(1)  Harry Pottle - Art Director (issue 10)
(2)  Roy Ward Baker - Director of 4 Persuaders episodes  (issue 10)
(3)  Johnny Goodman - executive 'in charge of Production' (issue 5)

Please keep in mind that what follows are heavily edited versions of the interviews. This page is meant as a sampler for what can be found amongst the pages of The Morning After fanzine.
 

HARRY POTTLE
 

Question 1  :  How did you get the job of Art Director on The Persuaders?

Pottle  :  I took it over from Charlie Bishop, mainly because Charlie lived on the other side of Elstree. He was also much more Monty Berman's boy rather than Bob Baker's.

When they did The Persuaders of course they did it at Pinewood and then Monty Berman signed-up to do another series, Jason King, I think...Johnny phoned me and said "Would you like to do The Persuaders?"...I'd never worked with Johnny or Bob Baker for that matter and the only time I used to see them was when I was working on The Avengers at EMI and they were doing their series (The Saint -BC)

Question 7  :  Did Bob Baker or Johnny Goodman have to approve of your designs before they went into production?

Pottle  :  No! all they were really interested in was the budget. There was a chap at ITC who used to do sporadic checks to see what was going on...when I took over from Charlie we had a construction budget of 40,000 pounds I think. We were running at about 42,000 or 43,000 pounds and it was obvious we'd never make 40,000 pounds.

I'd worked on several ITC films before so I knew the guy and the next time he came in...I said..."I'm afraid it's costing (more)". He said "that's okay", and that was that
.
Johnny was always coming to me saying, "Bob's worried about the cost" and I told him that I'd sorted it out and...it was as if you'd gone over their heads to talk to Lew Grade's man.

...I remember Johnny pacing up and down outside my office. He came in and said, "I don't care if you are a friend, you are going to get a bollocking!...Bob says the sets are too good for television".
Well I said, "He could have said they were too expensive or too lavish or do I have to do worse?" Johhny looked very surprised, "Oh, I'll go and see Bob" he said. I just found the whole thing amusing.

Question 9  :  Did you get to meet Roger or Tony during production?

Pottle  :  Yes, I re-designed the interior of Roger's house at that time...socially we used to meet and it was fun, although it wasn't Roger Moore the actor, it was Roger Moore the person.

Tony was a slightly different proposition because he used to come in and sit there doing little sketches. It was really fascinating. He used to go off the page. I said, "Why do you do those?". He said, "Well, I've got all these books which I've done all the time I've worked and you meet a lot of people and a lot of things happen and you can turn to a page and see one of those drawings and it's better than any photograph. It's quite true actually, I can do the same. It was really a good idea actually.

this is all you get of this interview. moving right along...
 

ROY WARD BAKER

Question 2  :  Was it any different directing an epidsode of The Persuaders compared to directing an episode of The Champions, Department S or any other ITC series?

Baker  :  In a sense 'no' because all those series were jolly entertaining pieces with adventure, a light touch and a certain amount of humour too...The style didn't really matter. The main thing that altered was the leading characters, whoever that happened to be and what the general press on that leading character was based.
The Avengers obviously had a very pronounced style of its own, which I enjoyed very much. (goes on to talk about aspects of The Avengers production)

Question 3  : The Persuaders was Tony Curtis' first TV series. Because he was such a huge Hollywood star at the time, were you in any way overwhelmed by his presence?

Baker  :  No, not at all. By that time I'd made 20 movies with some very big stars including Marilyn Monroe, Richard Widmark and even Uncle Tom Cobbly (who the hell is he? - BC). I was a 'star' director so that was something that never occurred to me...
...Tony Curtis was alright. One thing that impressed me was his technical facility was superb. He knew exactly where the camera was, he instinctively knew where the cuts were coming, where there was going to be a close-up. He could see the scenes in exactly the same way as I could...
...His behaviour at some times was quite irrational and erratic but never erratic to the camera.
I remember one thing on The Gold Napoleon, we were doing some stuff at the back of the studio and there was this very tall building. The character had to climb up the building and walk along the parapet. I was setting up two cameras and he wandered off with a couple of the stuntmen saying, "I'm just gonna work this thing out with the boys."  Before I knew where I was, he was actually doing it, because he always did his own stunts. He was very bold but he knew what he was doing.
...Roger was extremely quick on his feet - a very nimble character, very quick mind and so anything Curtis could get up to, he could get up to something else and he had no problems.
It was never going to develop into a partnership or into a double-act.

Question 5  :  In your opinion, what were the strongest points of The Persuaders?

Baker  :  There was one good thing about The Persuaders. In the old days when it started in 1962 (presumably referring to the early days of his ITC association - BC)...I'd never done anything for TV before but there was a lot of talk at the time about how different it was compared to the movie(s)...They were made on a very low budget but they were quite expensive in a way. They were done in old-fashioned movie-studio terms. You had sets built for everything, very little location work and what there was was inthe highways and byways of Borehamwood or the back-lot...
...By the time we get to The Persuaders which was 1970, eight years later, this whole business of what I used to call, Lord Grade's Great Film Fun Factory was really churning them out...there was a tremendous amount of confidence in the thing. They were selling all over the World. All this was beginning to build-up into a very big business so they had to spend more money.
The great thing about The Persuaders was that the casts were very expensive. They were paying top money for top people, even in small parts, whereas in the beginning (of ITC's productions - BC), you had perfectly sound actors but no real sort of spark.

Question 17  :  What do you feel about The Morning After (the club - not the episode - BC)

Baker  :  If it wasn't for people like yourselves the TV and film industry would be nowhere. I have seen the magazine and it is where I got hold of The Saint book by Tony Mechele & Dick Fiddy through the 'marketplace' section. The current issue is downstairs in the office at the moment.

the Roy Ward Baker interview, like that of Harry Pottle, is quite lengthy and very insightful. RWB's ITC directing credits are included at the conclusion of the interview.
 

JOHNNY GOODMAN

Question  :  Do you think The Persuaders would have been such a cult series with two different actors in the roles of Brett and Danny?

Goodman  :  The original actor in line for Tony Curtis' role was Glenn Ford but his mother was taken ill and he wouldn't leave Los Angeles. I think the series might have worked well with two different stars but in the event we were fortunate to have the two we ended up with.

Question  :  Locations are always a favourite of Persuaders afficionado's, can you recall the locations used for Brett's apartment; Greensleeves; South of France?

Goodman  :  Brett's apartment in The Persuaders was of course built in the studio's (he is referring to the interiors. the location and pictures of the real building used for the exteriors, check-out 'The Morning After' issue 8 - BC), but we did quite a lot of location work both in England and the South of France.
For Vendetta for the Saint, Malta doubled for Italy and Roger was unbelievably popular there. They used to surround the hotel for hours at night yelling and screaming for him to come out. In the mornings we had to form a flying-wedge to crash through the fans and get Roger into the car to head for work.

Question  :  If you could turn the clock back and start a second series of 24 episodes with Tony and Roger as The Persuaders, would you do it?

Goodman  :  The answer to this question is categorically 'yes'! With all the trials and tribulations it was an exciting and fun series to work on, particularly as Bob Baker, Roger Moore and I were partners in the production company and got on so well together.

Question  :  In your own opinion, why is The Persuaders still such a hit 20 years on?

Goodman  :  The Persuaders was an alternative to the mass of realistic kitchen-sink type of shows that still predominate. I think the public still enjoy having a change of diet with glamorous and handsome actors and actresses, plus exotic locations and dished-up with a fine sense of humour. If we could put the clock back as far as our ages are concerned and make the same show today with the same cast, I am convinced we would be as big a hit.
 

so endeth the sampling of interviews that can be had by purchasing a subscription to The Morning After - the only official Persuaders club in existence