Old Town Stevenage. Herts, UK – The Saint (Fellow Traveller) - Movie Locations on Waymarking.com

Simon Templar arrives in Stevenage after a desperate phone call from Henry Matson. The Saint meets Matson in a bus shelter, but is shot before he is able to tell Simon what is wrong. In his dying breath Matson mentions a name and a night club. Simon goes to the night club and becomes friendly with a hostess there, a move which is later to prove fortunate. The presence of the Saint at the night club tips off the people involved with Matson’s death and Simon is nearly forced off the road to the night club, a road with a considerable drop.

Matson was an electronic engineer working on missile systems. Simon works out that Matson must have lost money gambling at the night club, and that he was then being blackmailed to reveal secrets about the missile projects he was working on. Simon investigates the night club and becomes captured by the espionage gang. The espionage gang is Hungarian, as is the hostess Simon befriended earlier. The hostess originally worked for the gang to protect her family in Hungary, however they are now dead. Having a motive to hate the gang allows her to help Simon break the captivity and defeat the gang.

The whole of the story is set in Stevenage, with the action alternating between Simon’s hotel and the night club. The opening shots of the film are shot on the High St in Old Stevenage, in the area around the Cromwell Hotel. After the opening shots Simon’s Volvo draws up to the Cromwell and Simon takes his suitcase into the hotel. There are a couple of other external locations. One is the old police station in Stevenage, now demolished, and a scene where Simon’s car is nearly forced off the road, which is clearly nowhere near Stevenage. The hotel interiors are studio sets.

It is quiet rare for an actual small town to be named in these 1960s TV series. Usually the name is changed, as is the name of any hostelry used as a location. Perhaps the presence of an aerospace industry in Stevenage, matching Matson’s occupation, was a spur to keep the Stevenage name?

Movie or TV Show: The Saint - Fellow Traveller Year Released or First Aired: 1,963.00 IMDB Link: [Web Link]

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