The Baron

For other uses of "The Baron" or "Baron", see Baron (disambiguation).

The Baron
Format	Action Drama
Created by	John Creasey (source) Monty Berman Robert S. Baker
Developed by	Terry Nation
Starring	Steve Forrest Sue Lloyd Colin Gordon Paul Ferris
Theme music composer	Edwin Astley
Composer(s)	Edwin Astley
Country of origin	UK
Language(s)	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	30 (List of episodes)
Production
Producer(s)	Monty Berman
Running time	49 mins
Production company(s)	ITC production
Broadcast
Original channel	ITV
Picture format	Film 35mm 4:3 Colour
Audio format	Mono
Original run	28 September 1966 – 19 April 1967

The Baron is a British television series, made in 1965/66 based on the book series by John Creasey, written under the pseudonym Anthony Morton, and produced by ITC Entertainment. It was the first ITC show without marionettes to be produced entirely in colour. (Previous ITC series Stingray and Thunderbirds had been filmed in colour, while The Adventures of Sir Lancelot in 1956-57 had the last fourteen of its thirty episodes shot in colour and Man of the World 1962 pilot episode was also filmed in colour.)

Plot outline

The show starred American Steve Forrest as John Mannering, an antiques dealer and undercover agent working in an informal capacity for the head of the fictional British Diplomatic Intelligence, Templeton-Green (Colin Gordon). Paul Ferris was originally cast as Mannering's assistant David Marlowe. However after pressure from the US network Marlowe was dropped in favour of the more glamorous Cordelia (Sue Lloyd) who was in the first episode.

In Creasey's original novels Mannering was British and, after the few first entries, married. In transforming him into a bachelor and casting a Texan in the role, the producers decided that 'The Baron' would be nicknamed after the cattle ranch once run by his grandfather. In the books he was a reformed jewel-thief (the first few novels described that "career" from Mannering's decision to steal to his going straight) whose criminal ties served him well in investigating jewel, art or antiques-oriented mysteries.

Cast and characters

• Steve Forrest....John Mannering AKA "The Baron"
• Sue Lloyd....Cordelia Winfield
• Colin Gordon....John Alexander Templeton-Green
• Paul Ferris....David Marlowe

Production credits

• Producer - Monty Berman
• Script Supervision - Terry Nation
• Production Supervisor - Johnny Goodman
• Music - Edwin Astley

Production

Like other ITC shows, The Baron shared a lot of its production crew with the other productions of the time (Danger Man, The Saint etc.), including guest cast members Peter Wyngarde and Bernard Lee, and directors Roy Ward Baker and Robert Asher. The lion's share of the scripts were by Dennis Spooner and Dalek creator Terry Nation. A few episodes were written by 'Tony O'Grady', none other than The Avengers writer-producer Brian Clemens under a pseudonym.

The character of Mannering was like Simon Templar, a member of the jet set, whose glamorous lifestyle was typified by the (at the time) still-exclusive air travel to exotic locations. However filming never left the UK; indeed was filmed chiefly in and around Elstree Studios in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire. Locations used included Haberdashers' Aske's School, St. Albans and Ivinghoe Beacon. These featured prominently in several other ITC series of the same era. The backlot at Elstree in particular was extensively used, being transformed alternately into Mannering's antiques shop, a Mexican town, a Parisian nightclub, an East European police station and many others besides.

As with other ITC series, the American market was vital, and several episodes were overdubbed (e.g. 'petrol' becoming 'gas', 'whisky' becoming 'scotch') to ensure it was fit for US audiences. Unfortunately despite a promising start it did not do well enough on the US network and was syndicated midway through its run. This effectively ensured no second series would be made even though it was well received in the UK.

The Baron's car was a silver Jensen CV-8 Mk II with the registration 'BAR 1'. Unlike the Volvo driven by The Saint, the exclusivity of the car meant the series did not generate the same sales boost as The Saint had done for Volvo. Cordelia drove a considerably less upmarket Daf 33.

The episode "Something For A Rainy Day" featured a clip of the now-famous white Jaguar plummeting over a cliff. It was apparently filmed for this episode but was deemed so expensive the clip went on to be used in many episodes and series later, effectively becoming an in-joke.^{[citation needed]} Whenever someone got in a white Jaguar it inevitably ended in doom!

The episode '"Portrait of Louisa" was a reworking by Terry Nation of his earlier script for an episode of The Saint entitled "Lida".

Episode list

Filmed July 1965 -October 1966 on location and at Elstree Studios.

Airdate is for ATV Midlands. ITV regions varied date and order.

Episode #	Prod #	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original airdate	Filmed
1	104	"Diplomatic Immunity"	Leslie Norman	Dennis Spooner	28 September 1966	Aug/Sept 1965
A girl steals a valuable Faberge minature from Mannering's London shop and claims diplomatic immunity in the Pamaranean embassy. She is known to British Intelligence's head, Templeton-Green, who is investigating a number of antique thefts. Mannering to get his Faberge back agrees to go to Pamaranea where he is assisted by Templeton-Green's local agent Cordelia Winfield. Stars Dora Reisser.
2	107	"Epitath for a Hero"	John Moxey	Terry Nation	5 October 1966	Oct 1965
3	109	"Something for a Rainy Day"	Cyril Frankel	Terry Nation	12 October 1966	Nov/Dec 1965
4	102	"Red Horse, Red Rider"	John Moxey	Terry Nation	19 October 1966	Aug 1965
5	110	"Enemy of the State"	Jeremy Summers	Dennis Spooner	26 October 1966	Dec 1965
6	114	"Masquerade (part one)"	Cyril Frankel	Terry Nation	2 November 1966	Feb/Mar 1966
7	115	"The Killing (part two)"	Cyril Frankel	Terry Nation	9 November 1966	Feb/Mar 1966
8	108	"The Persuaders"	Leslie Norman	Dennis Spooner	16 November 1966	Oct 1965
9	112	"And Suddenly You're Dead"	Cyril Frankel	Terry Nation and Dennis Spooner	23 November 1966	Jan 1966
10	103	"The Legions of Ammak"	John Moxey	Michael Cramoy	30 November 1966	Aug 1965
11	101	"Samurai West"	John Moxey	Brian Degas	7 December 1966	July 1965
12	123	"The Maze"	Jeremy Summers	Tony O'Grady aka Brian Clemens	14 December 1966	Jun/July 1966
13	105	"Portrait of Louisa"	John Moxey	Terry Nation	21 December 1966	Sept 1965
14	111	"There's Somebody Close Behind You"	Roy Baker	Terry Nation and Dennis Spooner	28 December 1966	Dec 1965
15	125	"Storm Warning (part 1)"	Gordon Flemyng	Terry Nation	4 January 1967	Jul/Aug 1966
16	126	"The Island (part 2)"	Gordon Flemyng	Terry Nation	11 January 1967	Jul/Aug 1966
17	121	"Time to Kill"	Jeremy Summers	Dennis Spooner	18 January 1967	May/Jun 1966
18	113	"A Memory of Evil"	Don Chaffey	Terry Nation and Dennis Spooner	25 January 1967	Jan/Feb 1966
19	117	"You Can't Win Them All"	Don Chaffey	Dennis Spooner	1 February 1967	Apr 1966
20	128	"The High Terrace"	Robert Asher	Dennis Spooner	8 February 1967	Sep 1966
21	118	"The Seven Eyes of Night"	Robert Asher	Terry Nation	15 February 1967	Apr 1966
22	124	"Night of the Hunter"	Roy Baker	Terry Nation	22 February 1967	Jul 1966
23	120	"The Edge of Fear"	Quentin Lawrence	Dennis Spooner	1 March 1967	May 1966
24	116	"Long Ago and Far Away"	Robert Asher	Dennis Spooner	8 March 1967	Apr/May 1966
25	122	"So Dark the Night"	Robert Tronson	Terry Nation and Dennis Spooner	15 March 1967	Jun 1966
26	119	"The Long, Long Day"	Roy Baker	Tony O'Grady aka Brian Clemens	22 March 1967	Apr/May 1966
27	127	"Roundabout"	Robert Tronson	Terry Nation	29 March 1967	Aug/Sep 1966
28	129	"The Man Outside"	Roy Baker	Terry Nation	5 April 1967	Sep 1966
29	130	"Countdown"	Robert Asher	Terry Nation	12 April 1967	Oct 1966
30	106	"Farewell to Yesterday"	Leslie Norman	Harry W Junkin	19 April 1967	Oct 1965

Films

Two films were put together for European cinema distribution by ITC these were compiled from the two part episodes. Mystery Island was a re-edit of the episodes "Storm Warning" (the pilot episode)and "The Island" whilst The Man in a Looking Glass was a combination of "Masquerade" and "The Killing".

This led to further European releases of ITC film compilations in the sixties for The Saint, Man in a Suitcase and Danger Man.

DVD releases

The series was released by Network Video on Region 2 and by Umbrella Video (Australia) on Region 0 DVD. Commentaries were recorded by Sue Lloyd, Johnny Goodman and Cyril Frankel amongst others.

In Region 1, Entertainment One released the complete series on DVD on 10 March 2009.

External links

• The Baron at the Internet Movie Database
• The Baron at TV.com