QUENTIN DURWARD (1971) – This French-German television series ran for 13 half-hour episodes in Germany but just 7 52-minute episodes during its initial French run.
The story is based on Sir Walter Scott’s swashbuckling novel from 1823 and the action is set during the late 1460s in Scotland and France.
Amadeus August stars as Quentin Durward, a fighting young Scotsman who is the sole surviving male from his Scottish clan after a brutal clan war wiped out the rest of his family. At present he is being sheltered in a monastery where the monks have told him the only way to stop the enemy clansmen from killing him to blot out his entire bloodline is to become a monk under a vow of celibacy.
The dashing and daring Quentin is reluctant, but the decision is taken out of his hands when the enemy clan raids the monastery in search of him. Quentin manages to escape and after shaking off all pursuit reaches the English Channel.
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DESERT CRUSADER (1968-1969) – This French television series is also known as Thibaud, ou les Croisades, Thibaud, il Cavaliere Bianco, Thibaud, der Weisse Ritter and other variations of those titles. The color series ran two seasons of 13 episodes each, with those episodes lasting around 26 minutes apiece.
Thibaud and his sidekick Blanchot (Raymond Meunier) are part of the knightly efforts to safeguard people making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He often works alongside the Knights Templar but doesn’t seem to be an official member of their Order. 