The Professionals (TV series)

The Professionals was a British crime-action television drama series that aired on the ITV network from 1977 to 1983, 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, and was similar in style to Starsky and Hutch.

The Professionals was created by Brian Clemens, who had been one of the driving forces behind The Avengers. Clemens and Albert Fennell executive produced, with business partner Laurie Johnson providing the theme music. Sidney Hayers produced the first series in 1977, and Raymond Menmuir the remainder.

Outline

CI5 (Criminal Intelligence 5) was a specialist department, falling somewhere between the police force and the secret service. Instructed by the Home Secretary to use any means, CI5's brief was to stamp out crime that was too high risk for the police to handle but beneath the secret service's sphere of influence, e.g. terrorists, hitmen, racial groups, espionage suspects etc. Led by the formidable George Cowley (Jackson), CI5 was known for using unconventional and sometimes illegal methods to beat criminals, or as Cowley put it Fight fire with fire!

Cowley's two best agents were Ray Doyle (Shaw) and William Bodie (Collins). Doyle was an ex-detective constable who had worked the seedier parts of London, while Bodie was an ex-paratrooper, mercenary and SAS sergeant. Of the two, Doyle was the softer, compassionate and more thoughtful character, while Bodie was more ruthless and more willing to take on criminals on their own terms. That said, Doyle was more hotheaded and tended to rush in, while Bodie waited for the shooting to start.

While polar opposites, Bodie and Doyle had a deep and enduring friendship, and were almost inseparable. Although their loyalty to Cowley was beyond question, they had no qualms about disobeying orders if it meant getting the right result, either for the case or themselves.

At the same time, Collins and Shaw became friends offscreen but managed to keep up the on screen chemistry and abrasiveness of Bodie and Doyle's relationship.

The cars

The most famous car used by CI5 was the Ford Capri 3.0 S. Two were used, Bodie drove a silver version (1978-1981 episodes), Doyle a gold (1980-1981 episodes). Cowley used a latest model Ford Granada (1978-1981) while other Ford models such as a Ford Escort RS2000 (1978-1979 episodes) and a Ford Cortina 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 and a Triumph TR7 had been the cars of choice for Bodie and Doyle and CI5 in general. However typical reliability issues with the cars and BL taking them back to give to the motoring press was causing disruption to filming. Midway through the first series, the supply was then switched to Ford after they offered to provide vehicles for the production crew as well as for on screen use.

Many of the episodes featured some kind of car chase, a role for which the Capri was particularly well suited, which has helped this car gain some of the image we know of today.

Information about the British Leyland cars can be found on Austin-Rover.co.uk (Feature Galleries -> Film & TV appearances -> The Professionals).

Controversy

The series was often criticized for its high levels of violence. One episode opened with a traffic police officer being shot dead at point blank range with a shotgun, another with a secret service agent being thrown out of a high window. The level of violence and Bodie and Doyle's 'enthusiastic' driving gave ammunition to the TV critics claims that the show was 'comic strip and moronic.' The irony with Doyle and Bodie's driving was that while they were able to drive like madmen on screen, it was an LWT stipulation that Martin Shaw and Lewis Collins were driven to set.

In addition to this, one of the first-season episodes (Klansmen) was banned in the UK during its original run, due to its controversial 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 Superchannel in 1987, and has been screened on free-to-air television in other countries including New Zealand.

The show was also criticised for its high level of political incorrectness.

Occasional off-colour references between Bodie and Doyle were not then seen as being disparaging against protected minority groups; none of the dialogue was tainted with racism, although it could be more than a little sexist at times. In this respect The Professionals, like The Sweeney, reflected the sensibilities of its audience without overstepping the boundaries of taste.

Shaw was particularly critical of the series during its run, feeling he was playing a one dimensional character in a one dimensional show. After the series ended, he managed to block repeat screenings, much to the frustration of the show's fans and his co-stars Collins and Jackson. Shaw received a lot of negative press for his actions, even to this day.

Legacy

After the series ended, ITV produced Dempsey and Makepeace 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, The New Professionals, was produced for Sky One in the late 1990s and starred Edward Woodward, but it was not a success.

In 1996, Nissan cars ran an hilarious and affectionate spoof advertisement of the series, featuring Bodie and Doyle type characters testing out the sporty Nissan Almera. The success of the advert (several articles about it appeared in British newspapers) confirmed the nation's love for the show.

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.

Trivia

In Medium Rare — the third episode of the second series of The New Avengers — a character called George Cowley, from Accounts, falls and is badly injured (it turns out fatally) in a set-up designed to frame John Steed. Cowley wears a trenchcoat, a hat, and thick-rimmed glasses, and is similar in appearance to a younger version of the Gordon Jackson character in The Professionals.
In the New Avengers episode Obsession, Shaw and Collins star as two of the villains being sought by Steed, Purdey and Gambit.
The show was to have been originally called "The A-Squad" before it was decided to call it "The Professionals".
The 1980 episode Blood Sports featured one-off appearances by Ruby Wax and Pierce Brosnan. When seen in the show, Wax was immediately recognisable playing an American student, and Brosnan was seen in a TV surveillance van. Apparently the payment for that episode went towards Brosnan's first air ticket to the United States!
While episodes were broadcast until 1983, episodes were actually filmed between 1977 and 1981.
Due to the number of people, living and dead, contributing to the original recording of The Professionals soundtrack, it would be near impossible to gain permission to use it.

DVD and VHS releases

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). [http://www.personal.u-net.com/~carnfort/Professionals/profsvid.htm

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 Professionals in Germany

Since it was first broadcast in Germany in 1979, the show has become a cult there. During its broadcast run, the public television service ZDF did not air all episodes, 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.

Episode guide

External links

ITV television programmes | Espionage television series

Die Profis

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