The Persuaders! Classic spy-fy TV retrospective (video).

Time to consider The Persuaders! – the spy-fi series where James Bond met Hollywood royalty and together they solved crimes, cracked wise, and wore more turtlenecks than should be legally allowed. Premiering in 1971, this gem of British TV starred Tony Curtis as the Bronx-bred, wise-cracking millionaire Danny Wilde and Roger Moore as Lord Brett Sinclair, a debonair aristocrat with the fashion sense of a man who owned every velvet suit in Europe. They were an odd couple crime-fighting duo, thrown together to tackle cases too bizarre (or too fabulous) for the police. Because who else would you call to handle international intrigue but two men whose greatest qualifications were charm, wealth, and the ability to deliver one-liners with surgical precision?

Created by Robert S. Baker, The Persuaders! was ITC’s last hoorah, a big-budget action-adventure spectacle from Lew Grade’s empire, which had churned out everything from The Prisoner to Thunderbirds—basically the Bond-lite training ground for Moore. This was his last stop on the TV express before slipping into the tuxedo of the world’s most famous secret agent. But instead of taking on shadowy villains like Blofeld, Moore’s Brett Sinclair was more interested in perfecting the art of the arched eyebrow and outrunning bad guys in a sports car that cost more than most houses at the time.

And speaking of mismatches, Tony Curtis and Roger Moore as on-screen partners was, let’s say, a creative decision. One was the embodiment of American New York cool, a guy who probably could’ve knocked back martinis with Sinatra. The other, Moore, was so British he practically bled tea. The result? Instant magic. Or at least, sometimes magic—when they weren’t reportedly bickering behind the scenes or disagreeing on who got the better close-up. But let’s be real, even when they weren’t getting along, they oozed more charisma in a single scene than most actors do in an entire career.

In between fights with mobsters, femme fatales, and vaguely European baddies, the show found time to showcase beautiful locales, absurd gadgets, and cars that looked like they’d been stolen from a Monaco Grand Prix lineup. Of course, being one of the last big-budget action series from ITC, the show didn’t skimp on the flash. Jet-setting from one glamorous location to the next, The Persuaders! was like a Bond film that had been cut into hour-long episodes and had all the espionage bits replaced with cocktail parties and car chases.

Behind the scenes, things weren’t exactly running smoothly. Despite The Persuaders! being an international hit with titles ranging from “De Speelvogels” in Belgium to “Die Zwei” in Germany, the show stumbled in the U.S. The Americans, it seemed, didn’t fully appreciate a series where every other scene was an excuse for Tony Curtis to throw a punchline and Roger Moore to throw on a new suit. Despite this, there were early plans for a second series—because, why wouldn’t you want more of this nonsense? Alas, it never came to pass, and instead, Moore slipped out of the velvet jackets and into the role of 007, leaving Danny Wilde to…well, probably lounge by a pool somewhere.

In the documentary The Morning After: Remembering The Persuaders!, cast and crew spill the beans on all the behind-the-scenes drama. Expect tales of run-ins with the law (we’re not saying Curtis and Moore were the inspiration for some of those escapades, but we’re not not saying it either), clashes between egos, and the constant struggle to break into the U.S. market. There’s even talk of the second season that never was, where Wilde and Sinclair would’ve presumably solved crimes on the moon or battled aliens in their ever-present Jaguars and Aston Martins. Missed opportunity, if you ask me.

But what made The Persuaders! truly special was its sense of style and swagger. The show may not have been the most logical or tightly written spy drama on television, but it didn’t need to be. It was about two larger-than-life characters living larger-than-life lives, solving crimes with a wink, a quip, and a perfectly timed punch. And for that, it’s a cult classic worth remembering—even if it was snobbar som jobbar in Sweden.

So, next time you’re in the mood for some 70s action-adventure fun that’s light on plot but heavy on style, fire up an episode of The Persuaders! Sit back, relax, and let Curtis and Moore remind you that solving international crime is best done with a raised eyebrow, a fast car, and a suit that makes you look like you just stepped out of Carnaby Street.