Diagonaldi Very well executed

Majorthebys Charming and brutal

Kodie Bird True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Miles-10 This TV show had regulars Robert Vaughn as Harry Rule, Nyree Dawn Porter as Contessa Caroline di Contini and Tony Anholt as Paul Buchet, attractive, professional "artists" (as actors on this show are always styled), who wore stylish (for the early seventies) clothes and appeared to be in an exotic European locale in every episode. John Hough's commentary on the pilot episode for the DVD instructively informs us that Gus, as Harry's Dog, just wouldn't hit his mark when cued, and he ended up mainly in the opening credits. It was just as well. With only 25 minutes to tell a story, Harry had no time for a love life let alone a dog. He may not always have had time to change outfits, either: at the beginnings of episodes five and six, Vaughn appears to be wearing the same yellow turtleneck and sport coat.Vaughn and his co-stars apparently wished they could development their characters' personal lives more, but it was rightly more important to focus on the action. Not that I feel that I missed very much by not seeing any of this series until recently. Now, having watched the first six episodes, I will probably never watch another episodes. This might be unfortunate since somebody thinks the 19th episode of the first series is especially good. I'll have to survive. But that does remind me that the actor—sorry—artist, Derren Nesbitt, who appears in both the 19th episode which I haven't seen as well as the 4th episode, which I have, had me going with his accent. I thought his character, Brad, was British, although I wasn't sure, until two things happened at once: he asked a French garage attendant for "gas" instead of "petrol" at the same time that a radio report—in English—announced that police were looking for an American fitting Nesbitt's physicals description. The attendant, who didn't seem to speak English, understood the news report and the description. Hmmm. At least we found out that Brad was supposed to be American.

P_Cornelius This series almost works. Almost. But thirty minutes (or, rather, 25 minutes of runtime) just aren't enough. I always thought Robert Vaughn and Nyree Dawn Porter had the beginnings of a strong on-screen chemistry. But it never really happened. And it wasn't just because of the background presence of Gerry Anderson, whose sci-fi series cast with humans (UFO and Space: 1999) often rivaled his puppet populated sci-fi series, such as Fireball XL5, for stiffness and lifeless performances. No, it was mainly a matter that just as soon as Harry and the Contessa began even the mildest of banter the producers had to move the story along to get in all the action scenes and wrap things up at the end of a half hour.Otherwise, the makers of the series seem to be flying by the seat of their pants throughout. And this is not necessarily a bad thing. There are lots of interesting and even novel, for the time, camera shots and action sequences. All in all, not a bad way to spend a half hour. For all its faults, there is more imagination in the shooting of The Protectors than there is in most of the static drama series on TV today.

thekennelman There have been a few Hollywood-star-comes-to-Britain crime series, if that counts as a genre. Walter Pigeon's ‘Bulldog Drummond' being an early and excellent example. ‘Man in a suitcase' ‘The Persuaders' & ‘Dempster and Makepeace' were others of more variable quality. This is the most forgettable of the lot. Inevitably the star soaks up the budget, and everything else looks shabby because of it. At the time us hormone fuelled teenagers were more interested in Nyree Dawn Porter and overlooked the tatty and wobbly interiors, inferior locations and duff direction and editing. These days however it looks dated and weak and even Robert Vaughan cannot lift it. I always let the opening titles run before switching over however, to see that yellow car (an Opal?) rolling lazily over and over almost in time to the theme music.

Thomas E. Reed I remember seeing this series in Saint Louis, running as the last thing Sunday night. As an old fan of "The Man from UNCLE," I was curious to see Robert Vaughn playing an older, cynical, grouchier version of Napoleon Solo. Vaughn's personal liberal sentiments occasionally showed through, in one episode involving a military intelligence case. His Harry Rule character showed nothing but contempt for the way the military operated and its goals.On the other hand, there was a small amount of goofiness. One episode I recall had Rule and his Italian costar stopping a neo-Nazi plot. Instead of contributing the gold they seized that was intended to revive the Third Reich to a charity cause, they stuck it in a Swiss bank. Not precisely heroic behavior.One other note: Faberge, the perfume company, made the series (it was "A Brut Production") and the show contained a lot of "barter" spots for the Brut line of men's care products.