. The United States operative, an occasional employer of Felix Meadowes, ask Danny Wilde to obtain the manuscript before anyone else, including Brett Sinclair.

One of the best surprises of the episode was the character of Chivers, the butler played by George Merritt. He manages to steal most of the scenes away from Tony Curtis and Roger Moore.