James Bond released the first cinema adaptation of an Ian Fleming novel, "Dr. No", featuring Sean Connery as 007. Connery starred in a further four films before leaving the role after "You Only Live Twice", which was taken up by George Lazenby for "On Her Majesty's Secret Service". Lazenby left the role after just one appearance and Connery was brought back for his last Eon-produced film "Diamonds Are Forever". In 1973 Roger Moore was appointed to the role of 007 for "Live and Let Die" and played Bond a further six times over twelve years before being replaced by Timothy Dalton for
Roger Moore the ITV network, it was beaten in the ratings by repeats of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" on BBC One. Channel 4 repeated both "The Avengers" and "The Persuaders!" in 1995. Since then, "The Persuaders!" has been issued on DVD, while in France, where the series (entitled "Amicalement Vôtre") had always been popular, the DVD releases accompanied a monthly magazine of the same name. Due to his commitment to several television shows, in particular "The Saint", Roger Moore was unavailable for the James Bond films for a considerable time. His participation in "The Saint" was as actor, producer, and director, and