#deafening silence throughout this ep: Ed is of course white. his various ministers and other government officials who oppose him are all

[mariocki]

Edward Woodward guest stars as Jack Liskard, Prime Minister of an unspecified African country and the target of multiple assassination attempts, in The Saint: The Persistent Patriots (5.15, ITC, 1967)

#fave spotting #edward woodward #callan #the saint #the persistent patriots #1967 #david callan #classic tv #eddy is the named guest star for this episode but actually he wasn't really the household name he would become at this point #in fact this ep was the first Saint episode to air in the uk in 1967 on January 6th‚ setting off a banner year for Woodward that would #be the making of his career. he'd done a few guest spots (Sergeant Cork and Mogul among them) and yes he'd had some stage success #but 67 was his year; around the same time as this Saint appearance he could be seen on the BBC's celebrated drama strand Theatre 625 as the #lead in a multi episode adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's Sword of Honour‚ and almost exactly a month later he'd be making his first screen #appearance as Callan in the Armchair Theatre pilot A Magnum for Schneider‚ the beginning of tv immortality and bigger and better things for #the actor. here he's... well he's serious and he's sullen (two of Ed's strengths as an actor) in a role which.. is FINE on the surface but #absolutely begs some deeper questions. he's the prime minister of an unnamed African country‚ in London to negotiate the independence of #said country from the UK. it's.. a complicated issue (which this single Saint episode absolutely fails to address but I'd have been truly #astonished if it had). i mean yes we're all anti colonialism here of course (even if Simon does seem suspiciously morose about the prospect #of losing another colony in his opening voice over‚ he at least appears to be on Eddy's side through the episode) but there's a kind of #deafening silence throughout this ep: Ed is of course white. his various ministers and other government officials who oppose him are all #also white. the titular 'patriots' who oppose him and make attempts on his life and to prevent the process of independence are all white #the most obvious comparison to be drawn (and presumably the main inspiration for the character) is Rhodesian prime minister Ian Smith #who had led the white minority government of what is now Zimbabwe from 1964 and had been involved in similar negotiations with the british #government (that fell apart in late 65 as Smith's government announced Rhodesia's unilateral independence; the country then became an #unrecognised state subject to economic sanctions that lasted more than a decade). the thing is‚ Smith was a racist piece of shit; the whole #reason those negotiations broke down was because of his refusal to secure black representation in Rhodesia's governance #which makes the complete absence of any black characters in this episode a major red flag. but Ed's character isn't presented as the #villain of the piece; the episode is adamant that the work he's doing is selfless and for the betterment of his country‚ and it isn't as if #Smith was a particularly popular figure in the uk at this point for the ep makers to be painting a positive portrait of him. idk #it's messy. at best tone deaf and at worst.. well. i wish Ed had had a better ep to guest star in that's all im saying