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The Professionals (TV series)
Encyclopedia
The Professionals was a British
crime-action television
drama series produced by Avengers Mk1 Productions and London Weekend Television
that aired on the ITV
network from 1977 to 1983. In all, 57 episodes were produced, filmed between 1977 and 1981. It starred Martin Shaw
, Lewis Collins
and Gordon Jackson
as agents of the fictional "CI5". The series was conceived as a response to The Sweeney
.
The Professionals was created by Brian Clemens
, who had been one of the driving forces behind The Avengers
. The show was to have been originally called "The A-Squad" before it was decided to call it "The Professionals". Clemens and Albert Fennell
were executive producers, with business partner Laurie Johnson
providing the theme music. Sidney Hayers
produced the first series in 1977, and Raymond Menmuir
the remainder.
or military.
The choice of name CI5 is possibly inspired by Criminal Investigation Department
and MI5
. The premise allowed the programme-makers to involve a wide variety of villains including terrorists, hit-men, racist groups and espionage suspects, with plots sometimes relating to the Cold War
. Led by the formidable George Cowley (Jackson), CI5 is known for using unconventional and sometimes illegal methods to beat criminals, or as Cowley put it "Fight fire with fire!" The use of a fictitious force in this context was somewhat less controversial than the portrayal of the real Flying Squad
on The Sweeney
.
Cowley's two best agents are Ray Doyle (Shaw) and William Bodie (Collins). Doyle is an ex-detective constable who has worked the seedier parts of London, while Bodie is an ex-paratrooper, mercenary and SAS
sergeant. Of the two, Doyle is the softer, compassionate and more thoughtful character, while Bodie is ruthless and more willing to take on criminals on their own terms. That said, Doyle is more hotheaded and tended to rush in, while Bodie waits for the shooting to start.
While polar opposites, Bodie and Doyle have a deep and enduring friendship, and are almost inseparable. Although their loyalty to Cowley is beyond question, they have no qualms about disobeying orders if it meant getting the right result, either for the case or themselves.
Initially, Anthony Andrews
was contracted to play Bodie, but he and Shaw did not have the chemistry that Clemens was looking for. As Shaw was deemed to have more 'screen presence' Andrews was dropped, and Clemens hired Collins in his place. Shaw and Collins had played villains on an episode of The New Avengers ('Obsession') together, and reportedly had not got on with each other. Ironically, since this was the reason Collins was brought in to the production, he and Shaw became friends off-screen, although they managed to keep up the on screen chemistry and abrasiveness of Bodie and Doyle's relationship.
To begin with, Clemens intended to write two or three establishing episodes and then hand over to other writers, but their scripts were uneven and lacked the energy and pace needed. Clemens re-wrote nearly 10 scripts for the first season episodes and took a direct hands-on approach to the filming. In later seasons, with the format established and the writers and directors familiar with the show, he took a more leisurely approach to the behind the scenes goings-on.
The early years of the show featured varied plots, good scripts and ongoing character development of Bodie and Doyle and to a lesser extent Cowley, but later seasons featured increasingly overused ideas and script devices and both Collins and Shaw stated they felt the show was becoming stale. While episodes were broadcast until 1983, episodes were actually filmed between 1977 and 1981.
of the same name (Gordon Jackson
), founder and head of CI5, and Bodie and Doyle's boss. Previously a Major in the British Army and later in the secret services, including MI5 before being seconded to CI5 to form and manage the team. A confident and very experienced man, able to defend himself against physical and high-level political attacks. With many contacts and friends in high places, he is not afraid to clash with leaders of other services like Special Branch and MI5
or to speak his mind, being insolent even towards superiors, one of whom looked upon Cowley as "Not a Very Civil Civil Servant". His operatives sometimes call him "The Cow", though not to his face. Cowley's favourite tipple is Scotch Whisky
.
) was a former Detective constable, who originated in Derby
but later lived in an un-specified "city" with parallels to Birmingham
, was working the seedier parts of East London when recruited into CI5. He took art classes and appears to be musically inclined as well. An expert shot with a pistol, he also ran a karate
class for the children on his beat. He was recruited by Cowley and made Bodie's partner shortly afterwards. Doyle is extremely intelligent and thoughtful but is also quick to anger, and his tendency to rush in often leaves Bodie having to race to the rescue. He is also more inclined to seek long-lasting relationships with women, and in one episode nearly married. Like Bodie he enjoyed football but was a good cook and enjoyed a more healthy lifestyle. Doyle's bubble perm hairstyle and 70s dress sense were actually chosen by Martin Shaw and his wife
) was a former paratrooper & Special Air Service
soldier. After leaving school at 14, he joined the Merchant Navy and eventually ended up in Africa
fighting bush wars. Noticed by Cowley during his SAS career, he was asked to join CI5 in 1975. A keen partier and ladies' man, Bodie had a witty comment ready for almost every occasion. He was more immediately approachable than Doyle, and was generally relaxed and confident, although tending to hide his intelligence behind his hardman image. Specialising in weaponry, martial arts and advanced driving, Bodie was the muscle of the three leads. He enjoyed football, cricket, drinking, and English literature. Consultant on the show was Mr Andrew Phillips.
3.0 S (primarily the Mark III model). Two were used: Bodie drove a silver version (1978–81 episodes), Doyle a gold (1980–81 episodes). Cowley used a latest model Ford Granada
(1978–81 XD model) while other Ford models such as a Ford Escort RS2000 (1978–79 episodes, driven by Doyle) and the Ford Cortina
, particularly the Mark V (TF) model, were occasionally seen. However, in the first (1977) series, the cars used were mainly those of British Leyland, including a Rover SD1
, a Rover P6
, a Leyland Princess
, a Triumph 2000
, a Triumph Dolomite Sprint
and a Triumph TR7
. The SD1, a turmeric yellow 3500, bore the registration MOO 229R; in The New Avengers John Steed
drove an identical-looking car with the number MOC 229P. The producers of The Professionals DVDs have speculated that these may in fact have been one and the same car.
However, reliability problems with the cars and BL requiring them back to give to the motoring press was causing disruption to filming. Midway through the first series, the supplier was then switched to Ford after they offered to provide vehicles for the production crew as well as for on screen use. The first Ford to be prominent was a black 1600 Capri used by another CI5 agent (Tommy Macay).
Many of the episodes featured some kind of car chase, a role for which the Capri, at least in terms of its market positioning, was particularly well suited.
To help maximise the on-screen action, Martin Shaw and Lewis Collins were taught stunt driving skills and encouraged to propel their respective cars through streets as rapidly as possible, although London Weekend Television insisted that the stars had to be chauffeured when travelling to filming sets.
Some quarters of the British press seized on these aspects to insist that the programme was moronic and "comic-strip". However, reaction from other critics, including The Times and The Daily Telegraph newspapers, were more favourable.
The first-season episode Klansmen was withdrawn in the UK, ostensibly due to its race-related subject matter. The episode has never been screened on terrestrial television
in the UK, although it did screen uncut on the cable television
channel Super-channel
in 1987, and has been screened on free-to-air television in other countries including South Africa
, New Zealand
, Australia
and Philippines
. London Weekend Television refuse to explain their view that while the episode remains unsuitable for British television viewers, they continue to license it to broadcasters in other countries.
The show was also criticised for its "political incorrectness". Moral campaigner Mary Whitehouse
was among those who highlighted the occasional use of sexist and racist terms. At the time, however, such dialogue was not seen as being disparaging towards protected minority groups. However, in the late-1980s and early-1990s the series was criticised by feminist groups. Yet, with the exception of the 'Klansmen' episode – wherein racist terms were a necessary part of the story – in comparison to, for example, the 1970s police television programme The Sweeney
, use of racist terms in The Professionals was scarce, reflecting the increasing "political correctness
" of broadcasters.
Martin Shaw was publicly critical of the series during its production, feeling he was playing a one-dimensional character in a one-dimensional show. Several years after the series ended London Weekend Television was contractually obliged to re-negotiate repeat fees with the lead actors. Unwilling to accede to Martin Shaw's demands, plans for further repeat screenings on the UK's ITV network had to be withdrawn, leading to Lewis Collins expressing his anger towards Shaw in an interview for the British press. However, Shaw eventually agreed to UK satellite screenings, although according to a Radio Times
interview only after being discreetly made aware that Gordon Jackson's widow, actress Rona Anderson
(who guested in Cry Wolf), was suffering financial difficulties after her husband's passing.
Episodes were shown on terrestrial TV as part of special occasions, such as a general overview of ITV's early years. It was not until 2008 that the series gained a re-run on ITV4
. The Professionals has also been regularly shown on cable TV.
The entire series was regularly screened on the defunct Granada Plus
from 1997, where it was consistently the channel's highest-rated show, initially achieving close to one million viewers. The episodes shown were heavily edited to make them suitable for daytime viewing and it is these same prints that are being used for transmission on ITV4. Neither station screened the Klansmen episode, stating that London Weekend Television continued to forbid its transmission.
In 1987, ITV were halfway through a re-run. The show was cancelled the day after the Hungerford shooting incident
. The particular episode that was to be aired, Lawson's Last Stand (which is oddly skipped during ITV4 reruns), had a theme that was deemed insensitive. That was the last time the show was broadcast on ITV's main station.
as its replacement, while Raymond Menmuir produced Special Squad
for Australia
's Network Ten
in the mid-1980s, following The Professionals' format. A revival series, CI5: The New Professionals
was produced for Sky One
in the late 1990s and starred Edward Woodward
, but it was not a success. The BBC
introduced Spender
in the early 1990s, which featured several Professionals influenced themes.
was a British
crime drama
that aired on the Sky1 satellite channel from 19 September to 19 December 1999. An updating of the late 1970s television series The Professionals, the series is set in a fictional government agency CI5 (Civilian Intelligence department 5 as opposed to MI5
, Military Intelligence).
The original group of three men (Doyle, Bodie and their boss Cowley) were replaced by a new group of three men and a woman:
The team were responsible to a Minister, played by Charlotte Cornwell
.
In a similar manner to the original series the show included impressive action sequences, often in a James Bond
style. However, the show was not a ratings success and only lasted one season. It did not transfer to terrestrial television in the UK.
A new big screen movie is due out in the near future no lead roles or plot lines have been made public.
, Ronnie Corbett
played a bungling version of Martin Shaw
's Doyle in a sketch called Tinker Tailor Smiley Doyle. This was a joint send-up of The Professionals and the Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
TV drama, with Ronnie Barker
playing George Smiley
along the lines of Alec Guinness
' portrayal in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Corbett's Doyle provides the brawn to the brains of Barker's Smiley and actually comes out the worse. The sketch guest-starred Nicholas Smith from Are You Being Served?
.
In 1984 some of the team behind The Comic Strip
TV series produced a spoof entitled The Bullshitters, featuring two characters called Bonehead and Foyle in an episode called 'Roll Out the Gun Barrel".
Bonehead and Foyle returned to TV screens in 1993 in The Comic Strip one-off Detectives on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown
alongside 'Shouting George from The Weeny' (Jack Regan from The Sweeney
), 'Spanker' (Spender
) and 'Jason Bentley' (Department S
s Jason King
).
Peter Jackson
's 1987 film, Bad Taste
, featured Astro Investigation and Defence Service employees "the boys", a Doyle and Bodie parody complete with Ford Capri.
In 1996, Nissan cars ran a humorous advertisement based on the series, featuring Bodie and Doyle type characters testing out the Nissan Almera
.
, due to concerns over politics and violence, did not air all episodes of the programme, so The Professionals became one of the first TV shows ever to be released on VHS in Germany in the 1980s. However, only the unaired episodes were released on tape. In all, 14 episodes were withdrawn from broadcast.
in the 1980s. It became a cult there very quickly. Originally, only a selection of 21 of the 57 episodes was bought, including Klansmen. The first dubbed
episode "When the Heat Cools Off" was spoken by Petr Oliva (Bodie), Martin Štěpánek (Doyle) and Jiří Adamíra
(Cowley). Štěpánek soon emigrated so the remainder were dubbed by Alois Švehlík
.
The whole series was broadcast after 1994 on TV Nova. Petr Oliva continued to dub Bodie but Doyle was dubbed by Karel Heřmánek
and Cowley by Otakar Brousek, since Adamíra had already died.
In the late 1990s, the complete run of 57 episodes were given a UK VHS
videocassette release by Contender Entertainment Group. (An earlier release had seen 31 episodes issued before the distributor went out of business).
In 2002, Contender reissued the complete run on DVD
(for the UK only). Although labelled as having been "digitally remastered", these releases have attracted some criticism, mainly due to the relatively poor picture quality (colour, contrast and levels of dirt and scratches). In part, this was due to problems with the age and condition of the prints used, and the loss of (or lack of access to) the original source footage which would normally be used as the basis of a remaster.
In late 2005, Contender replaced the original DVD releases with a new set which saw some minor improvements in the picture quality.
The series is currently being shown on digital channel 7TWO late on both a Wednesday and Thursday evening, normally around 11.30pm, but does not have a regular timeslot.
approached to play the part of Cowley, but after negotiations broke down the film was abandoned.
In 2011, film company Lionsgate announced they had acquired the rights to the Professionals series and intended to begin shooting a film version of the series in 2011. The series will be set in the present day with the characters of Bodie, Doyle and Cowley played by new actors.
The film looks likely to be a prequel to the 1970s series concerning how Bodie and Doyle entered CI5.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
crime-action television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
drama series produced by Avengers Mk1 Productions and London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television was the name of the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties including south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire, Warwickshire, east Dorset and...
that aired on the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
network from 1977 to 1983. In all, 57 episodes were produced, filmed between 1977 and 1981. It starred Martin Shaw
Martin Shaw
Martin Shaw is an English actor. He is best known for his roles in shows such as The Professionals, The Chief, Judge John Deed and Inspector George Gently.-Theatrical background:...
, Lewis Collins
Lewis Collins
Lewis Collins is an English actor best known for his tough-guy role as Bodie in The Professionals. He was educated at Bidston Primary and Grange School in Birkenhead. He started out as a ladies' hairdresser before playing drums and guitar in pop groups. He had a number of other jobs before...
and Gordon Jackson
Gordon Jackson (actor)
Gordon Cameron Jackson, OBE was a Scottish Emmy Award-winning actor best remembered for his roles as the butler Angus Hudson in Upstairs, Downstairs and George Cowley, the head of CI5, in The Professionals....
as agents of the fictional "CI5". The series was conceived as a response to The Sweeney
The Sweeney
The Sweeney is a 1970s British television police drama focusing on two members of the Flying Squad, a branch of the Metropolitan Police specialising in tackling armed robbery and violent crime in London...
.
The Professionals was created by Brian Clemens
Brian Clemens
Brian Horace Clemens OBE is a British screenwriter and television producer, possibly best known for his work on The Avengers and The Professionals...
, who had been one of the driving forces behind The Avengers
The Avengers (TV series)
The Avengers is a spy-fi British television series set in the 1960s Britain. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed . Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants...
. The show was to have been originally called "The A-Squad" before it was decided to call it "The Professionals". Clemens and Albert Fennell
Albert Fennell
Albert Fennell was a British film and television producer.Best known for his work on the 1960s spy drama The Avengers with Brian Clemens, Fennell also produced its follow-up, The New Avengers and The Professionals.The Professionals was made by Mark One Productions and The New Avengers by The...
were executive producers, with business partner Laurie Johnson
Laurie Johnson
Laurie Johnson is an English film and television composer, and bandleader.-Career:...
providing the theme music. Sidney Hayers
Sidney Hayers
Sidney Hayers was a British film and television director, writer and producer.Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, among his most acclaimed films were Circus of Horrors , The Trap and the occult thriller Night of the Eagle .In British TV, his credits included The Persuaders! and The New Avengers; he...
produced the first series in 1977, and Raymond Menmuir
Raymond Menmuir
Raymond Menmuir is a British director and producer. His career included producing 44 episodes of The Professionals and directing 12 episodes of Upstairs, Downstairs. He also produced an Australian version of The Professionals called Special Squad for the Ten Network in 1984.-External links:...
the remainder.
Outline
CI5 (Criminal Intelligence 5) is a law enforcement department, instructed by the Home Secretary to use any means, which deals with crimes of a serious nature that go beyond the capacity of the police, but are not tasks for the security serviceMI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
or military.
The choice of name CI5 is possibly inspired by Criminal Investigation Department
Criminal Investigation Department
The Crime Investigation Department is the branch of all Territorial police forces within the British Police and many other Commonwealth police forces, to which plain clothes detectives belong. It is thus distinct from the Uniformed Branch and the Special Branch.The Metropolitan Police Service CID,...
and MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
. The premise allowed the programme-makers to involve a wide variety of villains including terrorists, hit-men, racist groups and espionage suspects, with plots sometimes relating to the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. Led by the formidable George Cowley (Jackson), CI5 is known for using unconventional and sometimes illegal methods to beat criminals, or as Cowley put it "Fight fire with fire!" The use of a fictitious force in this context was somewhat less controversial than the portrayal of the real Flying Squad
Flying Squad
The Flying Squad is a branch of the Specialist Crime Directorate, within London's Metropolitan Police Service. The Squad's purpose is to investigate commercial armed robberies, along with the prevention and investigation of other serious armed crime...
on The Sweeney
The Sweeney
The Sweeney is a 1970s British television police drama focusing on two members of the Flying Squad, a branch of the Metropolitan Police specialising in tackling armed robbery and violent crime in London...
.
Cowley's two best agents are Ray Doyle (Shaw) and William Bodie (Collins). Doyle is an ex-detective constable who has worked the seedier parts of London, while Bodie is an ex-paratrooper, mercenary and SAS
Special Air Service
Special Air Service or SAS is a corps of the British Army constituted on 31 May 1950. They are part of the United Kingdom Special Forces and have served as a model for the special forces of many other countries all over the world...
sergeant. Of the two, Doyle is the softer, compassionate and more thoughtful character, while Bodie is ruthless and more willing to take on criminals on their own terms. That said, Doyle is more hotheaded and tended to rush in, while Bodie waits for the shooting to start.
While polar opposites, Bodie and Doyle have a deep and enduring friendship, and are almost inseparable. Although their loyalty to Cowley is beyond question, they have no qualms about disobeying orders if it meant getting the right result, either for the case or themselves.
Initially, Anthony Andrews
Anthony Andrews
-Life and career:Andrews was born in London, the son of Geraldine Agnes , a dancer, and Stanley Thomas Andrews, a musical arranger and musical conductor. He grew up in the North Finchley district of London...
was contracted to play Bodie, but he and Shaw did not have the chemistry that Clemens was looking for. As Shaw was deemed to have more 'screen presence' Andrews was dropped, and Clemens hired Collins in his place. Shaw and Collins had played villains on an episode of The New Avengers ('Obsession') together, and reportedly had not got on with each other. Ironically, since this was the reason Collins was brought in to the production, he and Shaw became friends off-screen, although they managed to keep up the on screen chemistry and abrasiveness of Bodie and Doyle's relationship.
To begin with, Clemens intended to write two or three establishing episodes and then hand over to other writers, but their scripts were uneven and lacked the energy and pace needed. Clemens re-wrote nearly 10 scripts for the first season episodes and took a direct hands-on approach to the filming. In later seasons, with the format established and the writers and directors familiar with the show, he took a more leisurely approach to the behind the scenes goings-on.
The early years of the show featured varied plots, good scripts and ongoing character development of Bodie and Doyle and to a lesser extent Cowley, but later seasons featured increasingly overused ideas and script devices and both Collins and Shaw stated they felt the show was becoming stale. While episodes were broadcast until 1983, episodes were actually filmed between 1977 and 1981.
Cowley
George Cowley – Nicknamed "Morris" (see "A Man Called Quinn" episode) after the carMorris Cowley
Morris Cowley was a name given to various cars produced by the Morris Motor Company from 1915 to 1958.-Morris Cowley :The original Cowley, introduced in 1915, was a cheaper version of the first Morris Oxford and featured the same "Bullnose" radiator. To reduce the price many components were bought...
of the same name (Gordon Jackson
Gordon Jackson (actor)
Gordon Cameron Jackson, OBE was a Scottish Emmy Award-winning actor best remembered for his roles as the butler Angus Hudson in Upstairs, Downstairs and George Cowley, the head of CI5, in The Professionals....
), founder and head of CI5, and Bodie and Doyle's boss. Previously a Major in the British Army and later in the secret services, including MI5 before being seconded to CI5 to form and manage the team. A confident and very experienced man, able to defend himself against physical and high-level political attacks. With many contacts and friends in high places, he is not afraid to clash with leaders of other services like Special Branch and MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
or to speak his mind, being insolent even towards superiors, one of whom looked upon Cowley as "Not a Very Civil Civil Servant". His operatives sometimes call him "The Cow", though not to his face. Cowley's favourite tipple is Scotch Whisky
Scotch whisky
Scotch whisky is whisky made in Scotland.Scotch whisky is divided into five distinct categories: Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Single Grain Scotch Whisky, Blended Malt Scotch Whisky , Blended Grain Scotch Whisky, and Blended Scotch Whisky.All Scotch whisky must be aged in oak barrels for at least three...
.
Doyle
Raymond Doyle born c. 1949 (Martin ShawMartin Shaw
Martin Shaw is an English actor. He is best known for his roles in shows such as The Professionals, The Chief, Judge John Deed and Inspector George Gently.-Theatrical background:...
) was a former Detective constable, who originated in Derby
Derby
Derby , is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407...
but later lived in an un-specified "city" with parallels to Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, was working the seedier parts of East London when recruited into CI5. He took art classes and appears to be musically inclined as well. An expert shot with a pistol, he also ran a karate
Karate
is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Islands in what is now Okinawa, Japan. It was developed from indigenous fighting methods called and Chinese kenpō. Karate is a striking art using punching, kicking, knee and elbow strikes, and open-handed techniques such as knife-hands. Grappling, locks,...
class for the children on his beat. He was recruited by Cowley and made Bodie's partner shortly afterwards. Doyle is extremely intelligent and thoughtful but is also quick to anger, and his tendency to rush in often leaves Bodie having to race to the rescue. He is also more inclined to seek long-lasting relationships with women, and in one episode nearly married. Like Bodie he enjoyed football but was a good cook and enjoyed a more healthy lifestyle. Doyle's bubble perm hairstyle and 70s dress sense were actually chosen by Martin Shaw and his wife
Bodie
William Andrew Philip Bodie born c. 1950 (Lewis CollinsLewis Collins
Lewis Collins is an English actor best known for his tough-guy role as Bodie in The Professionals. He was educated at Bidston Primary and Grange School in Birkenhead. He started out as a ladies' hairdresser before playing drums and guitar in pop groups. He had a number of other jobs before...
) was a former paratrooper & Special Air Service
Special Air Service
Special Air Service or SAS is a corps of the British Army constituted on 31 May 1950. They are part of the United Kingdom Special Forces and have served as a model for the special forces of many other countries all over the world...
soldier. After leaving school at 14, he joined the Merchant Navy and eventually ended up in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
fighting bush wars. Noticed by Cowley during his SAS career, he was asked to join CI5 in 1975. A keen partier and ladies' man, Bodie had a witty comment ready for almost every occasion. He was more immediately approachable than Doyle, and was generally relaxed and confident, although tending to hide his intelligence behind his hardman image. Specialising in weaponry, martial arts and advanced driving, Bodie was the muscle of the three leads. He enjoyed football, cricket, drinking, and English literature. Consultant on the show was Mr Andrew Phillips.
The cars
The most famous car used by CI5 was the Ford CapriFord Capri
Ford Capri was a name used by the Ford Motor Company for three different automobile models. The Ford Consul Capri coupé was produced by Ford of Britain between 1961 and 1964. The Ford Capri coupé was produced by Ford of Europe from 1969 to 1986...
3.0 S (primarily the Mark III model). Two were used: Bodie drove a silver version (1978–81 episodes), Doyle a gold (1980–81 episodes). Cowley used a latest model Ford Granada
Ford Granada (Europe)
The March 1972 released Granada succeeded the British Ford Zephyr, and the German P7-series as Ford's European executive car offering. At first, lower models in the range were called the Ford Consul, but from 1975 on they were all called Granadas. The car soon became popular for taxi, fleet and...
(1978–81 XD model) while other Ford models such as a Ford Escort RS2000 (1978–79 episodes, driven by Doyle) and the Ford Cortina
Ford Cortina
As the 1960s dawned, BMC were revelling in the success of their new Mini – the first successful true minicar to be built in Britain in the postwar era...
, particularly the Mark V (TF) model, were occasionally seen. However, in the first (1977) series, the cars used were mainly those of British Leyland, including a Rover SD1
Rover SD1
Rover SD1 is both the code name and eventual production name given to a series of large executive cars made by British Leyland or BL through its Specialist, Rover Triumph and Austin Rover divisions from 1976 until 1986....
, a Rover P6
Rover P6
The first P6 used a 2.0 L engine designed specifically for the P6. Although it was announced towards the end of 1963, the car had been in "pilot production" since the beginning of the year, therefore deliveries were able to begin immediately. Original output was in the order of . At the...
, a Leyland Princess
Leyland Princess
The Princess is a family car that was produced in the United Kingdom by British Leyland from 1975 until 1981. The car inherited a front-wheel drive / transverse engine configuration from its predecessor, the BMC ADO17 range...
, a Triumph 2000
Triumph 2000
The Triumph 2000 is a mid-sized, rear wheel drive automobile which was produced in Coventry by the Triumph Motor Company between 1963 and 1977. Larger-engined models, known as the Triumph 2.5 PI and Triumph 2500 were also produced.-Engine:...
, a Triumph Dolomite Sprint
Triumph Dolomite
The Triumph Dolomite was a popular small saloon car produced by the Triumph Motor Company division of the British Leyland Corporation in Canley, Coventry between October 1972 and August 1980.-History:...
and a Triumph TR7
Triumph TR7
The Triumph TR7 is a sports car manufactured from September 1974 to October 1981 by the Triumph Motor Company in the United Kingdom. It was initially produced at the Speke, Liverpool factory, moving to Canley, Coventry in 1978 and then finally to the Rover plant in Solihull in 1980...
. The SD1, a turmeric yellow 3500, bore the registration MOO 229R; in The New Avengers John Steed
John Steed
John Steed is a fictional character and the central protagonist on the popular British series The Avengers and The New Avengers, played by Patrick Macnee and Ralph Fiennes in the movie....
drove an identical-looking car with the number MOC 229P. The producers of The Professionals DVDs have speculated that these may in fact have been one and the same car.
However, reliability problems with the cars and BL requiring them back to give to the motoring press was causing disruption to filming. Midway through the first series, the supplier was then switched to Ford after they offered to provide vehicles for the production crew as well as for on screen use. The first Ford to be prominent was a black 1600 Capri used by another CI5 agent (Tommy Macay).
Many of the episodes featured some kind of car chase, a role for which the Capri, at least in terms of its market positioning, was particularly well suited.
Controversy
Although depictions of actual bloodshed were scarce, the series was often criticised for its level of violence, with shootings, martial arts and asphyxiation a common means of assassination.To help maximise the on-screen action, Martin Shaw and Lewis Collins were taught stunt driving skills and encouraged to propel their respective cars through streets as rapidly as possible, although London Weekend Television insisted that the stars had to be chauffeured when travelling to filming sets.
Some quarters of the British press seized on these aspects to insist that the programme was moronic and "comic-strip". However, reaction from other critics, including The Times and The Daily Telegraph newspapers, were more favourable.
The first-season episode Klansmen was withdrawn in the UK, ostensibly due to its race-related subject matter. The episode has never been screened on terrestrial television
Terrestrial television
Terrestrial television is a mode of television broadcasting which does not involve satellite transmission or cables — typically using radio waves through transmitting and receiving antennas or television antenna aerials...
in the UK, although it did screen uncut on the cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
channel Super-channel
NBC Europe
NBC Europe was a satellite television channel based in the United Kingdom that broadcast across Europe...
in 1987, and has been screened on free-to-air television in other countries including South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. London Weekend Television refuse to explain their view that while the episode remains unsuitable for British television viewers, they continue to license it to broadcasters in other countries.
The show was also criticised for its "political incorrectness". Moral campaigner Mary Whitehouse
Mary Whitehouse
Mary Whitehouse, CBE was a British campaigner against the permissive society particularly as the media portrayed and reflected it...
was among those who highlighted the occasional use of sexist and racist terms. At the time, however, such dialogue was not seen as being disparaging towards protected minority groups. However, in the late-1980s and early-1990s the series was criticised by feminist groups. Yet, with the exception of the 'Klansmen' episode – wherein racist terms were a necessary part of the story – in comparison to, for example, the 1970s police television programme The Sweeney
The Sweeney
The Sweeney is a 1970s British television police drama focusing on two members of the Flying Squad, a branch of the Metropolitan Police specialising in tackling armed robbery and violent crime in London...
, use of racist terms in The Professionals was scarce, reflecting the increasing "political correctness
Political correctness
Political correctness is a term which denotes language, ideas, policies, and behavior seen as seeking to minimize social and institutional offense in occupational, gender, racial, cultural, sexual orientation, certain other religions, beliefs or ideologies, disability, and age-related contexts,...
" of broadcasters.
Martin Shaw was publicly critical of the series during its production, feeling he was playing a one-dimensional character in a one-dimensional show. Several years after the series ended London Weekend Television was contractually obliged to re-negotiate repeat fees with the lead actors. Unwilling to accede to Martin Shaw's demands, plans for further repeat screenings on the UK's ITV network had to be withdrawn, leading to Lewis Collins expressing his anger towards Shaw in an interview for the British press. However, Shaw eventually agreed to UK satellite screenings, although according to a Radio Times
Radio Times
Radio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
interview only after being discreetly made aware that Gordon Jackson's widow, actress Rona Anderson
Rona Anderson
Rona Anderson is a Scottish stage, film, and television actress. Her first stage appearance took place at the Garrison Theatre in April 1945. She also appeared in the original production of Whose Life Is It Anyway?. Anderson's first major film was the 1948 drama Sleeping Car to Trieste...
(who guested in Cry Wolf), was suffering financial difficulties after her husband's passing.
Episodes were shown on terrestrial TV as part of special occasions, such as a general overview of ITV's early years. It was not until 2008 that the series gained a re-run on ITV4
ITV4
ITV4 is a British television station which was launched on 1 November 2005. It is owned by ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc, and is part of the ITV network. The channel has a male-oriented line-up, including sport, cop shows and US comedies and dramas, as well as classic ITV action...
. The Professionals has also been regularly shown on cable TV.
The entire series was regularly screened on the defunct Granada Plus
Granada Plus
Plus was a digital channel run by Granada Sky Broadcasting. It was launched on 1 October 1996 under the original name of Granada Plus, and during its availability it underwent successive rebrands as G Plus, G+ and then simply Plus. However, it remained widely referred to by the public at large by...
from 1997, where it was consistently the channel's highest-rated show, initially achieving close to one million viewers. The episodes shown were heavily edited to make them suitable for daytime viewing and it is these same prints that are being used for transmission on ITV4. Neither station screened the Klansmen episode, stating that London Weekend Television continued to forbid its transmission.
In 1987, ITV were halfway through a re-run. The show was cancelled the day after the Hungerford shooting incident
Hungerford massacre
The Hungerford massacre occurred in Hungerford, Berkshire, England, on 19 August 1987. The gunman, 27-year-old Michael Robert Ryan, armed with two semi-automatic rifles and a handgun, shot and killed sixteen people including his mother, and wounded fifteen others, then fatally shot himself...
. The particular episode that was to be aired, Lawson's Last Stand (which is oddly skipped during ITV4 reruns), had a theme that was deemed insensitive. That was the last time the show was broadcast on ITV's main station.
Legacy
After the series ended, ITV produced Dempsey & MakepeaceDempsey & Makepeace
Dempsey & Makepeace is a British television crime drama made by London Weekend Television for ITV, created and produced by Ranald Graham...
as its replacement, while Raymond Menmuir produced Special Squad
Special Squad
Special Squad was an Australian television series made by Crawford Productions for the Ten Network in 1984.The series focused on an elite division of the Victoria Police, which handled crimes either too sensitive or specialist for regular squads. The Special Squad was headed by Det. Insp. Don...
for Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
's Network Ten
Network Ten
Network Ten , is one of Australia's three major commercial television networks. Owned-and-operated stations can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to cover most of the country...
in the mid-1980s, following The Professionals
CI5: The New Professionals
CI5: The New Professionals is a British crime drama that aired on the Sky1 satellite channel from 19 September to 19 December 1999. An updating of the late 1970s television series The Professionals, the series is set in a fictional government agency CI5 .-Synopsis:The original group of three men...
was produced for Sky One
Sky One
Sky1 is the flagship BSkyB entertainment channel available in the United Kingdom and Ireland.The channel first launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, and is the fourth-oldest TV channel in the United Kingdom, behind BBC One , ITV and BBC Two...
in the late 1990s and starred Edward Woodward
Edward Woodward
Edward Albert Arthur Woodward, OBE was an English stage and screen actor and singer. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art , Woodward began his career on stage, and throughout his career he appeared in productions in both the West End in London and on Broadway in New York...
, but it was not a success. The BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
introduced Spender
Spender
Spender is a BBC television drama set in Newcastle upon Tyne, written by Ian La Frenais and Jimmy Nail, who also starred. The series was produced by Martin McKeand . The series was broadcast on BBC between 1991 and 1993...
in the early 1990s, which featured several Professionals influenced themes.
Remake
CI5: The New ProfessionalsCI5: The New Professionals
CI5: The New Professionals is a British crime drama that aired on the Sky1 satellite channel from 19 September to 19 December 1999. An updating of the late 1970s television series The Professionals, the series is set in a fictional government agency CI5 .-Synopsis:The original group of three men...
was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
crime drama
Police procedural
The police procedural is a subgenre of detective fiction which attempts to convincingly depict the activities of a police force as they investigate crimes. While traditional detective novels usually concentrate on a single crime, police procedurals frequently depict investigations into several...
that aired on the Sky1 satellite channel from 19 September to 19 December 1999. An updating of the late 1970s television series The Professionals, the series is set in a fictional government agency CI5 (Civilian Intelligence department 5 as opposed to MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
, Military Intelligence).
The original group of three men (Doyle, Bodie and their boss Cowley) were replaced by a new group of three men and a woman:
- Harry Malone (played by (Edward WoodwardEdward WoodwardEdward Albert Arthur Woodward, OBE was an English stage and screen actor and singer. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art , Woodward began his career on stage, and throughout his career he appeared in productions in both the West End in London and on Broadway in New York...
) - Sam Curtis (played by Colin WellsColin Wells (actor)Colin Wells, born 11 September 1963, is an English actor best known for his role as Johnno Dean in the long-running television drama series, Hollyoaks....
) - Chris Keel (Kal Weber)
- Tina Backus (Lexa DoigLexa DoigAlexandra L. "Lexa" Doig is a Canadian actress. She portrayed the role of Rommie in the science fiction TV series Andromeda, and had a recurring character on Stargate SG-1.-Career:...
)
The team were responsible to a Minister, played by Charlotte Cornwell
Charlotte Cornwell
-Life and career:Cornwell was born in Marylebone, London, England, the daughter of Ronald Cornwell. She is the half-sister of spy novelist John le Carré . She describes him as "the best brother a girl could have"...
.
In a similar manner to the original series the show included impressive action sequences, often in a James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
style. However, the show was not a ratings success and only lasted one season. It did not transfer to terrestrial television in the UK.
A new big screen movie is due out in the near future no lead roles or plot lines have been made public.
Parodies
In the popular TV comedy series The Two RonniesThe Two Ronnies
The Two Ronnies is a British sketch show that aired on BBC1 from 1971 to 1987. It featured the double act of Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett, the "Two Ronnies" of the title.-Origins:...
, Ronnie Corbett
Ronnie Corbett
Ronald Balfour "Ronnie" Corbett, OBE is a Scottish actor and comedian of Scottish and English parentage who had a long association with Ronnie Barker in the British television comedy series The Two Ronnies...
played a bungling version of Martin Shaw
Martin Shaw
Martin Shaw is an English actor. He is best known for his roles in shows such as The Professionals, The Chief, Judge John Deed and Inspector George Gently.-Theatrical background:...
's Doyle in a sketch called Tinker Tailor Smiley Doyle. This was a joint send-up of The Professionals and the Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is a 1974 British spy novel by John le Carré, featuring George Smiley. Smiley is a middle-aged, taciturn, perspicacious intelligence expert in forced retirement. He is recalled to hunt down a Soviet mole in the "Circus", the highest echelon of the Secret Intelligence...
TV drama, with Ronnie Barker
Ronnie Barker
Ronald William George "Ronnie" Barker, OBE was a British actor, comedian, writer, critic, broadcaster and businessman...
playing George Smiley
George Smiley
George Smiley is a fictional character created by John le Carré. Smiley is an intelligence officer working for MI6 , the British overseas intelligence agency...
along the lines of Alec Guinness
Alec Guinness
Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE was an English actor. He was featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. He later won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai...
' portrayal in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Corbett's Doyle provides the brawn to the brains of Barker's Smiley and actually comes out the worse. The sketch guest-starred Nicholas Smith from Are You Being Served?
Are You Being Served?
Are You Being Served? is a British sitcom broadcast from 1972 to 1985. It was set in the ladies' and gentlemen's clothing departments of Grace Brothers, a large, fictional London department store. It was written mainly by Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft, with contributions by Michael Knowles and John...
.
In 1984 some of the team behind The Comic Strip
The Comic Strip
The Comic Strip is a group of British comedians, known for their television series The Comic Strip Presents.... The core members are Adrian Edmondson, Dawn French, Rik Mayall, Nigel Planer, Peter Richardson and Jennifer Saunders, with frequent appearances by Keith Allen, Robbie Coltrane and...
TV series produced a spoof entitled The Bullshitters, featuring two characters called Bonehead and Foyle in an episode called 'Roll Out the Gun Barrel".
Bonehead and Foyle returned to TV screens in 1993 in The Comic Strip one-off Detectives on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown
Detectives on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown
Detectives on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown is a short comedy film made by The Comic Strip for the BBC, first broadcast in the UK in 1993....
alongside 'Shouting George from The Weeny' (Jack Regan from The Sweeney
The Sweeney
The Sweeney is a 1970s British television police drama focusing on two members of the Flying Squad, a branch of the Metropolitan Police specialising in tackling armed robbery and violent crime in London...
), 'Spanker' (Spender
Spender
Spender is a BBC television drama set in Newcastle upon Tyne, written by Ian La Frenais and Jimmy Nail, who also starred. The series was produced by Martin McKeand . The series was broadcast on BBC between 1991 and 1993...
) and 'Jason Bentley' (Department S
Department S
Department S is a United Kingdom spy-fi adventure series produced by ITC Entertainment. The series consists of 28 episodes which originally aired in 1969–1970. It starred Peter Wyngarde as author Jason King , Joel Fabiani as Stewart Sullivan, and Rosemary Nicols as computer expert Annabelle Hurst...
s Jason King
Jason King (TV series)
Jason King was a British television series produced from 1971 to 1972. Each episode was one hour in duration , and the series had a run of one season of 26 episodes. As well as its native UK, the series was also screened in countries as far afield as Australia, Norway, Argentina and Peru...
).
Peter Jackson
Peter Jackson
Sir Peter Robert Jackson, KNZM is a New Zealand film director, producer, actor, and screenwriter, known for his The Lord of the Rings film trilogy , adapted from the novel by J. R. R...
's 1987 film, Bad Taste
Bad Taste
Bad Taste is a 1987 cult science fiction comedy horror film. Produced on a low budget, it is one of the first films directed by Peter Jackson. The film features Jackson and his friends taking a number of key roles, both on and off-screen...
, featured Astro Investigation and Defence Service employees "the boys", a Doyle and Bodie parody complete with Ford Capri.
In 1996, Nissan cars ran a humorous advertisement based on the series, featuring Bodie and Doyle type characters testing out the Nissan Almera
Nissan Almera
The Nissan Almera is a medium-sized family car built by Nissan from 1995 to 2006...
.
Germany
Since it was first broadcast in Germany in 1981, the show (Die Profis) has become a cult there. During its broadcast run, the public television service ZDFZDF
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen , ZDF, is a public-service German television broadcaster based in Mainz . It is run as an independent non-profit institution, which was founded by the German federal states . The ZDF is financed by television licence fees called GEZ and advertising revenues...
, due to concerns over politics and violence, did not air all episodes of the programme, so The Professionals became one of the first TV shows ever to be released on VHS in Germany in the 1980s. However, only the unaired episodes were released on tape. In all, 14 episodes were withdrawn from broadcast.
Czechoslovakia
The Professionals was one of a few series from the West broadcast in communist CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
in the 1980s. It became a cult there very quickly. Originally, only a selection of 21 of the 57 episodes was bought, including Klansmen. The first dubbed
Dubbing (filmmaking)
Dubbing is the post-production process of recording and replacing voices on a motion picture or television soundtrack subsequent to the original shooting. The term most commonly refers to the substitution of the voices of the actors shown on the screen by those of different performers, who may be...
episode "When the Heat Cools Off" was spoken by Petr Oliva (Bodie), Martin Štěpánek (Doyle) and Jiří Adamíra
Jiří Adamíra
Jiří Adamíra was a Czech actor. Born in Dobrovice, Adamíra began as an actor in the season 1945-1946 and from 1946-1950 worked under the director Jiri Dalík in the theatre. He later appeared in 21 films between 1952 and 1989, and in 22 television series.- Selected filmography:*.....
(Cowley). Štěpánek soon emigrated so the remainder were dubbed by Alois Švehlík
Alois Švehlík
Alois Švehlík is a Czech actor.After graduation from a technical secondary school he joined theatre in Kladno. Later he moved to Most, Olomouc and Liberec. Currently he is member of National Theatre in Prague...
.
The whole series was broadcast after 1994 on TV Nova. Petr Oliva continued to dub Bodie but Doyle was dubbed by Karel Heřmánek
Karel Heřmánek
Karel Heřmánek is a Czech actor. He appeared in more than forty films between 1976 and 2008.-Selected filmography:-External links:...
and Cowley by Otakar Brousek, since Adamíra had already died.
DVD and VHS releases
The original release on VHS was blocked by Martin Shaw.In the late 1990s, the complete run of 57 episodes were given a UK VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
videocassette release by Contender Entertainment Group. (An earlier release had seen 31 episodes issued before the distributor went out of business).
In 2002, Contender reissued the complete run on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
(for the UK only). Although labelled as having been "digitally remastered", these releases have attracted some criticism, mainly due to the relatively poor picture quality (colour, contrast and levels of dirt and scratches). In part, this was due to problems with the age and condition of the prints used, and the loss of (or lack of access to) the original source footage which would normally be used as the basis of a remaster.
In late 2005, Contender replaced the original DVD releases with a new set which saw some minor improvements in the picture quality.
Australia
The Professionals is available in Australia (Region 4 DVD) in four boxed sets ('dossiers') containing the complete series. These are distributed by Umbrella Entertainment and are available via online DVD shops such as EzyDVD JB Hifi Online and MoviesPlus. The four dossiers feature the same episodes per box set as the UK Contender release with a couple of changes in running order in dossiers 2 and 4.The series is currently being shown on digital channel 7TWO late on both a Wednesday and Thursday evening, normally around 11.30pm, but does not have a regular timeslot.
Film
In 2004 plans were being drawn up for a film version of The Professionals with Lewis CollinsLewis Collins
Lewis Collins is an English actor best known for his tough-guy role as Bodie in The Professionals. He was educated at Bidston Primary and Grange School in Birkenhead. He started out as a ladies' hairdresser before playing drums and guitar in pop groups. He had a number of other jobs before...
approached to play the part of Cowley, but after negotiations broke down the film was abandoned.
In 2011, film company Lionsgate announced they had acquired the rights to the Professionals series and intended to begin shooting a film version of the series in 2011. The series will be set in the present day with the characters of Bodie, Doyle and Cowley played by new actors.
The film looks likely to be a prequel to the 1970s series concerning how Bodie and Doyle entered CI5.