Jet Li takes the titular role in this period martial arts spectacular, set during China’s Ching Dynasty (1644-1911). The story concerns village life under a despotic emperor, and an underground resistance movement’s efforts to overthrow the unpopular regime. The tone of the first half of the movie is nowhere near as dark and serious as that sounds, though, and it is really just an excuse for lots of acrobatic kung fu action!

Fong Sai-Yuk is a mischievous and cocky young man with his heart in the right place. He comes to the aid of a beautiful girl being pestered by ruffians, and promptly falls for her. The girl is called Ting Ting (Michelle Reis); she turns out to be the daughter of a rich merchant who amusingly decides to put donate her as the prize for a martial arts tournament he sponsors, hoping to gain popularity with local villagers.

Each of the world’s major cities has its best detective agency, and each of these has its best agents - super-agents like The Protectors. The most sensitive, baffling, dangerous assignments are handled by their top trio of adventurers. The iconic Robert Vaughn stars as Harry Rule, the suave American who leads their operations from his London apartment; Nyree Dawn Porter (Irene in The Forsyte Saga) is the Rome-based Contessa di Contini, and Tony Anholt is Paul Buchet (Tony Verdeschi in Season 2 of Space: 1999), a French agent operating out of Paris.

Produced by Gerry Anderson and Reg Hill of Thunderbirds fame, this was a glossy, stylish series from Lew Grade’s ITC’s stable, but included actual location filming in some of Europe’s most glamorous cities. Tony Christie sings the show’s legendary theme tune, “Avenues and Alleyways” – a UK Top 40 hit on its re-release in 2005 – and now new telly addicts can discover its origins. This new Network 7-DVD set comprises all 52 episodes, originally aired between 1972 and 1974.