Remington Steele is an American comedy-drama crime procedural television series created by Robert Butler and Michael Gleason about Laura Holt, a licensed private detective who first opens an agency under her own name, but upon finding that potential clients refuse to hire a woman, business picks up dramatically when she invents a fictitious male superior whom she names Remington Steele.
The series aired in the USA on NBC from 1 October, 1982 to 17 April, 1987. There are 94 hour-long episodes in five seasons.
The series originally aired in South Africa on the old SABC service in the 1980s. Exact broadcast dates of the original run of the show are not available.
Remington Steele premiered on TopTV's Fox Retro channel on Tuesday 31 May 2011, at 19h40. See "Seasons" below for seasonal broadcast dates and times.
Season 3 premiered on Fox Retro on Friday 21 September 2012, at 20h30. New episodes broadcast weekly. There are 22 episodes in the third season.
Synopsis
Laura Holt (Stephanie Zimbalist) is highly skilled and well-trained private investigator. But when she tries to start her own agency, things don't go as planned; it seems that people don't have faith in a female private investigator.
So she alters the name of her agency from "Laura Holt Investigations" to "Remington Steele Investigations". Suddenly business is booming, but unfortunately the clients want to meet Remington Steele, who doesn't exist.
In the first episode, she encounters a Humphrey Bogart-loving thief (Pierce Brosnan) who overhears someone calling for "Remington Steele" and, in order to escape a pair of murderous thugs, impulsively assumes the Steele persona.
By the end of the episode, he chooses to make the alias permanent.
Holt grudgingly accepts her new partner and together the two battle crime... as well as their feelings for each other.
Originally, the character of Remington Steele was supposed to be a mere figurehead, comic relief to be used in support of star Stephanie Zimbalist. Bronsnan became so popular and had such presence, that his part became more significant.
Seasons
Note: these broadcast details are for the run of the show on Fox Retro only - original broadcast dates for the run on the SABC are not available.
Season 1 (22 episodes)
Premiere: 31 May 2011 | Finale: 18 October 2011 | Tuesdays, 20h30
Season 2 (22 episodes)
Premiere: 25 October 2011 | Finale: 20 March 2012 | Tuesdays, 20h30
Season 3 (22 episodes)
Premiere: 21 September 2012 | Finale: 15 February 2013 | Fridays, 20h30