The Persuaders!

The Persuaders! is a 1971 crime series, produced by ITC Entertainment for initial broadcast on ITV and ABC. It has been called "the last major entry in the cycle of adventure series that had begun eleven years earlier with Danger Man in 1960", as well as "the most ambitious and most expensive of Sir Lew Grade's international action adventure series".

It starred Tony Curtis, as Danny Wilde, and Roger Moore, as Lord Brett Sinclair, two international playboys. Much of the humor of the show derived from playful observations about the differences between American and British customs. 

The show ended after one season for failing to make an impact on US TV, thus allowing Roger Moore to star in the popular James Bond movie series.

Despite the focus on the British and American markets, the show was popular elsewhere. It won its highest awards from Australia and Spain, while Moore and Curtis were decorated in Germany and France for their acting. It persists in the memory of European filmmakers and audiences, having been casually referenced in 21st century productions from Sweden, France, Britain and Germany.

The Persuaders! are two equally-matched men from different backgrounds who reluctantly team together to solve cases the courts cannot.

Danny Wilde (Tony Curtis) is a rough diamond educated and moulded in the back slums of New York City who escaped by enlisting in the U.S. Navy. He later became an oil business millionaire.

Lord Brett Sinclair (Roger Moore) is a polished Harrow- and Oxford-educated English aristocrat. He is an ex-racing car driver who addresses his comrade-in-arms as "Daniel".

(Curtis himself suffered a tough childhood in the Bronx, and served in the US Navy. He was 46 when he made The Persuaders, but performed all his own stunts and fight sequences.)

Now globe-trotting playboys, the men meet on holiday in the French Riviera, instantly disliking each other and destroying a hotel bar with their fistfight. Arrested, they are delivered to retired Judge Fulton (Laurence Naismith) who offers them the choice of ninety days in jail or help him right errors of impunity.