The first official English-speaking-market video's of episodes of The Persuaders  were released by Precision Video in the early 80's. 4 tapes were released - each consisting of two episodes edited together into one programme. These 'films' had been originally compiled for the American TV market in 1976 each having its own distinct umbrella title with opening and closing titles re-jigged to reflect a single 'movie' look.

When Precision ceased to be a going concern innovative video distributor, Channel 5 Home Video, secured the rights to the 'features' and reissued all but one of them - The Switch.

For a more detailed look at the Precision & Channel 5 video's, follow this link.

 
THE COMPLETE EPISODES
About ten years after the general advent of home-video, The Persuaders were finally released in uncut, quality-transfer form. The tapes were released first in the UK then in several non-English-speaking countries with each market generally followed the pattern of 2 episodes per tape across 12 volumes - the episodes on each volume varying from country to country.

The most notable exception to this pattern occurred in France where the video release of Amicalement Votre saw three episodes per tape over 8 volumes. However, the most striking aspect of the French release is it is clearly the most collectable issue of all world-wide releases - 2 sets of 4 tapes with each set presented in a box adorned with images from the opening titles of The Persuaders. If that was not enough, the individual tape sleeves themselves also utilise the Persuaders 'frame' from the opening titles. As a further bonus, there was a limited edition Picture CD included which contained the original stereo theme by John Barry. More information and pictures of the French set can be found by following the link in the video sleeves section below.

In the third quarter of 2000, Carlton Entertainment (who had purchased the ITC catalogue several months earlier), began releasing The Persuaders! on VHS and DVD. The first stage of release saw 2 vhs tapes and 1 dvd disc issued. The release schedule is spread over a few years which is not a desirable situation for collectors desperate to complete their collections. DVD information and disc reviews can be found in a special DVD section accessable via the Digital Versatile Disc link in the Home Video menu.

special note: to my knowledge, The Persuaders have never been released on either PAL or NTSC laserdisc.

VIDEO SLEEVES