It has been announced today in the news that  43 year-old James Purefoy will play Simon Templar in a new TV series of "The Saint."

The new series is scheduled to start shooting in Berlin and Australia in April 2008.

I must admit to never heard of this actor, so I looked him up on the net. He recently appeared in the BBC drama "Rome" and has had a very varied career.

So... what do you think?

He looks fine, reminds me of Hugh Jackman, but does he have a suitable personality? Not that this is an issue or anything but ain't Templar's eyes supposed to be blue? Charteris put a big stress on the Saint's eye color.  :smt016

I haven't seen James Purefoy in any tv shows or movies either.

Simon Templar is a sophisticated man of the world, and I'm not sure if this actor can do justice to the character.

I will look foreward to seeing the new shows, but he will have to go some to be as good as Roger was. I'm keeping an open mind, and I wish him every success.

I happened to see James Purefoy just the other day on tv.  He was starring in a movie of "Vanity Fair" based on the 19th century book, and he was very good too. He has lots of charm and I liked his performance very much. It will be interesting to see how similar or different he will be to Roger's version of "The Saint."

I found this interview on "Youtube" where James was talking about his recent appearance in the tv series "Rome."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWImnb8YwMo

No one can replace RM as the saint IMO. He was the best and always will be. Shame theres always a need for remakes. Maybe RM will get a walk in role in the new series? But not inspector Teal, lol Maybe a mafia don?

Kendall what a fantastic idea! Roger has often said that he would have dearly loved to  play a villain, but never got the chance.

Maybe his son Geoffrey could fix it for him to play a crooked owner of a casino, or a corrupt businessman?

Regarding James Purefoy appearing in the BBC drama "Rome" - how about this for a coincidence? Roger's daughter Deborah also appeared in the show for two episodes. I don't know if she shared any scenes with James though.

I started watching my Saint DVds again and thought of the new series of the saint in the making. It made me feel sad and nostalgic. RM is the closest to Charteris version of the character. Itd be a miracle if they could find a perfect replacement.

This story has come from several newsgroup sources:

"Moore's the Merrier: Former TV Saint Roger Moore has teamed with Homicide/Oz partners Barry Levinson and Tom Fontana to produce a two-hour TV-movie/pilot reboot of the long-running franchise, which he starred in from 1962 to 1969. Rome's James Purefoy is said to be the favourite to take Moore's place beneath that halo."

It's good to know that Roger is  one of the producers, alongside his son Geoffrey too.

Roger was co-producer of the colored "Saint" tv shows too wasn't he? If the pilot show is a success, and they go on to make others, I wonder if Roger would try his hand at directing? The ones he directed in the 60's were excellent.

I just read a tiny bit of info about the upcoming new Saint show. Roger will no way be making any cameo appearances in it. I thought that maybe he would, considering his son Geoffrey is involved with it.